Hot take: B550 is DOA for enthusiasts. Your thoughts?

[EarthDog]

That's a bit better... lol... and I didn't say you were looking for advice. That long post left me longing for any/more/detailed information on what you were saying, it like skipped across the surface.

It simply seems for your options you need to be in an enthusiast or HEDT level platform where all of the lanes etc are available. A majority of users aren't trying to run capture cards and DVB-T2 cards and [insert card here] on these more basic platforms which is why B550 exists.

Repeating issues without sources (sata speed you keep mentioning) isn't supporting them. Im sure it exists, but I'd like to read about it through a reputable source.

RE: X570 fans... mobo vendors support them... and truthfully, unless you are using gobs of PCIe 4.0 connectivity (as most are not), it isn't needed in the first place. And again, most aren't even audible.

Anyway, not going down this hole again... especially dancing around vague assertions.

Cheers.

 

[CubanB]

I'm sure for a majority of users, they could be happy with anything. For them X570 is great. Anything could be great especially if the marketing says so. But isn't it a bit wierd, that for my needs X370 flagship board is best, X470 board is ok (but not ideal) and that X570 and B550 is compromised? I would have thought it would be the other way around.

Again, money is not the issue (AMD take my money), but after a few years out of the game.. I've followed AMD Reddit quite closely in the last 12 months. I've seen lots of patterns. Firstly.. they want everything cheap. Guess what AMD isn't a budget brand anymore, they are close to being the superior platform. If you look at the next few years, you could argue they ARE the superior platform if you factor the next few years into it. But I've seen other things.. for example, if it's newer it HAS to be better. Or B550 HAS to be worse than X570 because the numbers and letters say so. It's more complicated than that. And I've also seen a lot of X570 users reject any criticisms of the platform, because it was released with the great 3000 series processors.. therefore it ALL has to be great. Or they just want to ignore any buyers remorse. Which isn't fun.. but it's nice to be aware of what you got and what is out there. My argument is that AMD has taken their CPU's to the next level.. however both X570 and B550 are disappointments. Not because they don't work.. but because they aren't an evolution/progression.. it's more of a compromise with lots of flaws. Now with COVID, older boards are becoming rare and prices are being gouged. So it's like "newer platform or nothing". Not ideal..

I want AMD to succeed, but I've seen a lot of flaws in the last 12 months. One the one hand, I'm happy because I want them to succeed and they are gaining more support. They are more consumer friendly. I think the variety they offer.. where they let you run different boards or chipsets is great. It's such a huge advantage over Intel. Rather than being "stuck". It creates good faith within the community.. it makes it easy to recommend them to friends. You have many different upgrade paths. On the other hand.. it's been a disorganized illogical mess.. where for example.. they claim that a 32MB BIOS chip is needed, yet there are X570 boards that shipped with a 16MB chip. They announced B450 and X470 wouldn't support 4000 series chips and then went back on their word based on a bunch of convoluted double talk. They delayed B550 and basically forced everyone onto a motherboard that has a chipset fan. I want to support you AMD, but you gotta work with me here. X670 could be great if they optimized their chipset. But you could argue, they should have done that all along. 3000 series chips in X470 boards would have already been great. One final note.. it's pretty funny that board makers use high end VRM as an excuse to jack up price.. yet the strength of the chips is that they are so energy efficient compared to Intel and don't require a high VRM in the first place. Things that make you go hmmm.

edit - here is a graph about the minor SATA issue.. I could go back and trace where it came from (somewhere on AMD Reddit).. but it's hard to find.. because for whatever reason.. X570 is seen as best. Even if it's flawed.

http://imgur.com/0mVfjeO

 

[A Computer Guy]

......
edit - here is a graph about the minor SATA issue.. I could go back and trace where it came from (somewhere on AMD Reddit).. but it's hard to find.. because for whatever reason.. X570 is seen as best. Even if it's flawed.
.....

I think I found the reddit post you are referring to....

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/fwh7q0

 

[Gmr_Chick]

I'm sure for a majority of users, they could be happy with anything. For them X570 is great. Anything could be great especially if the marketing says so. But isn't it a bit wierd, that for my needs X370 flagship board is best, X470 board is ok (but not ideal) and that X570 and B550 is compromised? I would have thought it would be the other way around.

