In short, these new B550 motherboards are certainly a significant upgrade from the now two-year-old B450 platform. As we saw with the latter, you often stood to save a mere $10 while losing CPU and memory overclocking in the process. There’s more features onboard as well. The X570-A Pro ran hotter, but avoided throttling in this test. Performance is up there with the more expensive boards, and the VRMs held their own even when overclocked. A strong feature for this motherboard is that both SSD M.2 … This makes the B550 platform delay all the more frustrating for those who purchased a Ryzen 5 3600 with a new motherboard. But enough about pricing for now, and let’s get on with testing the VRM thermal performance of the four boards we already have. Other features include USB 3.2 Gen 2, 2.5 Gigabit LAN, front USB Type-C, M.2 shields, better PCB, pre-installed I/O shield, much larger VRM cooling to go with the bigger VRM, a better board layout and just a higher quality motherboard in general. Offering robust power delivery and effective cooling, ROG Strix B550-A Gaming is well-equipped to handle 3 rd Gen AMD Ryzen™ CPUs. MSI’s likely doing this to fill the void until B550 pricing filters down, which usually happens over time with motherboard platforms. Placing load on the CPU is Blender running the Gooseberry workload and the temperatures are reported after an hour. Supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzen™ 3000, 4000 G-Series and 5000 Series Desktop Processors; 14 Power Phase Design, Digi Power, Dr. MOS; Supports DDR4 4733+ (OC); 1 PCIe 4.0 x16, 1 PCIe 3.0 x16, 2 PCIe 3.0 x1, 1 M.2 Key E for WiFi; Graphics Output Options: HDMI, DisplayPort; AMD CrossFireX™; 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec), Nahimic Audio; 6 SATA3, 1 Hyper M.2 (PCIe … That increased per-lane throughput allowed AMD to reduce the number of lanes between the chipset and CPU from six PCIe 2.0 lanes to four PCIe 3.0. AMD B550 AORUS Motherboard with True 12+2 Phases Digital VRM, Enlarged Surface Heatsinks, PCIe 4.0 x16 Slot, Dual PCIe 4.0/3.0 x4 M.2 with One Thermal Guard, 2.5GbE LAN, RGB FUSION 2.0, Q-Flash Plus Supports AMD Ryzen™ 5000 Series/ 3rd Gen Ryzen™ and 3rd Gen Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Graphics Processors Clearly that claim cannot be aimed at Gigabyte who've banged out of the gate with both the Pro and Master easily able to get 4.4 GHz across the dozen cores of … The B550 Aorus Master is a very capable board, loaded up with premium features like Wi-Fi 6 and high-quality VRMs. That means the closest ATX model to the B450 Tomahawk would be the B550-A Pro, it costs $140, or ~20% more, but again you’re getting more motherboard. That board is similar in many ways, but trades a couple video ports for a PS/2 port and more audio jacks. What’s incredible to note here is just how cool these B550 boards run, even the Mortar which was comparable to the X570 Aorus Pro WiFi under these test conditions and that board costs almost $100 more. Test Platform & Supporting Components MSI’s MAG B550 Tomahawk delivers a well-balanced feature set at a competitive price. The B550 Tomahawk, for example, isn’t just the B450 Tomahawk with the newer chipset. AMD’s B550 chipset brought high hopes of PCIe 4.0 support at low prices, … If you need Wi-Fi, buy a motherboard with Wi-Fi at the time. Now that we’re months out from the B550 launch, we know that AMD’s more mainstream AM4 platform delivers on at least one of those two promises--PCIe 4.0. There will also be cheaper A520 boards, but unless something really special happens, we’ll largely ignore those for future tests as we did with the A320 boards. So if you have an older Ryzen 2000 CPU or Ryzen 3000 APU, be sure to double check the board’s product page to see if it’s compatible with your processor. This is pretty important stuff and should be listed. Monitoring the ambient temperature is a thermocouple positioned next to the test system. Powered by AMD Ryzen AM4 processors, the MSI MPG B550 GAMING PLUS offers perfect balance between appearance and performance with Wi-Fi, Extended Heatsink Design, Core boost, Pre-installed I/O Shielding and Mystic Light. The ASUS ROG Strix B550-E Gaming