For anyone on the lookout for a high end AM4 motherboard this is a really good deal.
Why would anyone pay so much for a B550 board? This board is better that almost every X570 board, including arguably the X570 Taichi. This board was $500 at release. Currently going for $400-550 at other stores. You will not find a better motherboard at this price, and currently costs only $40 more than mid range B550 boards like the Strix-F WiFi, and is basically the same price as the Tomahawk + WiFi card.
Any reason you didn't get the x570 version instead? The x570 version has been selling for around 450-500 for a while now
So how exactly is it better than “almost every x570 board?”
X570 nomrally has one on-board fan; this one doesn't so that it would be quiet; also if you don't mind you only have one PCIE4 nvme slot on one B550 mb.
You have just described the difference between x570 and b550 lol
Probably a more reasonable statement would be that for VRMs, the B550 Taichi is about as good as or better than all X570s bar the very top end of X570s that are prohibitively priced. The feature set is top notch for B550 boards, obviously it doesn't have the extra gen 4 pci-e lanes that you find on the X570s.
B550 Aorus Master has a higher Rated VRM costing $29 dollars more at Mwave
Or x570 Tomahawk which also is listed higher in the same tier for $359 at centrecom delivered
https://linustechtips.com/topic/1137619-motherboard-vrm-tier…
It isn't
agreed.
See buildzoids review of it: https://youtu.be/YygRFBePNsE
It has some of the best VRMs for overclocking, is very good for memory tuning. It has extremely handy QOL features for people who like to tinker as well, a debug display,, power and reset switches (extremely useful if you're using it as a test bench), a rear clear CMOS button, a good bios, bios flashback, very high quality PCB, a tonne of USB 3.2 ports, front and rear USB C, high quality audio, Wifi 6 + BT 5.1, 3 full size PCIE slots (all metal reinforced), a tonne of fan headers, pump headers, aRGB headers, etc. It all adds up.
The question is what do mid range X570's do better? The only thing is more PCIE lanes
From a chipset point of view, the only difference between X570 and B550 are that the PCIe lanes that are coming from the chipset are also PCIe 4.0 instead of 3.0.
For both X570 and B550, both your main PCIe (that's wired to your CPU) and your main M.2 slot (that's also wired to your CPU), i.e. 16 + 4 lanes, are all PCIe 4.0. So therefore, the only people who will benefit from X570 over B550 are those who intend to run more than one PCIe 4.0 storage device. That's a small, small percentage.
There's much more to a motherboard than X570 vs. B550, and the amount of people I see buying ~$280-ish X570 boards, I will never understand given they're just worse than $200-ish B550 boards (e.g. the AORUS B550 Pro).
FWIW, I think that $300 is way too much to spend on an AM4 motherboard, given that a $200 motherboard (e.g. AORUS B550 Pro) is more than what most would ever need on the AM4 platform. Unless you're putting in a 5950X, don't spend more than $200 on a motherboard.
My x570 master was $550. Love it.
A B550 pro AX is $250 on sale, $300 RRP and this has a bunch of advantages over it, like a nicer PCB, more USB 3.2G2 ports, CMOS reset button, on board power and reset switches, debug display.
This was an absolute steal at $300
Gears on the board, do they move?
Not many usb ports considering the price and status of this board.
A rear USB 3.2 G2 Type-C, one USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A
t. It has a further 4 3.2 G1 front USB A ports and a 3.2 G2 USB C port.
Not many boards have better. It has thrice the USB 3.2 G2 ports of the X570 tomahawk for example
My b450 has the same amount of gen 2 usb. It has two less gen 1's but it has 4 usb 2 (2 front, 2 back). I'd rather have more usb, regardless of type sin e keyboard/mice don't need usb 3.
This has:
3 USB Gen 3.2 (Type A+C on back, Type C internal)
8 USB Gen 3.1 (4 rear, 4 internal)
6 USB Gen 2.0 (2 rear, 4 internal)
So all up it supports 17 USB ports and you don't lose any usb ports for BLUETOOTH. What B450 are you using with more USB ports?
