Links to all the boards in the description. Note that some haven't been listed in some regions yet. Buy our X570 Chipset Metro poster on the GN store to support our work while getting an educational representation of the chipset I/O specs: store.gamersnexus.net/products/x570-chipset-metro-station-poster-18-x-24 Watch our Lian Li Lancool II Mesh review here: ua-cam.com/video/_JSLWewcieY/v-deo.html Find Buildzoid here: ua-cam.com/channels/rwObTfqv8u1KO7Fgk-FXHQ.html
Yeah, but unfortunately, motherboard prices have been going up with every generation. At current prices, I don't suggest the average user buying a motherboard above $200 USD, and that pretty much only applies to the X570 and Z490, but there's not much point of an X570 for the average user when B550s are out and I don't recommend any CPU that makes use of the Z490, so yeah, $180 USD is probably the most money the average user should pay for a motherboard. Most people should be looking at the $150 and below realistically speaking. Funnily enough, there are people out there getting $400 motherboards for the sake of getting one. Ask them which feature they need from it, and it's either no answer or they bring something up that a $150 motherboard has. I guess this is why manufacturers make so many product stacks and can continue to do so, because some people are buying based on price, not based on needs.
BZ had to be picky with this one too, like he said in the intro, because there are so damn many boards now! We cut the most expensive ones because it starts making more sense to just buy X570 instead at those ~$180-200+ prices.
@@GamersNexus Yes/no - Most X570 boards (all except the Aorus Xtreme) have active cooling. To me, this means that any B550 board cheaper than the Xtreme with passive cooling is worth considering. Not everyone's as sensitive to/intolerant of tiny fans as me, though.
@@GamersNexus I agree. You want a good, not very expensive ''B550'' motherboard? Buy the X570 MSI Tomahawk. All B550 have compromises that I'm not willing to deal with...
Just commenting to tell you guys you're both fucking amazing. Steve, you're probably my biggest role model and I feel like I couldn't choose anyone more appropriate for the position, and bz, I feel like you genuinely brought low level motherboard features closer to the mainstream, actually affecting design and engineering of new products. Thanks Keegan, Andrew and anyone else assisting GN for the awesome stuff you do. Yeah I've had a few drinks tonight for those who find my comment weird
Your grammar critique is unnecessary. My b450 board I got was ripped by Hardware Unboxed and others. Gigabyte made a revision. I bought that mb, Gigabyte Aourus Wifi Pro back in Jan 2019 for $105. A year and a half later the price has creeped up to $130 and I've had no issues with my 2700 and 32 Gb of 3000 Mhz ram, 1 Tb nvme ssd on that board
Thanks for including micro-ATX. It's too often ignored/overlooked but I use & love this form factor. So to me the video wouldn't have been worth a watch without this inclusion :)
@@backupplan6058 wdym, he basically does this already, especially when talking about AM4 boards, it's goes postcode, Pcie slot arrangement, Usb ports, usb ports, memory topology, Vcore Vrm
Probably one of the best reviews, please keep uploading. 03:10 downsides 4-layer pcb might be worse at memory overclocking when running a lot of ram ... or just 4 ingle rank sticks you're not gonna have problems 03:30 it's only if you're gonna be like running 4 dual rank sticks that you might start running into issues 05:55 GIGABYTE B550 AORUS PRO (rev. 1.0) 06:41 6-layer pcb 09:30 GIGABYTE B550 AORUS ELITE (rev. 1.0) 4-layer pcb 11:24 if all you are interested in is hammering a 3950X this is gonna do a great job 11:40 MSI B550-A-PRO 140$ uses a revised version of the X470 gaming pro carbon vrm, ... not as rediculously as good as the B550 as the elite or the pro or the steel legend ... 4-layer pcb ... you kind of get a little bit of everything 14:41 mATX boards
10:00 Look at the line below! The board is capable of 4733MHz, so there's nothing wrong with the topology, they probably just don't validate it above 4000MHz with Ryzen 3000 because no-one should be running RAM above that with Ryzen 3000 anyway.
and I also just watched this before his video (as he recommended in the comment section, when I was writing that comment I didn't know it was nexus gamers who cut it (their decision is fine imo, but I can understand why you are sad about it)
Something niche that's nice though on some (e.g., the B550 Steel Legend) is that the PCIe x1 slots are open - in case you need to fit an x2/x4/x8 card and don't have a free slot, and are OK with the bandwidth limitation. Useful? Not for most, but when it's useful, it's REALLY useful.
Quick question; I built and worked on a few thousand pc from 1999 to 2015. During those years, ASUS boards were highly reliable, event the cheap versions, Gygabyte were also reliable ( about 5% return rates within 2 years). MSI were a bit problematic with about 15% returns in 2 years. ASROCK were abysmal with about a 33% return rate . At one point, I just refused costumers who insisted on ASROCK. Whit your recent experience, what is now the status on reliability issues of these companies ?
I seriously love these MB roundups, MBs are by their nature complicated things so these really help me when people want parts lists and such for their builds :)
Actually interesting that no mention of MSI B550 Tomohawk and MPG Gaming edge. Additionally I was more interested in boards with WIFI , so looks like Aorus Pro AC it is when it comes to upgrade.
@@AllanHundeboll That's cause B550 only supports only one M.2 SSD with full PCI-E 4.0 speed. You shouldn't really use the second M.2 slot cause you automatically loose 2-3 SATA ports on the motherboard and the speed of the SSD is reduced by more then 50% even if it is a PCI 3.0x4. If you wan't to use more then one M.2 SSD at full speed buy a x570 motherboard.
You wouldn't want to upgrade to 500-series before Ryzen 4000 desktop launches anyway, and by then (hopefully) pricing will have dropped a bit. If you're planning on getting a Ryzen 3000 or lower, get a B450 motherboard.
Really depends on what you are running now. Is the upgrade needed or can you run it one more year and make the proper upgrade to DDR5 and the new AMD socket? Which will give you a foundation for atleast another 3-4 years.
@@c99kfm thats what i thought. ryzen 4000 is so close to release now. it doesn't really make sense to buy a b550 +ryzen 3600 at current price. if b550 priced more reasonably, i would bite the bullet .
@mister.T Jr after all these discussions you still have no idea why we are waiting and we are the idiots? well... you might not be as intelligent as you think you are.
@@eltiondanglli4217 He said in his own video why he didn't include it. It has 6 USBs at the rear which isn't enough for him. Other than that it's great... I find it weird that it's not included because most people won't use more than that anyways
The B550M Mortar WiFi is looking like the best, the middle board. I am looking to use that one I think to build my Nephew a starter system, so he has some room to upgrade down the line. Thanks for the Video!
8:47 When you change the dram frequency the board automatically changes the timings you have manually set (source: buildzoid's random b550 oc stream on 20/08/12)
I was just replacing my crosshair v formula z, loved the fact it had a post code. The fact lower end boards still dont have one as a minimum requirement is crazy considering how long its been.
I haven't needed to see a post code on a build for years. Just don't think it's that necessary unless you're overclocking, and apparently the manufacturers agree.
I chose the B550M Mortar WiFi for my build. At stock settings my 3900xt scores CPUMark 34433 (average of 11 tests, global average 33022 for 3900xt), with a single core score of 2934 (average of 6 tests, global average 2804 for 3900xt). All board temperatures below 50 degrees centigrade with one 120mm exhaust fan. It is memory fussy, follow the certified vendor list. Thanks for this review which helped me. Bluetooth is also included as part of the WiFi implementation on this board. The supplied 'rabbit ear' antennas are not very high quality.
