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B450M Motherboard Recommendation (ASUS TUF GAMING B450M-PLUS II)

Is the ASUS TUF GAMING B450M-PLUS II a good board? CPU will be R7 2700 at stock settings. I was looking for the Asrock B450M Steel Legend, but some people say that board has lots of issues. I remember that Buildzoid recommended this TUF board as an alternative for Micro-ATX builds.

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I personally would take the Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX or Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE V2.

 

Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hpRzK8/gigabyte-b450m-ds3h-micro-atx-am4-motherboard-b450m-ds3h

Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE V2: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/yyGnTW/gigabyte-b450-aorus-elite-v2-atx-am4-motherboard-b450-aorus-elite-v2

 

I think the MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX II is also pretty decent. I know it's not mATX, but it still should be consideration if you don't already have a case.

 

MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX II: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/f7YmP6/msi-b450-tomahawk-max-ii-atx-am4-motherboard-b450-tomahawk-max-ii

 

 

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23 minutes ago, birdflyer said:

I think the MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX II is also pretty decent. I know it's not mATX, but it still should be consideration if you don't already have a case.

The case has already been purchased. I'm building the PC for a cousin, and he locked his mind for that case, so It has to be Micro-ATX.

 

Quote

I personally would take the Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX or Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE V2.

Yea, I'm also looking at those. I'm trying to make sure I get a board that will last and work with no issues.  Is the Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX a solid choice? It seems on the low-end site of things. I wouldn't like to spend a ton of money, but I'd still want a decent board.

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2 hours ago, sl0011 said:

Yea, I'm also looking at those. I'm trying to make sure I get a board that will last and work with no issues.  Is the Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX a solid choice? It seems on the low-end site of things. I wouldn't like to spend a ton of money, but I'd still want a decent board.

Yes, the DS3H (also known as the "Ultra Durable" series) is focused on stability. Gigabyte boards, have held up well in my experience, along with many others I have talked to. I have had far more issues with Asus boards. Asus does make really good motherboards, in fact, it's what I use in my rig. However, if you want stability and things to (usually) just work, I would go with Gigabyte. According to my IT friend, Gigabyte has the lowest failure rate and some of the best customer service of any MB manufacturer he has dealt with. That statement has held true in my experience.

 

The main drawback is the lack of IO both internally and externally. As long as nothing is missing from what you are planning to plug into it, you should be good to go. If you are needing more IO (if you have room in the case) you can probably buy an expansion device of some sort.

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1 hour ago, sl0011 said:

Is the ASUS TUF GAMING B450M-PLUS II a good board? CPU will be R7 2700 at stock settings. I was looking for the Asrock B450M Steel Legend, but some people say that board has lots of issues. I remember that Buildzoid recommended this TUF board as an alternative for Micro-ATX builds.

It's a good board with decent IO, especially if you have it on hand. It's pricy if you are buying new. Better go with Gygabyte mentionned up here if that'S the case.

Beware you won't b able to install R9 core in that mobo, power won't allow it.

Spoiler

 

CPU Ryzen 5900X - Motherboard Asus ROG STRIX X570-E - RAM 16GB of G.SKILL NEON 3600 -
GPU EVGA RTX 3080 XC3 - Case Mastercase H500p mesh - PSU Seasonic Focus Gx-850 -
Corsair MP600 NVME 1 Tb, Samsung 960 PRO 500 Gb & 2 Seagate Baracuda 7200 RPM 2TB in stripe -
Display two VG27AQ 2K monitor - Cooling Corsair H150 Pro - 

Keyboard G-910 W/ Romer G tactile - Mouse G 502 Hero (wired) -
Sound Logitech X-530 and Razer Tiamat headphones

Operating System Windows 10

 

 

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14 minutes ago, birdflyer said:

Yes, the DS3H is (also known as the "Ultra Durable" series) is focused on stability.

"Ultra Durable" and alphabet soup model names like DS3H are what they use for their absolute lowest of the low-end products. They're even less meaningful than Asus's "TUF" or "Strix." 

