Which B550 mobo

[Sport Driver]

So plan is to get Ryzen 4000 series processor as soon as they are released so now I'm thinking about which B550 mobo to get. Planning to go with successor of 3600 or 3700x so nothing too high end. So far I have 4 contenders. 

 

1. MSI MPG B550 Gaming Plus

2. ASRock B550 Pro4

3. ASUS TUF Gaming B550-Plus

4. Gigabyte B550 Gaming X

 

Looks wise they are written in order from preferred. First  are all basically the same price, Gigabyte is 20€ or so cheaper but not the biggest fan because it doesn't have M.2 cover.  So any suggestions?

[Mateyyy]

B550 Gaming Plus (or B550-A Pro since it's kind of the same board) or the TUF B550-Plus.

They're much better than both Asrock's and Gigabyte's offerings in this price bracket.

[Sport Driver]

Great. Gaming Plus it is then, A-Pro looks worse at the same price, TUF is a bit more expensive and I don't like it as much. I'm putting a list together so I can just checkout when processors land. 

[mariushm]

I'd suggest Gigabyte B550M Aorus Pro, it should be cheaper and more feature packed.

 

Like the person above me said, the two MSI boards have the same 10 phase (5 phase + doublers) VRM with basic mosfets. The Aorus Pro should be a bit cheaper and has the same 10 phase VRM but with slightly cheaper mosfets which means the temperature will be a few degrees higher on the VRM heatsink, which would only matter a bit with 12 core or higher processors like 3900x. You'd only care if you use it with a 3950x or equivalent 4000 series cpu and even then only if you plan to overclock that.

 

Asrock B550 Pro4 is not worth it, weaker vrm which will get quite hot with powerful processors.

 

Why the B550M Aorus Pro is better: 

* it has 2 pci-e x16 slots, the 2nd is pci-e x4 electrically. Gigabyte GamingX has pci-e x2 , rest have pci-e x4

* it has ALC1200 onboard sound, Asus has S1200 (same shit), the gaming x cut costs with alc887 (ancient) and the msi boards use still outdated alc892

* you get hdmi and displayport, while gaming x gives you outdated dvi ... the other boards give you hdmi and displayport

* you get 4 usb 3.0 and 4 usb 2.0 in the back and 2 usb 10g , the msi boards only give you 2 usb 3.0 and 2 10g  ... the gaming x only 3 usb 3.0 and 1 usb 10g

 

So the B550 Gaming Plus is worth it if you don't mind the ALC892 onboard sound, but if the B550M Aorus Pro is worth more especially if it's cheaper.

Gaming X is absolutely not worth it due to features (dvi, alc887, pci-e x2 on 2nd pci-e x16 etc)

The Asus is probably quite expensive ,,, not worth it just for the 2.5g ethernet and extra 2 sata ports.

 

click on picture below to zoom it out

 

Also see videos below where Hardware Unboxed compares VRM performance

First video has the B550M Aorus Pro and 2nd video has your B550 Pro4 and the MSI boards and the mATX version of the Asus board.

You can see the B550 Aorus Pro goes up to 87c with a 3950x at stock frequencies, which is perfectly fine at that price... it could safely go up to 100c+ ... it's actually better than B550 Pro4 which overheats at 105c and Gaming X at 112c  with a 3950x

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mateyyy]

3 hours ago, mariushm said:

-snip-

The VRM on the mATX Aorus Pro is not in the same ballpark as neither the B550 Gaming Plus (or any of MSI's B550 boards for that matter really) nor the TUF. The mediocre MOSFETs and the plastic IO cover which is essentially a heat insulator really don't make for a good pairing.

 

Spoiler

 

Granted most people spending $120 on a board probably won't overclock a 3950X in it, but still, I think the better power delivery is more important than slightly better onboard audio - a difference which will most likely go unnoticed anyway. By the time you actually need better audio, you won't be bothering with what the motherboard offers anyway, I'd imagine.

[mariushm]

18 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

The VRMs on the mATX Aorus Pro is not in the same ballpark as neither the B550 Gaming Plus (or any of MSI's B550 boards for that matter really) nor the TUF. The mediocre MOSFETs and the plastic IO cover which is essentially a heat insulator really don't make for a good pairing.

 

 

Granted most people spending $120 on a board probably won't overclock a 3950X in it, but still, I think the better power delivery is more important than slightly better onboard audio - a difference which will most likely go unnoticed anyway. By the time you actually need better audio, you won't be bothering with what the motherboard offers anyway, I'd imagine.

 

It's 86c at stock frequency after 1h of blender abuse. Perfectly fine. 

 

It's $120 (Gigabyte B550M Aorus Pro)  vs 140$ for MSI B550-A Pro or  $167 for MSI B550 Gaming Plus.

 

Reality check ... You're paying $20 or $47 extra for the ability to do "extreme" overclocking and you're losing on the onboard audio on top of that.

 

* you can overclock on the B550M Aorus Pro as you can see in the video, a 3900x only got the VRM up to 74c ... if you overclock a 3900x, the VRM temps will probably go up to 80-90c, which will be perfectly safe (up to 100c is safe long term temperature)

 

With the 3950x, you can see the temperature at stock frequency is 86c which is again perfectly fine. When overclocked making it consume around 200w (from around 140-160w average power consumption, so around 25% extra power than normal), the motherboard went up to 115c but still functioned fine, no thottling, no damage.

 

The 115c temperature is safe for the chips, which are rated for at least 125c (usually 150c), but long term (thousands of hours of running at such temperatures), it's not good for the printed circuit boards and for the polymer capacitors near the heatsink.

 

A simple 80mm/92mm/120mm fan positioned so that it blows air down on those heatsinks is cheaper than 20$, in case you end up at the point where overclocking a 3950x is a must.

 

 

 

[Sport Driver]

Thanks for recommendation but would really like an ATX since I'm planning  a build with a window and ATX just looks nicer. Difference between Aorus Pro and Gaming Plus is about 20-30€ which is the sum I surely wouldn't mind saving but it doesn't mean me that much. I'm not really on any tight budget. 

 

One more question, I want to get a case with type-C port on the front, do I have to look for some specific header on mobo to be able to use it? 

[Haro]

8 minutes ago, Sport Driver said:

do I have to look for some specific header on mobo to be able to use it? 

Yes but the b550 gaming plus does have a type c header on it. 

It's a pretty decent board with a 10 phase with 10 4C029N and 10 4C024N with IR3599's. 

As said above, from this list, the b550 tuf plus or the gaming plus are pretty decent, you can go for the b550 a pro which is the same thing as the b550 gaming plus but without rgb bling. 

Do note though that the b550 tuf plus does not have a type c header iirc. 

[mariushm]

 

For usb type c in front, you'll need motherboards with usb type c header

The msi b550 gaming plus has it, right by the 24 pin connector.

msi in fact has the most boards with this connector, b550 tomohawk has it, B550M Mortar has the connector (and it's mATX and good board and cheap)

gigabyte was among the first models to have it, they had it on x570 on x570 aorus elite, which was one of the cheapest yet very good quality x570 boards (was around $180, now it's near $200) but they didn't add it on their cheaper b550 motherboards

 

 

There are also adapters that convert a usb 3.0 header to that connector, but they're expensive, around 8-15$.

[Sport Driver]

Perfect thank you. Gaming Plus it is then.