Analyzing B450 for AMD Ryzen: A Quick Look at 25+ Motherboards
by Gavin Bonshor on July 31, 2018 8:00 AM ESTMSI B450M Mortar and
MSI B450M Mortar Titanium
Like the MSI B450M Bazooka boards, the MSI B450M Mortar and the B450M Mortar Titanium are a part of the MSI Arsenal Gaming collection with the focus being on offering gamers a lower cost alternative and starting point for an e-Sports based gaming system. Unlike the B450M Bazooka and Bazooka Plus models, the only differences between both the B450M Mortar models come in the aesthetics; the B450M Mortar Titanium has a classy silvery PCB and pairing of heatsinks which gives it a unique look. Both boards also have RGB LEDs implemented underneath right-hand side of the board with the option add an additional two 5050 RGB LED strips.
The MSI B450 Mortar (left) and B450 Mortar Titanium (right) motherboards
The B450M Mortar/Mortar Titanium are both microATX form factor, with support for AMD 2-way CrossFire multi-graphics card configurations. The PCIe on the boards consist of a full-length PCIe 3.0 x16 slot with MSI’s Steel Armor slot reinforcement, and a second full-length PCIe 2.0 x4 slot; also included is two PCIe 2.0 x1 slots. Storage wise both models have four SATA right angled ports and two M.2 slots with both slots supporting M.2 2280 (22 x 80 mm) drives, but only one of the slots offering full PCIe 3.0 x4 support. The second slot has support for PCIe 2.0 x4, with both M.2 slots supporting SATA drives too.
Power delivery wise, the B450 Mortar/Mortar Titanium looks to have seven phases running in a 4+3 configuration. Power to the CPU is provided by an 8-pin ATX 12 V power input while the motherboard takes power from a regular 24-pin ATX connector.
Up to DDR4-3466 memory is supported with a total of four memory slots offering a maximum system memory capacity of up to 64 GB. The boards also have a total of four 4-pin fan connectors with one being dedicated to the CPU and the rest set aside as system fan headers.
Both the B450M Mortar and B450M Mortar Titanium share identical rear panels with a two USB 3.1 10 Gbps ports (Type-A and Type-C), four USB 3.1 5 Gbps Type-A ports and two USB 2.0 ports. A pairing of video outputs with support for the Ryzen and Zen based APUs include an HDMI 1.4 port and a DisplayPort. A BIOS Flashback+ button is also included, with a PS/2 combo port, five 3.5mm audio jacks and a S/PDIF optical output and single RJ45 LAN port.
The B450M Mortar offers decent quality controllers and it’s expected that these will cost slightly more than the other microATX B450 Bazooka/Bazooka Plus pairing, but with support for 2-way CrossFire multi-graphics configurations, the B450M Mortar and B450M Mortar Titanium could comfortably be the foundations of a powerful microATX gaming system.
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tonecas1 - Tuesday, October 30, 2018 - link
Asus Prime 450M-K has only 4 Sata ports, audio is Realtek’s ALC887 only, and memory support goes to 3466 (OC)tonecas1 - Tuesday, October 30, 2018 - link
Asus Prime 450M-K has 2 PCIe 2.0x1 and 1 PCIe 3.0 x16 by CPU supporttonecas1 - Tuesday, October 30, 2018 - link
MSI B450M Pro-M2 only supports 2x DIMM slotstonecas1 - Wednesday, October 31, 2018 - link
ASRock B450M Pro4 is not a 6+3 power system but a 3+3. You have to remove the heat sink to see the MOSFET Hi and Lo combos and IC controlersQuarterPunder - Tuesday, March 5, 2019 - link
So if i buy this motherboard do i still need to buy a wifi card/Bluetooth receptor???msroadkill612 - Wednesday, March 20, 2019 - link
"Strix B450-F Gaming ..... Also present is a duo of M.2 slots with both having support for PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 drives, while the top slot which supports both PCIe and SATA drives up to a size of M.2 2280 (22 x 80 mm), the bottom slot only supports PCIe 3.0 x4 drives with a sizing up to M.2 22110 (22 x 110 mm)."ALARMINGLY WRONG!
Newegg:
"AMD Ryzen 2nd Generation / Ryzen 1st Generation Processors: *
1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280 storage devices support (SATA & PCIE 3.0 x4 mode)**
1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (PCIE 3.0 x4 mode)***"
msroadkill612 - Wednesday, March 20, 2019 - link
edit - to remove any doubt - in full, the specs are:"AMD Ryzen 2nd Generation / Ryzen 1st Generation Processors: *
1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280 storage devices support (SATA & PCIE 3.0 x4 mode)**
1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (PCIE 3.0 x4 mode)***
AMD Ryzen with Radeon Vega Graphics Processor: *
1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280 storage devices support (SATA & PCIE 3.0 x4 mode)**
* Support StoreMI and NVMe RAID.
** When the M.2_1 Socket 3 is operating in SATA or PCIE mode, SATA6G_5/6 ports will be disabled.
*** When the M.2_2 is occupied by M.2 device, PCIe x16_1 will run at x8 mode."
g0rnex - Sunday, June 23, 2019 - link
I run windows from external SSD so I need fast USB ports for it to run smooth. Can I replace the USB ports by 3.2 gen2 when needed?g0rnex - Sunday, June 23, 2019 - link
I run win10 from an external SSD. for that I need a fast USB connection for windows to run smooth.Would it be possible to change the USB ports in the future? OR even now already by a 3.2 gen2. Or wouldn't replacing the ports speed up my connection with the external SSD?
Also I would like a good bluetooth connection. Do I need to use an adapter?
looking into making this build:
https://pcpartpicker.com/guide/hXzKHx/entry-level-...
GayCock69 - Monday, August 19, 2019 - link
ryzen 3700x + aorus pro wifi b450 + radeon rx5700xt, will it work optimally?