@Gamers Nexus I noticed you did not cover the MSI MPG B550 Gaming Plus motherboard. It is $10 more than the MSI B550-A Pro. I had the opportunity to pick up the Gaming Plus at $99 and I did. To me, the only difference that I can find on paper/visually is that the Gaming Plus appears to have better VRM heatsinks with builtin I/O plate. Gaming Plus has the same sound chipset but offers HD output (SPIDF) and couple of LED's under the chipset heatsink but I think board also provides RGB control but maybe the A Pro does too, not sure. To me the builtin I/O and heatsink is worth the $10 extra alone. I'm wondering why this board was omitted form your overview? I've read elsewhere that power delivery is different but would like to know more. Thanks.
Think you guys missed an important point with the m-atx pcie config. Specifically that having the pciex16 in the second slot allows for mounting large CPU coolers, such as a Thermalright Macho or a Noctua D15.
Thanks, this really helped me. I was indecisive between the Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro and Elite. I will get the Pro for 165€ now, hoping it will serve me well for five or more years. For now with a 3900X and at some point perhaps a Zen 3 chip once those hit the used market.
Great round-up! Always love your content. There are a few points I think you missed out on, IMO. The B550M Steel Legend really seems worth considering for mATX boards. It's less than your top two picks for mATX, and the only one that uses SATA designated lanes for the 2nd M.2 slot, instead of lanes for the 2nd PCIe slot. Also, the B550 Phantom Gaming ITX is still a worthwhile mini ITX IMO. It may only be $20 cheaper than its X570 variant, but the X570 version also doesn't have a 2nd M.2. That lack of a 2nd M.2 kills the X570 Phantom Gaming as an option in any build for me. I think any of the mini ITX B550 boards in the $180-$200 range (so the Aorus, Phantom Gaming, and Gaming Edge) are worthwhile. The MSI and ASRock boards are $20 more than the Gigabyte B550, and only $20 less than the Gigabyte X570, but both also come with USB Type-C headers (which neither Gigabyte does). The only mini ITX where I think it's stupid to get the B550 over the X570 is the ASUS. At $230 for the B550 and only $250 for the X570, the B550 is a poor choice imo. Unless you're completely set on an ASUS board and have to have a Type-C header. Though, I suppose the same argument could be made of the B550 ASrock/MSI vs the X570 Gigabyte. Regardless, great round up. I've got a B550 Tomahawk sitting next to me waiting to be tested, and will be grabbing a mini ITX or mATX B550 for a build in the next month or so. Looking forward to trying them out, and to seeing more in-depth B550 testing from you!
I know this guy goes on about post codes and most dont care, but as someone who has had to trouble shoot faulty hardware it is a life saver! If you ever plan on buying used parts and fliping them this can really help.
Bummer the 550 tomahawk wasn't listed given its really great power delivery and thermals but I'm guessing it using debug LEDs instead of a post code is what prevented it from being on here. Really great list though and it's good to see that there's a lot of really good options for b550 boards
I was waiting for this too. I guess the price is one of the worst points, I would go X570 if they are too close but I really hate the chipset fan. I just can't stand it :/
@@sweetyfox7058 nah, the lack of a chipset fan and better thermals than most x570 boards makes the tomahawk worth the cost. But I get why it might scare some people off. It's also 180 bucks like the Asus and gigabyte atx boards mentioned. I'm also not in a situation where I'd need multiple pcie gen 4 SSDs (which many many people don't need) so thermals and longevity are my two utmost critical needs. B550 boards deliver better on that and with less points of failure. In the end you get what you pay for to an extent and the 180 b550 boards seem to be the sweet spot for performance, overclocking, durability and reliability.
@@martinquintana2458 I got my tomahawk for 180 (got lucky on the draw at Newegg) and I think it's worth it from a reliability standpoint. Definitely check out some of the other boards mentioned in this video though. If you don't need multiple pcie gen 4 SSDs then stick with b550. Only thing I can think of for needing that much pcie bandwidth for storage is multiple 8k video renderings or utramsssive engineering projects like a full scale internal and Boeing 787 for example. Most of the population doesn't need multi pcie gen 4 tbh.
It got dropped cause of lack of usb ports and a useless additional obsolete previous generation lan port. I mean I was surprised when they announced the board and saw almost no usb ports there.
The whole time he kept talking about running a 3950X. I'm like, "Dude, they're budget boards. Be realistic. 90% of these boards ain't touching a CPU over 3700X. Stop obsessing about that damn $700 chip." It's like test bench channels doing comparisons between i3s and 3300X using a 2080TI. Something those CPUs will most likely never be paired with on the same MB.
The UA-camr, Buildzoid, overclocks alot thats why his channel name is "Actually overclocking". If it can run a 3950x at stock then it will easily run low end cpus without issues. It's much quicker to just talk about the high end because of that. Most people who have a fucking brain would realize this.
Agree. Seems this guy only cares about boards you can run a 1000$ CPU on, overclocked of course. And that is totally fine, but don't say every other board is "terrible". The video says "Best B550 boards for Ryzen CPUs", well, last time I checked Ryzen 3, Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 existed. It is not just Ryzen 9 out there. In fact, most of us don't care about Ryzen 9 at all.
For anyone watching this end of 2020 - MSI B550 A-Pro ended up being an overclocking beast. Personally, I got better results with it than on my Aorus Elite X570 with R5 5600 and R5 3900. Originally planned to keep the AE and use A-Pro for GF's build, but she got the X570 mobo as the A-Pro with the 11/20 BIOS nets me ~ extra 200MHz OC and cooler VRM temps. And, it cost half the price /facepalm...
My two cents on the 160+$ mATX boards. Both the tuf and the mortar have pcie limitations. The tuf B550m with the spacing and if the first 1x is used, the last 4x (if you can fit the card) drop down to 2x. The B550m mortar is even worse in my opinion on that. If you use the 4x slot, the second m.2 ssd slot is disabled or vice versa, and since it has so few USB 3 ports you might add a card in that slot which limits the ssd expansion. Therefor I do believe that the B550m steel legend should be in the mix (and why I plan to buy that one), all pcie slots run as specified but the secondary m.2 only is a 2x which is not that big of a issue to most people if you use sata storage m.2 or a slower nvme drive and you already use a good nvme in the first m.2 slot. The steel legend only disable 2 data ports (down to 4 total) if the second m.2 is used but I do believe the board is the least expansion limiting of the 3. I hope the vrm is good enough for a 10 core with pbo though
@@detective_orange6280 ehm its included in the thumbnail and the discription says its in it. Doesn't matter if its trash or not, thats not the point and no answer at all lol.
I'm happy with my B550M Pro4. Look at the features: 3 M.2 slots (2 for SSDs 1 for WiFi. It even has an antenna bracket) 6 PWM headers 2 USB 3.0 headers 2 RGB and 2 ARGB headers. The only thing missing is a USB-C header. VRM is adequate except for overclocking. I don't think you can expect more at this level. It's well worth $115 and a steal for the $90 I paid for it.
@@ActuallyHardcoreOverclocking Thought it was something like that, most of these B550 boards are too damn similar and decent, i have the B550M Steel Legend and so far my only complain is that the LED's on the board dont fucking turn off when the PC is powered off.
MSI boards are good but not as great as the boards featured in the list as aorus pro has better heatsinks and features but no post code whereas the steel legend has that but lacks some features and heatsink. MSI is somewhat in between don't get me wrong it has some nice boards but got left out by more niche products.
@@winnieid2727 Yeah I saw that, but those aren't as in depth as the actual board review when he gets high res pictures of the naked boards. Specifically I want to know if MSI on the B550i implemented the same level of care for memory overclocking as they did for the z490i.
