B550 Aorus Pro

[Skyflier]

That does kinda seem to be the case doesn't it? Many of these B550 boards seem aimed at a higher-end of the market than their B450 counterparts, with 2.5G ports, beefed up VRMs and heatsinking, etc.

I wonder if we'll see some more circa-£100 and sub-£100 models down the line? Because as it stands, this doesn't really seem like a B450 replacement given the price point.

Regarding your original Intel/AMD comment though - why not just get a B450 board if you feel that way?

It's like the MB manufacturers lost the point of the B series boards and even AMD's marketing (B550 Enables PCIe® 4.0 for Everyone) is kinda out the window, unless there are more boards on the way at the sub-£100 mark that is.

As for B450, it's an option. Just not one i thought i'd have to be looking at right now lol. Although the prices of those these days are about the same as a good B460 so..

[watercooled]

I wonder how much of the pricing and segment targeting is by the motherboard manufacturers and how much is AMD?

I would think it's just supplied as a chipset (though pricing maybe has something to do with it) but perhaps the relatively late arrival has the manufacturers treating it as the 'latest and greatest'?

[Skyflier]

I wonder how much of the pricing and segment targeting is by the motherboard manufacturers and how much is AMD?

I would think it's just supplied as a chipset (though pricing maybe has something to do with it) but perhaps the relatively late arrival has the manufacturers treating it as the 'latest and greatest'?

Yeah AMD just supplies the chipset although B550 unlike X570 wasn't done in house by AMD, so we could be seeing some that cost in the early prices maybe?

That’s said, the manufacturers treating it as the ‘latest and greatest’ probably isn't far from the truth and with the 3000 chips being so popular they just jumped at the chance to go all-out.

[DanceswithUnix]

I wonder how much of the pricing and segment targeting is by the motherboard manufacturers and how much is AMD?

I would think it's just supplied as a chipset (though pricing maybe has something to do with it) but perhaps the relatively late arrival has the manufacturers treating it as the 'latest and greatest'?

I wonder how much is to do with warehouses full of B450 boards, which despite the dead end on future processors are still very usable. I still might go the 450 route on my next machine, though the recent work machine was an X570.

[Core2Extreme]

Like kompukare, I'd almost rather take two PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots and leave the GPU at PCIe 3.0; I haven't felt like I'm missing anything by having my RX 480 plugged into a board that only supports PCIe 2.0 (Intel Z68). But still, having a 4.0 M.2 slot at all is a nice boost over B450.

But at 195 quid, this board is far too pricey as a reference for B450. I like that it has 2.5G Ethernet, I'd love for that to become standard. But it seems like a niche board to be charging that much, without X570. It's the sort of thing where I'd drop an extra 20 quid for 2.5G Ethernet, just so I have it for the future, but not an extra 75 quid.

[watercooled]

But at 195 quid, this board is far too pricey as a reference for B450. I like that it has 2.5G Ethernet, I'd love for that to become standard. But it seems like a niche board to be charging that much, without X570. It's the sort of thing where I'd drop an extra 20 quid for 2.5G Ethernet, just so I have it for the future, but not an extra 75 quid.

I think some boards more or less give you that option - plugging in a second NVMe drive drops the graphics slot to x8 mode at Gen4. I thought it was someone in this thread mentioned it but I must have read it somewhere else. Don't quote me on it!

Edit: The GIGABYTE B550 Aorus Master is an example - allows three Gen4 drives to run at x4, and leaves x8 for the GPU slot, it's not a cheap board though!

[giliko]

that great

[999tigger]

Lot of good reasons to stick with B450.
The features for B550 are minimal improvements. They do have better vrm, but the price increase is way in excess of the value added. Cant see these selling well unless they phase b450 out or the prices fall sharply. All the ,manufacturers are offering bonuses, which shows they have plenty of fat to cut.

[Apex]

Well with the current prices for AM4 looks like this 4th Gen i5 will have to tie me over for another year; same with the GPU.

From my pov paying x570 prices for a b550 board is nutts, might as well go the whole hog and get x570 (and i would if there was a decent mATX x570 but there isn't)

[Xlucine]

It's a poor replacement for B450, but it's nice to have a >10% cheaper X570. Are you guys sure you're not comparing premium B550 prices to value X570 boards? You get more features for less on B550 as far as I can see - MITX is a lot cheaper than X570 too

[DemonAndrew]

Yeah, a friend has just bought an X570 and, given how close these B550s are in price in comparison I can't see myself buying one given the extra functionality of the X570, especially with 4000 series so far away.

[Stu C]

You would never pick this at £200 compared to a Tomahawk x570 at £220.

A couple of people here appreciating inclusion of 2.5 Gbps ethernet, but I'd much prefer a front USB-C port!