Again, money is not the issue (AMD take my money), but after a few years out of the game.. I've followed AMD Reddit quite closely in the last 12 months. I've seen lots of patterns. Firstly.. they want everything cheap. Guess what AMD isn't a budget brand anymore, they are close to being the superior platform. If you look at the next few years, you could argue they ARE the superior platform if you factor the next few years into it. But I've seen other things.. for example, if it's newer it HAS to be better. Or B550 HAS to be worse than X570 because the numbers and letters say so. It's more complicated than that. And I've also seen a lot of X570 users reject any criticisms of the platform, because it was released with the great 3000 series processors.. therefore it ALL has to be great. Or they just want to ignore any buyers remorse. Which isn't fun.. but it's nice to be aware of what you got and what is out there. My argument is that AMD has taken their CPU's to the next level.. however both X570 and B550 are disappointments. Not because they don't work.. but because they aren't an evolution/progression.. it's more of a compromise with lots of flaws. Now with COVID, older boards are becoming rare and prices are being gouged. So it's like "newer platform or nothing". Not ideal..

I want AMD to succeed, but I've seen a lot of flaws in the last 12 months. One the one hand, I'm happy because I want them to succeed and they are gaining more support. They are more consumer friendly. I think the variety they offer.. where they let you run different boards or chipsets is great. It's such a huge advantage over Intel. Rather than being "stuck". It creates good faith within the community.. it makes it easy to recommend them to friends. You have many different upgrade paths. On the other hand.. it's been a disorganized illogical mess.. where for example.. they claim that a 32MB BIOS chip is needed, yet there are X570 boards that shipped with a 16MB chip. They announced B450 and X470 wouldn't support 4000 series chips and then went back on their word based on a bunch of convoluted double talk. They delayed B550 and basically forced everyone onto a motherboard that has a chipset fan. I want to support you AMD, but you gotta work with me here. X670 could be great if they optimized their chipset. But you could argue, they should have done that all along. 3000 series chips in X470 boards would have already been great. One final note.. it's pretty funny that board makers use high end VRM as an excuse to jack up price.. yet the strength of the chips is that they are so energy efficient compared to Intel and don't require a high VRM in the first place. Things that make you go hmmm.

edit - here is a graph about the minor SATA issue.. I could go back and trace where it came from (somewhere on AMD Reddit).. but it's hard to find.. because for whatever reason.. X570 is seen as best. Even if it's flawed.

http://imgur.com/0mVfjeO

OK, first, Intel's 10th gen CPUs don't have an efficiency problem compared to AMDs. The problem lies solely on the motherboard makers (excluding Asus) and their refusal to adhere to the guidelines Intel put in place for these 10th Gen chips (but it sounds like it's been going on since Z270, according to the GN article I'm citing) because moar power equals better performance in reviews.

Just going to leave this here.

https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/...erboards-with-default-settings-for-your-build

 

[A Computer Guy]

.... One final note.. it's pretty funny that board makers use high end VRM as an excuse to jack up price.. yet the strength of the chips is that they are so energy efficient compared to Intel and don't require a high VRM in the first place. ....

Better VRM's do add more cost to make. I think part of the reason for the better VRM's in 500 series is because the 3900x/3950x actually exist and people will buy them. With so many cores motherboards eventually going to have a meltdown without an efficient VRM and/or cooling solution to help manage heat. (I'm exaggerating a bit I know) Prior to 500 series it might have been a bit of a pipe-dream among the vendors to think AMD was going to pull off what they have accomplished today in core count. Nowadays the situation is different and I suspect to protect from bad press they really need to make sure their new boards can really take a 12/16 core practically (without thermal issues) now that people are much more likely to drop in a higher core CPU due to reduced prices.

 

[CubanB]

But 3950X uses less power than 2700X. Actually, it's probably more power.. it just depends on the settings and which AGESA version you are using. It's just that I saw a review early on where that was the case. But most of the time, it's the other way around.

