Anyone waiting for a B550 board besides me?

I'm seeing idiots buy gear and try to flip on Craigslist.

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polonyc2 said:
which B550 board is considered the best price/performance one?...Asus or the Gigabyte Aorus Elite?
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honestly.. go with what ever one has the features you want for the price you want to pay. they're all generally the same as far as performance goes.
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
honestly.. go with what ever one has the features you want for the price you want to pay. they're all generally the same as far as performance goes.
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ideally I would like the MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk WiFi but it's never in stock...the Gigabyte X570 AORUS PRO is my 2nd choice but that's also hit and miss

for B550 the ASUS ROG STRIX B550-E GAMING has everything I want but the price is too high...Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro is my 2nd choice B550

what's happening is that all this waiting is pushing me towards waiting until September for Zen 3...but I have a feeling that the same issues will pop up then- low availability
 
Got tired of waiting. The "best" board for my purposes (and budget) that I could find listed was the AsRock Extreme4, but it doesn't appear to have made its way to retail yet. I went ahead and bought an ASUS Tuf x570. Got tired of waiting for the 3300X as well, and went ahead and ordered the 3600. Spent more money than I wanted, but it'll serve me well for a few year.
 
I am interested in:
B550M pro4, B550M Tuf (should I pay the extra for the wifi version?) and MSI B550M Mortar (ditto).

The Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite looks promising. That ATX board is the same price as Asus B550 Tuf boards (both states and matx).

Thoughts?
 
pavel said:
I am interested in:
B550M pro4, B550M Tuf (should I pay the extra for the wifi version?) and MSI B550M Mortar (ditto).

The Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite looks promising. That ATX board is the same price as Asus B550 Tuf boards (both states and matx).

Thoughts?
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I got a full ATX with WiFi... just saves me from having to have a card in. Find the one with the features you want/need in a price you're comfortable with and you should be fine. Unless you're doing some major overclocking, the VRMs are pretty much all good enough. If you do plan on some hefty overclocking, then do some research. I ended up with an MSI MPG B550 GAMING WIFI for my son along with a 3700x.... it was a bit more than I originally intended (was looking at just a cheap sub $100 MB to go along with a 3300x, neither of which seemed like it was happening).
 
B550 boards are disappointingly expensive compared with their b450 predecessors. If it wasnt for a lack of x570 availability, they would not sell well.
 
D3xx said:
B550 boards are disappointingly expensive compared with their b450 predecessors. If it wasnt for a lack of x570 availability, they would not sell well.
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I mean, the ones that sell out the fastest are the cheapest ones... Which leaves the pricey ones. When I was looking more B550s met my requirements than x570s... specifically 2.5gbe and a USB 3.1 Gen 2 front header. Very hard to find on an x570 until you start getting over $300 and even then. So, I found a B550 for under $200 that had built in wifi 6 to boot, saving me from having to install a pcie card. I think asrock is about the only option under $100 though, so for sure not as cheap as b450's and you're right on some of them being priced a bit high, but if they are selling then I guess they aren't priced to crazy.
 
Nice to see the B550s in stock now, but damn - those prices! Think I'm just going to hold off on my ITX build (and really kicking myself for not jumping on a $200 x570 refurb Gigabyte board a few months back).

In most cases, I can spend $20-30 more for the X570 version. That would still allow me to use my existing 2700X and wait on dropping in a 3000-series (hoping for decent Black Friday sales on a 3700x or 3800x). Going B550, I'd have to shell out for something compatible right away.
 
SeymourGore said:
Nice to see the B550s in stock now, but damn - those prices! Think I'm just going to hold off on my ITX build (and really kicking myself for not jumping on a $200 x570 refurb Gigabyte board a few months back).

