Analyzing B450 for AMD Ryzen: A Quick Look at 25+ Motherboards
by Gavin Bonshor on July 31, 2018 8:00 AM ESTChoosing the Right B450 Motherboard
While there are over twenty-five motherboards to select from on the B450 chipset, finding the right one with the right balance of features can be somewhat confusing. Selecting based on certain criteria can help narrow down between features such as dual M.2, integrated WiFi and pricing; some shine above others in the specifications whereas others may not have a specific desired feature.
Prices given from July 31st
B450 Motherboards Mobile Users, best viewed in Landscape mode |
||||
Key Features | Current Options | Size | Price (Amazon) | Price (Newegg) |
Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec (vs. ALC892 / ALC887) |
ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming ASUS ROG Strix B450-I Gaming ASRock B450 Gaming-ITX/ac GIGABYTE B450 Aorus Pro GIGABYTE B450 Aorus Pro WiFi MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC |
ATX mITX mITX ATX ATX ATX |
$130 N/A N/A N/A $120 N/A |
$130 N/A $130 N/A $120 N/A |
Intel Gigabit LAN (vs. Realtek) |
ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming ASUS ROG Strix B450-I Gaming ASRock B450 Gaming-ITX/ac GIGABYTE B450 Aorus Pro GIGABYTE B450 Aorus Pro WiFi MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC |
ATX mITX mITX ATX ATX ATX |
$130 N/A N/A N/A $120 N/A |
$130 N/A $130 N/A $120 N/A |
WiFi (vs. non-WiFi) |
ASUS ROG Strix B450-I Gaming ASRock B450 Gaming-ITX/ac GIGABYTE B450 Aorus Pro WiFi MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC |
mITX mITX ATX ATX mITX |
N/A N/A $120 N/A N/A |
N/A $130 $120 N/A N/A |
6 SATA Ports (vs. 4) |
ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming ASUS TUF B450-Plus Gaming ASUS TUF B450M-Plus Gaming ASUS Prime B450 Plus ASRock B450 Gaming K4 ASRock B450 Pro4 ASRock B450M Pro4 GIGABYTE B450 Aorus Pro GIGABYTE B450 Aorus Pro WiFi GIGABYTE B450 Aorus M MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC MSI B450 Tomahawk MSI B450 Gaming Plus MSI B450-A Pro |
ATX ATX mATX ATX ATX ATX mATX ATX ATX mATX ATX ATX ATX ATX |
$130 $120 $100 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A $120 $85 N/A N/A N/A N/A |
$130 $120 $100 $110 $100 $90 $80 N/A $120 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A |
2 M.2 Ports | ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming ASRock B450 Gaming K4 ASRock B450 Pro4 ASRock B450M Pro4 GIGABYTE B450 Aorus Pro GIGABYTE B450 Aorus Pro WiFi MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC MSI B450M Mortar MSI B450M Mortar Titanium |
ATX ATX ATX mATX ATX ATX ATX mATX mATX |
$130 N/A N/A N/A N/A $120 N/A N/A N/A |
$130 $100 $90 $80 N/A $120 N/A N/A N/A |
HDMI 2.0 | ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming ASUS ROG Strix B450-I Gaming ASUS TUF B450-Plus Gaming ASUS TUF B450M-Plus Gaming ASUS Prime B450-Plus ASRock B450 Gaming-ITX/ac GIGABYTE B450 Aorus Pro GIGABYTE B450 Aorus Pro WiFi GIGABYTE B450 Aorus M GIGABYTE B450M DS3H |
ATX mITX ATX mATX ATX mITX ATX ATX mATX mATX |
$130 N/A $120 $100 N/A N/A N/A $120 $85 $70 |
$130 N/A $120 $100 $110 N/A N/A $120 $85 $70 |
The B450 chipset is essentially a B350 first generation refresh which has given manufacturers the opportunity to refine and define; for example GIGABYTE has focused their attention on specifically on defining their Aorus gaming brand to users and has used the B450 chipset to implement the new naming schemes. Other vendors have made slight aesthetic adjustments, while others have added more premium componentry to their offerings in exchange for a slightly higher MSRP; or in a lot of cases, remained with the same pricing structure.