But still, it usually uses less power than 3900X (better binning). The 7nm process is quite efficient, considering 3950X has double the cores of 2700X and is only a few years older for example. Obviously when you push things and OC, it's nice to have capable VRM for lower temps inside the case. More stable power delivery etc. A powerful VRM isn't a bad thing.. but yeah. Ryzen 3000 doesn't really benefit from OC. So you can run things stock and not really lose much. I actually like strong VRM because it comes back to my "more options" philosophy of PC. You might not think you need it, but a few years from now.. you might change your mind, and pick up a 3950X for example, and if you decide to OC.. you are already good to go. My main point is that wattage hasn't really changed, the efficiency has improved on each generation meaning the power consumption for the CPU's in general has (roughly) stayed the same. So the focus on VRM within the last 12 months is more about AMD getting more recognition of a great product, rather than extra power requirements. The recent Asrock boards for Intel were bad, but quite good for B550. It seems Asrock put more focus into the AMD side of things. Maybe they all are.

And yeah, the 3950X does use more than 2700X but not that much more.. within the same ballpark. My X370 can run a 3950X fine, people with the board have done it and said there are no problems with VRM temps or anything. There's also plenty of X470 that can run it. IMO it's a really great CPU, but most of the 3000 series are.

AMD Ryzen 9 3950X review (Page 7)

The review today hardly will need an introduction, the monolith has arrived, the consumer, and not even HEDT, the sixteen-core processor in the Ryzen 3000 family, the Ryzen 9 3950X. It is fast, feist...

www.guru3d.com

And here's a thing about the idle performance. For example, why is an 8 core 2700X on 12nm+ have so much better idle consumption than a 6 core 7nm.

AMD Ryzen 9 3950X Review - Benchmarks: Power Consumption

The pinnacle of AMD's Zen2 architecture, at least in the AM4 format, is the 16-core, 32-thread behemoth codenamed the AMD Ryzen 9 3950X. Today we take a look and show you just what it's capable of....

www.vortez.net

I believe it's partly the way AMD uses the boost with high voltages (to avoid a lawsuit, reaching peak boost speeds under low loads) and partially the inefficiencies of the latest gen of motherboards. I haven't seen any B550 reviews talk about power consumption, but I assume they are fixed.

Yeah it's fixed..

Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master review (Page 7)

Finally, B550 Chipset based motherboards are here. We start off with a very premium B550 Aorus Master, loaded with 2.5 GigE Ethernet, AX WIFI6 and three M2 NVMe slots we wonder if this awesome mother...

www.guru3d.com

I am a fan of these CPU's.. and to an extent the platform itself.. it's just that I can't unsee a lot of stuff that's been glossed over in the last 12 months. I hope that AMD can iron this stuff out before switching to AM5 socket. 4000 series is set to be really good.

 

[Filip Georgievski]

What is all this fuss about B550 and X570?
I mean, yea, there are all kinds of boards out there from these 2 chipset lineups, but why fuss over something that is so simple to see and realise?

Lets brake down on VRM design for most CPUs:

6 - 8 VRMs - Athlon 3000 to Ryzen 3 3300x
10 VRMs - Ryzen 5 3400g to Ryzen 7 3700
12 - 14 VRMs - Anything above Ryzen 7 3700

This is my table of choise when i go shoping for a mobo for a specific CPU.

Me, specificaly have a X570 A PRO from MSI which has a 10 VRMs and a Ryzen 5 3600 on it, going strong with all core 4.1Ghz boost, and a chipset fan that keeps my chipset at 48c nomatter what i do.

Now for comparison i've seen b450 boards with 8 VRMs that also run ryzen 5 3600 that cant get past 3.850Ghz on all core boost, which indicates lower VRM quality, design and cooling as well.

I imagine B550 boards will be similar to B450s, but ive seen boards that have better design like for ex. B550 Tomahawk which has 10 VRMs on it and probably will be similar price to my X570, but it is still a nice board non the less.

 

[EarthDog]

What is all this fuss about B550 and X570?
I mean, yea, there are all kinds of boards out there from these 2 chipset lineups, but why fuss over something that is so simple to see and realise?

Lets brake down on VRM design for most CPUs:

6 - 8 VRMs - Athlon 3000 to Ryzen 3 3300x
10 VRMs - Ryzen 5 3400g to Ryzen 7 3700
12 - 14 VRMs - Anything above Ryzen 7 3700

This is my table of choise when i go shoping for a mobo for a specific CPU.

Me, specificaly have a X570 A PRO from MSI which has a 10 VRMs and a Ryzen 5 3600 on it, going strong with all core 4.1Ghz boost, and a chipset fan that keeps my chipset at 48c nomatter what i do.

