The AMD B550 Motherboard Overview: ASUS, GIGABYTE, MSI, ASRock, and Others
by Dr. Ian Cutress & Gavin Bonshor on June 16, 2020 11:00 AM ESTASRock B550M Pro4
Even though there is a mATX version of the Pro4, the two boards are not variants of each other. The B550M Pro4 has a different layout of where the boards are by comparison, as well as a different arrangement on the rear panel.
There is still the 75% rear panel cover over the top of the controllers from the back panel, also covering the power delivery (6-phase) this time, and the chipset heatsink / M.2 heatsinks are not connected either. The CPU takes power from a single 8-pin, and the socket has access to three 4-pin fan headers within reasonable distance.
To the right of the socket are four memory slots, all using single side latches as to not interfere when large bulky graphics cards are used. On the right hand side of the board, at the top we have an RGB header, then a 24-pin ATX connector, then a USB 3.0 header, two vertical SATA ports, four regular SATA ports, and then a chipset based PCIe 3.0 x2 M.2 slot.
For the PCIe area, the top slot is a PCIe 4.0 x16 slot with additional reinforcement, and that sits just above the PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot for storage, which has its own heatsink (but isn’t connected to the chipset heatsink). The board also has a PCIe 3.0 x4 full-length slot at the bottom, between which is a M.2 Wi-Fi connector for anyone to add in their own Wi-Fi card.
Along the bottom of the motherboard is the video output header, two RGB LED headers, a COM port header, three more 4-pin fan headers, two USB 2.0 headers, another USB 3.0 header, and the front panel outputs. On the far left is the audio solution, which uses an ALC1200 with PCB separation and some filter caps.
On the rear panel from left to right is a spot for Wi-Fi antenna, an analog D-Sub video output, a HDMI port, a DisplayPort, two USB 2.0 ports, a combination P/2 port, a Type-A USB 3.2 Gen 2 port, a Type-C USB 3.2 Gen 2 port, four USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, a Realtek RTL8111H gigabit Ethernet port, and the audio jacks.
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Ghan - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link
Right now, it seems more like B for Backordered. They may be priced a bit high, but the demand still seems to be there.yannigr2 - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link
This is a great article but it needs a follow up with a table for every motherboard explaining how they use the PCIe lanes in conjunction with M2 and SATA slots. It seems that motherboard makers are totally f up(sorry for the expression) the more reasonably priced models in that area.romrunning - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link
Does anyone know if the boards that have the Intel i225-V are shipping with the fixed hardware (v2)?R3MF - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link
+1mooninite - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link
Wow, another broken Intel NIC? I wish motherboards would stop using Intel NICs.mooninite - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link
After Googling it looks like v2 is not fixed either... a v3 is coming out. Time to buy Realtek.romrunning - Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - link
Which is hilarious - I remember when Realtek was the worst when it came to NICs, and Intel/3Com was the standard. :)WaltC - Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - link
Yes, indeed...;) My x570 Master has an Intel gigabit & a realtek 2.5gb. It's amusing because my interface is an EWAN that tops out at 1Gb, but I thought I'd try the realtek just to see and then I forgot about it...;)...Seems every bit as stable as the Intel--still on it, lol...;) Six of one, half-dozen of another.eastcoast_pete - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link
Thanks Ian and Gavin! One question, related to a likely use case for B550 mini ITX or mATX Boards: is it true that AMD will, at least initially, limit Ryzen 4000 APUs to OEMs? If that is so, I am definitely not interested in a B550 board in those form factors, and I don't think I am alone here. An answer is appreciated - thanks!mrvco - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link
I'm just here for the Next mini-ITX boards. I'm liking the Aorus Pro AX quite a bit.