Which budget B450M board?

Gimpymoo

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https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/B450M-HDV R4.0/

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B450M-PRO-M2-MAX

Personally, I am leaning towards the Asrock as it features two system fan headers, one PWM, the other a 3 pin.

The MSI just has one PWM fan header. Yes, I could get a PWM splitter but why do that if the Asrock has 2 headers anyway, is going in a MATX case so PWM is not that important anyway as I expect the fan will always be on anyway.

Does it matter if the board utilises 4pin ATX12v or 8pin EPS12v If no overclocking is taking place? The Asrock has 4 pin the MSI has 8 pin.

Am I missing something which helps make one better than the other?

This is not for gaming, well, maybe some light gaming with emulation using the Vega iGPU on the 3200G.

At this price point, not much differences is there other than what I have mentioned?

Any thoughts please?

Thanks.
 
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Asus TUF B450M-Plus Gaming might also be a good option. i tried comparing prices and it looks to be between the two and has 3 fan headers. the 4 vs 8 pin would only matter with higer end chips or OCing.
 
I just built a R5 3600 build with the MSI B450M Pro-Vdh Max board and it is working great.
 
pretty much any b450m board will work for an apu. Get one with the features you want and can use. I have had a gigabyte b450m ds3h with a 3800x with PBO enabled running fantastic 100% stable for the past 6 months.
 
B450 Pro4 is the one to get for APUs.
Don't know if you're going to stay that long with that setup to make it worthwhile, you'll have to decide.
 
I had a Asrock B450M-HDV for awhile and it was good, but that was the older version with actual VRM cooling. The lack of VRM heatsink on the "R4.0" version OP linked to makes me wary. Same goes for the MSI board- I don't know how much it matters for an APU but I dont trust boards with no VRM cooling.
 
Thank you for the replies.

B450 Pro4 is the one to get for APUs.
Don't know if you're going to stay that long with that setup to make it worthwhile, you'll have to decide.

I did indeed go for the Asrock B450 PRO4 (before seeing that reply).

Seems the best specced board, ample fan headers AND a decent board layout with USEABLE expansion slots.

Even though the PRO4 was £20 more than the others, it was worth it for the PWM fan headers and better overall design/layout.

You get what you pay for and it boils down to how many compromises you are prepared to make I guess to get the lower price point.

In this instance, the lower priced boards were too much of a compromise.
 
HDV ran a 1700x at 4.1ghz all core at the edge of what noise output ML120s could output. 4.0ghz was fine, with 3x120 Noctua intake on a 3way splitter. Cpu cooler ran solo off its header. A 2 way splitter ran exhaust fans. So it's doable but the $20-40 you saved by going cheap gets eaten quickly if your build overshoots the basic layout.

Pro4 has a VRM advantage over most boards when running an APU bc it's a +3 design. It has enough headers for a normal build. You don't have to blast it with air so your ears can take a break under normal use.

I think you made the right choice for the long term. If your max upgrade target was 3070(?) with 3600XT that's a lot of room to grow into from an APU.
 
Even in a poor airflow case with a single rear exhaust fan, the system is VERY quiet, I would say silent but put it this way, it cannot be heard over the ambient noises in the room. The AMD Stealth cooler is great value for a freebie.

Another plus for the Pro4 was the 4 DIMM slots. I have had many older systems where increasing RAM can extend lifespan, even more so in lighter used builds. Only having 2 DIMM slots reduces such longevity.

There is great fun to be had building a system not just with the "most expensive" parts, that is too easy.
 
The Pro4 is a great choice, with minimal airflow the board is well capable of 8 core+ CPUs with decent VRM temps.
 
Anyone have thoughts on the MSI B450M Bazooka Max Wi-Fi?

Compared to the mentioned Asrock board, it features less fan headers and one less M.2 slot, but those points are not major concern for me. Really interested in the build quality and how well the VRMs perform compared to similar priced mATX boards.

Bazooka Max at Newegg
 
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