Now for comparison i've seen b450 boards with 8 VRMs that also run ryzen 5 3600 that cant get past 3.850Ghz on all core boost, which indicates lower VRM quality, design and cooling as well.

I imagine B550 boards will be similar to B450s, but ive seen boards that have better design like for ex. B550 Tomahawk which has 10 VRMs on it and probably will be similar price to my X570, but it is still a nice board non the less.

If only it was that easy...going by vrm count. There are significant differences between them. Are they doubled? What about MOSFET Amperage? Id take 6-phase 90A FETs than 10-phase doubled w/ 50A FETs... for example.

B550 boards are, generally, more robust than b450. Reviews have been all over for weeks and part of what this thread talked about already.

 

[milewski1015]

What is all this fuss about B550 and X570?
I mean, yea, there are all kinds of boards out there from these 2 chipset lineups, but why fuss over something that is so simple to see and realise?

Lets brake down on VRM design for most CPUs:

6 - 8 VRMs - Athlon 3000 to Ryzen 3 3300x
10 VRMs - Ryzen 5 3400g to Ryzen 7 3700
12 - 14 VRMs - Anything above Ryzen 7 3700

This is my table of choise when i go shoping for a mobo for a specific CPU.

Me, specificaly have a X570 A PRO from MSI which has a 10 VRMs and a Ryzen 5 3600 on it, going strong with all core 4.1Ghz boost, and a chipset fan that keeps my chipset at 48c nomatter what i do.

Now for comparison i've seen b450 boards with 8 VRMs that also run ryzen 5 3600 that cant get past 3.850Ghz on all core boost, which indicates lower VRM quality, design and cooling as well.

I imagine B550 boards will be similar to B450s, but ive seen boards that have better design like for ex. B550 Tomahawk which has 10 VRMs on it and probably will be similar price to my X570, but it is still a nice board non the less.

What do you mean what is all the fuss about between B550 and X570? The entire point of the thread is discussing whether B550 is DOA and a large part of that is the feature overlap/price similarity to X570. As @EarthDog said, not all VRMs are created equal. You imply that the difference between B550 and X570 is "simple to see and realize", citing VRM phase count as a point of differentiation, but then go on to double back on that by bringing up high phase-count B550 boards. I can't tell what you're arguing for or against here.

 

[kapone32]

In a void absent of human emotion no one would objectively buy a B550 priced the same as it's X570 variant. I give you the As Rock Taichi in Canada the B550 is $489.99 and the X570 is $489.99 (I do believe it has a mail in rebate too). However the argument for B550 does exist in give scenarios (emotion). B550 is perfect for HTPC. Given that the lower end boards are justified in their price markup for what you get. A Wifi 6 adapter card is $45 on Amazon. You cannot rewire a B450 board to run PCIe 4.0 anything and B550 gives you the flexibility of taking your PCIe 3.0 drive and keep using it as your OS. Then you have to factor in the low end Ryzen parts. 3100X (4.5 GHZ OC), 3300X (4.5 GHZ OC), 1600AF (4.3 GHZ OC), 2600 (4.2 GHZ OC), 3600 and 3400G are all well priced CPUs that will surprise you in their ability, especially Gaming but $300 to $400 (Canadian) for a MB and CPU today is not too shabby at all. People can say what they want about core counts in consoles that haven't launched yet. The other side is productivity as one thing that a Ryzen3 CPU gives you is better RAM compatibility but the benchmarks show that Ryzen CPUs walk all over Intel in productivity. Just ask the creators (especially now) that are jumping to Threadripper or read a review of Ryzen. I am not rushing but I will be getting specifically (I have said it before) getting the Asus PrimeM WIFI B550. For $189.99 it will be great for me. Anyone who knows me would not say I am not an enthusiast. There is also the thought process that for a main replacement for X470, in some scenarios B550 makes sense. One thing the upgraded VRMs (on most boards) does is allow for any CPU up to the 3950X to be used so 5 months, 1 year or even 2 years down the road you will have an upgrade path. You could also wait for PCIe 4.0 drives to fall in price before doing that upgrade. Having said that the problem with B550 is (I have said this before too) it is a late launch but I guess AMD wanted to sell as many X570 boards as possible.

