Good mITX AM4 motherboard?

[Daniel Z.]

I'm looking for an mITX AM4 board that's not too expensive. Under 250 CAD for sure, preferably under 175 CAD. I will not overclock. I'd prefer having USB-C and wifi but those aren't necessary. At least 1 4 pin RGB and 1 3 pin ARGB headers for sure. Colour doesn't really matter, just not green or red.

[Arrogath]

Asrock B550M-ITX/AC is an option for 205, I don't think you're going to get a front panel USB-C header under 250 CAD

edit: it may not have the best power delivery, but dropping to x470 mini ITX is going to have even worse power delivery at the low end of the price point and definitely no USB-C header. There are some good options in the previous gen that I'll leave for other people to champion, I just bought the Asus Strix B550-I myself so that I got the header

[Bombastinator]

9 minutes ago, Daniel Z. said:

I'm looking for an mITX AM4 board that's not too expensive. Under 250 CAD for sure, preferably under 175 CAD. I will not overclock. I'd prefer having USB-C and wifi but those aren't necessary. At least 1 4 pin RGB and 1 3 pin ARGB headers for sure. Colour doesn't really matter, just not green or red.

UsbC is an expensive option.  You could look at a cheap board and an expansion card perhaps.  Only deal there is adding a second card on anything cuts your pcie lanes in half.  This doesn’t really matter on x570 or b550 but it can on b450 if you’re also looking at big video cards.  A 2080ti will only just barely saturate 8 lanes of Pcie.  If you get anything less powerful than that it won’t matter.

[Arrogath]

3 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

UsbC is an expensive option.  You could look at a cheap board and an expansion card perhaps.  Only deal there is adding a second card on anything cuts your pcie lanes in half.  This doesn’t really matter on x570 or b550 but it can on b450 if you’re also looking at big video cards.  A 2080ti will only just barely saturate 8 lanes of Pcie.  If you get anything less powerful than that it won’t matter.

Seeing as they're looking at a mini-ITX board an expansion card isn't much of an option

[Mateyyy]

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/gBWfrH/msi-b450i-gaming-plus-ac-mini-itx-am4-motherboard-b450i-gaming-plus-ac

Should run a stock 12/16-core fine, WIFI AC, 2x 4-pin RGB, no 3-pin RGB and no Type-C.

 

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/G6VG3C/asrock-b550m-itxac-mini-itx-am4-motherboard-b550m-itxac

I think calling the VRM heatsink 'anemic' would be an understatement... it should work fine with an 8-core, but for a 12-core I'd probably try and get some direct airflow on the VRMs.

WIFI AC, 1x 4-pin RGB, 1x 3-pin RGB, only rear Type-C.

 

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/kbx2FT/asus-rog-strix-b450-i-gaming-mini-itx-am4-motherboard-strix-b450-i-gaming

Should run fine with a stock 12/16-core, WIFI AC, 1x 4-pin RGB, 1x 3-pin RGB, no Type-C.

 

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/rhrYcf/msi-mpg-b550i-gaming-edge-wifi-mini-itx-am4-motherboard-mpg-b550i-gaming-edge-wifi

Should run a 12/16-core with PBO fine, WIFI AX, no 4-pin RGB, 1x 3x-pin RGB, front and rear Type-C.

It's also got a fan, so... you decide how annoying that is.

 

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/9pn8TW/gigabyte-b550i-aorus-pro-ax-mini-itx-am4-motherboard-b550i-aorus-pro-ax

$10 over budget but eh.. thought I might as well mention it too.

Good for a 12/16-core with PBO, WIFI AX, 1x 4-pin RGB, 1x 3-pin RGB, only rear Type-C.

[Bombastinator]

5 minutes ago, Arrogath said:

Seeing as they're looking at a mini-ITX board an expansion card isn't much of an option

Point.  It’s the only way I can think of that even might be possible in budget though.  Pretty much have to go with b550 itx then.  Might possibly be worth looking at some of the non wifi boards if they also sell a version with wifi because then there might be an e-key slot (often sticking straight up) on the board for wifi that simply isn’t populated.  Another option is if there are multiple nvme slots finding an m-key wifi card and using a 3.0 slot on it might be doable.  Have to add the cost of the card though and the total might actually be higher.

[shaz2sxy]

The MSI B550i is probably the closet you will get for just over your budget,

 

Im personally going for the Strix B550i but i think thats a bit more in canada