Review buildzoid video: MSI b450m mortar vrm voltages with comparison to x470

[gorobei]

he covers some x470 boards in the spreadsheet segment, he rates the mortar as better than a couple of them.

its a shame that since he has to buy the boards to review, it takes a while to get thru the brands. so now the mortar is effectively out of stock at most online retailers.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Could you please post some comments about the review. I really don’t want to sit thru a 15 minute video

 

[coercitiv]

I really don’t want to sit thru a 15 minute video

That's ok, we'll ask the author of the video to sit down and write a proper 2000 words article on his own time and money.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

That's ok, we'll ask the author of the video to sit down and write a proper 2000 words article on his own time and money.

Just the result would be fine.

 

[Campy]

its a shame that since he has to buy the boards to review, it takes a while to get thru the brands. so now the mortar is effectively out of stock at most online retailers.

If you're referring to the US, I haven't seen the mortar boards listed anywhere for a few months(through pcpartpicker).

 

[gorobei]

If you're referring to the US, I haven't seen the mortar boards listed anywhere for a few months(through pcpartpicker).

yeah, i started following msi prices availability after watching a good portion of buildzoid's am4 videos. given how fast a lot of am4 boards went to clearance sales, i get the feeling that most partners are shifting priority over to x570/b550.
certainly the few that buildzoid has been recommending are much harder to find.

 

[Campy]

yeah, i started following msi prices availability after watching a good portion of buildzoid's am4 videos. given how fast a lot of am4 boards went to clearance sales, i get the feeling that most partners are shifting priority over to x570/b550.
certainly the few that buildzoid has been recommending are much harder to find.

Yeah that's possible. Fortunately the Tomahawk is still available though it doesn't have a mATX version, full ATX only. For SFF the B450i Gaming Plus AC has a very good 6 phase VRM, though it obviously has limitations in expandability due to being an ITX board.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Newegg has the mortar for $280
I doubt that price makes sense but if you really want it...

 

[gorobei]

Newegg has the mortar for $280
I doubt that price makes sense but if you really want it...

its not that i want that one specifically, but rather the in depth testing that buildzoid does is showing that a fair number of higher end and gaming branded boards are not up to snuff in the vrm requirement. he tests until the vrm temps stop going up rather than a 30min to1hour span that most reviewers benchmark boards.

the video i linked showed a couple of x470 boards that failed to complete a benchmark because they hit peak temp and the board failed. you can scrub thru the timeline to his spreadsheet to see.

it is getting harder and harder to find the good(not crap) middle ground boards with all the partners jumping on the RGB and plastic covers bandwagon. the fragmentizing of the market segments into things like strix/tuf/etc means it takes nearly the entire product lifecycle for Buildzoid to work thru the clutter and identify a decent midrange board without the un-necessary bells and whistles. (to be clear: this is my complaint not his)

i really hope this sort of indepth testing becomes more prevalent for motherboards, like the way a decade ago JonnyGuru's psu reviews more or less shamed makers into putting out better models that met objective standards.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

its not that i want that one specifically, but rather the in depth testing that buildzoid does is showing that a fair number of higher end and gaming branded boards are not up to snuff in the vrm requirement. he tests until the vrm temps stop going up rather than a 30min to1hour span that most reviewers benchmark boards.

the video i linked showed a couple of x470 boards that failed to complete a benchmark because they hit peak temp and the board failed. you can scrub thru the timeline to his spreadsheet to see.

it is getting harder and harder to find the good(not crap) middle ground boards with all the partners jumping on the RGB and plastic covers bandwagon. the fragmentizing of the market segments into things like strix/tuf/etc means it takes nearly the entire product lifecycle for Buildzoid to work thru the clutter and identify a decent midrange board without the un-necessary bells and whistles. (to be clear: this is my complaint not his)

i really hope this sort of indepth testing becomes more prevalent for motherboards, like the way a decade ago JonnyGuru's psu reviews more or less shamed makers into putting out better models that met objective standards.

Agreed on many fronts without watching the video. I’m not sitting thru some YouTube video review ever.
I do feel that is AMDs greatest weakness, they allow their board partners to engage in deceptive marketing practices and generally skimp on quality. Intel doesn’t put up with that crap, AMD should follow Intel’s example.

 

[gorobei]

Agreed on many fronts without watching the video. I’m not sitting thru some YouTube video review ever.
I do feel that is AMDs greatest weakness, they allow their board partners to engage in deceptive marketing practices and generally skimp on quality. Intel doesn’t put up with that crap, AMD should follow Intel’s example.

its not a amd thing, i made a post last year about buildzoid's review of a high end asus board for the 9900k. the seeming 8 phase board was really a 4 phase with crappier mosfets and doublers with plastic covered heatsinks that didnt come even close to disipating the heat of a stock 9900k much less an overclocked one. at best it was ok for a 9700nonK. and yet it came at a premium price.

all the partners are doing it, amd and intel irregardless.

MSI is just better about using the same good vrm parts across all their models and putting heatsinks with the required surface area to disapate the heat.

 

[UsandThem]

MSI is just better about using the same good vrm parts across all their models and putting heatsinks with the required surface area to disapate the heat.

That's why I personally hate the majority of boards now being dressed up with cheap plastic, and lights to make them look "leet".

The motherboard manufacturers definitely choose form over function nowadays. Give me a simple, solid board with good components and heatsinks, and they can keep all the plastic and RGB nonsense.

 

[WT]

MSI is just better about using the same good vrm parts across all their models and putting heatsinks with the required surface area to disapate the heat.

Which is such a non-MSI thing to do. They really can make a solid board if they so choose, but their entire lineup is very solid this time around, from the Tomahawk to the Mortar, to the Gaming Pro Carbon boards. You honestly can't go wrong, at least since they fixed the lack of LLC with a BIOS update recently. MSI in the past, has been very hit or miss for me. I still own a 970 Gaming Pro, but an earlier 970 G43 had horrible VRMs with even worse heatsinks.

I ended up buying an Asus Prime x470 Pro for this build, but I will admit that I bought it for the looks (white/black build) rather than its performance. Its a solid board, but its no Gaming Pro Carbon.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

its not a amd thing, i made a post last year about buildzoid's review of a high end asus board for the 9900k. the seeming 8 phase board was really a 4 phase with crappier mosfets and doublers with plastic covered heatsinks that didnt come even close to disipating the heat of a stock 9900k much less an overclocked one. at best it was ok for a 9700nonK. and yet it came at a premium price.

all the partners are doing it, amd and intel irregardless.

MSI is just better about using the same good vrm parts across all their models and putting heatsinks with the required surface area to disapate the heat.

I and my gigabyte then my Asus AMD FX boards disagree
But that is a different topic

I agree I’d like less bs on new boards and better disclosures like it can handle x volts or north bridge cooling can handle y heat
Have some sort of industry standard so comparisons are possible