motherboard is Asus’ cream of the crop motherboard for its B550 line-up. If you’re after a B550 board in the compact Mini ITX form factor, you only have a handful of choices, but Asus’ ROG Strix B550-I Gaming stands out. Hier sind die besten Boards mit AMD B550 Chipsatz. You will receive a verification email shortly. There’s been plenty of talk about the B550 chipset and all the supporting boards for weeks, and we’re now able to share our results with you. The only difference here is that the B550 AORUS PRO requires a slightly higher Vcore of 1.4V for our Ryzen 3 3300X to clear an hour-long Realbench stress test without any signs of instability, while the MEG X570 GODLIKE requires a lower Vcore of 1.38V to clear the same stress test. Denn falls ihr einfach irgendein B550 Mainboard kauft kann es sehr gut sein, dass ihr zu viel Geld für zu wenig Features ausgebt (zumal viele B550 Mainboards zu nahe am Preis von X570ern sind). For B550, I chose 4.2 GHz at 1.35 V as the most intensive load I could manage in long tests without thermal throttling the CPU. Test Setup and Notes. Therefore having seen strong demand for B450 boards priced over $100, motherboard makers are confident that B550 can command higher price points, allowing them to make better, more expensive motherboards. Best AMD AM4 B550 ATX motherboard, lightning PCIe 4.0, lightning M.2, Extended heatsink, USB 3.2 Gen 2, M.2 heatsink, powerful overclocking, MSI PRO The plan was to revisit the testing with the Ryzen 9 3950X, given the 3900X was the most high-end AM4 CPU available at the time of testing, but after all the 3950X doesn't use that much more power than the 3900X, so we didn’t bother. And active VRM cooling means you shouldn’t have to deal with the heat issues we saw with the Asus Prime B550M-A Wi-Fi and our 3900X. Read: Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi review, Best B550 Motherboard (if Price Is No Object), Socket: AM4 | Chipset: AMD B550 | Form Factor: ATX | Voltage Regulator: 16 phases | PCIe x16: (1) v4.0 PCIe x16; (2) v3.0 (x4) | USB Ports: (1) USB 3.2 Gen 2, Type-C (10 Gbps), (4) USB 3.2 Gen 2, Type-A (10 Gbps), (1) USB 3.2 Gen 2, Type-A (5 Gbps), (6) USB 2.0, Type-A | Warranty: 3 years. That same VRM can be found on the $130 B550M Bazooka. Superman/Witcher star Henry Cavill upgrades to an Nvidia RTX 3090, Cyberpunk 2077 v1.05 fixes a laundry list of issues, Freebie week: Ubisoft is handing out free games and DLC every day this week. Thank you for signing up to Tom's Hardware. The motherboards are left to determine the appropriate voltages on their own, so it’s a very basic overclock that anyone can do with the help of AMD’s Ryzen Master software. We’d expect something similar to happen with B550, with higher launch prices for a few months, and a drop by the holiday season. It also has fewer USB 3.2 Gen2 ports, although it does have more Type-A ports than Asus’ ITX board. Not only do these B550 boards support PCIe 4.0 graphics cards and storage, but they will also offer a more seamless transition to Zen 3 processors in the future. Socket: AM4 | Chipset: AMD B550 | Form Factor: Mini ITX | Voltage Regulator: 10 phases | PCIe x16: (1) v4.0 | USB Ports: (4) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (1 Type-C), (2) USB 2.0 (1 Type-C) | Warranty: 3 years. However, through further testing we’ve found that the results in a poorly ventilated case are actually worse, so we guess this isn’t an absolute worst case scenario, no pun intended. To test the on-board audio on the MSI B550 Gaming Carbon WIFI motherboard, I use the Rightmark Audio Analyzer benchmark. 3DMark Time Spy Before we get into testing, let's briefly discuss why B550 motherboards are more expensive than what most were expecting. Get instant access to breaking news, in-depth reviews and helpful tips. It’s a good option around the $200 mark, though if you don’t need Wi-Fi capability, the non-Wi-Fi version of the same board costs $30 less with the same specifications, making it easy to recommend if you plan on using Ethernet or have your own wireless card. This is a fairly extreme VRM test setup, as the idea was to stress high-end X570 boards to ensure they could handle all conditions. Designed for those seeking to get the most out of their build, ROG Strix B550 Gaming series motherboards offer a feature-set usually found in the higher-end ROG Strix X570 Gaming series, including the latest PCIe ® 4.0 connectivity. Again, USB 3.2 Gen 2 and PCIe 4.0 are included, there’s two additional USB ports on the I/O panel and you get front USB Type-C support. So you’ll still be able to purchase B450 boards for some time after the B550 release. 