I was gonna go with the Aourus elite but I realized there was only 3 system fan headers😡 so I canceled that order and got a b550-a pro for $15 cheaper and it did the job better
@@omegaPhix I don’t like splitters because the mobo thinks that only one fan is plugged in so I can’t change them individually. A hub is even worse cause it’s not controllable through BIOS and you can’t really set fan curves.
@@Proffesor_Z A hub is just a fancy splitter, wasn't talking about an external fan controller. Do you really have a seperate fan curve for every single fan in your system?
Thank you guys for making this video, I was searching for this a lot. I am tied up between of "Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite" and "MSI B550-A Pro", Trying to see more in-depth review, Would this be a good pick among the others? in terms of good thermal performance and the durability, in the long run.
@@martinquintana2458 according to the video no. I got the asus b550 rog strix f gaming. It was a $190 board. Im planning on using it for the upcoming 4000 series cpus so it should be good for that
@TotallyTrix that's a really good board. Sadly it didn't make it to this video but I like the looks of it and I heard it's pretty feature rich. Enjoy your buy!
I picked up the Mortar WiFi and the Aorus ITX. I absolutely loved the Mortar, and the silver heat sinks are nice. The Gigabyte has been running good too but I had mad issues with audio drivers at first boot.
So not quite an exhaustive review of what’s out there currently. First of all, I have (and only will have for the foreseeable future), an mATX box and so I am interested only in mATX B550M motherboards. You reviewed the B550 ASRock Steel Legend, but you neglected to mention the mATX version! (Is it the same? Did it fail to earn mention because of performance, lack of features, etc.?) The MSI MAG B550M Bazooka was also ignored. (Is there a reason?) The review I would really like to see is for the Colorful CVN B550M Gaming Frozen V14. Primary interest is that it’s a white board and would best suit my current desktop if I upgrade from my current Ryzen 5-2600 to a Ryzen 3000. Though incomplete, it is the best review of these boards I have seen thus far.
Can someone help me understand the meaning of the memory rank because the explanations on the Internet are so complicated and the only thing that I understood is that there is a dual, quad and single rank, but I did not understand the difference And will it affect performance or stability? How to now how much pcb layer in thé mobo
A rank is a section of the memory within a channel that the memory controller is able to access/control independently, but not simultaneously). More ranks is harder for the memory controller to manage, which makes memory overclocking harder, but it also allows "rank interleaving" where one rank is accessed while the other is in a refresh cycle, which effectively reduces latency. If you put multiple DIMMs (memory sticks) into each channel, the ranks remain separate (i.e. if you put two dual-rank sticks into one memory channel, you have 4 ranks). A rank is made up of 8 memory chips, so DIMMs with two rows of 8 chips or with 8 chips on both sides of the PCB (usually 16GB sticks) are dual-rank, and DIMMs with two rows on both sides (usually 32GB) are quad-rank. All 4GB DDR4 DIMMs are single-rank. Some games (Codemasters' F1 games are my go-to example of games that love memory rank interleaving) and some other software really benefit from dual-rank memory, while others don't benefit from it at all. Quad-rank memory is mostly a bad choice because it is likely to limit your memory clocks while the interleaving provides diminishing returns beyond dual-rank. If you're heavily overclocking your memory you should get single-rank, but for general use it might be better to get 1 dual-rank DIMM per channel, or 2 single-rank DIMMs per channel.
3 роки тому
@@nathangamble125 hey bro why didn't bullzoid recommend b550 tomhawk,tuf gaming plus,gaming edge,f gaming?and what about itx Mobo of msi?his whole list is filled with gigabyte can you tell me which is better gigabyte b550,msi or asus?
Got the ASRock B550M Pro4 for about $75 when I bought a new 3600 ($50 discount for pairing). Also one of the only mATX boards in stock. Should be an nice upgrade over my 9 year old Xeon E5520.
Upon each manufacturer's website, they provide the marketing mumbo jumbo and PDF documents for each manual. I find MSI likes to do silly things like refer to their PCB as *"server-grade"* rather than elaborating on the details. I expect without having access to the motherboards and without being knowledgeable, most individuals will rely upon reputable sources for learning the specifics of VRM or PCB quality. Of course, B550 is early in its lifetime and so much more will be known a year from now as to which boards are desirable. These motherboard pages are _full_ of details and excess. You may want to do a search for "PCB" when on a page, using standard web browser shortcuts CTRL+F.
@ Captain Price, I think they're probably all decent motherboards for most average consumers and enthusiasts. Most folks look first for the features they want in a motherboard. You find something you like, Captain Price, and then you weigh that against the opinions of reviewers and articles you find online about that product. I feel Buildzoid is a bit of an engineer mentality. Maybe Buildzoid is focused on things like efficiency, not having waste or what is unnecessary or impractical. But overall, I feel most of these motherboards are probably fine, Captain Price. Look for what you like, and weigh reviews and customer ratings against that. You'll land on something you like eventually, and you'll be happy with it. Remember these motherboards are like foundational features. They provide us the standards and interfaces we deal with, like which ports we have and how many, which sockets we support, and all that ultimately details which components we will be dealing with when building and upgrading our machines. But the motherboards are, again, foundational, and ultimately tend not to be the deciding factor in what makes your computer good in any one way. Typically, your CPU or GPU, or the quantity or speed of your storage or memory, or the inadequacy of your power supply will probably all be a factor more noticeably weighing down and limiting your system before your motherboard is. Especially where these modern B450 and B550 boards are concerned. I think they're mostly all great and adequate for most folks, Captain Price. I wish you well, Captain Price. If you're building your first machine, I wish you well and I hope you're not too anxious or scared or anything about making mistakes. Enjoy yourself! Those ASUS and MSI boards are just fine. Use whichever you like.
So, is there going to be an X-570 video too??? I definitely want to figure out what a good motherboard would be for a computer, and I definitely want the x570 or whatever the you know latest and greatest AMD boards are, to have that forward compatibility that some of the stuff going on now hints that being available on the 570 platform
Plz mention the boards when you talk about them, I often just listen to the vids like a podcast so "this board" vs "this board" is annoying esp as you jump from one to another all the time. Would have liked to see more ATX boards in the comparison but okay, you wanted to do a "best of" (knowing that whatever board sucks and esp why is also a good thing to know). I don t know if it was your choice of boards there or if there really are far more better M-boards than ATX variants...which I really doubt. Just for the form factor alone, I don t know anyone who d pick a M-board in the first place. Appreciate your work and dedication educating ppl on mobos but from a consumer advice perspective, this one was disappointing.
"The high-end boards cost too much, the low-end boards suck too much." My man buildzoid just captured every single motherboard in existence with that one sentence.
Tip: Your audience breathes at the same rate as narrator - this has been one hell of an exhausting video to watch. 29 mins of fast-talking Micro-Machines narration...feel like i just ran a marathon! Please! Slow down...make a longer video...or summarize more. Pause between sentences. Split video between ATX / Micro ATX...something please. I
Might just be me, but I never noticed it. I like the information in this, “fast as possible format”, plus it’s easier to go back and forth to compare features.
You are correct on the ds3h board if you overclock it at all the vrm will get so hot you can smell it cooking with 7 120mm fans running full blast and a 200mm intake fan aswell, it works fine on stock but if your pushing the limit stay away from it far away This is with a 5600x 6C/12T and a RTX 3070ti NO OC on the GPU JUST CPU
Asus has done a great job at fixing their X5XX BIOS's. I picked up the X570 Strix E on launch day, it it was full of problems, didn't boost for crap, didn't have options to enable it disable spread spectrum so bclk was stuck at 99.69 and BLK only adjusted in increments of 1mhz, and a ton of other issues. Now it has spread spectrum, a ton of cpu support, manual control over the current detection offset, more memory controls, BLK is adjusted in 0.00675 MHz increments, etc. It's soooo much better now.
