The AMD B550 Motherboard Overview: ASUS, GIGABYTE, MSI, ASRock, and Others
by Dr. Ian Cutress & Gavin Bonshor on June 16, 2020 11:00 AM ESTChoosing The Right B550 Motherboard
Looking at the current discussion online around the launch of AMD's B550 chipset, a lot of fanfare and focus has been put on the price. There is a stark contrast in the current pricing of some B550 models when compared to models released two years ago for B450. Commonly referred to as AMD's mid-level budget chipset, it was thought B550 would bridge the gap somewhere between X470 and X570 while offering strong feature sets and the benefits of PCIe 4.0, but for a reduced price. It feels as if some vendors decided to unleash a few models with price tags of upwards of $200, with better controller sets, and more premium qualities which are more expected from the premium X570 chipset. Users might ask, if they're going to spend that much, why not go for X570 instead?
When it comes to picking a motherboard for a system, it will usually come down to one of three things, sometimes two or three, and sometimes all three are a necessity for the user; I'm talking about price, features, and aesthetic. The first of the three is the budget, which is varied across B550 dependent on the kind of feature. A large selection of the B550 product stack includes a 2.5 G Ethernet controller (Intel or Realtek), which is a huge step up considering B550 is supposed to be an entry-level alternative to X570. Not only 2.5 G, but Wi-Fi 6 is available on more than 12+ models, some models generally feature both which adds to the cost, but also gives superior networking capabilities to anything seen from the previous B450 chipset.
Although on paper, there isn't much difference between B450 and B550 with slightly more SATA available due to the removable of eSATA support, both remain PCIe 3.0 bound. The onus on expansion support comes down to vendors different implementations with some impressive designs, the most notable model coming via the GIGABYTE B550 Aorus Master. This is the only model to include support for more than one PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot, in fact, it has three, not to mention the dual BIOS and three full-length PCIe slots which operate at PCIe 4.0 x16, and PCIe 3.0 x4/x4. This, of course, comes at a high price with an MSRP of $280, and it is one of the small handful of examples of B550 models pushing above and beyond X570 pricing.
Another model set apart from the rest is the GIGABYTE B550 Vision D, which includes an Intel Titan Ridge Thunderbolt 3 controller and adds two Type-C ports onto the rear panel, but opts for dual Gigabit Ethernet as opposed to 2.5 G and comes with an MSRP of $260.
The cheapest B550 motherboard at present is the GIGABYTE B550M DS3H which is a micro-ATX model, with a very basic feature set, and costs just $95; that's the price range MOST B450 models launched at. This is the point that needs to be brought across, PCIe 4.0 support doesn't seem to come cheap.
Regardless of the feature a user is looking for, below is a list of which models include specific features worth highlighting.
| Choosing the Right B550 Motherboard | ||
| Options | Size | Price |
| 5 or 10 Gigabit Ethernet | ||
| None - add your own | ||
| Wi-Fi 6 / 802.11ax | ||
| ASRock B550 Taichi | ATX | $300 |
| ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ax | mITX | $200 |
| ASUS ROG Strix B550-E Gaming | ATX | $280 |
| ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wifi | ATX | $210 |
| ASUS ROG Strix B550-I Gaming | mITX | $230 |
| ASUS TUF Gaming B550M-Plus Wifi | mATX | $180 |
| ASUS Prime B550M-A Wifi | mATX | $150 |
| GIGABYTE B550 Aorus Master | ATX | $280 |
| GIGABYTE B550I Aorus Pro AX | mITX | $180 |
| GIGABYTE B550 Vision D | ATX | $260 |
| MSI MPG B550 Gaming Carbon Wifi | ATX | $220 |
| MSI MPG B550 Gaming Edge Wifi | ATX | $190 |
| MSI MPG B550I Gaming Edge Wifi | mITX | $200 |
| MSI MAG B550M Mortar Wifi | mATX | $170 |
| 2 or more PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 | ||
| GIGABYTE B550 Aorus Master | ATX | $280 |
| 8 or more SATA ports | ||
| ASRock B550 Taichi | ATX | $300 |
| 3 or more USB 3.2 G2 (Rear Panel) | ||
| ASUS ROG Strix B550-E Gaming | ATX | $280 |
| ASUS ROG Strix B550-I Gaming | mITX | $230 |
| GIGABYTE B550 Aorus Master | ATX | $280 |
| GIGABYTE B550 Vision D | ATX | $260 |
| Thunderbolt 3 | ||
| GIGABYTE B550 Vision D | ATX | $260 |
| Dual BIOS | ||
| GIGABYTE B550 Aorus Master | ATX | $280 |
| PCIe x8/x8 Bifurcation | ||
| ASRock B550 Taichi | ATX | $300 |
| GIGABYTE B550 Aorus Master | ATX | $280 |
| GIGABYTE B550 Vision D | ATX | $260 |
| Mini-ITX | ||
| ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming ITX/ax | mITX | $200 |
| ASRock B550M-ITX/ac | mITX | - |
| ASUS ROG Strix B550-I Gaming | mITX | $230 |
| GIGABYTE B550I Aorus Pro AX | mITX | $180 |
| MSI MPG B550I Gaming Edge Wifi | mITX | $200 |
| Type-C Audio | ||
| ASUS ROG Strix B550-E Gaming | ATX | $280 |
| ASUS ROG Strix B550-I Gaming | mITX | $230 |
In our previous round-ups, we have included which boards come with most commonly used audio codec, which for B550 looks to be the Realtek ALC1200, or in the case of ASUS models, the Realtek S1200A. It's easier and quicker to list which models don't include it.
