June 2020 – Page 3 – Motherboard Review

MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK – PurePC

May 22, 2022June 17, 2020 by Stephen

It is also worth mentioning that MSI B550-A PRO , MSI MPG B550 Gaming Edge and MSI MAG B550 Tomhawk motherboards have identical 10 + 2 + 1 power sections, so their efficiency should be very similar. Stylistically, the Tomahawk series has turned towards the PRO models , with characteristic geometric eyes on the heat sinks and the grille, discreetly giving way to more fancy designs – MPG Gaming Edgeand MPG Gaming Carbon , available only in WiFi variants (which the MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk does not have).

ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming ITX/TB3

September 14, 2020June 17, 2020 by Stephen

The ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming ITX/TB3 is another board hailing from ASRock’s highly successful Phantom Gaming line. ASRock’s Phantom Gaming family of motherboards was introduced with the Z390 platform not much more than a year ago. The product line features black, red, and gray styling, 2.5 Gb/s LAN, and an emphasis on performance.

GIGABYTE B550 AORUS PRO

September 17, 2020June 17, 2020 by Stephen

The Gigabyte B550 AORUS PRO should be considered a mainstream motherboard with some advanced features. Instead of going for the best in everything, the B550 AORUS PRO tries to keep things sensible and practical.

ASUS ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING (WI-FI)

September 15, 2020June 17, 2020 by Stephen

One rung from the top-step, the B550-F Gaming (Wi-Fi) is rammed full of features, including a strong CPU power delivery, extensive heatsinks in various locations, SupremeFX S1220A onboard audio, an array of USB 3.2 Gen. 2 and Gen. 1 ports, Intel 2.5G ethernet and WiFi 6 connectivity.

GIGABYTE B550 AORUS MASTER

September 10, 2020June 16, 2020 by Stephen

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 motherboard even belongs in the B series.

ASUS ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING (WI-FI)

September 11, 2020June 16, 2020 by Stephen

Little about the ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming [WI-FI] can be referred to as ‘budget’ though, as this easily could be a premium motherboard due to its features and a $229 USD price tag. The board as stated is positioned in an higher end region of what is considered the mainstream segment, it does look properly STRIX styled, stuff we like of course.

GIGABYTE B550I AORUS PRO AX

September 25, 2020June 16, 2020 by Stephen

Probably this is one of the nicest B550 Chipset based motherboards we review, the Mini-ITX based B550i Aorus PRO AX, at 17x17cm Gigabyte loaded this B550 motherboard with downright amazing features including dual M2 slots, 2.5 GigE Ethernet, AX WIFI and a great design for VRM. Well, simply put it’s nearly a mega motherboard at a mini size.

ASUS TUF GAMING B550M-PLUS (WI-FI)

September 13, 2020June 16, 2020 by Stephen

There’s an 8+2 power stage arrangement paired with two very large heatsinks, which is a huge step up from equivalent B450 boards in the TUF range. Those heatsinks kept the VRM temperature, as measured by our external IR probe, below 50°C with our Ryzen 9 3900X.

The AMD B550 Motherboard Overview

September 11, 2020June 16, 2020 by Stephen

That changes with the new B500 series as consumers no longer have PCIe 4.0 on the chipset, instead reverting back to PCIe 3.0. This ultimately should not be an issue, as budget builds are unlikely to have multiple PCIe 4.0 add-in drives, for example. Nonetheless, the high vocal demand for B550 motherboards, especially after AMD launched Ryzen 3, has not gone unnoticed, and there are over 40 new models in the market, most of which should be on sale from today.

GIGABYTE B550 AORUS MASTER

September 14, 2020June 16, 2020 by Stephen

In the Gigabyte range the Aorus Master is comfortably the most expensive, with a MSRP of £300, compared to the £195 of the Pro or £185 of the ITX Pro, so you need to make sure that you desire all it can give you. Speaking of which, let’s run over the specifications and imagery before we install our Ryzen 9 3900X and find out whether it is worth its salt.