Motherboard VRM Tier List v2 (currently AMD only)

[Mateyyy]

13 minutes ago, NoTiNControl said:

What is it that makes B550 Tomahawk one tier higher than B550 Gaming Edge? I thought both boards using the same VRM designs?

Yes, they are using the same VRMs, and both have similarly substantial heatsinks. Both should be in tier A.

[NoTiNControl]

4 minutes ago, TofuHaroto said:

the edge is under b550 speculation. 

the edge afaik has the same or better vrm as the tomahawk but it's still not on the list. Tier A under speculation does not mean Tier A on the list.

Thanks  Hopefully the edge is good. Really liked boards with integrated wifi...

[Haro]

10 hours ago, NoTiNControl said:

Hopefully the edge is good

it is, i think it has 12 or 10 60a iirc and will easily handle any am4 cpu currently.

[NoTiNControl]

Just now, TofuHaroto said:

it is, i think it has 12 or 10 60a iirc and will easily handle any am4 cpu currently.

Well, their web info advertised 10 Duet Rail CPU Power System Smart Power Stage / 60A.... I have no idea what it is, but it should be good right? Since Tomahawk is getting a ton of positive reviews. haha

[Haro]

10 hours ago, NoTiNControl said:

but it should be good right?

yep, should handle any current am4 cpu right now.

[viceice]

hmm i know realized, is gigabyte b450m s2h really better than aorus elite and aorus pro in the same tier? 

[Haro]

3 minutes ago, viceice said:

gigabyte b450m s2h really better than aorus elite and aorus pro in the same tier? 

They will all perform similarly. 

The aorus pro and the elite will perform similarly to the s2h, They're quite subpart considering what they're priced at and the s2h is usually cheaper and performs similarly. 

[viceice]

6 minutes ago, TofuHaroto said:

They will all perform similarly. 

The aorus pro and the elite will perform similarly to the s2h, They're quite subpart considering what they're priced at and the s2h is usually cheaper and performs similarly. 

oh.. so it's better from the price/performance aspect?

 

we dubbed the s2h "national mobo of turkey" actually xd 

 

it's the cheapest b450 board with a heatsink attached to it so it's very good for tons of budget systems people build in our country. it can respectably carry a 3600 thanks to 3600's low tdp 

 

for a second i wondered if its heatsink design is better or superior to others, maybe with a proper airflow it can be? 

 

again though, i know they all share the completely same vrm designs  

[Haro]

1 minute ago, viceice said:

wondered if its heatsink design is better or superior to others, maybe with a proper airflow it can be? 

They're all okay afaik. 

The pro and the elite's heatsinks are just covered with plastic and well will affect the heatsinks performance. 

[Jurrunio]

6 hours ago, NoTiNControl said:

What is it that makes B550 Tomahawk one tier higher than B550 Gaming Edge? I thought both boards using the same VRM designs?

The heatsinks are different, so still waiting for actual tests

[thirdparty]

why is b550m mortar orange while b550m tuf is black?

i thought mortar has better vrm than tuf?

[Haro]

10 hours ago, thirdparty said:

why is b550m mortar orange while b550m tuf is black?

they're both good. 

the mortar uses 8 60a (not sure what model sadly) and the tuf uses 8 sic639's (50a drmos). 

now yea on paper the mortar is better, though both will easily handle any current am4 cpu.

as to why it's marked in orange, i'm not sure in all honesty.

[thirdparty]

14 minutes ago, TofuHaroto said:

they're both good. 

the mortar uses 8 60a (not sure what model sadly) and the tuf uses 8 sic639's (50a drmos). 

now yea on paper the mortar is better, though both will easily handle any current am4 cpu.

as to why it's marked in orange, i'm not sure in all honesty.

I am looking for b550m mobo currently, wanted b550m mortar wifi because of its look but its noway to be found in my country. b550m tuf is 10 bucks cheaper than mortar (both non wifi) and i could get cashback for asus board.. now i just want to know the memory layout for asus because I heard asus like to use t-topology for their board.

[Haro]

10 minutes ago, thirdparty said:

asus because I heard asus like to use t-topology for their board.

It uses Daisy chain afaik. 

10 minutes ago, thirdparty said:

wanted b550m mortar wifi because of its look but its noway to be found in my country. b550m tuf is 10 bucks cheaper than mortar (both non wifi)

I would personally go for the tuf. 

