Doublechecking a mobo purchase

[Imakuni]

I need to upgrade my current mobo since the VRM can't handle a 9950. I've landed on the GIGABYTE B850M Gaming X WIFI6E because:

1. According to HWUB, no power limit on the board and the vrm temps were great.
2. It's not arserock bios or asus.
3. Good price around here. I wish I could get a white board, but the only cheaper one is the M Eagle Ice, which is power limited, and the other ones are considerably more expensive.

I'm pretty sure I've got it given budget and availability constraints, but just in case I missed something, it doesn't hurt to double check.

[FilipposTechGR]

If budget is tight, it’s hard to go wrong with it. Only thing to double check is that it has all the rear I/O and expansion you need USB count, M.2 slots, etc., since VRM wise you’re covered.

[mariushm]

Any other options? 

 

The IO shield is a bit weak on USB ports ( only 4 high speed usb ports and some usb 2.0 ports most likely created by a usb 2.0 hub 

Also the m.2 slot is under the video card slot which means it would heat from the video card, and also the pci-e slots are kinda close together, the bottom x16 slot would be blocked by a thick video card or would block the video card's airflow. 

 

Also, the audio solution is the ancient ALC897, and the VRM isn't particularly great, even though it uses big heatsinks.  It has 5 phases doubled (10 power stages in total) and uses 55A power stages. There's boards with slightly better VRMs and better onboard audio.

 

Your profile says Brazil, so that's rough ... if you can list some models you're oscillating between, I could have a look and give suggestions. 

 

Gigabyte B850M Aorus Elite Wifi6e  and B560M Aorus Elite Wifi7 come with ALC1220 sound (starting with revision 1.1) and 6 phases doubled (12 power stages in total) with the same 55A power stages. 

The ATX version B850 Aorus Elite Wifi7 comes with 2x7 phases (14 power stages) but it's more expensive. 

 

Compared to the Gaming X, the Aorus Elite has bunch more usb ports on the IO shield, but you lose the extra video connectors (only one present, not that you'll use the integrated graphics with multiple monitors) and you lose the PS/2 connector. 

 

Gaming X : 

 

Aorus Elite  : 

 

You get bigger heatsink for the M.2 slot - it's still below the video card but the heatsink is bigger... 

 

 

See if you can find MSI B850M Mortar  (with or without Wifi - it comes with a tiny m.2 slot for wireless so you could add your own wireless if you have only the non wifi version). It may not be sold in Brazil. 

It has 2x6 60A vrm, ALC4080 sound, Wifi 7 (qualcomm card), reasonable io shield 

 

[Imakuni]

11 minutes ago, mariushm said:

Any other options? 

You could look at amazon.br for some pointers. Ideally I'd like to spend 1500, but I'm willing to stretch to 1700 to reach a minimum viable board...

 

I guess the other option would be to hunt for a b650 board, but it does feel kinda bad to go from a B650 to another B650 just because of the vrm.