 

There is absolutely nothing special about those boards to make them "focused on stability." 

Corps aren't your friends. "Bottleneck calculators" are BS. Only suckers buy based on brand. It's your PC, do what makes you happy.  If your build meets your needs, you don't need anyone else to "rate" it for you. And talking about being part of a "master race" is cringe. Watch this space for further truths people need to hear.

 

Ryzen 7 5800X3D | ASRock X570 PG Velocita | PowerColor Red Devil RX 6900 XT | 4x8GB Crucial Ballistix 3600mt/s CL16

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23 minutes ago, Quickstrike said:

It's a good board with decent IO, especially if you have it on hand. It's pricy if you are buying new. Better go with Gygabyte mentionned up here if that'S the case.

Beware you won't b able to install R9 core in that mobo, power won't allow it.

I'm aware of the VRM limitations on this entry to mid level motherboards. I don't think I will ever try to use a 12/16 core CPU with these boards. The CPU will be my current 2700 that I know for a fact, is not very power hungry on stock settings and maybe room for 5700X in a very distant future, if my cousin ever decides to upgrade. Which I don't think he will.

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21 minutes ago, Middcore said:

"Ultra Durable" and alphabet soup model names like DS3H are what they use for their absolute lowest of the low-end products. They're even less meaningful than Asus's "TUF" or "Strix." 

 

There is absolutely nothing special about those boards to make them "focused on stability." 

Yea, I figured that's just marketing BS. I'm not really asking for much, as long as it works reasonably fine, I don't need industrial grade stability or anything, and last for several years.

But if there has been good experiences in general with low failure rates, they are probably ok for my use case.

Edited by sl0011
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Just now, sl0011 said:

But if there has been good experiences in general with low failure rates, they are probably ok for my use case.

 

That experience is entirely anecdotal. For every major hardware brand, you can find someone who will tell you "I swear by them, they've never done me wrong" and someone else who says "I would never buy from those crooks again." 

Corps aren't your friends. "Bottleneck calculators" are BS. Only suckers buy based on brand. It's your PC, do what makes you happy.  If your build meets your needs, you don't need anyone else to "rate" it for you. And talking about being part of a "master race" is cringe. Watch this space for further truths people need to hear.

 

Ryzen 7 5800X3D | ASRock X570 PG Velocita | PowerColor Red Devil RX 6900 XT | 4x8GB Crucial Ballistix 3600mt/s CL16

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1 minute ago, Middcore said:

 

That experience is entirely anecdotal. For every major hardware brand, you can find someone who will tell you "I swear by them, they've never done me wrong" and someone else who says "I would never buy from those crooks again." 

I get that, it's kinda hard to know for sure with any product, even more when it's a budget one. I know the VRM is pretty weak from the motherboard tier list and a quick google search shows ok results. I guess there's only one way to find out, since there doesn't seem to be many expert reviews on entry level boards.

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29 minutes ago, Middcore said:

"Ultra Durable" and alphabet soup model names like DS3H are what they use for their absolute lowest of the low-end products. They're even less meaningful than Asus's "TUF" or "Strix." 

 

There is absolutely nothing special about those boards to make them "focused on stability." 

Absolutely, you should not go off of marketing for anything. Real world tests by independent reviewers should be the standard you go off of.

However, in the entry level mother board space, Gigabyte does appear to have more of a focus on the durability, stability, and longevity of their boards. An example would be the use of thicker copper layers in printed circuits, and pretty solid capacitors from Japan (something that can only be said for a select few entry level boards).

 

I think this applies to all their boards, so the DS3H series is really just an "alphabet soup" made to sell stuff to you. (I'm not saying it's a bad board but, you know, marketing shenanigans)

Something like the Gigabyte B450 AORUS M might actually bet a better board for the price (assuming you don't mind buying from NewEgg): https://pcpartpicker.com/product/WcjJ7P/gigabyte-b450-aorus-m-micro-atx-am4-motherboard-b450-aorus-m

15 minutes ago, Middcore said:

 

That experience is entirely anecdotal. For every major hardware brand, you can find someone who will tell you "I swear by them, they've never done me wrong" and someone else who says "I would never buy from those crooks again." 

