News AMD B550 Motherboards beginning to appear online

[UsandThem]

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-b550-motherboards

https://www.anandtech.com/show/15810/amds-b550-motherboards-start-apppearing-online

So far only Asus has announced prices.

No chipset fan and less expensive.......these really should have launched earlier IMO.

 

[gdansk]

My B350M Mortar is still kicking and has been a good experience overall.
I'll probably this one: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-B550M-MORTAR/Specification

 

[thesmokingman]

That ROG Strix-E is about same price as x570 counterpart. Crazy...

 

[UsandThem]

That ROG Strix-E is about same price as x570 counterpart. Crazy...

Yeah, it's complete overkill. The B550-F is the one I think is much more attractive in $/performance.

For those who want to know what all the differences are with the Asus lineup, they have posted a B550 page:

https://edgeup.asus.com/2020/b550-motherboard-guide-asus-rog-strix-tuf-gaming-prime/

 

[a5cent-2]

So, stupid question... how many PCIe 3.0 lanes are actually run off the B550 chipset.

I couldn't find anything on Anandtech.

The first image in this article at gamersnexus states 10 PCIe lanes, of which 2 can be reconfigured for SATA:

AMD Chipset Comparison: B550 Specs vs. X570, B450, X370, & Zen 3 Support (2020) | GamersNexus

stub In this content, we’re going to be breaking-down the AMD B550 vs. X570, B450, X470, X370, and A320 chipset specifications number-by-number. Our goal is to look at this purely from a facts-based angle of what the differences are, and those differences will include both numerical...

www.gamersnexus.net

This image at techpowerup looks exactly the same as the one from gamersnexus, except the it states 6 PCIe lanes, of which 2 can be reconfigured for SATA. To top it all off, in the text above the image they say it supports 8 PCIe lanes.

AMD B550 Chipset Detailed, It's Ready for Zen 3, Older AM4 Motherboards not Compatible

In their briefing leading up to today's Ryzen 3 3100 and 3300X review embargo, AMD disclosed that its upcoming "Zen 3" 4th generation Ryzen desktop processors will only support AMD 500-series (or later) chipsets. The next-gen processors will not work with older 400-series or 300-series chipsets...

www.techpowerup.com

The specifications for motherboards look inconsistent as well. Counting up the PCIe3.0 lanes coming of the chipsets on the "Gigabyte B550M DS3H" or "AsRock B550M Steel Legend", it seems there are 8 PCIe3.0 lanes. Looking at the "Asus TUF GAMING B550M-PLUS" it seems there must be 10, in which case there was no reason for Gigabyte and AsRock to cripple their second NVMe slot by making it PCIe3.0x2 rather than PCIe3.0x4.

What is actually true?

 

[StinkyPinky]

Anyone know when they will be available at retail? I'm looking at getting a basic 1200 AF cpu for my daughter but I may as well get a B550 so I can slot in a better CPU some years down the line. (something like a 4600 for example)

 

[redfoot12]

^I think I've seen June 16 as the launch date. Hopefully, we'll start to see some reviews in the next week or so.
I'm upgrading from my old i7-3770k so looking forward to doing this system refresh in a few weeks. I ordered a 3300x to get me through until Zen 3 comes out.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I ordered a 3300x to get me through until Zen 3 comes out.

Where did you find a 3300X? The only place that I know of is B&H, and they're only taking pre-orders.

Regardless, June sounds like an exciting time for AM4.

Looking forward to new CPUs and new B550 boards. Not sure if I'll like the price of B550, B450 was more along the lines of what I normally can afford, price-wise ($80 mATX or stripped-down ATX, $120-130 for a somewhat deluxe but not super-high-end ATX board.) Been mostly happy with my Asus B450-F ROG STRIX Gaming ATX, and my Gigabyte AORUS PRO WIFI ATX.

 

[redfoot12]

^I pre-ordered from B+H

 

[aigomorla]

Those are not cheap value boards... lol...
AMD has learned bad habits from Intel.

Its also a first for ASUS to STRIX brand something on non epoch boards...
Meaning they never had a STRIX for a Intel "H" chipset, yet they are tossing it like flys on AMD's "B" which is suposed to be comparable to intel's H.

 

[country2]

Those are not cheap value boards... lol...
AMD has learned bad habits from Intel.

Its also a first for ASUS to STRIX brand something on non epoch boards...
Meaning they never had a STRIX for a Intel "H" chipset, yet they are tossing it like flys on AMD's "B" which is suposed to be comparable to intel's H.

Prices do look high to me also. Now I wish I would of kept the refurb x570 motherboard from MSI in stead of selling it. Its amazing how much prices has gone up as I sold the refurb board for $60 dollars more than I paid for the original one I bought new. Was going to build me a newer system as I have a habit of wanting the latest stuf...I don't know why though since I don't play games just surf and read..lol

 

[ao_ika_red]

Somebody asked about PCI slot on other thread so I went around looking for B550 board with one. I only find this from Biostar. Any experience with their BIOS?

Best motherboard manufacturers. Biostar provides various high quality motherboard gaming series, including am4 motherboa

Best motherboard manufacturers. Biostar provides various high quality motherboard gaming series, including am4 motherboard amd,

www.biostar.com.tw

For B550 gen, this will have the weakest VRM of all flagship B550, but it should be even better than the popular B450 Tomahawk. It should be interesting board, if they price it on VDH-level price.

 

[ao_ika_red]

So far only Asus has announced prices.

Added price from:
MSI

Gigabyte


sourced from overclock.net

 

[VirtualLarry]

B550 Tomahawk, or X570 Tomahawk? Decisions, decisions... anyone have any salient points pro or con between the two?

