The AMD B550 Motherboard Overview: ASUS, GIGABYTE, MSI, ASRock, and Others
by Dr. Ian Cutress & Gavin Bonshor on June 16, 2020 11:00 AM ESTGIGABYTE B550 Aorus Master
With similar sized product stacks to the other major motherboard vendors, GIGABYTE has more than ten B550 models ready for. Some of these cater to B550’s budget which is the chipsets core target market, but some do push the boat out in terms of features and quality. GIGABYTE’s premier B550 model is the B550 Aorus Master, and it has a very premium controller set for what is considered a ‘budget’ platform. Some of the B550 Aorus Master’s standout features include three PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, a Realtek 2.5 G Ethernet controller, an Intel Wi-Fi 6 interface, and support for up to DDR4-5200 memory.
The GIGABYTE B550 Aorus Master follows a similar design to previous iterations of its Master series with a black cut black and silver aesthetic, with integrated RGB LED lighting within the rear panel cover. The chipset heatsink includes the Aorus Falcon logo, while the boards power delivery heatsink looks large, which is designed to keep the boards 16-phase configuration cool during operation. The B550 Aorus Master uses fourteen Infineon TDA21472 70 A power stages for the CPU section, with two TDA21472 70 A power stages for the SoC, with an Infineon XDPE132G5C PWM controller.
The Master includes three full-length PCIe slots, with the top slot operating at PCIe 4.0 x16, and two full-length PCIe 3.0 x4 slots which is a very interesting design choice. There is also three PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots which include their own individual M.2 heatsink, and six SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays. The board has four memory slots which support up to DDR4-5200 which is higher than any X570 board prior to launch, with a maximum supported capacity of up to 128 GB.
On the rear panel is a single USB 3.2 G2 Type-C, five USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, and six USB 2.0 ports which is stacked for B series model. Included is a single Realtek RTL8125BG 2.5 G Ethernet controller, with and two antenna adaptors for the Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 interface which also supports BT 5.0 devices. The board includes a Q-Flash Plus button which allows users to flash the firmware at the click of a button, a single HDMI 2.1 video output, and 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output powered by a Realtek ALC1220-VB HD audio codec.
Aside from the PCIe slot layout, looking at the GIGABYTE B550 Aorus Master on paper, it could easily be forgotten that this is a model on what is considered a budget-friendly chipset, or is supposed to be. The B550 Aorus Master is as premium as a motherboard comes with support for three PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 drives, support for up to 128 GB of DDR4-5200, and a premium networking controller pairing that is seen only on mid-range X570 models. With all this comes a large price tag with an MSRP of $280, which is encroaching on mid-range X570 territory.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
101 Comments
View All Comments
kerwyn - Monday, June 29, 2020 - link
The second M.2 slot for the Aorus Elite seems to support PCIE3.0x2 instead of x4 stated in the review unless I read wrong. Could anyone else confirm? This is the swaying factor for me to lean towards the Mortar. Specs from Gigabyte website below:Storage Interface
1 x M.2 connector (M2A_CPU), integrated in the CPU, supporting Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 SSDs:
3rd Generation AMD Ryzen™ processors support SATA and PCIe 4.0 x4/x2 SSDs
3rd Generation AMD Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Graphics processors support SATA and PCIe 3.0 x4/x2 SSDs
1 x M.2 connector (M2B_SB), integrated in the Chipset, supporting Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 SSDs:
Supporting SATA and PCIe 3.0 x2 SSDs
sd7832kjd3bcds - Tuesday, June 30, 2020 - link
Almost all of the boards include PS/2 connector. Why they put it in 2020? They stopped making PS/2 devices 15 years ago. Better would be to have an empty space there.Ethos Evoss - Sunday, July 5, 2020 - link
I ordered this then I quickly cancelled and ordered B550I AORUS PRO AXQuestor - Sunday, July 12, 2020 - link
"One of the main complaints about the AMD X570 motherboard line was the wide variation in pricing."This can't be said of Intel based motherboards? Yes it can and accurately so. What is the point with this pointless statement?
Cards_ - Sunday, July 26, 2020 - link
Does the WiFi module connect to any WiFi Network, or is it only ASUS Networks if so would I need to buy a WiFi adapter?CamoGeko - Sunday, August 30, 2020 - link
Hey, so is there any cheaper alternative to the Aorus 550M Pro with similar or better feature set? I'm in the middle of building a Ryzen system with 3300X and motherboard is the last thing I need to decide on. Other mATX at the same price or cheaper just don't look as good as the B550M Aorus Pro.Iqbalusamah - Sunday, October 25, 2020 - link
I need help..the mob manual says the m.2 slot for the chipset suport sata n pcie 3.0x2..but this review says it suport pci3.0x4..i bought a samsung 970 evo with a pcie 3.0x4..can it be used in the slotIqbalusamah - Sunday, October 25, 2020 - link
Help me..i cant understand which one is true..the 2nd m.2 slot for chipset runs at pci3.0x4 or pcie 3.0x2(mob manual).and can a pcie3.0x4 be used in the slotZwirley - Sunday, July 18, 2021 - link
Question, is this board capable of overclocking and does it have a good power phase design? I was wondering because I want to build an all-white system but then came across another concern of this motherboard and that is if this supports BIOS Flashback feature so that I don't have to go out of my way to purchase an older gen CPU for it to support my 5900xcharlesa365 - Tuesday, August 3, 2021 - link
My personal computer running Debian has had four GIGABYTE B550 Vision D motherboards. The first and fourth had NIC initialisation on power up problems. The second one's NICs died after ~6 months. The third did not show voltage/temperature values properly. GIGABYTE warranty agents wrote "We do not give support to Debian OS".