Doubts on Motherboard

[Iphone4]

I've found a Ryzen 5 5600x at an insanely good price, I had decided on buying a B450f Rog Strix and updating the BIOS (if its posible to do without needing an older gen CPU), but im wondering if I should opt for B550 or even X570, problem is I would have to kinda strech out of my budget. The only differences I could find between the B450 and B550 seem to mainly be the lack of PCIe gen 4.0 on the B450 but most people say its hard to even tell the difference, on top of that the NVMe im buying (sn550) uses gen 3 PCIe.

Specs:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600x

MB: B450-f Rog Strix Gaming-II

PSU: Seasonic 650w 80+ gold

RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB (16gb, 2x8, 3200mhz)

Storage: M.2 NVMe sn550 (WD Blue, 500gb)

Case: Corsair 4000D

GPU: GTX 1650 (for the moment, planning to upgrade when prices come down)

 

 

[SavageNeo]

b450-f is usually overpriced for what it is. like you can usually get Msi b550-A pro for the same price.

 

2 minutes ago, Iphone4 said:

The only differences I could find between the B450 and B550 seem to mainly be the lack of PCIe gen 4.0

Spoiler

 these are the main overall differences between the B550 and B450 chipsets:

• B550 Has a PCIe 4.0 M.2 Slot: All B550 motherboards have a PCIe 4.0 M.2 slot to accommodate PCIe 4.0 SSDs, with the one exception being the Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master which has 2 PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots. B450 boards only have PCIe 3.0 M.2 slots (PCIe 4.0 SSDs can still work on them they only at PCIe 3.0 speeds).

• B550 Has a PCIe 4.0 GPU Slot: B550 motherboards also have a full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot to take full advantage of PCIe 4.0 compatible graphics cards like the Radeon RX 5700 XT (but keep in mind PCIe 4.0 doesn't matter for GPUs). B450 boards only have PCIe 3.0 x16 slots, meaning that PCIe 4.0 GPUs will run at PCIe 3.0.

• B550 Has Official Dual GPU Support: Another moot point for the far majority of people, as multi-GPU systems aren't anywhere near as popular (or effective) as they used to be. But for certain niche enthusiasts, B550s can now officially support multi-GPU technologies (SLI or NVLink for NVidia cards and/or CrossFire for AMD cards). Technically, on a B450 that has 2 full-length PCIe x16 slots, you can run dual GPUs, but the second GPU will be limited in bandwidth to something like PCIe 2.0 x4.
  
• B550 Has Gen3 PCIe Lanes: While B550 offers PCIe 4.0 slots to connect super high-speed SSDs and GPUs, the general PCIe lanes (as in, connections) between the motherboard chipset and devices plugged into the board use PCIe 3.0 instead. This is an upgrade over B450 though, which only has PCIe 2.0 general purpose lanes. In simple terms, this simply means the B550 chipset is more flexible (and faster) behind the scenes, but not as flexible/fast as X570 which has PCIe 4.0 general purpose lanes.
  
• B550 Can Support WiFi 6: WiFi 6 (also referred to as 802.11 ax) is the latest wireless standard which is included on certain B550 models that have built-in WiFi capability out of the box. WiFI 6 hasn't caught onto the mainstream just yet (like PCIe 4.0, that could take a while), therefore the fact that wireless-ready B450 models only support WiFi 5 isn't a deal-breaker for most (unless you invested, or plan to invest in one of the best gaming routers with WiFi 6).

• B550 Can Have 2.5G Ethernet: The more expensive B550 motherboards also have next-gen wired networking in the form of a 2.5 Gigabit LAN port, whereas B450 motherboards "only" have 1G (1 Gigabit) LAN ports. I say "only" because like WiFi 6, 2.5G is not a big deal as most people's routers (let alone internet plan) don't get close to maxing out a 1G Ethernet port.

• B550 Has USB 3.2 Gen2 Ports: B550 slightly beefs up I/O speeds compared to B450. Most B450 boards had USB 3.1 ports (though more recent "refreshed" B450 models like MSI's "Max" range do have USB 3.2), whereas with B550 you now have USB 3.2 Gen2 ports as standard (like X570 does). 
  
• B550 is Guaranteed for Ryzen 4000: Most (if not all) B450 motherboards will support Ryzen 4000, but only by using a beta BIOS that may have certain features missing. AMD says that B550 (or X570) is recommended for a guaranteed optimal experience with upcoming Ryzen 4000 processors. That's true, but doesn't mean B450 isn't still worth considering to use with Ryzen 4000.

• B550 Does Not Support Ryzen 2000/1000 CPUs: B550 motherboards aren't compatible with Ryzen 1000 or 2000 (only Ryzen 3000 and 4000), whereas B450 supports all Ryzen series. Just remember, if you plan to update a B450 BIOS for Ryzen 4000 (when the times comes), your B450 likely won't support earlier Ryzen CPUs (as in, there's no going back once you've done the BIOS update).

• B550 Does Not Support Ryzen 3000 APUs: Not to be confused with standard Ryzen 3000 CPUs, the Ryzen 3000 APUs (Accelerated Processing Units, AMD's term for their CPUs that have integrated graphics) include the Ryzen 3 3200G and Ryzen 5 3400G.

 

I would not get the b450-f. its just basic b450 board with little beefier VRMs and RGB. 