25 votes, 12 comments. At $230, it’s on the pricier end, but $100 less than Gigabyte’s B550I Aorus Pro AX, while still delivering two M.2 slots (one around back), Wi-Fi 6 and 2.5Gb Ethernet. Popular components in PC builds with the Asus TUF GAMING B550-PLUS Motherboard. If you want more lighting, you’ll have to provide that with other components and accessories. Just note that one of the six ports is a USB 2.0 Type-C port designed for audio. Also, rüstet euch für Zen3 oder schafft eine solide Basis für einen Zen2-Build. There’s really no comparing the two generations as they’re in completely different tiers, and pricing reflects that. AMD’s B550 chipset enables PCIe® 4.0 compatibility for NVMe storage and graphics on mainstream motherboards, giving you confidence that your system won’t go obsolete before its time. Unfortunately, reaching the top of the mountain translates to the ROG Strix B550-E’s steep pricing brought upon by the “ROG Tax” and the B550 chipset itself. B550 motherboard use a 10+3 phases pure digital PWM + Low RDS(on) MOSFETs design to support the 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen™ CPUs by offering incredible precision in delivering power to the motherboard's most power-hungry and energy-sensitive components as well as delivering enhanced system performance and ultimate hardware scalability. The MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk comes up trumps with 4.4 GHz across all of … Join thousands of tech enthusiasts and participate. Not only do these B550 … Here the B550 Taichi takes a leading position in every part of the test, except for the CPU physics test, where it loses to the ASUS B550-F by a sliver of a margin. MSI and Gigabyte have done an excellent job with the specific models we checked out today and we're very keen to review the base models to see how they handle the 3900X. New York, One point that users are very keen on, is the support of the PCie 4.0 standard. Boards like the MSI B550-A Pro will be the real killers, at $140 that looks like a very solid board and we can’t wait to check it out along with entry-level boards from Gigabyte, Asus and Asrock. Future US, Inc. 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor, Then we have the B550 Aorus Master matching the X570 Aorus Xtreme with a peak temperature of 55C. To test the onboard audio of any motherboard, I follow the guide on RMAA’s site that talks about … The VRM uses many of the same components, there’s just more of them and doublers are now included, creating a 10-phase vcore VRM with 25% more current capacity. It steals 8 lanes from the primary x16 slot and splits them between the bottom 2 m.2. But if you need three M.2 slots and loads of USB, the Aorus Master delivers. Rather than installing the boards in an ATX case like we often do, we’re using an open air-test bed with no direct air-flow. Also consider that upcoming A520 motherboards look to be far more affordable, though you’ll likely be foregoing PCIe 4.0 with these lower-priced boards, which is a key selling point of AMD’s latest platforms. Also included is dual-GPU support (though that’s a feature with far less appeal in recent years), along with a doubling of the bandwidth of the motherboard’s general-purpose PCIe lanes from the chipset, from 2.0 to 3.0. Whatever the use case, there’s a B550 motherboard to suit. If you’re planning on building with an APU, you get a trio of video ports, and the analog audio jacks light up. We know that putting a twelve core Ryzen 9 3900X is probably overkill for the majority of people who will be looking to base their system around a B550 motherboard, but it's also a great test of the attention to detail in the power department. The ASUS ROG Strix B550-I Gaming Motherboard is a