| B550 Motherboard Audio | |
| Codec | Boards |
| Realtek ALC1200 | Everything except the following |
| ASUS S1200A | ALL ASUS ROG Strix |
| All ASUS TUF | |
| Realtek ALC1220 | ASRock B550 Taichi |
| ASRock B550 Steel Legend | |
| ASRock B550 PG Velocita | |
| ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming ITX/ax | |
| ASRock B550 Extreme4 | |
| GIGABYTE B550 Aorus Master | |
| GIGABYTE B550 Aorus Pro AC | |
| GIGABYTE B550 Aorus Pro | |
| GIGABYTE B550I Aorus Pro AX | |
| GIGABYTE B550 Vision D | |
| Realtek ALC892 | MSI MPG B550 Gaming Plus |
| MSI B550-A Pro | |
| Realtek ALC887 | ASRock B550-HDV |
| ASRock B550-ITX/ac | |
| ASUS Prime B550M-A | |
| ASUS Prime B550M-K | |
| GIGABYTE B550M Aorus Elite | |
| GIGABYTE B550M Gaming | |
| GIGABYTE B550 DS3H | |
| Realtek ALC1150 | Biostar Racing B550GTA |
| Biostar Racing B550GTQ | |
Reviews for B550 motherboards should start to be available from today. We have started getting samples of a few boards in for testing, and we expect to get underway with them very shortly.
Intro, ASRock, and ASUS covered by Ian Cutress,
GIGABYTE, MSI, Biostar, and Conclusion by Gavin Bonshor
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althaz - Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - link
Hmm, these seem mostly...pointless? More expensive than B450 by a lot, barely cheaper than the superior X570 boards (which have more PCIe lanes, more USB ports, etc)...these really need to be $50 cheaper across the (mother)board to make sense, IMO.sing_electric - Thursday, June 18, 2020 - link
It is interesting comparing similar X570 and B550 models within the same brand (or subbrand like Asus ROG or Gigabyte Aorus). It really seems like pricing is VERY close between them.Of course, if the VRMs are comparable, then for 90%+ of users, a X570 and a B550 are basically equivalent. In some cases it's almost like you're giving the user a choice between a newer B550 board with WiFi 6 and an older X570 board with AX but more USB ports or something, for within a few bucks of the same price (if you can find them at MSRP and in stock, which really has been an issue of late.)
jrbales@outlook.com - Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - link
I was looking at the boards on morning of Jun 16th. Very few B550 boards in stock (not too unusual so soon to release) and prices were high, in the range there just a few months ago I could have bought an X570 board. However, X570s were mostly out of stock everywhere I looked, and those in stick were generally pushing $300 USD or more. I suspect either manufacturing has not completely ramped up after COVID-19 in Asia, or that there is still a shipping back-load via ocean freight bearing ships between Asia and North America. Maybe if we ever see a return to a semblance.nce of normal, prices might lower and parts return to stock,
romrunning - Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - link
Shipping is main culprit here - big problem, including extra time spent in customs at ports (like LA in the US).sing_electric - Thursday, June 18, 2020 - link
Right - In February I picked up an X570 board for ~$30 under MSRP, so equivalent B550 board (same OEM, same 'line') would actually be a few bucks more... but adds a Thunderbolt header, WiFi 6 and 2.5 gig Ethernet (in exchange for PCIe lanes/slots and USB ports, and a 2nd m.2 connector). In the end, I think the X570 was a perfectly good choice on sale.willis936 - Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - link
I love that summary table. I wish it had an entry for “8 or more USB-A ports”. I actively use 15 on my desktop. The fewer PCIe cards and hubs needed, the better imo.GNUminex_l_cowsay - Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - link
Thanks for giving detailed and, hopefully, correct information about the PCIe configurations on these boards. Unfortunately many of the motherboard manufacturers don't give that information, make the information hard to find, give wrong information, or some combination of the above with regards to PCIe configuration.Out of curiosity, what happens when you put a pcie 3.0 x4 ssd in an x2 slot when the ssd's maximum read and write rates don't fully saturate x4? Is it just limited to the ~2GB/s bandwidth of the slot or does the ssd do something worse?
Lucky Stripes 99 - Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - link
Yeah, it will transfer just a bit under 2 GB/s due to overhead. I had this same issue with my H97 board and my Samsung 970, so I opted to purchase a cheap M.2 PCIe 3.0x4 card. HD Tune showed an improvement, but not by much to notice much real world difference.Allan_Hundeboll - Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - link
What about the Gigabyte 550M s2h?It's 12$ cheaper than the ds3h, so I would like to know what gigabyte did to lower the cost.
xenol - Thursday, June 18, 2020 - link
A complaint I had in previous AMD boards was how prevalent VGA ports were. I'm glad to see they're not so prevalent this time around.