x570 vs b550

[FosterCB]

I don't know nearly enough about Mobos

I rely on my friends for advice for things like this. I was pushed into spending £210 on an x570 MSI Tomahawk. But lets say I spent £120 on a B550 TUF or eqv.

Can someone explain in a really friendly way, what advantage I will get by spending £100 more on a Mobo as I just see it as the place where all your expensive parts go. Surely they do all the work?

[kalniel]

No noticeable advantage for most people.

[FosterCB]

I thought that was the case

Anything on overclocking? I plan to oc both CPU and GPU

[easyrider]

Cost of mobos is usually feature set. ONLY buy the features you need...Dual lan? Nope don't need it so won't pay the premium for it.

[DanceswithUnix]

While X570 boards support things that most people don't really care about like multi graphics cards, ironically the one thing that x570 boards do better is their supported CPU list.

B550 boards don't support older CPUs and that includes most APUs. X570 boards came out before AMD decided to cut off support, so give you a wider choice. That makes it easier to pair a cheap CPU/APU with an X570 board.

Note as well that there are some fairly cheap X570 boards, you don't have to pay over £200 to get one.

[Spreadie]

Get the B550 - X570 isn't worth the additional cost.

The fact that many B550 boards get 2.5GbE LAN when most (if not all) mainstream x570 boards are still on 1GbE does nothing to improve the appeal of the premium chipset.

[easyrider]

X570 shows it own when using multiple NVME drives...

[Spreadie]

X570 shows it own when using multiple NVME drives...

Why?

My B550 has a couple of NVME drives - they work perfectly. Only one slot supports Gen4, with the other at Gen3, but I defy you to spot the difference outside of a benchmark suite.

[easyrider]

Why?

My B550 has a couple of NVME drives - they work perfectly. Only one slot supports Gen4, with the other at Gen3, but I defy you to spot the difference outside of a benchmark suite.

Meant the amount you can have....

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The X570 has more PCI-E 4.0 chipset lanes,so is better if you want to run more PCI-E 4.0 SSDs - OTH,there have been some decent B550 deals recently. The MSI B550 MAG Mortar is only £110:
https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/msi...shback-3593206

Plus it comes with the latest AC game,and potential cashback.

[easyrider]

The X570 has more PCI-E 4.0 chipset lanes,so is better if you want to run more PCI-E 4.0 SSDs - OTH,there have been some decent B550 deals recently. The MSI B550 MAG Mortar is only £110:
https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/msi...shback-3593206

Plus it comes with the latest AC game,and potential cashback.

I concur...

[SilentSnake]

I'm getting the same motherboard, I plan on OC, has done quite a bit of research regarding this mobo and afaik it's the best in its price range + competing with more expensive boards.

The reason I understood why it's so good is the fact they had some issues with thermals on the previous B550 Tomahawk - "The X570 Tomahawk is meant to fix MSI's known issues with VRM thermals for this generation, and based on the on-paper analysis, the VRM should do that."

I didn't spend weeks researching the topic - so if I'm wrong or misunderstood something, please correct me.

Anyway, apparently, they succeeded and now X570 Tomahawk is praised beyond measure. So that pretty much should sum it up.

[ik9000]

I'm getting the same motherboard, I plan on OC, has done quite a bit of research regarding this mobo and afaik it's the best in its price range + competing with more expensive boards.

The reason I understood why it's so good is the fact they had some issues with thermals on the previous B550 Tomahawk - "The X570 Tomahawk is meant to fix MSI's known issues with VRM thermals for this generation, and based on the on-paper analysis, the VRM should do that."

I didn't spend weeks researching the topic - so if I'm wrong or misunderstood something, please correct me.

Anyway, apparently, they succeeded and now X570 Tomahawk is praised beyond measure. So that pretty much should sum it up.

B550 no chipset fan, cheaper for a decent model.

X570 has chipset fan, but most don't kick in until you rag the thing with lots of PCIe4 drives.

A well spec'd X570 is better than a B550. A cheap X570 is a false economy due to rubbish VRM cooling and instability, so IMO a good B550 is a better prospect for a budget build.

X570 will run older CPUs 2000 series etc whereas B550 needs 3000 series or above. If you're buying a modern processor this doesn't matter as I don't think you can get 2000 series anymore, and tbh the performance of the newer ones is much better anyway.

Best X570 boards for all-round flexibility in configuration are the Gigabyte Aorus Master and MSi ACE with the Gigabyte edging it based on
1) two more sata ports (until all NVMe slots used)
2) two full length NVMe slots, one shorter length (to MSI's one & two respectively),
3) you can install all the mobo mount screws with Gigabyte (MSI block the middle one with their silly chipset block)
4) you can remove the gigabyte chipset fan easily and either replace it or install a custom water block. None available for MSI when I last looked
5) I'm not a fan of MSI's branding for their custom software etc. But that's a personal taste thing
6) Gigabyte has a reinforced mobo beyond the MSI (though is heavier for it)

The Tomahawk is also a good option but lacks some of the frills of the ACE in terms of reinforced slots and quality of the VRMs etc though whether that matters remains to be seen - it will probably only affect future chips, and those may need DDR5 in which case a new mobo more than likely.

B550 boards look carefully at what switching options the PCIe configurations require. A good number have lots of PCIe3 slots but deactivate NVMe or SATA ports if they are used (or vice versa) and others have the speeds of the PCIe x16 slots dropped to x1 if other PCIe x1 slots are used. This is because B550 has fewer PCIe lanes to play with. X570 has more lanes, and they are all PCIe4 so can run faster too. The trade-off is heat, hence the chipset fan on X570 for when there is a lot going on.

Hope that helps.

[FiizZniiTz]

The X570 has more PCI-E 4.0 chipset lanes,so is better if you want to run more PCI-E 4.0 SSDs - OTH,there have been some decent B550 deals recently. The MSI B550 MAG Mortar is only £110

Plus it comes with the latest AC game,and potential cashback.

You can also get £19 steam code for leaving a review of your product

[Ampersand79]

I would side on the B550 boards personally.

1. AM5 socket is due end of Q4 2021 so this is the last revision of AM4
2. For most folks a single PCi-E slot for GPU and M.2 slot for Boot is sufficient at 4.0 speed, SLI is dead and you would usually use your secondary 3.0 speed M.2 for storage only.
3. The B550 VRMs on the good boards on the whole often outperform X570 VRMs so you get cooler running boards and chipsets

Overall more bang for your buck for gaming at least.