Both of their vrms are capable and will easily handle any current am4 cpu as I said above. 

But the tuf does have a better IO compared to the mortar. 

But again, in terms of vrm, both are very capable. 

[Mateyyy]

14 minutes ago, thirdparty said:

I am looking for b550m mobo currently, wanted b550m mortar wifi because of its look but its noway to be found in my country. b550m tuf is 10 bucks cheaper than mortar (both non wifi) and i could get cashback for asus board.. now i just want to know the memory layout for asus because I heard asus like to use t-topology for their board.

The TUF is also decent.

Most AM4 boards are daisy-chain, not T-topology, even the higher-end ones. Either way, it's not like that's going to matter with the memory speeds you're going to have on Ryzen.

[Jurrunio]

1 hour ago, thirdparty said:

why is b550m mortar orange while b550m tuf is black?

i thought mortar has better vrm than tuf?

TUF just gets the rating of X570-P since they have the same VRM, TUF has bigger heatsinks.

 

Mortar's rating is between the Bazooka (uses mosfets, drops efficiency) and Tomahawk (10 powerstages rather than 8), but since I havent seen actual performance of the Mortar with 3950X I'd rather rate it conservatively. Totally possible that the Mortar will go back to black letters instead.

[Guest]

@Jurrunio 

 

If you wanted to update the OP to include current Intel boards, I will drop some information here so you can add it in. Totally not mine, But this from TPU (not advertising) and it's a nice list.

Here's the links. (No I didn't ask, it's in the public section of the forums)

 

LGA1200 tier list.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yPS3hj_K7EPT4RBWCyjdKNP56pnwDz-IgBc0975-FUg/edit#gid=0

 

Original Post.

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/z490-motherboard-vrm-list.268460/

 

Hope this helps the community otherwise.

[Apjue]

Why has B550-A Pro & Gaming Plus been moved to Tier C? They are clearly better than B450 Tomahawk, according to 

 

[Haro]

10 hours ago, Apjue said:

Why has B550-A Pro & Gaming Plus been moved to Tier C?

I'm not familiar with the gaming plus and i'm not familiar with it's vrm.

but the a pro is indeed better, it uses  5 discrete mosfets doubled (5 4C029N for the high side and 5 4C024N for the low side doubled with IR3598's) which is indeed better and does perform better than the tomahawk. and should not theoretically  max at 125a, and will easily handle any am4 cpu currently. 

though i would assume the board was ranked before testing, though i could be wrong.

[BlazeWingbreaker]

23 hours ago, TofuHaroto said:

I'm not familiar with the gaming plus and i'm not familiar with it's vrm.

but the a pro is indeed better, it uses  5 discrete mosfets doubled (5 4C029N for the high side and 5 4C024N for the low side doubled with IR3598's) which is indeed better and does perform better than the tomahawk. and should not theoretically  max at 125a, and will easily handle any am4 cpu currently. 

though i would assume the board was ranked before testing, though i could be wrong.

A-Pro and Gaming Plus both have the same VRM if I'm not mistaken

[Haro]

Just now, BlazeWingbreaker said:

A-Pro and Gaming Plus both have the same VRM if I'm not mistaken

Ah well I'll have to double check. 

But if it is, then yea it should be at a better tier. 

[BlazeWingbreaker]

Just now, TofuHaroto said:

Ah well I'll have to double check. 

But if it is, then yea it should be at a better tier. 

it was originally in tier B(black), but then when I checked today it was Tier C(black)

 

 

though i kinda regret swapping out the B550 Tomahawk for the Gaming Plus due to lack of USB ports on the Tomahawk

[Haro]

Just now, BlazeWingbreaker said:

it was originally in tier B(black), but then when I checked today it was Tier C(black)

Ah interesting. 

The a pro at least definitely should be in tier B imo, the board and easily handle the top ryzen 9 chip. 

[BlazeWingbreaker]

Just now, TofuHaroto said:

Ah interesting. 

The a pro at least definitely should be in tier B imo, the board and easily handle the top ryzen 9 chip. 

Is the A-Pro/Gaming Plus better than X570 PG4?

 

[Haro]

4 minutes ago, BlazeWingbreaker said:

X570 PG4?

Iirc it's pretty bad. 

In terms of vrm, I forgot sadly but the a pro is really good.