Looking for help deciding on an AM4 motherboard.

[Tigermanic]

I have been looking to buy a mATX motherboard to make a LAN box with. I'm going AMD because a friend accidentally gifted me a ryzen CPU since he knew I was on an AMD system looking to upgrade. (I'm on FX processor lol) 

 

I'm all for used and open box items for a steal and have my eyes on a MSI B450 Mortar on Craigslist listed for $75 (hopping to wiggle down to $60 since it's been listed for over a month)

I've looked at some basic reviews but come to you guys for a final thought, other than the risks of buying used, are there any reasons not to go with this board? And if so, what board would you recommend in it's place?

 

Unfortunately this is been another case of people not removing their Craigslist post until another person asks if it's still available.

 

All's well that ends well though, as I forgot third gen was coming out soon. So now I'll wait till new motherboard hit shelves to see what the landscape for mATX and mITX boards are then.

Edited May 27, 2019 by Tigermanic

[Shreyas1]

Make sure its compatible with your other parts but other than that its fine.

[zhubaohi]

B450 Mortar is a pretty decent board, go for it.

[fluxdeity]

36 minutes ago, Tigermanic said:

I have been looking to buy a mATX motherboard to make a LAN box with. I'm going AMD because a friend accidentally gifted me a ryzen CPU since he knew I was on an AMD system looking to upgrade. (I'm on FX processor lol) 

 

I'm all for used and open box items for a steal and have my eyes on a MSI B450 Mortar on Craigslist listed for $75 (hopping to wiggle down to $60 since it's been listed for over a month)

I've looked at some basic reviews but come to you guys for a final thought, other than the risks of buying used, are there any reasons not to go with this board? And if so, what board would you recommend in it's place?

Asrock Pro 4 mATX

[Tigermanic]

20 minutes ago, Shreyas1 said:

Make sure its compatible with your other parts but other than that its fine.

I'm waiting to choose a motherboard until I buy most the other components since I made that mistake on my first rig. Lol thanks for the tip though.

[Shreyas1]

9 minutes ago, fluxdeity said:

Asrock Pro 4 mATX

I have this board, great second choice in case op can't get his hands on the cheaper msi board

[Oalei]

The B450 Mortar is waaay better than B450 Pro 4. The heatsink is great, mosfet just a tad bit worse than X470 Gaming plus, No heatsink for VSOC so dont get an APU if you use APU just go for Pro 4.

[Tigermanic]

9 minutes ago, Oalei said:

The B450 Mortar is waaay better than B450 Pro 4. The heatsink is great, mosfet just a tad bit worse than X470 Gaming plus, No heatsink for VSOC so dont get an APU if you use APU just go for Pro 4.

Thanks for the info on the heatsink, I read in a couple reviews that it didn't have one but didn't know what that entailed.

[Oalei]

Just now, Tigermanic said:

Thanks for the info on the heatsink, I read in a couple reviews that it didn't have one but didn't know what that entailed.

it will run hot and its not very good to push the APU Overclocking too hard if you dont have a good airflow, but its not exactly bad tbh its still a good mobo nonetheless.

[CorruptedSanity]

I have the mortar titanium and I can't really think of anything I don't like about it but I am curious, if you're looking to build a lan box have you checked out  itx boards?  Also if you don't need pbo (zen+ feature only, correct me if I'm wrong please) support and aren't going to be doing heavy overclocking, why not go with b350?  I suppose it may limit future upgradability. 

 

I put all my parts on my old b350 board and stuffed it into a 10"x10"x12" Thermaltake core v1 so I could take it out of town for work easier than my matx chassis and I haven't really noticed much of a performance hit.  Granted I can't compare apples to apples because I couldn't fit my tower cooler in it so I put the stock cooler on for now. 

 

Just food for thought. 

[Tigermanic]

24 minutes ago, CorruptedSanity said:

I have the mortar titanium and I can't really think of anything I don't like about it but I am curious, if you're looking to build a lan box have you checked out  itx boards?  Also if you don't need pbo (zen+ feature only, correct me if I'm wrong please) support and aren't going to be doing heavy overclocking, why not go with b350?  I suppose it may limit future upgradability. 

 

I put all my parts on my old b350 board and stuffed it into a 10"x10"x12" Thermaltake core v1 so I could take it out of town for work easier than my matx chassis and I haven't really noticed much of a performance hit.  Granted I can't compare apples to apples because I couldn't fit my tower cooler in it so I put the stock cooler on for now. 

 

Just food for thought. 

I like the idea of a mini-itx but I haven't seen any lower than $90 even used. And I am one cheap sob

[CorruptedSanity]

11 hours ago, Tigermanic said:

I like the idea of a mini-itx but I haven't seen any lower than $90 even used. And I am one cheap sob

Yeah I get it, they definitely can be pricey.  They start around $150 cad, $110 usd new so the cheaper used ones probably sell quick.