Just picked up the b550 auros pro ac (the one with WiFi and Bluetooth) on amazon. I bought it used via amazon warehouse condition was described as very good and I paid 152 bucks for it versus the 209 bucks for new. It arrived and the box wasn’t even damaged like it said it might be. The box was sealed and motherboard was sealed inside an anti static bag and everything was in there in the original bag. I basically got a new motherboard for 50 dollars off. EDIT: you can still buy a auros pro ac b550 on amazon right now used-very good for 152 bucks. If its anything like the one I got its basically a new board someone sent back and never opened it.
Currently I have the B550M-DS3H. It ain't bad, was able to increase voltage and overclock. Better than the previous generation of DS3H. It ain't horrible.
This was an excellent break down of MBs, sticking to the ones that make sense (not too expensive, or too cheap and crappy), and breaking down by size (mATX fan here). Is there an Intel Z490 breakdown like this?
Is the difference between a 1gb and 2.5gb realtek(?) lan significant? And what about the B550 tomahawk? Just curious as to why it didn't make the line up. Thanks for the reply!
The reason I bought a $220 Strix B550-i and not a ASUS TUF Gaming B550M-Plus is I have a EVOLV Shift Air ITX case. I like the ITX form factor. Will have to look and see if you did a review of the Strix B550-i.
I'm going for an ITX rig, ditching a way better ATX system that I've already have, and the main problem is availability, so now I might end with a B550 because the X570 that are in stock are way overpriced. Yet also there aren't many B550 in stock if any.
I'm curious as to your thoughts on the MSI B550M Bazooka. The rest of it is a bit barebones, yeah, but if you're looking for raw VRM performance, it's apparently something of a value king.
I have the Mortar, the VRM's solution is one of the best out there but the PCIe slot position in this board is worse than TUF Gaming an others, if the second m2 slot is occupied this disables the last PCIe x16 which would facilitate the installation of additional cards. It's simply a ridiculous layout, in TUF at least there is a top PCIe x1 above the GPU slot with free space for those with thicker GPU's.
In response to one of the things you said about the Aorus pro, one of the things I've found with my NH-D15 is that it prevents some gpus from fitting in the first slot where a pcie slot could go, the one in line with the screw hole. So, while it can be kinda like an itx board connectivity wise, I think that configuration makes more sense for a majority of people who will only ever run a single gpu anyways, especially considering this is a lower cost mATX board.
I used to use Gigabyte boards for all my builds back in the thunderbird days. I gave up on them when they made everything look like a transformer and put orange and beafy armed eagles on everything.
Links to all the boards in the description. Note that some haven't been listed in some regions yet.
Buy our X570 Chipset Metro poster on the GN store to support our work while getting an educational representation of the chipset I/O specs: store.gamersnexus.net/products/x570-chipset-metro-station-poster-18-x-24
Watch our Lian Li Lancool II Mesh review here: ua-cam.com/video/_JSLWewcieY/v-deo.html
Find Buildzoid here: ua-cam.com/channels/rwObTfqv8u1KO7Fgk-FXHQ.html
Too bad he didn't mention the ASRock B550 Extreme4.
thanks for you tireless work, we really appreciate it.
Make a I like C O D E S shirt lol
Look at bottom of this reddit picture x590 board. i.redd.it/1ugbz0ccpg551.jpg
Y
"The high-end boards cost too much. The low-end boards suck too much"
My sentiment exactly 😂
This should be the slogan for every motherboard manufacturer.
Darkswordz for every pc part manufacturer in general lol
Even mid-range is too expensive. It is pointless to buy a B550 board now. AM4 is at end of life and B450 will support Zen3 too.
Yeah, but unfortunately, motherboard prices have been going up with every generation. At current prices, I don't suggest the average user buying a motherboard above $200 USD, and that pretty much only applies to the X570 and Z490, but there's not much point of an X570 for the average user when B550s are out and I don't recommend any CPU that makes use of the Z490, so yeah, $180 USD is probably the most money the average user should pay for a motherboard. Most people should be looking at the $150 and below realistically speaking.
Funnily enough, there are people out there getting $400 motherboards for the sake of getting one. Ask them which feature they need from it, and it's either no answer or they bring something up that a $150 motherboard has. I guess this is why manufacturers make so many product stacks and can continue to do so, because some people are buying based on price, not based on needs.
For the price of a better B550 you could get a good x570 for not a lot more...
Thanks, I was searching for this earlier today and nobody has really gotten a comprehensive "Best of b550" yet
BZ had to be picky with this one too, like he said in the intro, because there are so damn many boards now! We cut the most expensive ones because it starts making more sense to just buy X570 instead at those ~$180-200+ prices.
@@GamersNexus yep, I just got an Asus tuf gaming plus wifi for 180.
@@GamersNexus Makes complete sense.
@@GamersNexus Yes/no - Most X570 boards (all except the Aorus Xtreme) have active cooling. To me, this means that any B550 board cheaper than the Xtreme with passive cooling is worth considering. Not everyone's as sensitive to/intolerant of tiny fans as me, though.
@@GamersNexus I agree. You want a good, not very expensive ''B550'' motherboard? Buy the X570 MSI Tomahawk. All B550 have compromises that I'm not willing to deal with...
00:00 Intro
01:34 B550 Steel legend
05:57 B550 Aorus Pro
09:28 B550 Aorus Elite
11:38 B550-A Pro
14:40 B550M Plus / B550M Mortar
17:44 B550M Aorus Pro
20:03 B550M Pro4
22:22 B550M DS3H
23:54 B550I Aorus Pro AX
25:56 B550M-ITX/ac
28:00 Conclusion
Thanks! The hero we did not deserve.
@@merlingt1 Yes, this confirms that the Vision D board is not actually covered. :(
@BattoEnstien the hero we don't deserve.
@@Bamfhammer yeah why? :/
@@Bamfhammer Man, that's why I wanted to watch this vid :(
Buildzoid is my favorite anime character
Is it the Super Saiyan hair?
I literally clicked for the hey guys buildzoid here. Then stayed for the content but that was the hook
yea the last time we saw his face (like a month ago i think?) u can go full anime
Best comment ever mate.
Top tier waifu for sure
"Time to go to bed"
GN/BuildZoid: nothing stops this train
Just commenting to tell you guys you're both fucking amazing. Steve, you're probably my biggest role model and I feel like I couldn't choose anyone more appropriate for the position, and bz, I feel like you genuinely brought low level motherboard features closer to the mainstream, actually affecting design and engineering of new products. Thanks Keegan, Andrew and anyone else assisting GN for the awesome stuff you do. Yeah I've had a few drinks tonight for those who find my comment weird
Thanks so much for the kind words! We will continue to try to live up to them!
:)
Whenever I hear Buildzoid critique motherboards I look at mine and ask if it’s gonna be ok.
Your grammar critique is unnecessary. My b450 board I got was ripped by Hardware Unboxed and others. Gigabyte made a revision. I bought that mb, Gigabyte Aourus Wifi Pro back in Jan 2019 for $105. A year and a half later the price has creeped up to $130 and I've had no issues with my 2700 and 32 Gb of 3000 Mhz ram, 1 Tb nvme ssd on that board
@@frommatorav1 If you haven't realized it, it isn't a grammar critique.
@@frommatorav1 /whoosh
Thanks for including micro-ATX. It's too often ignored/overlooked but I use & love this form factor. So to me the video wouldn't have been worth a watch without this inclusion :)
The amount of marketing jargon buildzoid is tired of, you can feel it in his voice. 🤣
Good job putting the B550 vision in the thumbnail and then not actually having it in the video.
