X570 vs B550

[charlie_c137]

I know there are youtube vids that go into this but I would like to ask the LTT community what they think as I'm still unclear which is better, or more future proof. I have posted my future rtx 3070 build which include Asus tuf Gaming X570-Plus and a 3600(which I will swap out for the new gen Ryzen 5 assuming its not a dud). And that seem to be a bad choice because I frequently got suggestions for B550 boards that were only $10 cheaper and seemed inferior in terms of overall build and features. What am I missing?

[Haro]

The main difference between b550 and x570 is that b550 allows the lanes that are connected to the cpu to he gen 4 while the chipset it self is gen 3, x570 is gen 4 across the whole board. 

In terms of build quality and features, it depends on the exact model, not the chipset. 

Budget?

[charlie_c137]

I dont want to go above $160.

[Haro]

2 minutes ago, charlie_c137 said:

$160

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
Motherboard	Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard	$164.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$89.99 @ B&H
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$254.98
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-20 06:46 EDT-0400

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
Motherboard	MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard	$139.99 @ B&H
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$139.99
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-20 06:46 EDT-0400

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
Motherboard	MSI MAG B550M MORTAR Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$163.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$163.98
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-20 06:48 EDT-0400

To name some boards that are decent. 

[charlie_c137]

2 minutes ago, TofuHaroto said:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
Motherboard	Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard	$164.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$89.99 @ B&H
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$254.98
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-20 06:46 EDT-0400

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
Motherboard	MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard	$139.99 @ B&H
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$139.99
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-20 06:46 EDT-0400

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
Motherboard	MSI MAG B550M MORTAR Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$163.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$163.98
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-20 06:48 EDT-0400

To name some boards that are decent. 

Thanks for your insights, I'll check these out.

[Applefreak]

I'd look for general features that you need like onboard components and connectors. SLI and Crossfire are dead at this point so the extra bandwidth on X570 may only be necessary in some very specific use cases. Also paying more than 150 or maybe 180 is not worth it unless you are into extreme overclocking.

[charlie_c137]

1 minute ago, Applefreak said:

I'd look for general features that you need like onboard components and connectors. SLI and Crossfire are dead at this point so the extra bandwidth on X570 may only be necessary in some very specific use cases. Also paying more than 150 or maybe 180 is not worth it unless you are into extreme overclocking.

Is the x570 skewed toward SLI/Crossfire? 

[Fatih19]

4 minutes ago, charlie_c137 said:

Is the x570 skewed toward SLI/Crossfire? 

No. Like he said, SLI and Crossfire is dead.

[Fatih19]

7 minutes ago, Applefreak said:

unless you are into extreme overclocking.

Or you want to have upgrade path all the way up to the 3950X.

[charlie_c137]

1 minute ago, Fatih19 said:

Or you want to have upgrade path all the way up to the 3950X.

I see, no I intend to hover around the Ryzen 5/7 range.

[Fatih19]

Just now, charlie_c137 said:

I see, no I intend to hover around the Ryzen 5/7 range.

Then B550 would be a very fine option.

[Applefreak]

1 minute ago, Fatih19 said:

Or you want to have upgrade path all the way up to the 3950X.

I can run a 3950X on my B550-A Pro from MSI just fine. I've tried it a week ago. Still waiting on ZEN 3 though.

[charlie_c137]

Just now, Applefreak said:

I can run a 3950X on my B550-A Pro from MSI just fine. I've tried it a week ago. Still waiting on ZEN 3 though.

Good to know, and same here. I'm hoping the new zen chips are meaningfully better than this gen. And this concerns me too, which is more future proof the B550 or the X570? Are they kind of equal on this point? I guess until they release it all just speculation.

[charlie_c137]

4 minutes ago, Fatih19 said:

Then B550 would be a very fine option.

Thanks for your input. Between you and TofuHaroto I've started looking into the MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard

[mariushm]

The difference between x570 and B550 is just that all the 8 pci-e lanes created by the chipset are pci-e 4.0 instead of pci-e 4.0.

These 8 pci-e lanes usually to the second m.2 connector and a 2nd or 3rd pci-e x16 connector.

 

B550 motherboards will often have better value and have more features, simply because they're newer designs, and now manufacturers have access to higher quality components, or newer components.

For example, some B550 motherboards will include 2.5g ethernet - this was fairly new when x570 motherboards were designed, so just some of the higher end motherboards had these.

In order to save costs (because the heatsink and cooler on the x570 chipset costs money), x570 motherboards often went cheap on things like onboard audio (for example staying with ALC892 instead of choosing ALC1200 or ALC1220) or reducing the number of usb 3.1 gen 2 (10gbps) connectors on the IO shield. 

 

There will also be differences in the VRM quality (the circuit which converts 12v to the lower voltages that power the processor). Because people expected x570 motherboards to be higher end, manufacturers used higher phase count (more expensive) controllers but cut costs and used cheaper mosfets (chips that are part of the vrm circuit) on mid-level motherboards.

With B550 motherboards, manufacturers now know that there is demand for the boards, and there is competition, so there is quite a few B550 motherboards with very good performance when it comes to VRM and the manufacturers can also use improved/newer mosfets that have better characteristics and it ends up with a b550 motherboard having better vrm compared to x570 motherboards, simply because the x570 board is stuck with a previous generation components.

 

I keep recommending Gigabyte B550M Aorus Pro , because it has very good value for money, good audio, lots of usb connectors on the IO shield, good placement of pci-e slots, and it can easily handle even a Ryzen 3950x processor.

 

If you want to, see my previous answer in the thread below, which explains why I'm recommending that motherboard instead of others that person listed :

 

 

Edited September 20, 2020 by colonel_mortis
Remove amazon affiliate link

[charlie_c137]

2 hours ago, mariushm said:

The difference between x570 and B550 is just that all the 8 pci-e lanes created by the chipset are pci-e 4.0 instead of pci-e 4.0.

These 8 pci-e lanes usually to the second m.2 connector and a 2nd or 3rd pci-e x16 connector.

 

B550 motherboards will often have better value and have more features, simply because they're newer designs, and now manufacturers have access to higher quality components, or newer components.

For example, some B550 motherboards will include 2.5g ethernet - this was fairly new when x570 motherboards were designed, so just some of the higher end motherboards had these.

In order to save costs (because the heatsink and cooler on the x570 chipset costs money), x570 motherboards often went cheap on things like onboard audio (for example staying with ALC892 instead of choosing ALC1200 or ALC1220) or reducing the number of usb 3.1 gen 2 (10gbps) connectors on the IO shield. 

 

There will also be differences in the VRM quality (the circuit which converts 12v to the lower voltages that power the processor). Because people expected x570 motherboards to be higher end, manufacturers used higher phase count (more expensive) controllers but cut costs and used cheaper mosfets (chips that are part of the vrm circuit) on mid-level motherboards.

With B550 motherboards, manufacturers now know that there is demand for the boards, and there is competition, so there is quite a few B550 motherboards with very good performance when it comes to VRM and the manufacturers can also use improved/newer mosfets that have better characteristics and it ends up with a b550 motherboard having better vrm compared to x570 motherboards, simply because the x570 board is stuck with a previous generation components.

 

I keep recommending Gigabyte B550M Aorus Pro , because it has very good value for money, good audio, lots of usb connectors on the IO shield, good placement of pci-e slots, and it can easily handle even a Ryzen 3950x processor.

 

 

I'll check out the Gigabyte B550M Aorus Pro, and thanks for the in-depth reply.