ASRock B550m-ITX/ac vs B550 "Phantom Gaming-ITX/ax" Motherboards

[maximumzero]

Hey LTT crew, quick brain-pickin' question for y'all.

 

Currently parting out a new mITX build in the Lian Li TU150 case.

 

I'm dropping in the ever-popular Ryzen 5 3600 CPU, and opting for a B550 motherboard so I have an upgrade path to Zen 3 processors in the future should I decide to do so.

 

I'm currently deciding between the ASRock B550M-ITX/ac and B550 "Phantom Gaming-ITX/ax" motherboards and I'm having a hell of a time trying to decide if that $70 premium is worth it for my purposes. Comparison on ASRock's website here.

 

As far as I can tell the major differences between the two is the Phantom Gaming board having an extra M.2 slot, a header for a front panel USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C connector, and Wi-Fi 5 instead of Wi-Fi 6.

 

The loss of a M.2 slot isn't a huge deal, as I have no issue dropping in a SATA SSD or HDD sometime in the future if I need more storage, and even replacing the M.2 drive completely if necessary.

 

In regards to front panel connections, I'll probably just leave the front panel USB-C disconnected completely, as it seems like the adapters to get those connections up and running (1 and 2) will likely cost me in the ballpark of $30 anyway, and will limit those Type-A ports to USB 2.0 speeds in the end. (If someone has an alternate suggestion for this setup I'm all ears.)

 

While the slower Wi-Fi is a bit of a bummer, my wireless router is Wi-Fi 5/ac at the moment and I don't intend on replacing it anytime in the near future.

 

I don't plan on doing much tinkering outside of setting the RAM XMP properly in the EFI and probably hitting the "Auto-Overclock" button in Ryzen Master, so no extensive overclocking across the RAM, CPU, or GPU planned.

 

I also intend on getting the variant of the TU150 with the aluminum side panel, so no RGB necessary, which means that LED strip on the Phantom Gaming isn't necessary, and in fact is hopefully something I can disable entirely at a EFI level.

 

Anything that I'm missing here?

 

Thanks guys/gals.

[Milanizer]

On 10/1/2020 at 12:57 AM, maximumzero said:

Hey LTT crew, quick brain-pickin' question for y'all.

 

Currently parting out a new mITX build in the Lian Li TU150 case.

 

I'm dropping in the ever-popular Ryzen 5 3600 CPU, and opting for a B550 motherboard so I have an upgrade path to Zen 3 processors in the future should I decide to do so.

 

I'm currently deciding between the ASRock B550M-ITX/ac and B550 "Phantom Gaming-ITX/ax" motherboards and I'm having a hell of a time trying to decide if that $70 premium is worth it for my purposes. Comparison on ASRock's website here.

 

As far as I can tell the major differences between the two is the Phantom Gaming board having an extra M.2 slot, a header for a front panel USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C connector, and Wi-Fi 5 instead of Wi-Fi 6.

 

The loss of a M.2 slot isn't a huge deal, as I have no issue dropping in a SATA SSD or HDD sometime in the future if I need more storage, and even replacing the M.2 drive completely if necessary.

 

In regards to front panel connections, I'll probably just leave the front panel USB-C disconnected completely, as it seems like the adapters to get those connections up and running (1 and 2) will likely cost me in the ballpark of $30 anyway, and will limit those Type-A ports to USB 2.0 speeds in the end. (If someone has an alternate suggestion for this setup I'm all ears.)

 

While the slower Wi-Fi is a bit of a bummer, my wireless router is Wi-Fi 5/ac at the moment and I don't intend on replacing it anytime in the near future.

 

I don't plan on doing much tinkering outside of setting the RAM XMP properly in the EFI and probably hitting the "Auto-Overclock" button in Ryzen Master, so no extensive overclocking across the RAM, CPU, or GPU planned.

 

I also intend on getting the variant of the TU150 with the aluminum side panel, so no RGB necessary, which means that LED strip on the Phantom Gaming isn't necessary, and in fact is hopefully something I can disable entirely at a EFI level.

 

Anything that I'm missing here?

 

Thanks guys/gals.

Hey just looking for information aroun B550M ITX. What did you choose? Is it working well? Thanks

[BrickedKeyboard]

58 minutes ago, Milanizer said:

Hey just looking for information aroun B550M ITX. What did you choose? Is it working well? Thanks

As I understand it, the "bang for the buck" consensus board for B550/ITX is the Gigabyte B550i aorus pro.  Good price, good VRMs, good cooling - generally a good board though the bios ( I have one) updates sometimes have significant bugs.

[Milanizer]

22 minutes ago, BrickedKeyboard said:

As I understand it, the "bang for the buck" consensus board for B550/ITX is the Gigabyte B550i aorus pro.  Good price, good VRMs, good cooling - generally a good board though the bios ( I have one) updates sometimes have significant bugs.

Yep but my budget would not allow it. Also i'm not only high-end stuff.

[BrickedKeyboard]

50 minutes ago, Milanizer said:

Yep but my budget would not allow it. Also i'm not only high-end stuff.

Fair enough but the phantom gaming (board with the good VRMs) is just 10 bucks cheaper than the gigabyte.  And you are asking about phantom gaming in this thread.  If your budget is this low you probably should consider an Intel based system.  This is because Intel single threaded performance was the best, even for lower end low core count chips, until Zen 3, which starts at $300 for the CPU.

[Milanizer]

6 hours ago, BrickedKeyboard said:

Fair enough but the phantom gaming (board with the good VRMs) is just 10 bucks cheaper than the gigabyte.  And you are asking about phantom gaming in this thread.  If your budget is this low you probably should consider an Intel based system.  This is because Intel single threaded performance was the best, even for lower end low core count chips, until Zen 3, which starts at $300 for the CPU.

Sorry for not clearing before but i already have a regular ATX build and i want to downsize it. Also i'm asking about the B550M-ITX/AC not the phantom gaming. 

 

This is my parts right now: So i''m considering the budget ITX mobo. But if that mobo is really terrible than maybe i need to up my budget.

 

PCPartPicker Part List:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 3 3300X 3.8 GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler	be quiet! Shadow Rock 3 CPU Cooler	$49.90 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI MPG B550 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard	$149.99 @ Best Buy
Memory	Team T-FORCE DARK Za 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory	$62.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Samsung 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$49.99 @ B&H
Storage	Western Digital Blue SN550 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$49.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	MSI GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB VENTUS XS OC Video Card	$300.74 @ Office Depot
Case	Phanteks Eclipse P300A Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case	$49.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	BitFenix Whisper M 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Case Fan	Deepcool CF 56.5 CFM 120 mm Fans 3-Pack	$39.99 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$763.58
	Mail-in rebates	-$10.00
	Total	$753.58
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-29 08:37 EST-0500

 

[maximumzero]

On 11/28/2020 at 10:47 PM, Milanizer said:

Hey just looking for information aroun B550M ITX. What did you choose? Is it working well? Thanks

Hey there, sorry I'm a bit late on the response, but I ended up opting for the Phantom Gaming "ax" board.

 

Honestly it's been almost two months since purchase so I couldn't tell you exactly why I opted for the more expensive board, but the better Wi-Fi and the front panel USB-C port are nice to have, and I'm glad I did, as I've been using the front USB-C port a lot while Microsoft and Steam work out the kinks with the new Xbox controllers' bluetooth.