@iseeyou1312: Well the original comment I replied to did not mention the usb 2.0 ports so I had no idea it had any. It definitely has a lot more ports than mine with the 6 usb 2 ports .
Rather get x570 Tomahawk for a bit more…
This is better than an x570 Tomahawk in every respect unless you want multiple 4.0 m.2 storage devices and no chipset fan. It's actually even better than the x570 Taichi. AM4 motherboards are all over the place at the moment lol.
Whats your information based off? Mine is from LTT AMD VRM List.
The LTT tier is grouping them into broad categories, and just based on VRM.
The X570 Tomahawk and B550 Taichi have similar quality VRM's - both totally overkill.
The B550 Taichi has a straight upgrade in the VRM's from the X570 Taichi which is in the same tier, and the VRM design is very similar to the B550/X570 Aorus Master. The gigabyte board have slightly better VRMs and have real heatsinks so do better. It doesn't matter because you're talking like 46 vs 58 degrees on an overvolted 3950X (https://youtu.be/JxczZChFaZI)
This board is cheaper than the Tomahawk but has better build quality, a thicker PCB, a backplate, better quality components like contacts. It has WiFi 6/BT 5.1, a third full size PCIE slot, better audio, a few extra SATA ports, Intel LAN, a few more fan headers and stuff, some extra stuff for overclocking like a debug display, rear clear CMOS button. Lots of extra QOL things that you'd normally have to pay extra for on motherboards.
The advantages the the X570 Tomahawk have are from the X570 chipset - that's the PCIE Gen 4 lanes. That means X570 you can run two PCIE Gen 4 SSDs simultaneously. Otherwise the Taichi does everything else better, which is what you'd expect considering the Tomahawk was meant to be a mid range board and the Taichi was a flagship $550 board
I would 100% not pay the release price for this board, it is not a $550 board. Meanwhile even at full price the X570 tomahawk isn't a bad deal. But at this price where the Taichi is actually cheaper than the Tomahawk when both are on sale, the Taichi looks really attractive.
At $300 it's the same price as mid range B550's. If you were looking at buying a Tomahawk, a Strix-F, or a TUF you might as well buy this instead.
at this point why not just put the x570 chipset in it?? I never understood "high end" b550 boards.
nor me but 570 taichi discounts are very rare. poster is correct currently excellent board for price - dunno if all ram issues are sorted though so maybe not a good overclocker.
Because 99% of users are never going to need the extra PCIe 4.0 lanes the x570 has, but will have to deal with an annoying chipset fan that will eventually become very noisy then break, if it isn't already annoying to start with as is the case with some x570 boards.
In terms of features this board outclasses the $1,300 x570s except for two things:
1: The VRM is 16 instead of 18 phases (which has no real world practical difference as 16 is enough for sub-50 temps on a 5950x OC)
2: 2.5 gigabit lan instead of 10 gigabit lan but once again, even the 2.5 is way too fast for Australia and has no noticeable difference.
Definitely unique looking…
Is the onboard audio any good on this board?
Looking to upgrade my x370 aorus gaming 5
not a reason to replace a board - get a quality usb sound fix - epos are $80 etc- then no need to get annoyed about board crackles which as as annoying as……
No zen 3 support on x370/b350 unfortunately
Kinda wanna get a 5900x later down the line
Onboard audio on my board is really good (for onboard audio), so I don't wanna downgrade from this
They are both using the ALC1220 codec. If you're happy with your current board it seems pointless to upgrade.
OP Says "Why would anyone pay so much for a B550 board? This board is better that almost every X570 board, including arguably the X570 Taichi. This board was $500 at release."
Then gives zero reasons.
Does it include manufacturer warranty? How long is the lifespan of this brand mobo?