Both have RealTek 2.5G ethernet, AND a 1G ethernet, right? Both will take up to a 3950X (or higher). Hmm.

X570 has a fan.

X570 has more PCI-E 4.0.

I have to admit, I'm really shying away from a chipset fan, unless it has a "Silent" mode, and doesn't normally run. (Although, my current B450-F ROG STRIX rig, is running RAID-0 NVMe, both PCI-E 3.0 x4.)

I just remember the horrors of a few-years-old NV430 chipset with those tiny little chipset fans, and you had to get a copper aftermarket fan to replace the stock one, after a few years, after it started to go, and make horrible whining noises.

For that alone, I think that I might go B550.

But B550 doesn't do Zen/Zen+ CPUs, whereas, I've read that some X570 boards will handle the older CPUs as well.

 

[ao_ika_red]

B550 Tomahawk, or X570 Tomahawk? Decisions, decisions... anyone have any salient points pro or con between the two?

B550 Tomahawk seems having bigger vrm heatsink than X570.
X570 comes with WiFi by default.
I read somewhere that X570 chipset fan is 4 pin fans. So it should be silent most of time, unless you saturate all of PCIe4.0 chipset lanes.
Do you really want to use older Zen CPU when $100 3100 (when stock available) will render all cheaper Zen useless?

 

[ao_ika_red]

Added price from:
MSI
View attachment 21961
Gigabyte
View attachment 21962

sourced from overclock.net

Price update from TheFPSReview :

Spoiler: ASUS

Spoiler: MSI

Spoiler: ASRock

Spoiler: Gigabyte

@rivethead @Shivansps B550 board pricing.

 

[Shmee]

Wow, more expensive for sure, but good to see there are more mATX options.

 

[mikegg]

Aren't all computer hardware more expensive now due to COVID-19 causing supply chain disruptions?

For example, a huge portion of GPUs is completely sold out on Amazon. Many motherboards are also sold out. Most NZXT cases are sold out.

I think the combination of AMD no longer the budget option and COVID-19 has pushed B550 prices way up.

 

[ao_ika_red]

I think the combination of AMD no longer the budget option and COVID-19 has pushed B550 prices way up.

The problem is B550 boards are so feature-rich if compared to B450. That's why the price jump looks massive. Just look at how B550 VRM configuration is much beefier than most B450 boards. Not to mention noticable upgrade on audio codec and Ethernet connectivity.

 

[Rigg]

Giagabyte posted a B550 cheatsheet on reddit complete with VRM components. It looks like even the entry level MATX boards priced around $100 will support about 100A of current draw comfortably. A stock 3900x/3950x should hopefully run fine on these boards. These cheap boards should be a good pairing with zen 2 (or zen 3 when they are released) 6/8 core CPU's.

AORUS B550 Cheatsheet Revised 6/17/2020

B550 Model Name,B550 AORUS Master,B550 AORUS PRO AC,B550 AORUS PRO,B550 AORUS ELITE,B550 GAMING X,B550M AORUS PRO,B550M AORUS ELITE,B550M GAMING,B550M DS3H,B550I AORUS PRO AX,B550 VISION D MSRP,$279.00,$189.00,$179.00,$159.00,$139.00,$129.00,$109.00,$99.00,$94.00,$179.00,$259.99 CPU Vcore phase,...

docs.google.com

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/grw59u

 

[aigomorla]

So what is the benefit of a B550 over a X570, because those are not budget boards.

I would pony up the extra and get a X570.

 

[rivethead]

Newegg continues to tease me with emails. At at least the last email had a link that said "check availability".

Right now Newegg only has two AM4 boards in stock. One is a 550 but it's too pricey for me:

GIGABYTE B550 AORUS MASTER AM4 AMD B550 ATX Motherboard - Newegg.com

Buy GIGABYTE B550 AORUS MASTER AM4 AMD B550 ATX Motherboard with Triple M.2, SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.2 Gen 2, WIFI 6, 2.5 GbE LAN, PCIe 4.0 with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

 

[ao_ika_red]

Initial B550 review from HardwareUnboxed:

Newegg continues to tease me with emails. At at least the last email had a link that said "check availability".

Right now Newegg only has two AM4 boards in stock. One is a 550 but it's too pricey for me:

GIGABYTE B550 AORUS MASTER AM4 AMD B550 ATX Motherboard - Newegg.com

Buy GIGABYTE B550 AORUS MASTER AM4 AMD B550 ATX Motherboard with Triple M.2, SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.2 Gen 2, WIFI 6, 2.5 GbE LAN, PCIe 4.0 with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

That B550 Aorus Master is similar to X570 Aorus Extreme. It should be a bargain for those originally were looking for X570 Aorus Extreme.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Initial B550 review from HardwareUnboxed:

Did anyone catch his brief comments near the end on the "XT" AM4 CPU release? That anyone that is claiming that the new "XT" CPUs from AMD are going to beat out Intel's 10th-Gen CPUs in gaming, "are going to be sorely disappointed", "not going to happen". Also commented that they are likely to be a "worse value" than the current offering of Zen2 CPUs on the market right now.

I don't feel bad about investing in another 3600 for $167, rather than waiting a few days and dropping $250 on a 3600XT. ST speed increases are nice, as would be the ability for a higher all-core OC. (But I might need a B550 / X570 board with beefier VRMs than my lowly B450 board with 4-phase Vcore, anyways.)

Most of my workloads are all-core 100% CPU load DC/mining-type stuff, so additional ST-only boost clocks don't highly interest me. At least, not $73 more interesting.

 

[EXCellR8]

So what is the benefit of a B550 over a X570, because those are not budget boards.

I would pony up the extra and get a X570.

One could argue that a benefit is no southbridge fan...