In most cases, I can spend $20-30 more for the X570 version. That would still allow me to use my existing 2700X and wait on dropping in a 3000-series (hoping for decent Black Friday sales on a 3700x or 3800x). Going B550, I'd have to shell out for something compatible right away.
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Yah, downside of b550 is zen2+, if you are needing it for Zen2 though, prices aren't horrible and the VRMs are pretty good as well as lots of features in the $150 range. I mean, I just picked up 2 3700x, one for $270 and 2 week later one for $260 with ac Valhalla for free... Was going to buy the game for my son anyways so basically got it for $200. The deal came out like 2 weeks after I bought the first one, but iv been wanting an excuse to upgrade my 1600 anyways and $200 for a 3700x was a good enough one for me.
 
Ready4Dis said:
I mean, the ones that sell out the fastest are the cheapest ones... Which leaves the pricey ones. When I was looking more B550s met my requirements than x570s... specifically 2.5gbe and a USB 3.1 Gen 2 front header. Very hard to find on an x570 until you start getting over $300 and even then. So, I found a B550 for under $200 that had built in wifi 6 to boot, saving me from having to install a pcie card. I think asrock is about the only option under $100 though, so for sure not as cheap as b450's and you're right on some of them being priced a bit high, but if they are selling then I guess they aren't priced to crazy.
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Which board?
 
pavel said:
Which board?
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I ended up getting an MSI MPG B550 Gaming WiFi (upgraded my son's PC from a 6600k to a 3700x, his nzxt h510 has front USB-C and I was tired of it being just for show and not working). MSI is one of the few that puts gen 2 headers on their b550 boards... Not so much their x570 boards. Only complaint is their dragon center doesn't work at all... I mean literally not a single option comes up when it loads. The hardware itself is great, software is shit, lol. I submitted a trouble ticket about 3 weeks ago with no response, glad it wasn't something important.
 
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I ordered the MSI B550m Mortar as to be going in a Cooler Masterbox 400 with a Ryzen 3600 / RX 5500
 
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I “downgraded” to a b550m Prime WiFi from a x570 Crosshair viii. I’m actually pleased with its performance for what I need it for.
 
This is out of the box with CD chipset drivers .. also I like how the RX 570 8Gb runs on this board as just a baseline for someone with that card and can just afford a platform switch . that is a new windows build on a 2Gb Seagate plate drive is all it has for now as just baseline stuff .

Here is the ID tag showing the board being B550 Mortar https://valid.x86.fr/bench/2c68fd/1

Here is the 3600 in default with data

 
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jmilcher said:
I “downgraded” to a b550m Prime WiFi from a x570 Crosshair viii. I’m actually pleased with its performance for what I need it for.
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Yeah, I was looking at x570s also, but found b550s matched my requirements better.
 
Ready4Dis said:
Yeah, I was looking at x570s also, but found b550s matched my requirements better.
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It's seems advanced and they took there time for some reason as the bios is very limited on cpu support like where they plan to build from going forward and to see it says x570 south bridge and no chipset fan speaks volume .
 
crazycrave said:
It's seems advanced and they took there time for some reason as the bios is very limited on cpu support like where they plan to build from going forward and to see it says x570 south bridge and no chipset fan speaks volume .
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To be fair, b550 south bridge is PCIE 3.0, where x570 is 4.0. It was frustrating that it took so long for the b550's to come out though, wish there were a few more manufacturers offering passive cooling on x570s, but I guess the pcie 4.0 takes a bit more power.
 
So you guys with the Msi boards recommend them, right?
I am considering the Mortar or A-Pro. Ideally, I like the Mortar wifi overall although I am considering 3 other boards. Two matx and one Atx. B550m tuf gaming wifi and Asrock B550m Steel Legend (includes option for a wifi module) and Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite (cheapest) but no wifi version. All are over $200 here except the A Pro.

I'm indecisive. :-/
 
pavel said:
So you guys with the Msi boards recommend them, right?
I am considering the Mortar or A-Pro. Ideally, I like the Mortar wifi overall although I am considering 3 other boards. Two matx and one Atx. B550m tuf gaming wifi and Asrock B550m Steel Legend (includes option for a wifi module) and Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite (cheapest) but no wifi version. All are over $200 here except the A Pro.