Buildzoid: It has 13 usb ports so it made it on the list
I’m just waiting for the day he just ranks boards based on number of USB ports.
@@backupplan6058 wdym, he basically does this already, especially when talking about AM4 boards, it's goes postcode, Pcie slot arrangement, Usb ports, usb ports, memory topology, Vcore Vrm
"It could be worse, but this is already quite bad." You, sir, are a wordsmith. :)
Buildzoid dedicating a good chunk of the video for Micro-ATX, a true MVP by my books.
what Micro-ATX mobo would you choose ?
Also, thanks for also covering ITX boards, you revealed the B550I Aorus and it seemed like the best option for me! Just installed it in my system.
Nice
Nice
Nice
Nice
Probably one of the best reviews, please keep uploading.
03:10 downsides 4-layer pcb might be worse at memory overclocking when running a lot of ram ...
or just 4 ingle rank sticks you're not gonna have problems
03:30 it's only if you're gonna be like running 4 dual rank sticks that you might start running into issues
05:55 GIGABYTE B550 AORUS PRO (rev. 1.0)
06:41 6-layer pcb
09:30 GIGABYTE B550 AORUS ELITE (rev. 1.0) 4-layer pcb
11:24 if all you are interested in is hammering a 3950X this is gonna do a great job
11:40 MSI B550-A-PRO 140$ uses a revised version of the X470 gaming pro carbon vrm, ... not as rediculously as good as the B550 as the elite or the pro or the steel legend ... 4-layer pcb ... you kind of get a little bit of everything
14:41 mATX boards
10:00
Look at the line below! The board is capable of 4733MHz, so there's nothing wrong with the topology, they probably just don't validate it above 4000MHz with Ryzen 3000 because no-one should be running RAM above that with Ryzen 3000 anyway.
But that is related to Ryzen APUs, which most of the time are expected to have around 800 to 1000mhz higher speeds in memory vs CPUs
He broke my heart, when he just skipped the Vision D Tab. Edit: Now this can be found on his channel Actually Hardcore Overclocking .
same expected buildzoid to be interested in it with 10 rear USB ports and post codes
he already reviewed it on his channel, it just didn't make it on to the list. surely a great board, but the price is too high for this list
@@bFix yes, but the comment was before his video was released
and I also just watched this before his video (as he recommended in the comment section, when I was writing that comment I didn't know it was nexus gamers who cut it (their decision is fine imo, but I can understand why you are sad about it)
the review I meant is from his round-up of all gigabyte boards a couple of weeks ago
Something niche that's nice though on some (e.g., the B550 Steel Legend) is that the PCIe x1 slots are open - in case you need to fit an x2/x4/x8 card and don't have a free slot, and are OK with the bandwidth limitation. Useful? Not for most, but when it's useful, it's REALLY useful.
Quick question; I built and worked on a few thousand pc from 1999 to 2015. During those years, ASUS boards were highly reliable, event the cheap versions, Gygabyte were also reliable ( about 5% return rates within 2 years). MSI were a bit problematic with about 15% returns in 2 years. ASROCK were abysmal with about a 33% return rate . At one point, I just refused costumers who insisted on ASROCK. Whit your recent experience, what is now the status on reliability issues of these companies ?
5% is reliable?
@@keithw4920 Sounds a whole lot better than 33%
I seriously love these MB roundups, MBs are by their nature complicated things so these really help me when people want parts lists and such for their builds :)
Thoughts on MSI's B550 Tomahawk vs the B550-A Pro and the Mortar?
that intro
is fricking legendary
buidzoid is a gold mine i love this man
You had a tab open for the vision D, but never talked about it, left on the editing room floor. It’s a cool looking board.
It's a cool board infact, with Thunderbolt.
I'm disappointed I didn't see my Tomahawk in here. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.
at least you know it doesn't suck too much xD
ASRock: Let 's put POST code on our B550 Steel Legend.
X570 Steel Legend users: Are we a joke to you?
lol
Same shit about Asus B550-F and X570-F, the B550 is better wtf...
Really surprise we didn't see the B550 Tomahawk here.
Would love to hear Buildzoid's comment on that one.
He responded to this on his channel.
@@Gorgula And what did he said? DOn't see any video about it apart one from January saying he doesn't know when it'll come.
@@clad95150 He say it s a good board but not enough usb port compare to other mobo.
ua-cam.com/video/YJQOaIfksUY/v-deo.html
Actually interesting that no mention of MSI B550 Tomohawk and MPG Gaming edge. Additionally I was more interested in boards with WIFI , so looks like Aorus Pro AC it is when it comes to upgrade.
AsRock are killing it on AMD, but the ball they dropped on Intel is hitting the Earth's core at noon tomorrow
Guess you don't mind your 2nd sdd running at pcie 3 x2 ?
This is a big turn of for me. Don't understand why no one seems to notice this...
@@AllanHundeboll That's cause B550 only supports only one M.2 SSD with full PCI-E 4.0 speed. You shouldn't really use the second M.2 slot cause you automatically loose 2-3 SATA ports on the motherboard and the speed of the SSD is reduced by more then 50% even if it is a PCI 3.0x4. If you wan't to use more then one M.2 SSD at full speed buy a x570 motherboard.
b550's pricings really hinder my desire to upgrade my pc as they are not really attractive for someone with a limited budget.
You wouldn't want to upgrade to 500-series before Ryzen 4000 desktop launches anyway, and by then (hopefully) pricing will have dropped a bit. If you're planning on getting a Ryzen 3000 or lower, get a B450 motherboard.
Really depends on what you are running now. Is the upgrade needed or can you run it one more year and make the proper upgrade to DDR5 and the new AMD socket? Which will give you a foundation for atleast another 3-4 years.
@@c99kfm thats what i thought. ryzen 4000 is so close to release now. it doesn't really make sense to buy a b550 +ryzen 3600 at current price. if b550 priced more reasonably, i would bite the bullet
.
@@evertchin I expect that A520 is planned to provide boards for the budget market.
@mister.T Jr after all these discussions you still have no idea why we are waiting and we are the idiots? well... you might not be as intelligent as you think you are.
Am I overlooking the B550 Vision D? I see it in the tabs and the part list but I can't find it's mentions in the video.
Same, was hoping for some info
Would you say the statements in this video apply to Ryzen 5000 CPUs as well?
Just picked up the Steel legend since the Tomahawk was out of stock. Glad you guys liked it kind of took a shot in the dark!
How is it ?
What about the MSI B550 Tomahawk? I would like to know how that stands up... since the X570 Tomahawk was so good.
same question!
@@eltiondanglli4217 He said in his own video why he didn't include it. It has 6 USBs at the rear which isn't enough for him. Other than that it's great... I find it weird that it's not included because most people won't use more than that anyways
The B550M Mortar WiFi is looking like the best, the middle board. I am looking to use that one I think to build my Nephew a starter system, so he has some room to upgrade down the line.
Thanks for the Video!
8:47 When you change the dram frequency the board automatically changes the timings you have manually set (source: buildzoid's random b550 oc stream on 20/08/12)
do you mean 20/07/12?
B550, when manufacturers decide a "budget" chipset should get bigger feature sets than high end chipsets
I was just replacing my crosshair v formula z, loved the fact it had a post code. The fact lower end boards still dont have one as a minimum requirement is crazy considering how long its been.
Well 10y ago you could buy 100-130€ boards with post codes... To this date I can not understand why they went away from this.
You buy new $80 chinese motherboards with post codes (mostly X99s).
I haven't needed to see a post code on a build for years. Just don't think it's that necessary unless you're overclocking, and apparently the manufacturers agree.
Only a very small minority of consumers care about post codes. That's why manufactors skimp it.
