[SOLVED] Should I Go for B450 or B550 Motherboard for Ryzen 5 5600 CPU?

[Alone_Boy_]

Hello friends. I decided to upgrade my current hardware gradually. In this context, I first started with the PSU upgrade. I ordered a Corsair RM750 W, it will arrive soon. In the next step, I plan to upgrade the motherboard, processor and graphics card in order. I will buy AMD Ryzen 5 5600 as a processor (after its release, of course). What stumbles on my mind here is: Should I buy the latest but more expensive B550 series motherboard or a much cheaper B450 series motherboard with a BIOS update? If I buy a B550 motherboard, its lifetime will be at most 2 years. After 2 years, AMD will release a new socket and a new motherboard will be required to upgrade the processor. In this case, I think it would be unnecessary to spend too much money on a B550 series motherboard unnecessarily. What would you say? I think of the motherboard from Asus ROG Strix series.

By the way, for those wondering about my current system:

Motherboard: Gigabyte AB350 Gaming AM4
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600
RAM: Gskill 2x8 16 GB DDR4
GPU: Gigabyte Aorus GTX1080 8GB
PSU: OCZ ZT Series 650W

 

[Newtonius]

B550 hands down. Feature wise there aren't that many differences since it's still the B series but the B550 will provide better thermal and voltage performance for the new architecture than a B450. I mainly recommend the B550 because you have a choice between the two. If you already had a B450 then I would recommend not upgrading since you wouldn't see that much of a performance difference.

 

[ocer9999]

For sure B550, not only it has better memory compatibility, has PCIe 4.0 and you can find good ones for very reasonable price like the B550 M Pro4 at around 100$.

 

[drea.drechsler]

For sure B550, not only it has better memory compatibility, has PCIe 4.0 and you can find good ones for very reasonable price like the B550 M Pro4 at around 100$.

I'd be hesitant for the Pro 4. It's VRM isn't any better than many B450 boards, based on HWUnboxed VRM thermal reviews.

With higher IPC and and higher clocks I have to wonder if the reason most B550 boards are coming out with greatly improved VRM's is to comfortably handle increased power demands of Zen3. So if getting this with any inclination to Zen3, especially a higher core count processor, I'd be looking at one a notches or two up the spectrum.

 

[Math Geek]

b550 has NOTHING to do with the power delivery of the mobo. it is responsible for the features available and not how its power delivery is designed.

you'll find that the same model with a b450 and a b550 will be pretty much identical in power delivery design. they do not redesign the mobo each chipset change, they simply update what needs to be and that's it.

as noted above b550 brings a couple new features but are really not needed for the average user.

i'd start looking for the features you need and start filtering out what is available. then once you identify a handful of choices, then you can start looking at b450 vs b550. you may find a b550 for similar money which makes it worth it. but you may also see that the move costs more than it is worth. but you have to look for what you need/want in a mob to be sure before deciding. you may even find that an x470 or 570 has what you need at a decent price. always worth looking everything over first

 

[drea.drechsler]

b550 has NOTHING to do with the power delivery of the mobo.
...

'b550' may have nothing to with it...but the secondary fact that the motherboard vendors have put much more beefy VRM's on the B550 models vs. the B450 models preceding has everything to do with it.

If you can find one B450 board with a 12 phase VRM comprising highly efficient 60amp vishay power stages I'd like to know which it is. There are way more than one B550, and even more with 10 phases of powerstages. Just find me some B450's with more than 4 stages of discrete FET's. I have to think there's a reason they're doing this as Zen2 perform quite well on the B450 lineup. Even 3950's on many of them.

PCIe gen 4 may not bring a lot of usefulness, but I think the pcie gen 3 lanes B550 brings is a significant benefit. It's providing a for a lot more options in how they split up the lanes, allowing some boards to come with 2 full speed M.2's while not skimping on SATA ports. That has to be useful to a lot of users.

 

[johnsoner13]

Just get b550 because according to amd, bios updates for 400 series boards for zen 3 support wont come out til around january 2021, few months after the release of the new cpus. Unless you dont mind waiting, of course. my recommendation is the msi mpg b550 gaming plus. Good vrms, good looks, good overall board

 

[Alone_Boy_]

I don't mind waiting. I'm a little short on cash right now. So like I've said above, I'll upgrade my pc step by step over time. The main reason for thinking B450 over B550, I'll have to upgrade my CPU 3-4 years later for high-end gaming. AMD will move to a new socket and B550 mobo will become obsolete and I'll no longer be able upgrade to Zen 4 (or whatever the name will be). Also PC component and other electronics prices are insanely high in Turkey. ( Asus ROG Strix B550 MOBO cost 2100 bucks!) So I'm thinking buying an Asus ROG Strix B450 mobo (cost 1300 bucks which still very expansive), using it with my faithful Ryzen 5 1600 for a while than upgrade to Ryzen 5 5600X or non X. Lastly GPU upgrade will take place.

 

[drea.drechsler]

I don't mind waiting. I'm a little short on cash right now. So like I've said above, I'll upgrade my pc step by step over time. The main reason for thinking B450 over B550, I'll have to upgrade my CPU 3-4 years later for high-end gaming. AMD will move to a new socket and B550 mobo will become obsolete and I'll no longer be able upgrade to Zen 4 (or whatever the name will be). Also PC component and other electronics prices are insanely high in Turkey. ( Asus ROG Strix B550 MOBO cost 2100 bucks!) So I'm thinking buying an Asus ROG Strix B450 mobo (cost 1300 bucks which still very expansive), using it with my faithful Ryzen 5 1600 for a while than upgrade to Ryzen 5 5600X or non X. Lastly GPU upgrade will take place.

The situation is pretty much the same as with Ryzen 3000 and B350 boards. While AMD has put out a beta AGESA for B350 motherboard mfr's haven't put out a BIOS for all their B350 boards. One line of B450 boards i think most likely to get one for Zen3, though, is the MSI MAX line (both B450 and X470) because MSI raised such a stink when AMD first said no support for Zen 3 on B450/X470. The MAX line was created just to have a larger BIOS to support not only Zen2 but in anticipation it would work with Zen3 too.

Also, the delay getting the BIOS is probably a blessing in disguise. If the first release of Zen 2 is any indicator it will be a bit before all the 'early adopter' drama dies and everybody is getting the satisfaction they expected with BIOS updates. You'll more than likely get an AGESA revision that performs well from the start this way.

 

[Alone_Boy_]

This article helped me to made up my mind:

Ryzen 5 3600 + RTX 3080: Killer Combo or Not?

Today we're taking a look back at AMD's value king, the Ryzen 5 3600, but this time running games with the GeForce RTX 3080. Bad or brilliant idea?

www.techspot.com

I'll keep my current Gigabyte AB350 Gaming motherboard and buy a Ryzen 5 3600 CPU. As I see Ryzen 5 3600 can handle even a RTX 3080 GPU. So it'll run with a RTX 3070 with no problem. I can change my mobo after AM5 socket arrive.