Memory Support: 4x DDR4 DIMM Slots (128GB, 4866 MHz O.C)
Graphics Interface: 1x PCIe 4.0 x16, 1x PCIe 3.0 x16
Expansion Slots: 2x PCIe 3.0 x1
Storage Support: 2x M.2 Slots & 6x SATA 6Gb/s Connectors
Total USB Ports: 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (1x USB-C), 5x USB 3.1 Gen 1 (1x USB-C) & 6x USB 2.0
Network: Realtek® RTL8125B 2.5G LAN & Realtek® RTL8111H Gigabit LAN
Audio: Realtek® ALC1200 Codec
3 Years Limited Warranty
Cheaper than what I saw on Staticice. Promotional price ends midnight tomorrow (16/8)
It's a bit pointless since the X and XT series perform exactly the same.
Why are we still seeing ps2 connectivity on modern motherboards. I have not purchased a motherboard for 6 years, what am I missing?
It's to do with the nature of protocols. USB works differently to PS2. PS2 works by notifying the CPU (interrupts) as opposed to USB which is by polling mechanism (keyboard puts the pressed keys in a certain place and CPU reads that place every however many nanoseconds). Therefore there's always a natural "lag" with USB
Also because of this, PS2 supports unlimited key rollover but USB doesn't since "that place where it puts the data" has a limited size. (Don't quote me on this very last bit about USB but I'm pretty sure that's why)
Thanks for the explanation - I did not know this. So, gamers are actively using ps2 ports to reduce lag on keystrokes in games?
I guess though I am not a gamer. Based on this following study there's a large gap between USB and PS2. For competitive gamers a few ms is a game-changer let alone 10-15ms.
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.3758/BF03195452.pdf
@er1992: Silly question, but if you were to use a usb to ps2 adapter, would that input lag be removed? I would assume so.
@Ahbal: Definitely not a silly question. I don't know much about low-level hardware code but I believe protocol ident is completely dependent on the physical connection therefore motherboard takes care of delivering the data to the CPU.
This means that if you were to connect the device to PS2, the board will see it as a PS2 device (since what else can be connected to the port?). The data itself doesn't matter since the convertor would have taken care of the job. The delivery mechanism, however, becomes an interrupt since the board is taking care of it and it's using PS2.
Also because of this, PS2 supports unlimited key rollover but USB doesn't since "that place where it puts the data" has a limited size.
I'll quote you on this because there are plenty of USB keyboards now that have n-key rollover. I know some of them at least solve the issue by including multiple "virtual" keyboards, although I'm not sure if your explanation is the real technical cause or not.
Wow that's interesting. Will need to look up the exact details but that sounds like a fairly OS-dependent implementation. I am assuming they implement this using an internal USB-Hub as opposed to a single USBHCI. This might not work on other OSs. But hey if NKRO only matters in gaming then you don't really need to consider if the solution works on other OSs since who games on Linux or Mac
But yeah universality will always be a problem i guess
But hey if NKRO only matters in gaming then you don't really need to consider if the solution works on other OSs since who games on Linux or Mac
The multiple keyboard solution actually works well on Linux (IIRC it worked well there before other OSes) since it has good support for it. I'm not sure about Mac, however.
This explanation pleases me, and I really don't know why 😂
This is why I love reading through random deals on here. Always something new to learn :D
That's not how USB works; it also uses interrupts (hence the name "interrupt endpoint").
There is a default protocol that every HID keyboard supports (officially referred to as the Boot protocol) which has a fixed size keybuffer, but they also have their own report protocol which can use whatever format/layout they like (and is interpreted by the OS by parsing the associated HID report descriptor).
Unless there is a new standard or something my understanding is different. I think you're glossing over the hardware. Sure every HID at the software level has an interrupt endpoint. But that's way after the low-level hardware delivery of the payload. Before that and on the hardware level (i don't know who, probably the motherboard or the CPU) uses polling of all devices on the bus to retrieve the data.
Short simple answer PS2 basically always works :)
There are some performance benefits of PS2 that others have mentioned and you can really get into the fine details of both protocols but that's the crux.
There's also a bit more of backstory regarding older generations of windows not having certain USB drivers by default etc etc.
A lot of extreme over clockers also prefer the PS2 connections.
Or is it because gamers find mechanical keyboards from the late 90's?
Model M.
How does the VRM compare to the B450 Gaming Pro carbon MAX?
B450 Gaming Pro Carbon MAX has a 4 phase Vcore VRM config (I could only find for the Carbon AC, I don't think it's changed apart from 256Mb BIOS) while the B550 Tomahawk has a 10 phase Vcore VRM config. The 10 phases on the Tomahawk make the Carbon look like trash, but both are going to be fine for a realistic 3900X OC with average airflow. I'd only be concerned if it were on an open test bench or running a 3950X.
I wonder if the b550 Aorus Pro at $4 cheaper would be a better option than the Tomahawk.
https://www.amazon.com.au/GIGABYTE-B550-AORUS-Realtek-Mother…
It just really bugs me that Mystic Light doesn't allow you to control RGB headers separately and the control is only at device level … infuriatingly stupid but Gigabyte does.