B450 Motherboards | |||||||
Key Features | Price | Link | SATA | M.2 | GbE | WiFi | Audio |
ASUS | |||||||
ROG Strix B450-F Gaming ROG Strix B450-I Gaming TUF B450-Plus Gaming TUF B450M-Plus Gaming Prime B450-Plus Prime B450M-K |
$130 $120 $120 $100 $100 - |
Link Link Link Link Link Link |
6 6 6 6 6 4 |
2 1 1 1 1 1 |
I211-AT 8111H 8111H 8111H 8111H 8111H |
Intel - - - - - |
ALC1220A ALC1220A ALC887-VD2 ALC887-VD2 ALC887-VD2 ALC887 |
ASRock | |||||||
B450 Gaming K4 B450 Gaming ITX/ac B450 Pro4 B450M Pro4 B450M-HDV |
$100 $130 $90 $80 $70 |
Link Link Link Link Link |
6 4 6 6 4 |
2 1 2 2 1 |
8111H I211-AT 8111H 8111H 8111H |
- Intel - - - |
ALC892 ALC1220 ALC892 ALC892 ALC887 |
GIGABYTE | |||||||
B450 Aorus Pro WiFi B450 Aorus Pro B450 Aorus M B450 Aorus Elite B450M DS3H |
$120 - $85 - $70 |
Link Link Link - Link |
6 6 6 ? 4 |
2 2 1 2 1 |
I211-AT I211-AT 8111H ? 8111H |
Intel - - - - |
ALC1220-VB ALC1220-VB ALC892 ? ALC887 |
MSI | |||||||
B450 GPC AC B450 Gaming Plus B450M Gaming Plus B450I Gaming Plus AC B450 Tomahawk B450M Bazooka B450M Bazooka Plus B450M Mortar B450M Mortar Titanium B450-A Pro B450M Pro-M2 B450M Pro-VDH |
$130 $100 - $120 $110 $85 - - - $90 $70 - |
Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link |
6 6 4 4 6 4 4 4 4 6 4 4 |
2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 |
I211-AT 8111H 8111H 8111H 8111H 8111H 8111H 8111H 8111H 8111H 8111H 8111H |
Intel - - Intel - - - - - - - - |
ALC1220 ALC892 ALC887 ALC887 ALC892 ALC892 ALC892 ALC892 ALC892 ALC887 ALC887 ALC892 |
Each vendor seems to have a good range of products on offer, from $70 to $130, with at least one board in the range with Intel Ethernet, Intel Wi-Fi, and the top end codec. In order to get all three, it looks like the minimum price will be $120.
62 Comments
View All Comments
bi0logic - Tuesday, July 31, 2018 - link
It looks like the price link to the "TUF B450-Plus Gaming" is going to an amazon search for "ASRock B450M Pro4"eastcoast_pete - Tuesday, July 31, 2018 - link
Thanks Gavin, I know this is a lot of information to go through and present. I would love to see a follow-up on these questions:1. Especially for these compact boards, any problems with stock processor heat sinks blocking DIMM slots, i.e. do DIMMs with heat spreaders still fit with a Wraith or Spire cooler, respectively?
2. I have my eye on the Aorus Pro WiFi or something similar, but am wary of the placement of the WiFi antenna connectors right next to two of the USB 3 connectors. I frequently use 3-4 USB 3 devices at the same time frequently, and am wary of the USB 3 - WiFi interference with that placement. Any chance Gigabyte could state if/that they got that taken care of?
Thanks!
Also, still looking forward to your Ryzen 2200/2400 GPU overclock chapter on that duo. Any chance we'll see it soon?
sonofgodfrey - Tuesday, July 31, 2018 - link
Second to last table is labeled X470 Motherboards.PingSpike - Tuesday, July 31, 2018 - link
It looks like the ASUS ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING inherits some of the layout features of the (much more expensive) x470 Crosshair 7 in that it steals some of the CPU lanes to get a second full PCI-e 3.0 M.2 slot. Then 8x goes to PCI-e 16 1, the remaining 4x to PCI-e 16 2 and finally a chipset PCI-e 2.0On the surface, this seems like it has totally ignored the bifrucation limitations that supposedly are inherent to the B450 chipset.
In other words, I thought you couldn't get that on this chipset.
Dragonstongue - Tuesday, July 31, 2018 - link
well at least the pricing is "more inline" with the pricing they should be, newer boards, better componentes that actually save the maker a bit of coin per board made, so they keep the same "launch price" is acceptable in my books coming from gen 1 (I so hate the naming AMD used for Ryzen 1xxx and 2xxx needless confusion for nothing)x3xx to x4xx same concept, reduced price to produce so they save some money, but the vast majority of vendors used these "savings" to cram more disco light show RGB on the boards to jack the price up some instead.
seems at least with the B4xx boards the vendors took a "better" approach beyond a few more "premium" boards which rightfully have an increased price (justifiable, maybe, but I myself have zero need of RGB and would only buy a more expensive board that offered them at the increased price if they were WORTH it as far as just overall better then lower cost boards, sadly, there seems to be little difference in more "premium" beyond a butt load of extra RGB little better in VRM etc which are much more useful and required IMO)
they could almost have a market for the premium boards RGB free, so pay a bit less for people like me who do not want all the RGB crud but still get the increased premium sound/VRM/BIOS etc ^.^
WasHopingForAnHonestReview - Wednesday, August 1, 2018 - link
Nice review. Good work.Im amazed that almost every comment is a nitpick. Rough life, Ian.
Flappergast - Wednesday, August 1, 2018 - link
Nice overview on the last page. I’m looking for mITX WiFi - nice to see some good boardsSakkura - Wednesday, August 1, 2018 - link
As documented by Buildzoid, the Asrock B450 Pro4 does not have the claimed 6+3-phase VRM. It is a pure 3+3-phase. Same probably applies for the B450M Pro4.https://youtu.be/yWAwOH-egFs?t=2104
JohanPirlouit - Wednesday, August 1, 2018 - link
Hi everyone,Am I the only one to see that on the AMD picture:
- CPU: 2x SATA 3Gbps
- Chipset: 6x SATA 3Gbps
What do AMD talks about: SATA "3" (known as "6Gbps") or SATA 3Gbps (aka SATA II)?
Sakkura - Wednesday, August 1, 2018 - link
They mean SATA3 = SATA 6Gbps. Annoying that we keep running into these easily confused naming schemes (see also: USB 3.1 Gen1 and Gen2). At least SATA is getting old enough that we should soon be able to just drop the version number (unlike USB 2.0 there's really no reason to make modern hardware with SATA2).