MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk v/s MPG B550 Gaming Edge

[AncientPistol]

I'm building a new AMD PC, currently with Ryzen 3700x, 16GB 3600 MHz CL16 RAM and Nvidia 2070 Super.

 

For the MOBO I am looking at MPG B550 Gaming Edge (WiFi) to get the most out of my 3700x which I will pair with an NZXT Kraken X63 280mm AIO and also be able to upgrade to a more powerful CPU in the future (perhaps Ryzen 4000 series).

 

But then I saw the AMD motherboard tier list and there the MSI B550 Tomahawk is listed as tier S while the B550 Edge is not present. The X570 Edge however is present in the tier C so does the B550 also lie there? Looking at the product pages of the Tomahawk and the Gaming edge I see no difference whatsoever. 

 

From what I know the MPG series is higher end compared to the MAG series, so the tier list confused me especially since according to MSI's official specs they are identical. Given this, which motherboard is better for my use case? Price wise the I can get the Edge with wifi for less than $20 extra over the Tomahawk (without wifi).

 

Also another question - For the current specs and possibility of upgrade in the future, will a 650W PSU be fine or should I get something higher capacity?

 

pcpartpicker list

[marmour]

5 minutes ago, AncientPistol said:

But then I saw the AMD motherboard tier list and there the MSI B550 Tomahawk is listed as tier S while the B550 Edge is not present. The X570 Edge however is present in the tier C so does the B550 also lie there? Looking at the product pages of the Tomahawk and the Gaming edge I see no difference whatsoever. 

I haven't seen any reviews of the Edge yet whereas I have seen very good reviews of the Tomahawk. I would imagine the Edge will be a very good board. X570 was a bit of a blip for MSI, where they screwed up most of their low end boards. If you can wait, I would imagine within the next few weeks there should be some reviews of the Edge wifi. If not the tomahawk is an amazing board, and you can always add a PCIe wifi card.

7 minutes ago, AncientPistol said:

will a 650W PSU be fine or should I get something higher capacity?

650W is plenty. I would consider getting a slighly better unit than you have picked though. Look at the A or B+ tiers of the PSU tier list in the sub-forum

[Mateyyy]

The Gaming Edge WIFI has 60A smart power stages, while the Tomahawk is not 55A Dr. MOS, so the Gaming Edge has slightly better power delivery, but the Tomahawk can still handle even a 3950X just fine so it's not like you'll ever notice the difference. Heatsinks are also pretty similar between the two iirc.

Other than that, pretty much the only difference I can think of is that the Gaming Edge has onboard WiFi 6, whereas the Tomahawk has dual LAN, but since both the 2.5G and 1G are Realtek, it's not that useful really.

 

Basically, if you need onboard WiFi, get the Gaming Edge. Otherwise, get the Tomahawk.

 

Edit: Okay nevermind, they're both on 60A smart power stages, so the VRM is the same on both. I confused them with Z490.

Only notable difference is the WIFI, and I guess the fact that the Gaming Edge WIFI has a heatspreader for the bottom M.2 slot as well, not just the top one.

Edited July 2, 2020 by Mateyyy

[AncientPistol]

14 minutes ago, marmour said:

650W is plenty. I would consider getting a slighly better unit than you have picked though. Look at the A or B+ tiers of the PSU tier list in the sub-forum

The cooler master PSU I have currently selected is in the B+ tier of PSU list. Should I specifically look for a 80+ gold certification? I thought bronze would be just fine also.

[Mateyyy]

13 minutes ago, AncientPistol said:

The cooler master PSU I have currently selected is in the B+ tier of PSU list. Should I specifically look for a 80+ gold certification? I thought bronze would be just fine also.

The efficiency rating doesn't directly correlate with the quality of a PSU. The MWE Bronze V2 is a decent unit, but for these parts I'd personally get something better.

 

I've made some slight adjustments to your build. Here's what I'd recommend:

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/vZNs3t

 

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($273.47 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black 55 CFM CPU Cooler  ($69.98 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI MPG B550 GAMING EDGE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard 
Memory: Crucial Ballistix RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory  ($96.99 @ B&H) 
Storage: Western Digital SN750 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($134.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB Video Card  ($499.99 @ Best Buy) 
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case  ($99.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: be quiet! Straight Power 11 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($109.90 @ B&H) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 82.52 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($24.90 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 82.52 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($24.90 @ Amazon) 

Total: $1335.10

[AncientPistol]

1 hour ago, Mateyyy said:

The efficiency rating doesn't directly correlate with the quality of a PSU. The MWE Bronze V2 is a decent unit, but for these parts I'd personally get something better.

 

I've made some slight adjustments to your build. Here's what I'd recommend:

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/vZNs3t

 

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($273.47 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black 55 CFM CPU Cooler  ($69.98 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI MPG B550 GAMING EDGE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard 
Memory: Crucial Ballistix RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory  ($96.99 @ B&H) 
Storage: Western Digital SN750 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($134.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB Video Card  ($499.99 @ Best Buy) 
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case  ($99.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: be quiet! Straight Power 11 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($109.90 @ B&H) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 82.52 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($24.90 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 82.52 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($24.90 @ Amazon) 

Total: $1335.10

Unfortunately the PSU you suggested is not available in my region. How is Corsair TX650M? It is similarly priced and has good reviews on the site. 

 

Also what are the reasons for suggesting the reference 2070 Super compared to the gigabyte one?

[Mateyyy]

6 minutes ago, AncientPistol said:

Unfortunately the PSU you suggested is not available in my region. How is Corsair TX650M? It is similarly priced and has good reviews on the site. 

 

Also what are the reasons for suggesting the reference 2070 Super compared to the gigabyte one?

In that case I would also look for a Corsair RMx, Seasonic Focus PX or Prime Platinum. If those aren't available either (or if they're too pricey), then the TX650M is also a solid choice and should have no problem with these parts.

I didn't pick the reference 2070S for any particular reason really. The Gigabyte Windforce model should be solid and probably better for cooling than the reference model, so go for that.