Please help me to decide on one of these motherboards

[rshughlett]

Building the wife a new desktop with the following components:

AMD Ryzen 3 2200G Quad 3.5ghz (built in GPU) Fan included
8GB GSkill 2666/7 (or 2400 if need be for compatibility reasons)
Samsung 970 EVO NVMe M.2 250GB SSD Boot Drive

Need help picking a mainstream (Asus, Gigabyte, MSI) X370 motherboard.
This is NOT a gaming pc, it's mainly used for internet, Office suite, and work projects, so it does not need to be crazy! Will NOT be OC'd
All the reviews seem to pretty much suck for just about all 3 brands right now. I have never had an MSI board, but might consider it this time since they have slightly better reviews. Really wanted an Asus or GB but even those have crappy reviews. Unfortunately these are all over a year old and nothing new in sight.

My choices narrowed down:
Gigabyte:
GA-AX370-Gaming $85
GA-AX370-Gaming 3 $104

Asus:
Prime X370-A $119

MSi:
X370 Gaming Plus $120
X370 Gaming Pro Carbon $130

Newegg Comparisons: (Don't go by eggs, I read ALL the reviews and even most of the bad ones had 4-5 eggs for some reason)
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?CompareItemList=22%7C13%2D145%2D009%5E13%2D145%2D009%2C13%2D145%2D057%5E13%2D145%2D057%2C13%2D132%2D986%5E13%2D132%2D986%2C13%2D144%2D030%5E13%2D144%2D030%2C13%2D144%2D017%5E13%2D144%2D017

 

[bmockeg]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Motherboard: ASRock - Fatal1ty B450 GAMING K4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($101.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $101.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-08-16 22:51 EDT-0400

B450 will work seamlessly with a 2000 series CPU out of the box. If not overclocking, no reason for an,x370 or x470.

 

[carltonje]

gigabyte ax370 for what your plans are. save a little and use for something else or just save.

 

[rshughlett]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Motherboard: ASRock - Fatal1ty B450 GAMING K4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($101.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $101.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-08-16 22:51 EDT-0400

B450 will work seamlessly with a 2000 series CPU out of the box. If not overclocking, no reason for an,x370 or x470.

I suppose a B450 would be fine too, but just about everything that goes into details say the X370 have better VRMs and there's really no difference in price between them.

 

[rshughlett]

gigabyte ax370 for what your plans are. save a little and use for something else or just save.

Thanks for your reply!
Honestly I don't care what any of it cost as I will be way under budget regardless. I just want a solid reliable PC that will last her another 7+ years (the Asus M2NE that she has now is over 10yrs old!)

 

[rshughlett]

The more I look into the mATX option the better I'm starting to like it. One thing that kind of took me by surprise was the fact the ASRock had better reviews by far than the others on the mATX boards.
I have never owned an ASRock but I may have to reconsider as it looks to be a really nice mATX board that does everything she needs it to do. She would probably be even happier this way since her case would shrink by quite a bit.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-157-843&ignorebbr=1

 

[TJ Hooker]

The chipset doesn't necessarily dictate VRM quality, there are B-series boards with better VRMs than X-series. Also, you have a relatively low powered chip, that you aren't planning to overclock, that won't be heavily loaded: you probably don't need the best VRMs.

In my experience the vast majority of motherboards end up with lots of bad reviews on Newegg. Not exactly sure why they seem more prone to that compared to other parts. But from what I remember most of the bad reviews are about boards that are dead or faulty on arrival, which can obviously be remedied with a return/exchange and doesn't necessarily say anything about the eventual longevity of that model of motherboard.

 

[rshughlett]

The chipset doesn't necessarily dictate VRM quality, there are B-series boards with better VRMs than X-series. Also, you have a relatively low powered chip, that you aren't planning to overclock, that won't be heavily loaded: you probably don't need the best VRMs.

In my experience the vast majority of motherboards end up with lots of bad reviews on Newegg. Not exactly sure why they seem more prone to that compared to other parts. But from what I remember most of the bad reviews are about boards that are dead or faulty on arrival, which can obviously be remedied with a return/exchange and doesn't necessarily say anything about the eventual longevity of that model of motherboard.

Very true about the load on the VRM with the CPU that I'll be using.
I have noticed that the reviews differ quite a bit depending on the site, but still I haven't really seen to many great reviews anywhere.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[bmockeg]

Because people that typically review are the ones with problems. Most of those people probably damaged something themselves during installation. Any asrock, Asus, gigabyte, or MSI board will work for your application. The board I recommended I would use before any you listed. There's no reason to buy an x370 board for a 2200G when B450 boards are out. VRM is for voltage stability. Better VRM are for overclocking which you stated you weren't going to do. As already stated, each board has different VRM. There are x370 and x470 boards with the same VRM as b350 or b450 boards. Since you aren't interested in my recommendation, any of yours will work, provided that have an updated bios.

 

[rshughlett]

Thanks for all your help, I decided to build a Micro ATX which gives her more floor space under her desk.

Using the following components:
ASRock B450M PRO4 AM4 (1st ASRock MB, hope I like it and it lasts!)
G.Skill Ripjaw V Series 8GB (2x4GB) 2666
Ryzen 3 2200G Quad 3.5GHz
Samsung 970 EVO NVMe M.2 250GB for C drive (bootable)
Cooler Master MCW-L3B3-KANN-01 Masterbox Lite 3.1 Case
Antec Earthwatts 750w Modular from her old computer

Comes in right at $400 not including the PS