What Motherboard Do I Get?

[WhichMotherBoardDoIPick]

Budget (including currency): 150

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Star Citzen, GTA V, ARMA 3

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 7700x, 6750 XT.

 

I need help picking a motherboard. I don't really care how they look I just care about functionality.

If there are any others that you all know of im more than happy to hear them :).

Am I crazy or is this...

ASRock B650M PG Lightning This does not have a VRM heatsink are those necessary now a days?

 

...objectively better than this one and are cheaper

ASRock A620M PRO RS WiFi****

 

If anyones wondering why not the B650M Pro RS? It's because I can only find it on Newegg and I'd rather not shop there if possible. if that motherboard is substantially better than the ones I listed I can purchase that as well.

 

[Why_Me]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BY6YRT41  

 

https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/B650M-HDVM.2/index.asp 

[BahnStormer]

Avoid the A620's when a B650 is within budget!

Quality of VRMs more important than heatsinks.... but they do still help.

 

AsRock are absolutely killing it with great value AM5 motherboards with really solid VRMs.

 

Without WiFi:

$135
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/FcbRsY/asrock-b650m-pro-rs-micro-atx-am5-motherboard-b650m-pro-rs 

With WiFi:
$150
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/qcbRsY/asrock-b650m-pro-rs-wifi-micro-atx-am5-motherboard-b650m-pro-rs-wifi

 

If your budget can stretch this is even better:
$170
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Ng2WGX/asrock-b650m-pg-riptide-wifi-micro-atx-am5-motherboard-b650m-pg-riptide-wifi

Here's a good summary:

 

[WhichMotherBoardDoIPick]

1 hour ago, Why_Me said:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BY6YRT41  

 

https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/B650M-HDVM.2/index.asp 

Is there a reason why the one i posted B650M PG Lightning is worse than the B650M-HDV/M.2?  I see that it has 8+2 VRM instead of 6+2. Is that something I should at in the future?

 

[Why_Me]

3 minutes ago, WhichMotherBoardDoIPick said:

Is there a reason why the one i posted B650M PG Lightning is worse than the B650M-HDV/M.2?  I see that it has 8+2 VRM instead of 6+2. Is that something I should at in the future?

 

Just get the one I posted and call it a day.

[RONOTHAN##]

41 minutes ago, WhichMotherBoardDoIPick said:

Is there a reason why the one i posted B650M PG Lightning is worse than the B650M-HDV/M.2?  I see that it has 8+2 VRM instead of 6+2. Is that something I should at in the future?

 

Worse VRM cooling. If you have a 7600(X), 7700(X), or 7800X3D, that isn't likely to matter, but the B650M-HDV/M.2 is just better in that regard, and since the other features are similar enough getting the board with the better VRM makes more sense. 

[BahnStormer]

13 hours ago, WhichMotherBoardDoIPick said:

Is there a reason why the one i posted B650M PG Lightning is worse than the B650M-HDV/M.2?  I see that it has 8+2 VRM instead of 6+2. Is that something I should at in the future?

 

They're all good boards.

 

PG Lightning doesn't have quite as good VRM's in terms of spec (6+2+1), but it's still very capable and it has an extra M.2 slot (albeit a "slow" x4 one), plus a WiFi variant. It still passes stress tests with a 7950X!

 

The "HDV" is where the VRM's start to get well cooled and slightly higher spec (8+2+1), but you lose out on some other features. If it does everything you need, it's a solid choice.

 

Personally was going to pick a X670E for my next gaming rig: I have a fairly substantial budget, but the B650's are so good, I'm struggling to justify the extra... personally I'm likely to go for one with WiFi like the "B650 ProRS WiFi" as I have space for full ATX and I want onboard Bluetooth... plus the VRM's are even better (14+2+1) and the WiFi is upgradable to WiFi7!

See this comparison from the AsRock site.

 

Here's my upgrade, but I'm spending £1000 (>$1250) and not touching the case/GPU/storage or even the cooler at this stage....
 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/7nTJDZ
I know the PSU is "unnecessary", but it's my own upgrade roadmap: it gets me ready for a GPU upgrade later and my son is still using my 15yr old PCP&C 610W "Silencer 1".... once both our machines are upgraded, I'll get a RTX5xxx (likely 5070) and he can have the RTX3080Ti.