I'm indecisive. :-/
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The board is decent, their dragon center software is shit (at least in my attempts at using it). I got the mpg b550 gaming wifi, it was $190 for an atx board with WiFi, so couldn't complain.
 
I think the PCI Express x 16 is 4.0 as my bios offers Gen 4 there as Paul explains it in this video or what parts are as you say PCI Express 3.0 is more the drives ,
 
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crazycrave said:
I think the PCI Express x 16 is 4.0 as my bios offers Gen 4 there as Paul explains it in this video or what parts are as you say PCI Express 3.0 is more the drives ,
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Yes, the 20 pcie lanes from the CPU are 4.0. This means you get a x16 for GPU and a x4 for one NVME at 4.0 speeds. If you want more than this, b550 won't give it to you unless you have can split like 2 4.0 x8 or 2 4.0 x2 for nvme. There is also less USB 3.2 ports available and less SATA3 ports on b550.

The b550 chipset only provides pcie 3.0 x4 link from the CPU, so all peripherals attached to the chipset are sharing a single 3.0 x4 link. The x570 has a 4.0 x4 link, so double the bandwidth available. For most users they won't notice much difference. If you have specific needs it may be worth the extra $.
 
If I was to build a budget build, I would just get the ASUS Prime X570-P , ATX, 2x M.2 for $149 at NewEgg. I just don't see the reason with the pricing for B550.
 
I was all set to pull the trigger on a B550M board at MicroCenter until I realized my 2700X wouldn't run in it.
 
noko said:
If I was to build a budget build, I would just get the ASUS Prime X570-P , ATX, 2x M.2 for $149 at NewEgg. I just don't see the reason with the pricing for B550.
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I can get 2.5gbe and a USB gen 2 header with 2x M.2 for the same price. It's not as if VRMs are any better on low end x570's..
https://www.techspot.com/amp/review/2044-amd-b550-motherboard-vrm/

The only "benefit" is the chipset supports pcie 4.0 instead of 3.0 (CPU lanes are still pcie 4.0). So if you happen to need 2 pcie 4.0 nvme's the second one would be limited to 4,000MB/s on the B550. Really 99% of the population wouldn't notice a difference between the two in most uses.
 
I have the VisionTek RX 5500 XT 8Gb installed on the B550m Mortar / Ryzen 5 3600 and Gen 4 PCI Express active and I really like that video card so far on 20 . 8 . 1 have had no issues so far .

Here is my new toy in action and I 'm just messing around really getting some video ..



I put the 3600 in gaming mode

 
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Ready4Dis said:
I got a full ATX with WiFi... just saves me from having to have a card in. Find the one with the features you want/need in a price you're comfortable with and you should be fine. Unless you're doing some major overclocking, the VRMs are pretty much all good enough. If you do plan on some hefty overclocking, then do some research. I ended up with an MSI MPG B550 GAMING WIFI for my son along with a 3700x.... it was a bit more than I originally intended (was looking at just a cheap sub $100 MB to go along with a 3300x, neither of which seemed like it was happening).
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Ready4Dis said:
I ended up getting an MSI MPG B550 Gaming WiFi (upgraded my son's PC from a 6600k to a 3700x, his nzxt h510 has front USB-C and I was tired of it being just for show and not working). MSI is one of the few that puts gen 2 headers on their b550 boards... Not so much their x570 boards. Only complaint is their dragon center doesn't work at all... I mean literally not a single option comes up when it loads. The hardware itself is great, software is shit, lol. I submitted a trouble ticket about 3 weeks ago with no response, glad it wasn't something important.
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Ready4Dis said:
The board is decent, their dragon center software is shit (at least in my attempts at using it). I got the mpg b550 gaming wifi, it was $190 for an atx board with WiFi, so couldn't complain.
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Sorry to quote three messages. I just wanted to say I agree with your logic. I think the Gaming Edge wifi is one of the best B550 boards. It's the one I want but is expensive here (Canada). It is basically the B550 Tomahawk but with wifi 6. I believe mosfets/vrm is the same. It's almost as good as X570 Tomahawk's in benchmarks (difference was negligible). It's probably overkill for me but I would keep it (the computer) for a while.
I sold my old computer parts except for a P45 motherboard. The B550 Tomahawk doesn't have wifi so I am wondering if I could do without wifi for a while.

