The AMD B550 Motherboard Overview: ASUS, GIGABYTE, MSI, ASRock, and Others
by Dr. Ian Cutress & Gavin Bonshor on June 16, 2020 11:00 AM ESTIn regards to product stack size, MSI has quite a varied range of B550 models set for launch, with many of its series making a reappearance. This includes the Gaming Carbon with a premium controller set for a budget-focused chipset, and the Unify series known for its sleek all-black aesthetic makes its B series debut. Quite a few of MSI's models include 2.5 GbE Ethernet controllers, more so than it did with its X570 models, and makes it for a competitive selection for users to choose from.
MSI MPG B550 Gaming Carbon Wifi
Focusing on its premium B550 model, the MSI MPG B550 Gaming Carbon Wifi, it's very similar in design to the X570 Gaming Pro Carbon. Underneath the carbon inspired heatsinks is an advertised 12+2 power delivery, with dual 12 V ATX CPU power inputs including an 8-pin and 4-pin pairing. The most notable features include support for DDR4-5100 memory, dual M.2 slots, a Realtek ALC1200 HD audio codec and a Realtek 2.5 GbE Ethernet controller.
Looking at PCIe support, the B550 Gaming Carbon Wifi includes two full-length slots including a PCIe 4.0 x16 and PCIe 3.0 x4 slot, with three additional PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. MSI includes four memory slots with support for up to DDR4-5100, with a combined total of up to 128 GB. For storage, there are two M.2 slots with the top slot supporting up to PCIe 4.0 x4 drives, while the second slot which is driven by the chipset and as a consequence, is limited to PCIe 3.0 x4. This is in additional six SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays. MSI has included support for up to DDR4-5100 memory, with a combined total of up to 128 GB across four memory slots.
On the rear panel is a whole host of connectivity real estate which includes a single USB 3.2 G2 Type-C, one USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, two USB 3.2 G1 Type-A, and four USB 2.0 ports. A pair of video outputs including a DisplayPort and HDMI output, although MSI doesn't go into detail on the specifications. In regards to networking, the board is equipped with a Realtek RTL8125B 2.5 GbE Ethernet controller and an Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 interface which also includes support for BT 5.0 devices. Also on the rear panel is a handily located BIOS Flashback button, with the board five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output which are controlled by a Realtek ALC1200 HD audio codec.
The MSI MPG B550 Gaming Carbon Wifi directly replaces the previous B450 Gaming Carbon Max Wifi and has an MSRP of $220. This makes it the most expensive of MSI's B550 models and it looks to come with a solid design, 2.5 GbE Ethernet and Wi-Fi wireless networking. MSI has stuck to a design it knows and implements it all on a solid looking board if RGB enabled carbon inspired styling is the desired theme.
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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.