VRM is better on the MSI I think
@IJustKnowStuff: Ever so slightly to the point that it doesn't actually matter. They both run the 3950x PBO with fine thermals
B550 Aorus Pro has slightly better VRMs but the Tomahawk has slightly slightly better heatsinks. They have near identical performance. What it really comes down to would be the feature set.
Aorus Pro has better audio and twice the number of rear USB ports.
Tomahawk has Dual LAN and a front USB-C header.
@Cielescha: THIS! I have a B550 Tomahawk bought at launch and I have zero complaints its a great motherboard, but if I was doing it over I would probably grab the cheaper Aorus Pro if I didn't need the USB c front header. i.e. more USB A ports, slightly better audio and no stupid PS2 ports
Gigabyte are known to have the worst RMA in the industry, they've had my RX570 for weeks and I expect it to be a couple months with them sending it back claiming it to be fine based on reviews I've read.
Leagues and bounds ahead. Hardware Unboxed compared a bunch of b450 and b550 boards. He only had b550m Mortar which looks like it's performing much better than gaming pro carbon. I can only imagine Tomahawk having better heatsinks and a more spread out board will perform even better.
Wow my educated guess was that accurate lmao.
And the Tomahawk also has another 2 Vcore phases, so it'd be a fair bit better than even the Mortar. Why would board manufacturers invest in such VRMs when only half of that capacity is necessary?
A sign of what to expect for 4950x maybe?
@er1992: THAT much power would be ridiculous. I mean, X470 boards had some crazy overkill VRMs in comparison to X370 board, but look what we got.
Isn't this usually $309 ?
Shopping Express have the 3600 for $269 & the 3100 for $149.
If it helps, the Tomahawk is eligible for a steam voucher, but the A-Pro isn't.
Good price. For those thinking of getting this with a RTX2060 or higher, the GPU covers most of the RGB lights
I'm pretty sure you could find a fat 1650 Super and a thin 2080 Ti couldn't you?
..
Looks awesome! Building a new gaming PC but none of these have USB 3.2 gen 2 on the header, any suggestions??
The Gigabyte board that @er1992 links to has a USB 3.2 header (I think)
Thank you, I had a look and it doesn't look like it unfortunately
I think I'm going to have to buy this MB, and probably Ryzen CPU at the same time. There's a few new games I want to buy off steam so the steam gift card is actually rather useful for me.
Very tempting for the 10 phase VRM on the MAG B550. Have a look at this if you're on the fence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8d4C80Ub_o
I wish they'd put the x570 on sale! Am not sure if I should pull my wallet on this (given am planning to build in the next 2-3 months or wait for the MAG x570 to go on sale, at the moment can't even find it anywhere on MSRP!)
I bought an ASUS AM4 ATX PRIME X570-P/CSM DDR4 Motherboard ($289) during a 20% off sale so it made it only $231.20 (current discount coupons would drop it to $269) - works wonderfully with the AMD Ryzen 3700X, Corsair CL16 RAM etc. I also bought on sale at the same time (September 2019).
Honestly.. we're almost at a stage with new GPUs being announced and I wouldn't be surprised if the next AMD CPUs are released soon (September or October) - so if you can wait another month or two you may find the Ryzen 2 series CPUs (models 3xxx) will have a price drop as the new Ryzen 3 series (4xxx) are released.
Depending on the price and the IPC increase I may upgrade my 3700x to an equivalent 4xxx series chip and do the hand me down of my 3700x and RTX 2600 GPU to my daughter.
I would like to point out in case someone missed the information - no WiFi on this board :)
Good price - but keep in mind that you lose access to the second PCIe x16 slot when two NVMe M.2 drives are installed.
There's some boards out there that will let you install two drives AND keep the 3.0 x16 slot.
At least this one has a USB-C front-panel connector, however.
How hard is it to have wifi included on a board these days…. at even cheaper prices? It's not like wifi has just become the norm in 2020, it's been the way for what? About 13 or 14 years now?! Gotta buy a USB or PCI adapter, really??
so people re-use the wifi adapter they've had for the past 13 or 14 years and save the money of not paying for the device on the board.
still doesn't make sense to me or answer the question about spending that kind of money and it doesn't include Wi-Fi which like I said was not invented yesterday. Decent AC or wifi 6 afapters aren't that cheap
Good price , I paid $309 at launch and prices havnt really dropped.
Its a great motherboard but the Auros Pro is probably better all things considered, depends if you want a USB c header or more USB A ports I guess.
This is a super solid board for the price. See Igor's lab review, he really takes a microscope to it.
https://www.igorslab.de/en/msi-mag-b550-tomahawk-review-succ…
in particular, check out his thermal imaging of the board while being overclocked:
https://www.igorslab.de/en/msi-mag-b550-tomahawk-review-succ…
Great price, the steam gift voucher makes it all the more tempting. Think it would be overkill paired with a 3600?