I chose the B550M Mortar WiFi for my build. At stock settings my 3900xt scores CPUMark 34433 (average of 11 tests, global average 33022 for 3900xt), with a single core score of 2934 (average of 6 tests, global average 2804 for 3900xt). All board temperatures below 50 degrees centigrade with one 120mm exhaust fan. It is memory fussy, follow the certified vendor list. Thanks for this review which helped me. Bluetooth is also included as part of the WiFi implementation on this board. The supplied 'rabbit ear' antennas are not very high quality.
26:29 yea do a video about it, maybe even do an entiere video dedicated to how to make ur cheapo garbo mobo better for the cheap
great idea; you should do this. great video.
@Gamers Nexus I noticed you did not cover the MSI MPG B550 Gaming Plus motherboard. It is $10 more than the MSI B550-A Pro. I had the opportunity to pick up the Gaming Plus at $99 and I did.
To me, the only difference that I can find on paper/visually is that the Gaming Plus appears to have better VRM heatsinks with builtin I/O plate. Gaming Plus has the same sound chipset but offers HD output (SPIDF) and couple of LED's under the chipset heatsink but I think board also provides RGB control but maybe the A Pro does too, not sure. To me the builtin I/O and heatsink is worth the $10 extra alone.
I'm wondering why this board was omitted form your overview? I've read elsewhere that power delivery is different but would like to know more. Thanks.
These videos are SOOOOOOOOOO valuable it's insane
Think you guys missed an important point with the m-atx pcie config. Specifically that having the pciex16 in the second slot allows for mounting large CPU coolers, such as a Thermalright Macho or a Noctua D15.
I do not need overclocking, I never do it anyway. I just want the most stable, robust, fast board for an AMD Ryzen 9.
yup same for me from the beginning of time.
Steve is in the background saying “ slow down”
Steve is in the background saying "more graphs"
Steve is in the background saying "MORE POWER!"
everytime i hear "hey guys, build zoid here" i know i gonna learn something that sounds to normies like im an engineer
What do yo think about MSI B550M Mortar?
I'm thinking in buy it, but I'm deciding between this one and the Aourus B550 Elite
Already fired at B550 Aorus Pro. So happy I made a good decision :D. @buildzoid and @gamersnexus Thanks for your high quality reviews.
i bought myself the asrock b550 taichi. my previous was the x370 taichi. the new b550 taichi is just a great beautiful board.
I have the x570 Taichi, and I hate the damn thing. Maybe it's just mine, but the small issues drive me crazy.
Now we just have to wait for the extended version at AHOC, im ready for that hour
Thanks, this really helped me. I was indecisive between the Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro and Elite. I will get the Pro for 165€ now, hoping it will serve me well for five or more years. For now with a 3900X and at some point perhaps a Zen 3 chip once those hit the used market.
Great round-up! Always love your content. There are a few points I think you missed out on, IMO.
The B550M Steel Legend really seems worth considering for mATX boards. It's less than your top two picks for mATX, and the only one that uses SATA designated lanes for the 2nd M.2 slot, instead of lanes for the 2nd PCIe slot.
Also, the B550 Phantom Gaming ITX is still a worthwhile mini ITX IMO. It may only be $20 cheaper than its X570 variant, but the X570 version also doesn't have a 2nd M.2. That lack of a 2nd M.2 kills the X570 Phantom Gaming as an option in any build for me.
I think any of the mini ITX B550 boards in the $180-$200 range (so the Aorus, Phantom Gaming, and Gaming Edge) are worthwhile. The MSI and ASRock boards are $20 more than the Gigabyte B550, and only $20 less than the Gigabyte X570, but both also come with USB Type-C headers (which neither Gigabyte does). The only mini ITX where I think it's stupid to get the B550 over the X570 is the ASUS. At $230 for the B550 and only $250 for the X570, the B550 is a poor choice imo. Unless you're completely set on an ASUS board and have to have a Type-C header. Though, I suppose the same argument could be made of the B550 ASrock/MSI vs the X570 Gigabyte.
Regardless, great round up. I've got a B550 Tomahawk sitting next to me waiting to be tested, and will be grabbing a mini ITX or mATX B550 for a build in the next month or so. Looking forward to trying them out, and to seeing more in-depth B550 testing from you!
I know this guy goes on about post codes and most dont care, but as someone who has had to trouble shoot faulty hardware it is a life saver! If you ever plan on buying used parts and fliping them this can really help.
Bummer the 550 tomahawk wasn't listed given its really great power delivery and thermals but I'm guessing it using debug LEDs instead of a post code is what prevented it from being on here. Really great list though and it's good to see that there's a lot of really good options for b550 boards
And it's a pretty expensive B550 motherboard that you might as well go get the X570 version instead.
I was waiting for this too. I guess the price is one of the worst points, I would go X570 if they are too close but I really hate the chipset fan. I just can't stand it :/
@@sweetyfox7058 nah, the lack of a chipset fan and better thermals than most x570 boards makes the tomahawk worth the cost. But I get why it might scare some people off. It's also 180 bucks like the Asus and gigabyte atx boards mentioned. I'm also not in a situation where I'd need multiple pcie gen 4 SSDs (which many many people don't need) so thermals and longevity are my two utmost critical needs. B550 boards deliver better on that and with less points of failure.
In the end you get what you pay for to an extent and the 180 b550 boards seem to be the sweet spot for performance, overclocking, durability and reliability.
@@martinquintana2458 I got my tomahawk for 180 (got lucky on the draw at Newegg) and I think it's worth it from a reliability standpoint. Definitely check out some of the other boards mentioned in this video though. If you don't need multiple pcie gen 4 SSDs then stick with b550. Only thing I can think of for needing that much pcie bandwidth for storage is multiple 8k video renderings or utramsssive engineering projects like a full scale internal and Boeing 787 for example. Most of the population doesn't need multi pcie gen 4 tbh.
It got dropped cause of lack of usb ports and a useless additional obsolete previous generation lan port. I mean I was surprised when they announced the board and saw almost no usb ports there.
my smaller, cheaper list:
GIGABYTE B550 AORUS ELITE 150€ (great vrm)
ASRock B550M-ITX/ac 145€ (itx sized)
MSI B550-A PRO 140€ (has internal usb-c header)
The whole time he kept talking about running a 3950X. I'm like, "Dude, they're budget boards. Be realistic. 90% of these boards ain't touching a CPU over 3700X. Stop obsessing about that damn $700 chip."
It's like test bench channels doing comparisons between i3s and 3300X using a 2080TI. Something those CPUs will most likely never be paired with on the same MB.
The UA-camr, Buildzoid, overclocks alot thats why his channel name is "Actually overclocking". If it can run a 3950x at stock then it will easily run low end cpus without issues. It's much quicker to just talk about the high end because of that. Most people who have a fucking brain would realize this.
@@thedogiestgamerz1069 Thank you for being intelligent.
Agree. Seems this guy only cares about boards you can run a 1000$ CPU on, overclocked of course. And that is totally fine, but don't say every other board is "terrible".
The video says "Best B550 boards for Ryzen CPUs", well, last time I checked Ryzen 3, Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 existed. It is not just Ryzen 9 out there. In fact, most of us don't care about Ryzen 9 at all.
For anyone watching this end of 2020 - MSI B550 A-Pro ended up being an overclocking beast. Personally, I got better results with it than on my Aorus Elite X570 with R5 5600 and R5 3900. Originally planned to keep the AE and use A-Pro for GF's build, but she got the X570 mobo as the A-Pro with the 11/20 BIOS nets me ~ extra 200MHz OC and cooler VRM temps. And, it cost half the price /facepalm...
why did the aorus elite v2 fix almost all the complaints? (led are there and there is a type c header) Did Gigabyte watch?
much needed video af, b550 tradeoffs are a pain in the ass
My two cents on the 160+$ mATX boards. Both the tuf and the mortar have pcie limitations. The tuf B550m with the spacing and if the first 1x is used, the last 4x (if you can fit the card) drop down to 2x.