The B550m Mortar wifi is pretty good too and $30 cheaper.

I doubt I would care about that Dragon software as I use Linux 60% of the time. I have read lots of complaints about it, though so you are not the only one.
 
pavel said:
Sorry to quote three messages. I just wanted to say I agree with your logic. I think the Gaming Edge wifi is one of the best B550 boards. It's the one I want but is expensive here (Canada). It is basically the B550 Tomahawk but with wifi 6. I believe mosfets/vrm is the same. It's almost as good as X570 Tomahawk's in benchmarks (difference was negligible). It's probably overkill for me but I would keep it (the computer) for a while.
I sold my old computer parts except for a P45 motherboard. The B550 Tomahawk doesn't have wifi so I am wondering if I could do without wifi for a while.

The B550m Mortar wifi is pretty good too and $30 cheaper.
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Yeah, it was slightly more than some others but I felt had everything in as looking for and honestly, it was in stock when I wanted to buy too, lol. If it wasn't for the crappy dragon center I really wouldn't have any complaints (and that's a minor annoyances not a show stopper for me).

Ps. I did notice some boards had the connectors to add on wifi modules without taking up a normal pcie slot, I can't recall which off hand, but a few had m.2 pcie slots and such just for WiFi (a few boards were offered with and without and had the slot in place on the board without allowing you to install your own).
 
I have only used the dragon center software to power the fan colors and memory sticks and the board has a switch at the bottom to turn the LCD lights off or on . but the board has been running good and no crash .
 
Another HWUB B550 MB test. Slighter more expensive models this time, and MSI Mortar looks like the class of the field this time.
 
crazycrave said:
I have only used the dragon center software to power the fan colors and memory sticks and the board has a switch at the bottom to turn the LCD lights off or on . but the board has been running good and no crash .
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I can launch dragon center, but it shows no options at all. I can't set a single thing. It doesn't crash, just doesn't allow me to do anything like it's not able to aggregate/poll for hardware. Tried running as admin, no difference. Submitted a ticket to MSI over a month ago with no response, so don't expect much from support if you buy one (maybe if it was a hardware issue I would have gotten a response, but no clue). Chalk me up to not very impressed with their software or customer service, but the board itself is stable and works great.
 
crazycrave said:
No better the B350 or B450 if you don't get any PCI Express 4.0 support
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Maybe better for price, if the other missing features (vrm, mb sinks, oc/power control support, extras, etc.) don't bother you and scalpers don't jump on it. Think I'm set on B550 or x570 though.
 
Nobu said:
Maybe better for price, if the other missing features (vrm, mb sinks, oc/power control support, extras, etc.) don't bother you and scalpers don't jump on it. Think I'm set on B550 or x570 though.
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It's not bad, 8 stage VRM with USB 3.0 gen 2 (USB c). For cheap little boards, seems ok. Not something I'll be buying, I'd rather fork a few extra bones for a b550 and keep the ability to OC.
 
Ready4Dis said:
It's not bad, 8 stage VRM with USB 3.0 gen 2 (USB c). For cheap little boards, seems ok. Not something I'll be buying, I'd rather fork a few extra bones for a b550 and keep the ability to OC.
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I think for the target audience, the Ryzen 3000 boost is plenty; most users won't manage to successfully overclock a Ryzen 3000, excluding maybe the 3100, and the gains are pretty marginal even if you do. It's a very different situation from Zen 1 where all you need is a non-garbage cooler and the vast majority of CPU's can be clocked up by a few hundred MHz with no problem. I can see A520 doing very well if they can keep the price down where it belongs.
 
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