The AMD B550 Motherboard Overview: ASUS, GIGABYTE, MSI, ASRock, and Others
by Dr. Ian Cutress & Gavin Bonshor on June 16, 2020 11:00 AM ESTBiostar Racing B550GTA
For the launch of AMD’s B550 chipset, Biostar has a pair ready to go with an ATX sized model and micro-ATX sized option. Both under its Racing moniker with flashy looks and controller sets catering more towards entry-level models, and it’s possible we could see Biostar release the B550GTN mini-ITX mode at a later date, although Biostar hasn’t unveiled any details of this at present.
Starting with the larger and more premium of the pairing, the Biostar Racing B550GTA an ATX model which looks very intriguing on paper. The most contrasting features of this model include a Realtek 2.5 G Ethernet controller while opting for an old school Realtek ALC1150 HD audio codec. Also present are two M.2 slots, a pair of USB 3.2 G2 ports on the rear panel, and support for DDR4-4400 memory.
Focusing on the design, the Biostar Racing B550GTA has a black and light grey patterned PCB which resembles sun rays, similar to that on the Japan national flag. It includes a black power delivery heatsink which doubles up as a rear panel cover, while the chipset heatsink includes a Racing logo and has white contrasting lines. The board includes two full-length PCIe slots with the top slot operating at PCIe 4.0 x16 slot and the second slot locked to PCIe 3.0 x4. There are also three PCIe 3.0 x1 slots with a legacy PCI slot and is the only B550 model at present to feature this. For storage, Biostar is advertising two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, but this is likely an error in the specifications and one slot will operate at PCIe 4.0 x4 and one at PCIe 3.0 x4. It also includes six SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays. The B550GTA includes four memory slots with speeds of up to DDR4-4400, and up to a maximum capacity of 128 GB.
Over on the rear panel of the B550GTA is a pair of USB 3.2 G2 ports including a Type-A and Type-C, with four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A and two USB 2.0 ports. Biostar includes a pair of video outputs including an HDMI and DisplayPort output, a PS/2 keyboard and mouse combo port, as well as a Realtek RTL8125 2.5 GbE Ethernet port. Finishing off the rear panel is a Realtek ALC1150 HD audio controller which adds three 3.5 mm audio jacks.
The Biostar Racing B550GTA is a little bit of a mixed bag with some core features attributed to the B550 chipset including USB 3.2 G2 connectivity and official support for PCIe 4.0. The decision to combine a premium Realtek RTL8125 2.5 G Ethernet controller with an older ALC1150 HD audio codec. Biostar also isn’t clear in its official specifications about the validity of its M.2 slots, as it advertises two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, but this is really unlikely to be the case. At present, Biostar hasn’t unveiled any information in regards to pricing.
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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.