[SOLVED] The most right B450 choice with future upgrade and low budget

[DarkJoney]

Hello, friends.

We are building a cheap workstation for my friend, and yes, I know that B550 is coming very soon, but he wants to avoid potential on-launch issues and we are not sure if it will be avaliable soon in Ukraine for a reasonable price.

I need a bit of yours experience, because I am stuck a bit with this rainbow of avalalible boards.

The budget for the motherboard is +/- 100$. We are going to grab Ryzen 1600 AF for now, but later he would like to be able to change the CPU to 2700/3700 and still have the solid performance.
So, the first question is, who will be the best choice between:
ASRock B450M Pro4
ASRock B450M Steel Legend
GIGABYTE B450 AORUS M
ASUS tuf b450m-plus

So, will Pro4 be enough, or more 15$ on Steel Legend worth it? Or will the same priced Aorus M be better than Pro4? Is will TUF be better than Steel Legend or not?

Moreover, is there a sense to grab ATX mobo instead of mATX? Will the Aorus Elite be an better investment than those matx boards?
He won't overclock, so, we are looking for a stable operation in stock. I am really worried about the possible VRM overheat.

Please, I don't want to hear anything about the Tomahawk and whatever MSI makes, I will not consider to this brand only if it goes for free. Don't ask why, there are a couple of reasons why.

Thank you!

 

[rigg42]

This spreadsheet has everything you ever wanted to know about AM4 VRM's.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1d9_E3h8bLp-TXr-0zTJFqqVxdCR9daIVNyMatydkpFA/htmlview#

Power delivery is pretty meh on b450 in general especially when you take MSI out of the equation. That being said any of those boards should run a stock 6 core or stock 3000 series 8 core without throttling the VRM. A stock 2700 would also be fine but a 2700x has the potential to throttle on all but the pro 4. Be sure to get some airflow on the VRM heatsinks if possible.

The Pro 4 has the best VRM of the bunch. I've built several Ryzen rigs on the B450M Pro4 . It's a solid board and my go to for a budget 3600/3700 build. I built a system on the GIGABYTE B450 AORUS M and thought it was pretty crap.

The B550 is likely to get you better VRM's, PCIE expansion, and features for your money. It will also support Ryzen 4000 while B450 will not. If these aren't a serious consideration for you than I can recommend the B450M Pro4.

 

[InvalidError]

The B550 is likely to get you better VRM's, PCIE expansion, and features for your money. It will also support Ryzen 4000 while B450 will not.

One more thing to keep in mind with B550 boards is that they may not support anything older than Zen 2, which is to say 3000-series CPUs and yet-to-be-announced 4000-series desktop APUs.

Since the first batch of B550 boards may already be in warehouses, it is quite possible that even if AMD changes its mind about excluding backwards compatibility, boards won't have it out-of-the-box. B550 is likely a no-go for old CPUs if you want a zero-fuss option.

 

[rigg42]

One more thing to keep in mind with B550 boards is that they may not support anything older than Zen 2, which is to say 3000-series CPUs and yet-to-be-announced 4000-series desktop APUs.

Since the first batch of B550 boards may already be in warehouses, it is quite possible that even if AMD changes its mind about excluding backwards compatibility, boards won't have it out-of-the-box. B550 is likely a no-go for old CPUs if you want a zero-fuss option.

Good catch. I overlooked that.