[SOLVED] I am getting a micro-atx b550 motherboard for the 5 5600x, what would you guys recommend?

[Mr_BruhmanRGB]

I have a budget of £140 and here are some choices I have:

Gigabyte B550M AORUS PRO
Asrock B550M Steel Legend
MSI MAG B550M MORTAR WIFI

I do not mind updating the bios and i would like to run my ram at 3600mhz. I will not do heavy overclocking. I also do not need wifi as i have ethernet

 

[drea.drechsler]

For a 5600X either of those boards will work pretty much the same. Getting 3600Mhz for your RAM depends more on CPU silicon quality and RAM quality and these days it's highly likely you'll be successful by just enabling XMP. I'd prefer the Mortar simply because I'm familiar with MSI's BIOS and have had great results with them. That makes it a personal preference though.

You can safely look at other features to decide based on what you find and what's important: the Mortar is a WiFi model so if you need that make sure the others have it, for instance. If not you'd be paying for something you don't need. The Mortar also has two M.2 sockets for on-board NVME drives. Another key point are the pre-wired USB ports available on the back panel, number and type. Another consideration is a USB type-C header if your case has a front panel port you want to use.

 

[King_V]

My son's B450M Steel Legend has been rock solid. That's really my only point of reference, so, I'd personally probably lean in the direction of the Steel Legend.

However, given that @drea.drechsler pointed out the M2 slot support for two modern NVMe devices (one is PCIe 4.0 x4, the other is PCIe 3.0x4), it has that advantage, because the Steel Legend's second PCIe slot is running 3.0x2. Not terrible, but a slight disadvantage if you're planning to use two NVMe SSDs.

The Steel Legend also does NOT come with WiFi, if that's something you need.

 

[Mr_BruhmanRGB]

My son's B450M Steel Legend has been rock solid. That's really my only point of reference, so, I'd personally probably lean in the direction of the Steel Legend.

However, given that @drea.drechsler pointed out the M2 slot support for two modern NVMe devices (one is PCIe 4.0 x4, the other is PCIe 3.0x4), it has that advantage, because the Steel Legend's second PCIe slot is running 3.0x2. Not terrible, but a slight disadvantage if you're planning to use two NVMe SSDs.

The Steel Legend also does NOT come with WiFi, if that's something you need.

how do you find asrock's BIOS? i hear that they have poor memory overclocking and vrms are all over the place

 

[King_V]

https://www.asrock.com/mb/amd/b450m steel legend/#BIOS1

 

[drea.drechsler]

... i hear that they have poor memory overclocking and vrms are all over the place

VRM's are 'all over the place' with all brands but it's been far more highly variable with AM4 chipset variations. What was true for 300 series was very different for 400...and vastly so for 500 series. It's very unfair to generalize like that, but if you must then also consider that VRM's on 500 series boards are a vast improvement on 300 series. Most comments people hear don't even consider that.

Other than the memory quality itself overclocking potential is determined far more by the CPU than the motherboard. With one exception, that being using 4 DIMM's.

 

[logainofhades]

I would use the gigabyte board. I have an x570 itx, and and ATX B550, both gigabyte. No issues to report, with either.

 

[King_V]

I would use the gigabyte board. I have an x570 itx, and and ATX B550, both gigabyte. No issues to report, with either.

Those both have QFlash, don't they? That's definitely an advantage, as I've learned recently.

 

[logainofhades]

Those both have QFlash, don't they? That's definitely an advantage, as I've learned recently.

Yes they do. All of gigabyte's B550 have this feature, even the cheap B550m DS3H. Pretty sure all their X570 have this as well.
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B550M-DS3H-rev-1x#kf

 

[King_V]

Hell, mine's an A520M DS3H, and it has it. I was pleasantly surprised that one of their cheapest motherboards has this feature.

And, I just found out that the fan headers are supposedly 2A. Not that I think I really need the extra power, but still...