The B550m mortar is even worse in my opinion on that. If you use the 4x slot, the second m.2 ssd slot is disabled or vice versa, and since it has so few USB 3 ports you might add a card in that slot which limits the ssd expansion.
Therefor I do believe that the B550m steel legend should be in the mix (and why I plan to buy that one), all pcie slots run as specified but the secondary m.2 only is a 2x which is not that big of a issue to most people if you use sata storage m.2 or a slower nvme drive and you already use a good nvme in the first m.2 slot. The steel legend only disable 2 data ports (down to 4 total) if the second m.2 is used but I do believe the board is the least expansion limiting of the 3. I hope the vrm is good enough for a 10 core with pbo though
This is one of the most complicated intros ever. Also came here to see the B550 Vision D but its not even in the video WTF
Bcuse it’s trash
@@detective_orange6280 ehm its included in the thumbnail and the discription says its in it. Doesn't matter if its trash or not, thats not the point and no answer at all lol.
I'm happy with my B550M Pro4. Look at the features:
3 M.2 slots (2 for SSDs 1 for WiFi. It even has an antenna bracket)
6 PWM headers
2 USB 3.0 headers
2 RGB and 2 ARGB headers.
The only thing missing is a USB-C header. VRM is adequate except for overclocking. I don't think you can expect more at this level. It's well worth $115 and a steal for the $90 I paid for it.
Didnt see the B550M Steel Legend on the matx section, wonder why, its pretty simliar spec/feature wise to the asus tuf b550m gaming.
lacks BIOS flashing feature and doesn't do anything else to compensate for that.
@@ActuallyHardcoreOverclocking Thought it was something like that, most of these B550 boards are too damn similar and decent, i have the B550M Steel Legend and so far my only complain is that the LED's on the board dont fucking turn off when the PC is powered off.
@@lookitsrain9552 i think you can turn off the setting from the bios. turn on led in s5 or something like that
worse memory support
Both those matx boards offer the same as the b550m aorus pro, but are more expensive.
Shame he didn’t cover the MSI B550 itx board. I really want to see that compared to the Gigabyte.
MSI boards are good but not as great as the boards featured in the list as aorus pro has better heatsinks and features but no post code whereas the steel legend has that but lacks some features and heatsink. MSI is somewhat in between don't get me wrong it has some nice boards but got left out by more niche products.
Is there a one in his channel, something like first impression video if i remember correctly.
@@winnieid2727 Yeah I saw that, but those aren't as in depth as the actual board review when he gets high res pictures of the naked boards. Specifically I want to know if MSI on the B550i implemented the same level of care for memory overclocking as they did for the z490i.
@@jasoncruze1493 I'm talking specifically of the ITX boards.
Same I haven't seen a head to head review of them both and those boards are the only ones I'm in interested in.
I was gonna go with the Aourus elite but I realized there was only 3 system fan headers😡 so I canceled that order and got a b550-a pro for $15 cheaper and it did the job better
How many fan headers it have I need answers
@@sish9912 It has 8 in total, a cpu fan header, a aio pump header, and 6 case fan headers.
@@Proffesor_Z never thought about getting a fan splitter / hub?
@@omegaPhix I don’t like splitters because the mobo thinks that only one fan is plugged in so I can’t change them individually. A hub is even worse cause it’s not controllable through BIOS and you can’t really set fan curves.
@@Proffesor_Z
A hub is just a fancy splitter, wasn't talking about an external fan controller. Do you really have a seperate fan curve for every single fan in your system?
Thank you guys for making this video, I was searching for this a lot. I am tied up between of "Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite" and "MSI B550-A Pro", Trying to see more in-depth review, Would this be a good pick among the others? in terms of good thermal performance and the durability, in the long run.
Msi b550 a pro is legend
I literally just ordered my board 2 days ago time to see if i choose right lol
Did you?
@@martinquintana2458 according to the video no. I got the asus b550 rog strix f gaming. It was a $190 board. Im planning on using it for the upcoming 4000 series cpus so it should be good for that
@@mw3glitches123456789 it's still pretty good. Though you could have gone with a x570 unless you care about RGB.
@TotallyTrix that's a really good board. Sadly it didn't make it to this video but I like the looks of it and I heard it's pretty feature rich. Enjoy your buy!
@@martinquintana2458 yeah it's very pretty. God damn Asus is getting me with their RGB, isn't it?
Good luck actually getting one guys, i've been trying to get a good one
I picked up the Mortar WiFi and the Aorus ITX. I absolutely loved the Mortar, and the silver heat sinks are nice. The Gigabyte has been running good too but I had mad issues with audio drivers at first boot.
So not quite an exhaustive review of what’s out there currently. First of all, I have (and only will have for the foreseeable future), an mATX box and so I am interested only in mATX B550M motherboards. You reviewed the B550 ASRock Steel Legend, but you neglected to mention the mATX version! (Is it the same? Did it fail to earn mention because of performance, lack of features, etc.?) The MSI MAG B550M Bazooka was also ignored. (Is there a reason?) The review I would really like to see is for the Colorful CVN B550M Gaming Frozen V14. Primary interest is that it’s a white board and would best suit my current desktop if I upgrade from my current Ryzen 5-2600 to a Ryzen 3000. Though incomplete, it is the best review of these boards I have seen thus far.
Can someone help me understand the meaning of the memory rank because the explanations on the Internet are so complicated and the only thing that I understood is that there is a dual, quad and single rank, but I did not understand the difference And will it affect performance or stability?
How to now how much pcb layer in thé mobo
A rank is a section of the memory within a channel that the memory controller is able to access/control independently, but not simultaneously). More ranks is harder for the memory controller to manage, which makes memory overclocking harder, but it also allows "rank interleaving" where one rank is accessed while the other is in a refresh cycle, which effectively reduces latency. If you put multiple DIMMs (memory sticks) into each channel, the ranks remain separate (i.e. if you put two dual-rank sticks into one memory channel, you have 4 ranks).
A rank is made up of 8 memory chips, so DIMMs with two rows of 8 chips or with 8 chips on both sides of the PCB (usually 16GB sticks) are dual-rank, and DIMMs with two rows on both sides (usually 32GB) are quad-rank. All 4GB DDR4 DIMMs are single-rank.
Some games (Codemasters' F1 games are my go-to example of games that love memory rank interleaving) and some other software really benefit from dual-rank memory, while others don't benefit from it at all.
Quad-rank memory is mostly a bad choice because it is likely to limit your memory clocks while the interleaving provides diminishing returns beyond dual-rank. If you're heavily overclocking your memory you should get single-rank, but for general use it might be better to get 1 dual-rank DIMM per channel, or 2 single-rank DIMMs per channel.
@@nathangamble125 hey bro why didn't bullzoid recommend b550 tomhawk,tuf gaming plus,gaming edge,f gaming?and what about itx Mobo of msi?his whole list is filled with gigabyte can you tell me which is better gigabyte b550,msi or asus?
Got the ASRock B550M Pro4 for about $75 when I bought a new 3600 ($50 discount for pairing). Also one of the only mATX boards in stock. Should be an nice upgrade over my 9 year old Xeon E5520.
