MSI MAG B550M Mortar & B550M Mortar Wifi

The MSI B550M Mortar Wifi and B550M Mortar are MSI’s only micro-ATX models currently available at launch and represents the Arsenal series which is MSI’s entry-level gaming range. Both models are identical in terms of features and aesthetics, aside from the Wifi version which comes with a Wi-Fi 6 interface. Some of the pairings other features include two M.2 slots, a Realtek ALC1200 HD audio codec, and a Realtek 2.5 GbE Ethernet controller.

Focusing on the design, the MSI MAG B550M Mortar has a very elegant contrasting design, with striking silver heatsinks on a black and grey patterned PCB. The Mortar includes two full-length PCIe slots with a top slot which operates at PCIe 4.0 x16, a second slot is locked to PCIe 3.0 x4, as well as two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. The storage capabilities include six SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays, with a pair of M.2 slots. The top M.2 slot operates at PCIe 4.0 x4, while the bottom slot operates at just PCIe 3.0 x4. Users can install up to 128 GB of DDR4 across four memory slots, with speeds of up to DDR4-4400 officially supported.

On the rear panel is a pair of USB 3.2 G2 ports including a Type-A and Type-C, with two USB 3.2 G1 Type-A and two USB 2.0 ports. A Realtek RTL8125B 2.5 G Ethernet port takes care of the audio, while the B550M Mortar Wifi model includes an Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 interface with support for BT 5.0 devices. The boards five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output are controlled by a Realtek ALC1200 HD audio codec, and the pairing also includes an HDMI video output, a BIOS Flashback button, and a PS/2 keyboard and mouse combo port.

The MSI MAG B550M Mortar Wifi has an MSRP of $170, while the non-Wi-Fi version costs $10 cheaper at $160. On paper, the Mortar is similar to the B550 Tomahawk without the additional Realtek Gigabit Ethernet port, and visually it looks like a stylish offering. The B550 Tomahawk does officially feature better memory support, and although MSI aims at a higher with its MAG series in comparison to its B450 models, the Mortar Wifi for $170 looks like a solid alternative.

MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk MSI B550-A Pro
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  • Lucky Stripes 99 - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link

    I've read elsewhere that Zen1 processors supposedly had a 128 Mb address limit for UEFI firmware. It sounds suspect, but looking back at early AM4 boards, I don't recall any with either 256 Mb chips or striped 128 Mb chips, so maybe it wasn't simply due to the significant jump in price for 256 Mb chips over 128 Mb ones.
  • Redstorm - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link

    Likewise, looking to replace my aging 7 year old HTPC with a mATX B550 and a Ryzen 4700G but radio silence from AMD on releasing compatiable APU's for the B550's, We now have the long overdue Budget motherboards but no APU's. Dissapointed.
  • alufan - Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - link

    I understand the frustration however if your buying a Budget Board then surely a budget CPU is the best fit, also new APUs are inbound according to all the rumours, meanwhile your older APU will fit just fine I believe, I expect the new APUs will have Navi cores as per the Xbox and PS5 but of course they probably cannot be released until the new Navi cards and consoles are out, think about it though what a sea chamge folks are now waiting eagerly for a new release from AMD because they know it will kick ass not close the gap to Intel, its a good time to be a customer!
  • Gigaplex - Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - link

    Older APUs aren't supported on B550
  • DigitalFreak - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link

    I think you forgot something... :-)

    Fortunately, this component is a unique motherboard among B550 and well worth reading up on [add link].
  • DigitalFreak - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link

    Interesting that the GIGABYTE B550 Vision D board's Type-C ports don't have the Thunderbolt logo next to them. I wonder if Intel won't all the logo to be use on AMD systems.
  • DigitalFreak - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link

    *allow
  • DigitalFreak - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link

    "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 B450 only had PCIe 2.0 lanes. Huge difference from the B550 IMO
  • Lucky Stripes 99 - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link

    Agreed. That's going to make a huge difference for boards with secondary or tertiary M.2 or U.2 ports that hangs off the chipset. That goes double if they only get 2 PCIe lanes instead of the full 4.
  • a5cent - Friday, June 19, 2020 - link

    Yup, exactly what I thought.

    Equally "BIG" is that B550 finally has more PCIe lanes, so adding more NVMe drives doesn't require downgrading other ports like it always did on B450.

    B450 was a firmware upgrade for the budget B350 chipset. B550 is the first time this tier of AMD chipset doesn't suck.

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