Everything in australia has to come with a warranty. Most tech has a 3 year warranty, this board included. Motherboards rarely break unless theyre having a lot of power pushed through them (high end oc'ing). Id say its more likey that youll buy a new pc before the board breaks. I reckon the part that seems to break the most is the gpu, or certainly from observation it would seem that way.
no bits of boards give up before the board totally ceases functioning usually, there are many reasons for this, and its a pain.. and thats why well built boards are sought out..
Yes, usually mosfet or another part of the vrm is the first to fail. Other parts of the board usually fail due to power surges.
@Jenny Death: good power regulation boards can last a long time if overheating isn't caused by other components running hot, ports, sound and wireless are another matter…
Technically a manufacturer warranty is an inclusion separate and outside of our rights under Australian Consumer Law.
A manufacturer can offer any warranty they like, but cannot exclude ACL rights.
Biggest issue with ACL however is the ambiguity of how long our consumer rights last after a purchase.
A warranty is a voluntary promise offered by the person or business who sold the product or service to you. Once you buy the product or service, the promise becomes a right that can be enforced under the ACL.
Warranties are separate from your automatic consumer guarantees. The consumer guarantees which apply regardless of any warranties suppliers sell or give to you, apply for a reasonable time depending on the nature of the goods or services. This means consumer guarantees may continue to apply after the time period for the warranty has expired.
- source - https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/consumer-rights-guarantees…
Biggest issue is the grey area around the length of the ACL protection.
It generally is considered to be for the length one could reasonably consider a product to last. This is the part that is open to interpretation.
Is it reasonable to expect a car to last more than 3 years?? I'd argue a properly card for car should last 10+ years minimum.
I wouldn't expect servicing and wear and tear items to be covered, but anything over that particular time that is a manufacturing defect and simply inadequately built should be covered.
Same for a fridge. No sane person should thing it's reasonable for a fridge to last only 3 years. They should be built to last 20 years.
I can extend into issues with premature end of life for appliances, landfill, environment etc..etc.. but too many people think capitalism should come before the environment.
/rant
And in the end, only a magistrate can decide what a reasonable time is iirc.
I pulled the trigger and bought this. I will be using a ryzen 7 3700x with this. Any recommendations for ram? Cheers
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/aw/d/B08FM41DZ7?th=1&psc=1
The patriot deal posted earlier was a killer deal. Thats sold out but this is almost as good (it's still B-die I'm 99% sure, just not as well binned). Would grab two sets of them if you can to max performance. You should be able to run them at 3800 C14 or so if you're using Ryzen 3000/5000
Another good option, especially if you don't want to buy 32gb memory, might be buying two of the 2x4gb 3200 kits. Then you'd get 4 X single average rank sticks, which might faster than 2 X high speed single rank stick, I'm not sure
Lots of RGB.
Dang. Seems like its expired .. link takes you to a page showing $429.
Back on sale now, finally decided to jump the boat and actually buy it. Great price considering it has literally everything you could ever want on a motherboard
I got it and it's pretty good. Remember to flash a bios update no matter what. Mine came with 1.10 and 1.70 is out. Fixed my 3200MHz ram not working :P. And also my NMVE not working for some reason.
But I was able to boot to bios with my 5900x to update BIOS, so you don't have to worry about that at least. And if you're using a NH-D15….it's very tight with the GPU.
This motherboard can update the BIOS without a CPU installed, it has its own internal cpu to manage that.
Wanted a D15 but it won't fit in my case lol, maybe I need a new case.
You can actually run the GPU in the middle slot if you want more clearance with the GPU. Both two full length slots run at 4.0 and share lanes. You can run two GPUs in crossfire in a Gen4x8/x8 config if you wanted to which is pretty cool, and something not many other boards can do. I'm not sure if the middle slot would run G4x16, G4x8, or G3x16, but either way it shouldn't really affect performance
@[Deactivated]: Yeah I was wondering that after see something about it being able to share something with the second PCIe slot. But it fits atm and my temps are stupid good so I'll leave it for now.
Great price - I have this board - cost me about $500 about six month ago.