Is the # of layers in the pcb advertised anywhere, or do you just figure it out yourself? also... how? lol
Upon each manufacturer's website, they provide the marketing mumbo jumbo and PDF documents for each manual. I find MSI likes to do silly things like refer to their PCB as *"server-grade"* rather than elaborating on the details. I expect without having access to the motherboards and without being knowledgeable, most individuals will rely upon reputable sources for learning the specifics of VRM or PCB quality. Of course, B550 is early in its lifetime and so much more will be known a year from now as to which boards are desirable.
These motherboard pages are _full_ of details and excess. You may want to do a search for "PCB" when on a page, using standard web browser shortcuts CTRL+F.
@ Captain Price, I think they're probably all decent motherboards for most average consumers and enthusiasts. Most folks look first for the features they want in a motherboard. You find something you like, Captain Price, and then you weigh that against the opinions of reviewers and articles you find online about that product.
I feel Buildzoid is a bit of an engineer mentality. Maybe Buildzoid is focused on things like efficiency, not having waste or what is unnecessary or impractical. But overall, I feel most of these motherboards are probably fine, Captain Price. Look for what you like, and weigh reviews and customer ratings against that. You'll land on something you like eventually, and you'll be happy with it.
Remember these motherboards are like foundational features. They provide us the standards and interfaces we deal with, like which ports we have and how many, which sockets we support, and all that ultimately details which components we will be dealing with when building and upgrading our machines. But the motherboards are, again, foundational, and ultimately tend not to be the deciding factor in what makes your computer good in any one way.
Typically, your CPU or GPU, or the quantity or speed of your storage or memory, or the inadequacy of your power supply will probably all be a factor more noticeably weighing down and limiting your system before your motherboard is. Especially where these modern B450 and B550 boards are concerned. I think they're mostly all great and adequate for most folks, Captain Price.
I wish you well, Captain Price. If you're building your first machine, I wish you well and I hope you're not too anxious or scared or anything about making mistakes. Enjoy yourself! Those ASUS and MSI boards are just fine. Use whichever you like.
So, is there going to be an X-570 video too??? I definitely want to figure out what a good motherboard would be for a computer, and I definitely want the x570 or whatever the you know latest and greatest AMD boards are, to have that forward compatibility that some of the stuff going on now hints that being available on the 570 platform
Plz mention the boards when you talk about them, I often just listen to the vids like a podcast so "this board" vs "this board" is annoying esp as you jump from one to another all the time. Would have liked to see more ATX boards in the comparison but okay, you wanted to do a "best of" (knowing that whatever board sucks and esp why is also a good thing to know). I don t know if it was your choice of boards there or if there really are far more better M-boards than ATX variants...which I really doubt. Just for the form factor alone, I don t know anyone who d pick a M-board in the first place. Appreciate your work and dedication educating ppl on mobos but from a consumer advice perspective, this one was disappointing.
You'd have to watch the video anyways to make sure of what board is being mentioned, the names are super fucky.
Man, people are mean. As though youtube content must only be consumed their way.
I think yours is a valid suggestion.
"The high-end boards cost too much, the low-end boards suck too much."
My man buildzoid just captured every single motherboard in existence with that one sentence.
Tip: Your audience breathes at the same rate as narrator - this has been one hell of an exhausting video to watch. 29 mins of fast-talking Micro-Machines narration...feel like i just ran a marathon! Please! Slow down...make a longer video...or summarize more. Pause between sentences. Split video between ATX / Micro ATX...something please. I
Might just be me, but I never noticed it. I like the information in this, “fast as possible format”, plus it’s easier to go back and forth to compare features.
@@CrypticCabal same goes for me. really normal if you have "few" idea about computer hardwares
You are correct on the ds3h board if you overclock it at all the vrm will get so hot you can smell it cooking with 7 120mm fans running full blast and a 200mm intake fan aswell, it works fine on stock but if your pushing the limit stay away from it far away
This is with a 5600x 6C/12T and a RTX 3070ti NO OC on the GPU JUST CPU
How is the B550 TUF Gaming Plus?
Asus has done a great job at fixing their X5XX BIOS's. I picked up the X570 Strix E on launch day, it it was full of problems, didn't boost for crap, didn't have options to enable it disable spread spectrum so bclk was stuck at 99.69 and BLK only adjusted in increments of 1mhz, and a ton of other issues. Now it has spread spectrum, a ton of cpu support, manual control over the current detection offset, more memory controls, BLK is adjusted in 0.00675 MHz increments, etc. It's soooo much better now.
"The high-end boards cost too much. The low-end boards suck too much" made my day
Just picked up the b550 auros pro ac (the one with WiFi and Bluetooth) on amazon. I bought it used via amazon warehouse condition was described as very good and I paid 152 bucks for it versus the 209 bucks for new. It arrived and the box wasn’t even damaged like it said it might be. The box was sealed and motherboard was sealed inside an anti static bag and everything was in there in the original bag. I basically got a new motherboard for 50 dollars off. EDIT: you can still buy a auros pro ac b550 on amazon right now used-very good for 152 bucks. If its anything like the one I got its basically a new board someone sent back and never opened it.
Currently I have the B550M-DS3H. It ain't bad, was able to increase voltage and overclock. Better than the previous generation of DS3H. It ain't horrible.
This was an excellent break down of MBs, sticking to the ones that make sense (not too expensive, or too cheap and crappy), and breaking down by size (mATX fan here). Is there an Intel Z490 breakdown like this?
I dont find reading specs out loud is a good waz to rate Motherboards, not at all what I expected from Gamers Nexus
this is exactly what I was waiting for before making my final decision on which board to buy
thanks GN and Buildzoid!!!
Thank you so much for this vid! Very informative, clear, critical enough, plenty of options for spending conscious. Super helpful! Thanks!
Is the difference between a 1gb and 2.5gb realtek(?) lan significant? And what about the B550 tomahawk? Just curious as to why it didn't make the line up. Thanks for the reply!
I'd love to see you do this video again with all the boards that have been released over the last year.
I have an ASRock B550m/ac running a 3700X and and PNY Epic-X 3080 and a 1TB Firecuda. No problems. Excellent performance.
The reason I bought a $220 Strix B550-i and not a ASUS TUF Gaming B550M-Plus is I have a EVOLV Shift Air ITX case. I like the ITX form factor. Will have to look and see if you did a review of the Strix B550-i.
I'm going for an ITX rig, ditching a way better ATX system that I've already have, and the main problem is availability, so now I might end with a B550 because the X570 that are in stock are way overpriced. Yet also there aren't many B550 in stock if any.
I just use whatever board Im forced to use in the newegg bundles
I'm curious as to your thoughts on the MSI B550M Bazooka. The rest of it is a bit barebones, yeah, but if you're looking for raw VRM performance, it's apparently something of a value king.
I have the Mortar, the VRM's solution is one of the best out there but the PCIe slot position in this board is worse than TUF Gaming an others, if the second m2 slot is occupied this disables the last PCIe x16 which would facilitate the installation of additional cards. It's simply a ridiculous layout, in TUF at least there is a top PCIe x1 above the GPU slot with free space for those with thicker GPU's.
Who else got unsettled from the absence of Steve's voice?
Nice video though!
For the B550 Aorus Elite, it state that it goes up to 4733 MHz memory with next gen Ryzen processors
Well, watching this after the release of the B650 boards really puts B550 pricing in perspective.
In response to one of the things you said about the Aorus pro, one of the things I've found with my NH-D15 is that it prevents some gpus from fitting in the first slot where a pcie slot could go, the one in line with the screw hole.
So, while it can be kinda like an itx board connectivity wise, I think that configuration makes more sense for a majority of people who will only ever run a single gpu anyways, especially considering this is a lower cost mATX board.
I used to use Gigabyte boards for all my builds back in the thunderbird days. I gave up on them when they made everything look like a transformer and put orange and beafy armed eagles on everything.