How are MSI MBs? Thinking of B450M Motar

[PeterScott]

I was looking through the AT's big roundup of B450 MBs, and this is the one that has all the connections I am looking for:

https://www.anandtech.com/show/1309...ryzen-a-quick-look-at-all-the-motherboards/19

Is there any downside to MSI MBs that I should be aware of?

 

[Pink Jazz]

Interestingly I am thinking about upgrading this Black Friday. I have an MSI board that has lasted me a long time. I wonder if I should stick with MSI or go with Asus or Gigabyte instead.

 

[UsandThem]

They used to have the highest initial RMA rates 10-20 years ago, so I only used them when I had no other option.

Since they survived when so many other motherboard manufacturer companies failed, they had to improve. I'd say read some reviews on the board you are interested in (might not be many since very few hardware sites review entry-level boards in depth anymore), and give it a shot.

Personally, right now I really only look at Asrock and Asus boards based on personal preference / past experiences.

 

[daveybrat]

I've had great luck with MSI, Gigabyte, and ASrock motherboards. My newest board is an MSI X470 Pro Carbon.

 

[EXCellR8]

I've got the B350 Arctic and it's a great board. There's really no answer to this question...

 

[PeterScott]

I've got the B350 Arctic and it's a great board. There's really no answer to this question...

I am just looking for gotchas that I might not be aware of:

Things like: Poorer than average bios, or the have limited fan controls, or weak VRM sections. Thing that wouldn't be obvious to someone who hasn't built a computer in a Decade.

Not the Mortar, but the new MSI B450 Tomahawk does well with VRM cooling here, and the main VRM heatsink looks the same as on the Mortar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqQcgwz1hYA&t=202s

 

[UsandThem]

I am just looking for gotchas that I might not be aware of:

Things like: Poorer than average bios, or the have limited fan controls, or weak VRM sections. Thing that wouldn't be obvious to someone who hasn't built a computer in a Decade.

Not the Mortar, but the new MSI B450 Tomahawk does well with VRM cooling here, and the main VRM heatsink looks the same as on the Mortar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqQcgwz1hYA&t=202s

They (all manufacturers) generally skimp on all of these features on their lowest-end boards. Best thing to do is Google the model number, and read some user pros/cons, and go to their manufacturer's website, and look at the motherboard manual to see what options you have.

There are sites like HardwareCanucks, Tweaktown, Guru3D, etc. who inspect all of the boards circuitry, and point out any shortcomings (including heat), but like I said in my first post, very few hardware sites review entry-level boards (at least as compared to 20 years ago). Most of the focus is on the mid-range offerings, and up.

 

[Shmee]

IMO, MSI has pretty good UEFI bios from what I have seen. Last board of them I had though was a Z77A GD65. That and my laptop. I suspect they have better BIOS than Gigabyte at this time. Probably up their with Asrock and Asus.

 

[PeterScott]

Followup after more research:

Overall most things on MSI are good, but offset voltage control in BIOS is lacking, as per this Buildzoid video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu9ZD18a9CY

So not a great MB for using Precision Boost. Ok if you are just going to OC to a set speed.

 

[mnewsham]

My only experience with MSI is with this X99a board that I have, and it's been pretty good all around. However, being X99 platform it's higher-end in general and thus most of the components are high end, it has great VRMs, etc. With budget chipsets I imagine it's a case by case basis.

 

[gdansk]

I have a MSI B350M Mortar for my Ryzen machine. I haven't used any other AM4 boards so I have little to compare it to. But it was cheap and I have encountered no problems with it. The interface is hideous but how often do you actually need to mess around in the BIOS/UEFI? So far BIOS updates are regular, there's a new release every two to three months with the latest AGESA code.

 

[kaporkle]

I have the X399 Gaming Pro Carbon. As a product it's pretty good, but I have some reservations about MSI as a company, namely the branding/community/support/software side of things.
The whole extreme gamer angle is a huge turn-off. Their interfaces are universally hideous, with poor UI/UX, and bad English. Settings in the BIOS are sometimes poorly/barely explained. Their forums are are fragmented into way too many sub-categories, and they don't make it easy to get in touch about issues that aren't directly RMA related.

On the other hand, my board is still getting BIOS/driver updates and MSI have continued to update the memory QVL.
I don't know... I'm fairly happy with the board itself, but I'm not sure I would buy another MSI product.

 

[Batmeat]

Along time ago they sucked. Now they have good quality boards. I use MSI boards frequently. I never use gigabyte boards. I also use Asrock and then Asus. Asus boards are great but they’re super expensive. Back in the day I was a huge Abit fan but they went under.

 

[PeterScott]

Buildzoid, bought the exact board I was thinking of:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSqhVlpgw3U

So far he really likes the design, and he is going to be doing all kinds of testing with it.

 

[Roger Wilco]

I use a Z270 mortar. I've had no issues since purchasing it, and my 7700K is OCed to 5 GHz on all cores ( I forget what voltage it settled on).