 

[tabascosauz]

In a void absent of human emotion no one would objectively buy a B550 priced the same as it's X570 variant. I give you the As Rock Taichi in Canada the B550 is $489.99 and the X570 is $489.99 (I do believe it has a mail in rebate too). However the argument for B550 does exist in give scenarios (emotion). B550 is perfect for HTPC. Given that the lower end boards are justified in their price markup for what you get. A Wifi 6 adapter card is $45 on Amazon. You cannot rewire a B450 board to run PCIe 4.0 anything and B550 gives you the flexibility of taking your PCIe 3.0 drive and keep using it as your OS. Then you have to factor in the low end Ryzen parts. 3100X (4.5 GHZ OC), 3300X (4.5 GHZ OC), 1600AF (4.3 GHZ OC), 2600 (4.2 GHZ OC), 3600 and 3400G are all well priced CPUs that will surprise you in their ability, especially Gaming but $300 to $400 (Canadian) for a MB and CPU today is not too shabby at all. People can say what they want about core counts in consoles that haven't launched yet. The other side is productivity as one thing that a Ryzen3 CPU gives you is better RAM compatibility but the benchmarks show that Ryzen CPUs walk all over Intel in productivity. Just ask the creators (especially now) that are jumping to Threadripper or read a review of Ryzen. I am not rushing but I will be getting specifically (I have said it before) getting the Asus PrimeM WIFI B550. For $189.99 it will be great for me. Anyone who knows me would not say I am not an enthusiast. There is also the thought process that for a main replacement for X470, in some scenarios B550 makes sense. One thing the upgraded VRMs (on most boards) does is allow for any CPU up to the 3950X to be used so 5 months, 1 year or even 2 years down the road you will have an upgrade path. You could also wait for PCIe 4.0 drives to fall in price before doing that upgrade. Having said that the problem with B550 is (I have said this before too) it is a late launch but I guess AMD wanted to sell as many X570 boards as possible.

If this is the same B550M-A Prime you've mentioned before, there is no VRM upgrade. 4 undoubled/untwinned phases with relatively uncommon Vishay SIRAs places it in around the B450 Mortar, which can probably be trusted with a stock 3900X, but the Asus has far less heatsink mass. If you ask the VRM database maintainers or BZ, they'd probably recommend an 8 core and no more for the budget boards with 4 true phases + 2 low-side on each phase.

I went with a Steel Legend which is ASRock's best mATX but the firmware needs work, so I'm gonna go pick up a B550M TUF today since the Mortar I ordered is on backorder. If you don't care at all about using an Ivy Bridge era audio codec and use HDMI audio instead I guess the Prime works, but the TUF/Mortar/Steel Legend collectively represent the best mATX boards AM4 has seen so far, and honestly I'd argue that they're not any less cost effective than the entry level Pro4/Prime/Bazooka boards.

The problem with B550 raising the entire price floor is that the budget boards stop being budget boards. At that point, they're asking close to $200 for a literal copy paste B450 board on the same PCB that has PCIe 4.0 enabled and Wifi 6 (not even, on some models). The top mATX SKUs are $220-250 with a much more well-rounded feature set.

Also, sellers up here took advantage of B550 to push X570 prices up even further and fit B550 in its former place, especially the ITX boards.

 

[milewski1015]

Having said that the problem with B550 is (I have said this before too) it is a late launch but I guess AMD wanted to sell as many X570 boards as possible.

If I remember correctly, the delay was because ASMedia had setbacks regarding their PCIe 4.0 tape-outs. That's why AMD designed the X570 chipset in-house.

The problem with B550 raising the entire price floor is that the budget boards stop being budget boards. At that point, they're asking close to $200 for a literal copy paste B450 board on the same PCB that has PCIe 4.0 enabled and Wifi 6 (not even, on some models). The top mATX SKUs are $220-250 with a much more well-rounded feature set.

Yeah, a big problem with B550 is the price and how it's no longer "budget" territory. However, I believe it was GamersNexus that mentioned that part of the price hike is due to increased manufacturing costs. I would also imagine that part of the price hike is likely due to the rising popularity of Ryzen and it's competitiveness in the CPU space. AMD is no longer the underdog when it comes to CPUs - they've almost caught Intel when it comes to gaming and have (in general) surpassed them in terms of multithreaded workloads. They've got good products in high demand and are taking advantage of that in terms of pricing.

