[SOLVED] Difference between MSI B450 Gaming Plus Max and MSI B450 Gaming Plus

[jimmy_the_dude]

Hello, I am in the process of helping my brother build a computer and am having trouble choosing a motherboard. The MSI B450 Gaming Plus Max goes for $99.99 on Amazon currently and the MSI B450 Gaming Plus is $94.99. I know it would seem obvious to purchase the Max, but just for clarification, what are the differences?

Thanks

 

[Barty1884]

The MAX is a re-release of the Gaming Plus, with an updated BIOS already installed for 3000 series CPUs.

The non-Max may well need a BIOS update to support 3000 chips and, because B550 boards aren't out yet, MSI capitalized on that by launching a few boards as re-releases with out of the box support.

There's also MAX variants of the B450 Tomahawk, -A Pro, Pro-VDH and Pro-M.2

 

[jimmy_the_dude]

The MAX is a re-release of the Gaming Plus, with an updated BIOS already installed for 3000 series CPUs.

The non-Max may well need a BIOS update to support 3000 chips and, because B550 boards aren't out yet, MSI capitalized on that by launching a few boards as re-releases with out of the box support.

There's also MAX variants of the B450 Tomahawk, -A Pro, Pro-VDH and Pro-M.2

Thanks for the input. I think, because of budget restraints (about $750), he'll be getting the Ryzen 5 1600 - so the BIOS should be no problem.
If you are interested, here is the build thus far: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/gostman87/saved/CNfXvK (I'm selling him my RAM). Any thoughts?

 

[Barty1884]

If he's opting for a 1600, consider a 2600 too - I think there's $15 difference at the moment.
If going for the 1600, consider a B350 or X370 board - you might find an even better deal on those as they're even older (yet still plenty adequate)

What RAM are you selling? For Ryzen, you want reasonably fast (~3000MHz), although first Gen was a little picky with compatibility with XMP/DOCP profiles, at least 2933MHz should be achievable with an updated BIOS.

Beyond that.... 120GB is very, very small. Given how cheap larger drives are these days, 120GB class drives are really hard to justify.

Just to give you a quick example... $10 additional out of pocket, but then $20 in rebates:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor ($98.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B450M Pro4-F Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($71.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Team MS30 512 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($41.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6 GB SC ULTRA GAMING Video Card ($239.99 @ Best Buy)
Case: Deepcool MATREXX 50 ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Custom: APEVIA AF212S-BK 120mm 4pin & 3pin Silent Black Case Fan (2-pk) ($9.44 @ Amazon)
Custom: Acer KG241Q bmiix 23.6" Full HD (1920 x 1080) Monitor with AMD FREESYNC Technology (2-HDMI & VGA Ports) ($118.49 @ Amazon)
Custom: My RAM ($30.00)
Total: $729.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-25 19:06 EST-0500

Stronger GPU, larger SSD (M.2, albeit SATA), subjectively 'nicer' case, better PSU....