AB350 vs B450 ITX Motherboard

[petetuchinda]

Hi I'm planning on building a system in a Lazer3D itx case. I'm stuck between the Asrock AB 350 ITX/AC and the B450 ITX/AC (that was recently released). There's around a $10-$20 difference and the only actual difference that I've seen so far is the the AB 350 has creative sound 3 while the b450 has creative sound 5. Does it really matter? Also another difference is that the b450 offers usb 3.1 gen 2 while ab 350 is gen 1 where both of them are type c. Is there much of a difference in real world usage?

 

[WildCard999]

The sound is pretty minimal however this really comes down to the CPU you are using, if it's a first gen Ryzen then the AB350 would be fine however if it's second gen then you'll want the B450 as it will have support for the newer CPU's without requiring a BIOS update.

 

[petetuchinda]

The sound is pretty minimal however this really comes down to the CPU you are using, if it's a first gen Ryzen then the AB350 would be fine however if it's second gen then you'll want the B450 as it will have support for the newer CPU's without requiring a BIOS update.

I'll be using the Ryzen 7 2700x or the 2700

 

[WildCard999]

So yea I'd pay the extra and just get the B450 so you don't need to worry about a updated BIOS.

 

[drea.drechsler]

I'll be using the Ryzen 7 2700x or the 2700

If getting the 2700x definitely get the B450 board since it is probably better optimized overall to support it's precision boost 2 feature without overclocking.

If you should opt for the B350 board, however, just make sure it states 'Ryzen 2000 Ready', or similar, on the box and you'll be OK for the BIOS. But update the BIOS anyway, whichever board you get.

 

[ohenryy]

If it's only a small difference in price, for sure get the B450 ITX, the motherboard will maximize the new Zen2 CPUs with higher clocks, if you use the B350 it wont.

 

[Masoner]

With such a small amount of difference go with the slightly better Motherboard. The $ per performance and "future proofing" is worth it.

IMO if we were talking 50-100$ difference then I'd say no but for 20 bucks, it's worth.