 

[kapone32]

If I remember correctly, the delay was because ASMedia had setbacks regarding their PCIe 4.0 tape-outs. That's why AMD designed the X570 chipset in-house.

You mean the excuse, as the B550 chipset is no different than B450 in terms of PCie. Trust me AMD is in this to make money if you remember when X570 launched some of the boards were more expensive than X399 and no one can tell me that an X399 boards costs less to manufacture than a X570. Even today there is an MSI STRX Carbon for $559 Canadian and that entire board has PCie 4.0 wiring and WIFI 6.

If this is the same B550M-A Prime you've mentioned before, there is no VRM upgrade. 4 undoubled/untwinned phases with relatively uncommon Vishay SIRAs places it in around the B450 Mortar, which can probably be trusted with a stock 3900X, but the Asus has far less heatsink mass. If you ask the VRM database maintainers or BZ, they'd probably recommend an 8 core and no more for the budget boards with 4 true phases + 2 low-side on each phase.

I went with a Steel Legend which is ASRock's best mATX but the firmware needs work, so I'm gonna go pick up a B550M TUF today since the Mortar I ordered is on backorder. If you don't care at all about using an Ivy Bridge era audio codec and use HDMI audio instead I guess the Prime works, but the TUF/Mortar/Steel Legend collectively represent the best mATX boards AM4 has seen so far, and honestly I'd argue that they're not any less cost effective than the entry level Pro4/Prime/Bazooka boards.

The problem with B550 raising the entire price floor is that the budget boards stop being budget boards. At that point, they're asking close to $200 for a literal copy paste B450 board on the same PCB that has PCIe 4.0 enabled and Wifi 6 (not even, on some models). The top mATX SKUs are $220-250 with a much more well-rounded feature set.

Also, sellers up here took advantage of B550 to push X570 prices up even further and fit B550 in its former place, especially the ITX boards.

Even if there is no VRM update the current B450 Prime allows for a 4.4+ GHZ OC on both the 3100X and 3300X so that does not bother me. The Steel Legend is a nice but at $259.99 that for me is too expensive for what it really is let's remember that Ryzen does have 65 W parts I never see the 3300X or 3100X go past 50W when Gaming though (MSI Afterburner).

 

[lukart]

What I see is that you have as good B550 as X570 premiums for less, like this time around, steel legend and even the Extreme4 is priced under 180$ with awesome features and a very solid VRM. I would disagree that the B550 is pointless, to me make the X570 a worse choice.

 

[CiroConsentino]

The only features it has over X570 are (possibly, depending on the board) WiFi 6 and 2.5Gb LAN (and the lack of a chipset fan, if that really bothers you). Motherboard manufacturers are trying to sell B550 by claiming it has better VRMs and memory overclocking but let's face it, OC on Ryzen is pretty much non-existent and due to the Infinity Fabric wall there's no reason to want to run RAM any faster than DDR-4000, which pretty much every X570 board does already. And the VRM argument is mostly moot because (most) X570 boards, being flagship products, have strong VRMs anyway - unless you're on a 3900X/3950X it really isn't going to matter.

B550 loses out big time on connectivity, with only a single PCIe 4.0 slot for the GPU and M.2 each. Most B550 boards also have vastly lower numbers of USB ports, and only a handful come with a front USB-C header. And yet they're consistently priced around the same price, or even higher, than X570 boards with better feature sets. Heck, there are many B450 boards with superior IO connectivity!

In short, I don't see any reason why you'd want to choose B550 over X570. Supplies of X570 boards are somewhat restricted due to le COVID, but the B550 launch has effectively been a paper one (the boards are out of stock almost everywhere) for the same reason, so once again it's a moot point.

I also have a strong suspicion that we're going to see refreshed X570 boards, with all of B550's features and more, drop at the same time that Zen 3/Ryzen 4000 launches (still supposedly later this year). Those will certainly be pricier than the current crop of X570, but in terms of features they'll have it all.

I'll be sticking with my 3600X/X370 combo until the next socket from AMD, so I won't be affected, but for anyone putting together a new system in the near future, tell us: what are you going to choose, and why? Do you disagree with my opinion on B550, or not?

p.s. please try not to derail this thread with irrelevant BS about AMD's driver quality and such.