Ultimately, get what best suits your needs for the price range. Asus, Gigabyte, Asrock, MSi, and even Biostar have all made excellent boards. Asus, Gigabyte, Asrock, MSi, and especially Biostar have made boards that are nothing short of a fire hazard.

The experience that I shared is, yes, "entirely anecdotal". However, so are most reviews you are going to find. Unfortunately, I can not offer hard evidence that any motherboard is going to work perfectly. However, I can say that two out of the five* new Asus motherboards I have used have given me major to minor issues. Zero out of the four** motherboards I have used from Gigabyte (including a DS3H series board) have failed or had even a minor issue. To be clear, I will still probably buy Asus motherboards. The main question should be, "what is the best price to reliability and feature-set available?"

 

 

 

*

Failed or troublesome boards from Asus

Two X470 boards

Positive experience with Asus boards

One B450M, One Z390, One X470

 

**

Positive experience with Gigabyte boards

Three B550, One X470

 

***

Positive experiences with MSi

One B450

 

****

Negative experiences with Asrock

One B85

 

*****

No experience with Biostar

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2 hours ago, birdflyer said:

Absolutely, you should not go off of marketing for anything. Real world tests by independent reviewers should be the standard you go off of.

However, in the entry level mother board space, Gigabyte does appear to have more of a focus on the durability, stability, and longevity of their boards. An example would be the use of thicker copper layers in printed circuits, and pretty solid capacitors from Japan (something that can only be said for a select few entry level boards).

 

I think this applies to all their boards, so the DS3H series is really just an "alphabet soup" made to sell stuff to you. (I'm not saying it's a bad board but, you know, marketing shenanigans)

Something like the Gigabyte B450 AORUS M might actually bet a better board for the price (assuming you don't mind buying from NewEgg): https://pcpartpicker.com/product/WcjJ7P/gigabyte-b450-aorus-m-micro-atx-am4-motherboard-b450-aorus-m

Ultimately, get what best suits your needs for the price range. Asus, Gigabyte, Asrock, MSi, and even Biostar have all made excellent boards. Asus, Gigabyte, Asrock, MSi, and especially Biostar have made boards that are nothing short of a fire hazard.

The experience that I shared is, yes, "entirely anecdotal". However, so are most reviews you are going to find. Unfortunately, I can not offer hard evidence that any motherboard is going to work perfectly. However, I can say that two out of the five* new Asus motherboards I have used have given me major to minor issues. Zero out of the four** motherboards I have used from Gigabyte (including a DS3H series board) have failed or had even a minor issue. To be clear, I will still probably buy Asus motherboards. The main question should be, "what is the best price to reliability and feature-set available?"

 

 

 

*

Failed or troublesome boards from Asus

Two X470 boards

Positive experience with Asus boards

One B450M, One Z390, One X470

 

**

Positive experience with Gigabyte boards

Three B550, One X470

 

***

Positive experiences with MSi

One B450

 

****

Negative experiences with Asrock

One B85

 

*****

No experience with Biostar

Thanks for the time you took to write this. I appreciate your insight in the topic. I have personally owned Asrock and MSI AM4 boards. They all have minor issues, that's to be expected on budget parts, for sure. I also have built with B450 Arous M boards for my family, but they are a bit on the pricey side right now on my country. I know they work fine with R5 3600, fine enough to the point I have never had to give them tech support.

Furthermore, I was wondering if it would be worth it to pay more money for the TUF branded B450M, VRM sucks on all of them, but maybe the feature set would justify paying more. And also, looks play a small part in the decision-making.

I'll wait for a few days and see if they re-stock B450M motherboards and look if there's anything better. DS3H and Aourus M are into consideration for the moment. 

Edited by sl0011
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