[tkitch]

PCI-E Gen 4 isn't terribly useful right now.

 

But Direct storage and other features will be used in the next couple years to make it useful.

[Iphone4]

13 minutes ago, SavageNeo said:

b450-f is usually overpriced for what it is. like you can usually get Msi b550-A pro for the same price.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 these are the main overall differences between the B550 and B450 chipsets:

• B550 Has a PCIe 4.0 M.2 Slot: All B550 motherboards have a PCIe 4.0 M.2 slot to accommodate PCIe 4.0 SSDs, with the one exception being the Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master which has 2 PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots. B450 boards only have PCIe 3.0 M.2 slots (PCIe 4.0 SSDs can still work on them they only at PCIe 3.0 speeds).

• B550 Has a PCIe 4.0 GPU Slot: B550 motherboards also have a full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot to take full advantage of PCIe 4.0 compatible graphics cards like the Radeon RX 5700 XT (but keep in mind PCIe 4.0 doesn't matter for GPUs). B450 boards only have PCIe 3.0 x16 slots, meaning that PCIe 4.0 GPUs will run at PCIe 3.0.

• B550 Has Official Dual GPU Support: Another moot point for the far majority of people, as multi-GPU systems aren't anywhere near as popular (or effective) as they used to be. But for certain niche enthusiasts, B550s can now officially support multi-GPU technologies (SLI or NVLink for NVidia cards and/or CrossFire for AMD cards). Technically, on a B450 that has 2 full-length PCIe x16 slots, you can run dual GPUs, but the second GPU will be limited in bandwidth to something like PCIe 2.0 x4.
• B550 Has Gen3 PCIe Lanes: While B550 offers PCIe 4.0 slots to connect super high-speed SSDs and GPUs, the general PCIe lanes (as in, connections) between the motherboard chipset and devices plugged into the board use PCIe 3.0 instead. This is an upgrade over B450 though, which only has PCIe 2.0 general purpose lanes. In simple terms, this simply means the B550 chipset is more flexible (and faster) behind the scenes, but not as flexible/fast as X570 which has PCIe 4.0 general purpose lanes.
• B550 Can Support WiFi 6: WiFi 6 (also referred to as 802.11 ax) is the latest wireless standard which is included on certain B550 models that have built-in WiFi capability out of the box. WiFI 6 hasn't caught onto the mainstream just yet (like PCIe 4.0, that could take a while), therefore the fact that wireless-ready B450 models only support WiFi 5 isn't a deal-breaker for most (unless you invested, or plan to invest in one of the best gaming routers with WiFi 6).

• B550 Can Have 2.5G Ethernet: The more expensive B550 motherboards also have next-gen wired networking in the form of a 2.5 Gigabit LAN port, whereas B450 motherboards "only" have 1G (1 Gigabit) LAN ports. I say "only" because like WiFi 6, 2.5G is not a big deal as most people's routers (let alone internet plan) don't get close to maxing out a 1G Ethernet port.

• B550 Has USB 3.2 Gen2 Ports: B550 slightly beefs up I/O speeds compared to B450. Most B450 boards had USB 3.1 ports (though more recent "refreshed" B450 models like MSI's "Max" range do have USB 3.2), whereas with B550 you now have USB 3.2 Gen2 ports as standard (like X570 does). 
• B550 is Guaranteed for Ryzen 4000: Most (if not all) B450 motherboards will support Ryzen 4000, but only by using a beta BIOS that may have certain features missing. AMD says that B550 (or X570) is recommended for a guaranteed optimal experience with upcoming Ryzen 4000 processors. That's true, but doesn't mean B450 isn't still worth considering to use with Ryzen 4000.

• B550 Does Not Support Ryzen 2000/1000 CPUs: B550 motherboards aren't compatible with Ryzen 1000 or 2000 (only Ryzen 3000 and 4000), whereas B450 supports all Ryzen series. Just remember, if you plan to update a B450 BIOS for Ryzen 4000 (when the times comes), your B450 likely won't support earlier Ryzen CPUs (as in, there's no going back once you've done the BIOS update).

• B550 Does Not Support Ryzen 3000 APUs: Not to be confused with standard Ryzen 3000 CPUs, the Ryzen 3000 APUs (Accelerated Processing Units, AMD's term for their CPUs that have integrated graphics) include the Ryzen 3 3200G and Ryzen 5 3400G.

 

I would not get the b450-f. its just basic b450 board with little beefier VRMs and RGB. 

Just checked, I couldnt find any b550-A pro, I could find B550M from Gigabyte and again, B550 Rog Strix, but those are way too expensive (not the b550m, only the Rog Strix).
Where I live all B450 boards are around same price, Rog Strix is only about $13 USD more than the cheaper B450s, and I gotta admit it looks amazing.

[SavageNeo]

2 minutes ago, Iphone4 said:

here I live all B450 boards are around same price, Rog Strix is only about $13 USD more than the cheaper B450s

get the board then.

[Iphone4]

1 minute ago, SavageNeo said:

get the board then.

Thanks for the replies.

So you reckon that I wont """bottleneck""" my CPU with my MB?. 
Only thing that I couldnt find online is whether the BIOS can be updated without a CPU on the B450-f, some say no, but I have a friend who owns the exact same motherboard and on the back it has a USB port that says BIOS and has a tiny button over it.