I just bought a ASUS TUF Gaming B550-Plus board because the X570 models are a lot more expensive than B550 here in Brazil... I have no complaints about this board so far.

 

[king of swag187]

I'm going to be honest. There aren't any real AM4 enthusiast boards anyways, so it's irrelevant

 

[milewski1015]

I'm going to be honest. There aren't any real AM4 enthusiast boards anyways, so it's irrelevant

Closest thing I can think of is maybe the MSI Unify - but it's basically pointless since Zen 2 has no OC headroom

 

[kapone32]

The biggest difference is the 2nd M2 slot is usually PCIe 4.0 and that's it. X570 boards have been artificially inflated since B550 boards have launched. The new X570 Prime Pro is probably the best deal as it gives you a 2nd PCIe 4 x8 slot and a backplate with white accents but at $329.99 (Canadian) it is at least $60 cheaper than any similar X570 board.

 

[Deleted member 193596]

, OC on Ryzen is pretty much non-existent

my 9900k could be overclocked by 300 Mhz.

my 3800x by 350 Mhz (all core) (with less VCore than fit voltage)

why is overclocking "non existent" on Ryzen? because you don't know how?

 

[king of swag187]

Closest thing I can think of is maybe the MSI Unify - but it's basically pointless since Zen 2 has no OC headroom

Not even close lol, all of the MSI boards suck absolutely dog

 

[Bones]

I'm no fan of MSI by any means, I've had my share of problems and early deaths from the make.

However I will give credit where it's due, the MSI board I have did this with PC3600 rated sticks:

Bones`s Memory Frequency score: 2232.8 MHz with a DDR4 SDRAM

The DDR4 SDRAM @ 2232.8MHzscores getScoreFormatted in the Memory Frequency benchmark. Bonesranks #552 worldwide and #402 in the hardware class. Find out more at HWBOT.

hwbot.org

As far as I'm concerned with what I've seen enthusiast use is more of a luxury now than a standard. Performance has always come at a price but it's much more expensive vs the lower tier boards now and the CPU's themselves don't go up as far above stock as they did before.
Those days I'm afraid are gone and unless something changes with the tech or we get lucky somehow and whatnot I just don't see it being the same as it was before - In fact I woudn't count on it.

 

[CiroConsentino]

If the X570 price was the same as B550, I would have gotten the X570 board, no doubt. But I live in Brazil where computer hardware prices are beyond abusive

 

[Owe]

As I read through this post I have to wonder how many of the respondents are experienced IT people.. I have run the zen2 chips on x570 and b550, the truth of the matter is, and this has been stated on this thread, Zen2 chips do not overclock very well and while you can easily squeeze a few hundred mhz overclock out of the ships pretty easily, without an aggressive cooling solution, even that is not recommended. In terms of IO and PCI options on the B550, I do not find the B550's lacking much over the X570s beyond some of the lower end sound options. Unless you are crypto mining, one 16x 4.0 graphics slot is enough with the current generations of available graphics solutions. In fact if you are looking at an ITX build there is really no reason to steer away from B550, there is no lack of USB ports and again unless you need the best possible sound quality, B550 offers everything you will need to build a reasonably priced high-end system.

Far from DOA, B550 has brought an option to enthusiasts that x570 did not offer and that is a cooler southbridge operating temperature negating the need for that additional fan on the southbridge heatsink. I have tested my B550 3900X build and monitored the southbridge with an IR gun and found the thermal operating temps well within tolerable limits, rarely exceeding 80c. My build is ITX SFX with an AIO 240 and it is plenty cool enough. I will say that stock bios settings on these boards do tend to slightly overvolt the cpu (nothing that puts the chip at risk) and produces slightly higher idle temps, but this is nothing a few manual settings will not resolve with ease.

 

[xrror]

"There are no bad products, just bad pricing" I think the initial complaint against B550 was launch boards for it were often above that of even X570 boards - which was a bit of a change vs say the B450/X470 gen.

This also at time before it was confirmed by AMD that 4xx boards would be able to run 5xxx Ryzen - so it seemed a bit of a "forced" mobo upgrade if you wanted 5xxx compatibility in the future.

Now it's just a bit of a historical trivia since it doesn't really matter what mobo you have if you can't get a GPU for it ;p

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

B550-A pro

This board should be the go to reference point for any AM4 build