small packet with big punch, a mini ITX motherboard that offers feature-sets usually found in the higher-end X570 motherboards. This video is an in depth review of the Asus Rog Strix B550 F-Gaming motherboard. The ASUS B550 series motherboards are PCIe® 4.0-ready and features a robust power design, cooling controls, and AI Noise-canceling Microphone software. TECHSPOT : Tech Enthusiasts, Power Users, Gamers, TechSpot is a registered trademark. That being the case the Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro and Master were extremely impressive, as was MSI’s B550 Tomahawk. Die Mainboard-Mittelklasse für AMDs Ryzen-CPUs ist auf dem Markt und attackiert die teuren X570-Boards. However, it still offers an additional M.2 slot which supports PCIe 4.0 x4 bandwidth, front USB Type-C and the thickened copper PCB, though it does drop USB 3.2 Gen 2 and two of the SATA 6Gbps ports. You’ll have to live with just six USB ports on the rear IO, but that’s par for the course with these small B550 boards. “B550 is a very important product line for AMD and the motherboard vendors. The Z490 Tomahawk costs $180, the X299 Tomahawk is around $250, and the X570 Tomahawk is meant to be $200. The B550M Mortar which we have on hand costs $160, the Gaming Plus $150, the A Pro $140 and the Bazooka $130. While there’s less bandwidth for multiple next-generation high-speed storage and graphics card setups, B550 motherboards do deliver PCIe 4.0 support for the typical setup of a single speedy drive and graphics card. Those who like their PCs to run silently will appreciate that the B550 chipset doesn’t require support for active cooling. Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. The Best B550 motherboard for you might not be a B550 board at all. So in theory the B550 Tomahawk has 83% of the X570 Tomahawk’s current capacity. At $180, you’ll have to live without Wi-Fi, and some potential drawbacks are the six total USB count on the rear IO as well as the lesser audio codec compared to many other boards. There was a problem. It’s one of the more well-appointed B550 motherboards, though that also means it’s expensive. While you can add more modules, you’ll be limited to PCIe 3.0 (still plenty fast enough for many) with those extra drives. The B550-UD3H is the only motherboard under Gigabyte’s eponymous Ultra Durable line, but as the $95, this one comes with the bare essentials for a … As we've done before, our focus will be testing VRM thermal performance with the goal of finding the best B550 boards that can comfortably support the Ryzen 9 3900X and 3950X, as those processors will make for nice second-hand upgrade options down the track. AMD’s B550 chipset brought high hopes of PCIe 4.0 support at low prices, given the high cost of most X570 boards and the appealing low price of many previous-generation B450 motherboards. Best B550 Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi, Best B550 Motherboard (if Price Is No Object): Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master, Best Mid-Range B550 Motherboard: MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk, Best Mini ITX B550 Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix B550-I Gaming, We check over 130 million products every day for the best prices, AMD has confirmed the chipset will support future Zen 3 processors, Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi review, Cyberpunk 2077 Hotfix 1.05 Launches with Major Bug Fixes, Microsoft Reportedly Moving Its Servers to Custom Chips, Best Holiday Tech and PC Hardware Deals 2020: CPUs, SSDs and More. Gigabyte’s own B550 Aorus Pro ran a few degrees cooler than the X570 board with the same branding and it’s around 30% cheaper. So what are some of the reasons why the B550 version of the Tomahawk costs ~$60 more than the B450 version? Now, we're not trying to defend any price hikes, we’re always pushing for better pricing, but we like to do so while being realistic in our demands. Do note that X570 boards were tested some time ago using earlier AGESA versions, so there might be some small discrepancies there. With all that out of the way, what exactly does B550 offer? With all latest tech in PC industry like PCI-e 4.0 