AM4 Motherboards MSI vs Asus vs AsRock

[artur.artur.rom]

Hi guys,
I would like to ask you, what are differences in VRM(and cooling) in boards of these companies. I am willing to buy r5 1600 and do some OC. I've read that gigabyte boards are pretty hot(in touch).
So now i don't know which one to buy. Here is a list of all mobos I found interesting(only ATX).

1.MSI B350 Pro Carbon - 142$
2.MSI B350 Tomahawk - 110$
3.ASUS PRIME B350-PLUS - 117$
4.ASROCK FATAL1TY AB350 GAMING K4 - 120$

 

[Isokolon]

All of them will do honestly.

The Pro Carbon is probably overkill. Price is just not entirely competitive.
The Tomahawk is a very popular board but I think a tad worse than the Asus
The Asus is very popular and would be my personal go.to. decent quality, relatively good value. Strix series usually overclocks well.
The Fatal1ty boards are usually top notch as well. Haven't seen a lot B350 Fatal1ty boards though as the Pro4 comes with almost identical specs and is severely cheaper.

 

[artur.artur.rom]

Thanks for fast response.
In my country AsRock K4 costs only 5$ more than pro4. It has same connectors and all stuff, but is like "high quality" series so i think it may be better choice. But 5$ in pocket is always good...
Asus has same price as K4 but less USB ports(but 2 with 3.1) and worse audio.

 

[Isokolon]

Sorry I for some reason had the Asus Strix B350F in mind.

I'd go with the Fatal1ty.

 

[raisonjohn]

Hi guys,
I would like to ask you, what are differences in VRM(and cooling) in boards of these companies. I am willing to buy r5 1600 and do some OC. I've read that gigabyte boards are pretty hot(in touch).
So now i don't know which one to buy. Here is a list of all mobos I found interesting(only ATX).

1.MSI B350 Pro Carbon - 142$
2.MSI B350 Tomahawk - 110$
3.ASUS PRIME B350-PLUS - 117$
4.ASROCK FATAL1TY AB350 GAMING K4 - 120$

Here are the salient differences in the VRM arrangement of the aforementioned boards:

The MSI B350 Pro Carbon uses 4x real phases (RT8894A 4+2 controller) for the CPU, which is doubled to make it 8x, while it uses +2x phases coming from the same controller for the SoC (so, it's 10 phases or "8+2").

The MSI B350 Tomahawk uses 4x real phases (RT8894A 4+2 controller) for the CPU, but not doubled, and also uses +2x phases coming from the same controller for the SoC (so, it's 6 phases or "4+2").

The Asus Prime B350-Plus uses 4x real phases (ASP1106GGQW 4+2 controller) for the CPU, but not doubled, and also uses +2x phases coming from the same controller for the SoC (so, it's also 6 phases or "4+2").

The ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming K4 uses 3x real phases (ISL95712 3+3 controller) for the CPU, which is doubled to make it 6x, while it uses +3x phases coming from the controller for the SoC (so, it's 9 phases or "6+3").

Typically, the more the phases, the better the voltage control, thus, creating a "cleaner" power supply from the PSU to the CPU (and usually translates to better overclocking capabilities) and other motherboard components.

All of the motherboards you are considering have heatsinks over the MOSFETs, with the Asus Prime B350-Plus having the least surface area.

Further reading: https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/1229-anatomy-of-a-motherboard-what-is-a-vrm-mosfet?showall=1

Comparison Tables: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3502839/am4-motherboard-amd-ryzen-cpu-specs-comparison-list.html

 

[alston]

Personally, I'd choose B350 tomahawk.