Good B450 Board?

[mayonnaiseblackhole]

I am making a $800 - 900 dollar build with. 2600 and have found most of the parts I want but haven’t found a B450 board yet. What’s the best for my budget? Is it worth it going for a higher end board? I have a mid tower case. Here is my pc part picker: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WkMbTB

[GoldenLag]

Grab a B450 PRO4 board from ASrock. They are pretty decent for the price

[GoldenLag]

Qlso swap the SSD for a mx500 250GB ssd from crucial and a 1 or 2TB HDD. 

[Jurrunio]

Use Asrock B350 Pro4/B350M Pro4 instead if you're willing to take the risk of needing a BIOS update before the system works with the 2600 and want the cheapest board that doesnt suck. Asrock didnt change the components, other than the chipset between these boards.

 

If you're buying a mobo costing more than $80, dont buy Asrock boards except the super high end ones like the Taichi, because Asrock decided that everything from low end to mid range should use the same crappy mosfets. That's what ruined MSI's reputation in B350 and X370 motherboards, in which is fixed for B450 and X470 while retaining a good price. Therefore I'll recommend the MSI B450-A Pro, for its half-decent VRM heatsinks compared to brands other than Asrock (Asrock's Pro4 and K4 does it better in this regard though).

[mayonnaiseblackhole]

50 minutes ago, GoldenLag said:

Qlso swap the SSD for a mx500 250GB ssd from crucial and a 1 or 2TB HDD. 

I am not against this but why?

 

[GoldenLag]

Just now, DustierDolphin said:

I am not against this but why?

 

The SSD you picked isnt the greatest in the world. The 250 gb SSD will offer a good SSD for the OS and room for startup programs and a couple of games. The HDD will offer mass storage for games and other things that dont essebtially need fast read and write speeds

[mayonnaiseblackhole]

7 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Use Asrock B350 Pro4/B350M Pro4 instead if you're willing to take the risk of needing a BIOS update before the system works with the 2600 and want the cheapest board that doesnt suck. Asrock didnt change the components, other than the chipset between these boards.

 

If you're buying a mobo costing more than $80, dont buy Asrock boards except the super high end ones like the Taichi, because Asrock decided that everything from low end to mid range should use the same crappy mosfets. That's what ruined MSI's reputation in B350 and X370 motherboards, in which is fixed for B450 and X470 while retaining a good price. Therefore I'll recommend the MSI B450-A Pro, for its half-decent VRM heatsinks compared to brands other than Asrock (Asrock's Pro4 and K4 does it better in this regard though).

Is there any other difference between an Asrock, the B450 A Pro, and higher end B450? I don’t mind paying extra to not have to deal with the BIOS Update?

[mayonnaiseblackhole]

3 minutes ago, GoldenLag said:

The SSD you picked isnt the greatest in the world. The 250 gb SSD will offer a good SSD for the OS and room for startup programs and a couple of games. The HDD will offer mass storage for games and other things that dont essebtially need fast read and write speeds

I have a hard drive I can use for mass storage and would like a 500gb ssd any other suggestions?

 

[GoldenLag]

1 minute ago, DustierDolphin said:

Is there any other difference between an Asrock, the B450 A Pro, and higher end B450? I don’t mind paying extra to not have to deal with the BIOS Update?

All the B450 boards have the same VRMs pretty much, the difference id in the heatsinks. The Pro4 boards have them while lower end ones dont. ASrock generally have good BIOSes. You just need a 400 series board to not have to deal with the BIOS being incorrect. You will still have to update when updating the CPU ti newer than 2000 series

[Jurrunio]

1 minute ago, DustierDolphin said:

Is there any other difference between an Asrock, the B450 A Pro, and higher end B450? I don’t mind paying extra to not have to deal with the BIOS Update?

between Asrock's B450 Pro4 and MSI's B450-A, VRMs are the only thing that sets them apart. They are both pretty basic mobos otherwise.

 

Higher end B450 can offer even better VRMs, and things like multiple M.2 slots, more SATA ports, USB ports, RGB lights etc. Not needed for the 2600, but you might want them.

[GoldenLag]

2 minutes ago, DustierDolphin said:

I have a hard drive I can use for mass storage and would like a 500gb ssd any other suggestions?

 

Ok, id grab an Mx 500 500GB then. It has chache for nippy reads and writes and is rather cheap for what it offers

[mayonnaiseblackhole]

40 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

between Asrock's B450 Pro4 and MSI's B450-A, VRMs are the only thing that sets them apart. They are both pretty basic mobos otherwise.

 

Higher end B450 can offer even better VRMs, and things like multiple M.2 slots, more SATA ports, USB ports, RGB lights etc. Not needed for the 2600, but you might want them.

What is the difference between the B450M Pro4, B450 Pro4, MSI's B450-A, and an MSI tomahawk? Which one would you suggest based on my price point and needs. I am not overclocking at the start but may in the future so VRMs don't need to be crazy good but also don't go too low end.

[Jurrunio]

17 minutes ago, DustierDolphin said:

What is the difference between the B450M Pro4, B450 Pro4, MSI's B450-A, and an MSI tomahawk? Which one would you suggest based on my price point and needs. I am not overclocking at the start but may in the future so VRMs don't need to be crazy good but also don't go too low end.

B450M Pro4 is just B450 Pro4 with the middle section shortened, so it becomes mATX rather than ATX.

 

Tomahawk gets unnecessary but welcomed heatsink upgrade, new paint job as well as a USB Type-C port at the back compared to the B450-A Pro.

 

Between MSI and Asrock, MSI gets more efficient mosfets and heatsinks in the VRM department. There's also BIOS flashback function, which means MSI boards can update the BIOS without a CPU at all, while Asrock needs one that's supported by the old BIOS.

 

I myself would buy the MSI B450-A Pro, though if you think the looks are worth it, get the Tomahawk.