support, WiFi 6, Intel 2.5 Gb Ethernet, Audio USB Type-C and more, this board gives a completely immersive pc experience. For this test we'll be mirroring the setup we used with the X570 motherboards as we want to compare that thermal data. Please refresh the page and try again. On the surface those prices are quite shocking, but when you start to dig into what these boards offer, you may realize the price increases aren’t nearly as extreme as they first appear. Equipped with a PCI-e 4.0 slot as w This makes the B550 platform delay all the more frustrating for those who purchased a Ryzen 5 3600 with a new motherboard. We expect this list to grow once we test more of these mainstream AMD motherboards. The MPG B550 has a formidable 12 2 1 segment energy form, which facets 12 digital energy phases, dual energy connectors, and uncommon Core Boot technology. And overall, B550 prices are  lower than their X570 counterparts. Supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzen™ 3000, 4000 G-Series and 5000 Series Desktop Processors; 8 Power Phase Design, Digi Power; Supports DDR4 4733+ (OC); 1 PCIe 4.0 x16, 1 PCIe 3.0 x16, 2 PCIe 3.0 x1, 1 M.2 Key E for WiFi; Graphics Output Options: HDMI, D-Sub; AMD CrossFireX™; 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC1200 Audio Codec), Nahimic Audio; 6 SATA3, 1 Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4 x4), 1 M.2 … More than $200 still seems expensive for B550, Only six USB ports, one of which is for audio. The VRM heatsinks are also larger and you get a better quality PCB with 2 ounce thickened copper. Read: Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master review, Socket: AM4 | Chipset: AMD B550 | Form Factor: ATX | Voltage Regulator: 13 phases | PCIe x16: (1) v4.0 PCIe x16; (1) v3.0 (x4) | USB Ports: (2) USB 3.2 Gen 2, Type-A and Type-C (10 Gbps), (2) USB 3.2 Gen 1, Type-A (5 Gbps), (2) USB 2.0, Type-A | Warranty: 3 years. That’s the extent of on-board RGB, though. Here are our baseline results with essentially out of the box Ryzen 9 3900X performance with PBO enabled. What we may be witnessing here is increased demand for Ryzen products and board makers want to get in on the action. AMD B550 ATX motherboard features dual M.2, PCIe 4.0, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A and Type-C, 1 Gb Ethernet. The answer: it uses the exact same VRM with the same real finned heatsinks, oh and it’s a little over 20% cheaper than the X570 Aorus Master. With a small amount of air-flow there is no AM4 CPU this board won’t handle with ease. You don’t want to do lots of research to choose the best B550 motherboard, only to find out after you buy it that it won’t boot with your existing CPU. You’ll also have to deal with some inconveniently placed headers, like the front-panel audio pins which are wedged between the primary M.2 heatsink and the two RAM slots. You might wonder how does a $280 B550 board manage to match a $700 X570 board from the same company? Ryzen has made it through that period of uncertainty since the first generation, as a result B450 sales were significantly higher than that of B350, which we're told by all accounts did very well. Needs to be edited. For Razer Chroma ecosystem support But the key thing to note with B550 is that, while AMD has confirmed the chipset will support future Zen 3 processors, the boards didn’t support Ryzen 2000 and earlier processors, or Ryzen 3000 APUs like the Ryzen 5 3400G--at least at launch. It’s also worth noting that the B450 Tomahawk and its Max variant aren’t going away overnight either. From the looks of it, for a little over $100 you’ll be able to buy a motherboard that supports PCIe 4.0 along with high-end AM4 CPUs. And depending on features on given board models, that may not be possible to do without also having a different CPU that works with the board out of the box. For this discussion we’ll use the MSI B550 range as a point of reference for a number of reasons: they had some of the best quality B450 boards with the Tomahawk and Pro Carbon, we have two of their new B550 boards for testing, and they also provided us with a detailed breakdown of their entire B550 range, including VRM configurations and pricing.