AMD B450 motherboard round-up: Overclocking for the masses

AMD yesterday launched its new B450 chipset for mainstream customers. The B450 chipset replaces the older B350 chipset, and even though it appears to be an unexciting budget-oriented chipset, it actually brings a couple of high-end features to a more affordable segment.

This includes free support for AMD’s StoreMI technology, which combines all your storage devices – and up to 2GB of DDR4 RAM – into a single volume. In addition, it supports CPU overclocking and Precision Boost Overdrive, the latter of which is an overclocking feature that enables better performance on two or more cores without giving up the benefits afforded by Precision Boost 2’s improved frequency boosting algorithms.

Board makers have been quick to follow up on AMD’s announcement, and you can check out the models on offer from the major manufacturers below.

ASRock

ASRock has readied a total of five B450 boards in a range of form factors. They are as follows:

• ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming K4
• ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX/ac
• ASRock B450 Pro4
• ASRock B450M Pro4
• ASRock B450M-HDV

The Fatal1ty B450 Gaming K4 sits at the top of the line-up. This is an ATX-sized board with two PCIe 3.0 x16 and four PCIe 2.0 x1 slots. Because the B450 chipset doesn’t support bifurcation of the CPU’s PCIe lanes, the second PCIe 3.0 x16 slot draws four lanes from the chipset itself and the board only supports AMD Quad CrossFireX.  

In addition, it is equipped with six SATA 6Gbps ports and two M.2 sockets. However, one of the M.2 sockets only offers two PCIe 3.0 lanes (it will work with SATA devices as well).

On the back, you get four USB 3.1 (Gen 1) Type-A, one USB 3.1 (Gen 2) Type-A, and one USB 3.1 (Gen 2) Type-C connector.

The board also features a 9-phase power design, but the VRM circuitry is cooled by modest heatsinks and it is lacking an I/O cover. The PCH heatsink is ringed with RGB LEDs, and there’s also an onboard addressable RGB LED header (and a second RGB LED header) that will work with ASRock’s Polychrome RGB software.

The mini-ITX Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX/ac is similar, but it comes with pared down storage expansion options and USB ports. However, it has a greater focus on networking connectivity, and it supports 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, and uses an Intel Gigabit LAN controller instead of the Realtek solution on its ATX counterpart.

The B450 Pro4 and micro-ATX B450M Pro4 are less gaming-focused options, which means they don’t come with features like RGB lighting.

ASUS

On ASUS’ end, the company announced a total of seven motherboards:

• ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming (S$239)
• ASUS ROG Strix B450-I Gaming (S$282)
• ASUS Prime B450-Plus (S$185)
• ASUS Prime B450M-A (S$162)
• ASUS Prime B450M-K
• ASUS TUF B450-Plus Gaming (S$199)
• ASUS TUF B450M-Plus Gaming (S$189)

The ROG Strix B450-F Gaming and B450-I Gaming feature predominantly blacked-out designs inscribed with what ASUS refers to as “cyber-text” patterns to match its latest ROG hardware.

The ROG Strix B450-F Gaming is an ATX board with many of the features you’d expect from an ROG board. This includes Aura Sync RGB lighting, a pre-mounted I/O shield for easier installation, and beefed-up onboard audio with the SupremeFX S1220A codec.

It comes with six SATA 6Gbps ports, two M.2 sockets, and a good selection of USB connectors. On the rear, you’ll find two USB 3.1 (Gen 2) Type-A, four USB 3.1 (Gen 1) Type-A, and two USB 2.0 ports.

It is also equipped with two PCIe 3.0 x16, one PCIe 2.0 x16, and three PCIe 2.0 x1 slots. The two PCIe 3.0 x16 slots can run in x8/x4 modes, while the single PCIe 2.0 x16 slot runs in x4 mode. This means the board supports up to 3-way CrossFireX, a nice touch for a more budget-oriented chipset like B450.

The mini-ITX ROG Strix B450-I Gaming offers much of the same, but it naturally comes with fewer I/O ports. That said, it adds wireless capabilities with support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2.

One interesting feature is the use of a riser card that frees up real estate on the PCB by elevating the onboard audio and M.2 storage above the board, which supposedly allowed ASUS to cram more features into the mini-ITX form factor.

Next up, the Prime and TUF boards are designed to appeal to consumers on even tighter budgets. The TUF boards focus on durability and reliability, using what ASUS says are military-grade components. On the other hand, the Prime motherboards feature more understated designs, and are aimed at those looking to build a productivity machine rather than a gaming system.

Gigabyte

Gigabyte is offering a more streamlined product line-up with just four B450 motherboards:

• Gigabyte B450 Aorus Pro WiFi (S$205)
• Gigabyte B450 Aorus Pro
• Gigabyte B450 Aorus M (S$169)
• Gigabyte B450 DS3H

The B450 Aorus Pro WiFi and Aorus Pro are essentially the same board, and the main difference is obviously that the former supports wireless connectivity and Bluetooth 4.2.

They come with one PCIe 3.0 x16, two PCIe 2.0 x16, and one PCIe 2.0 x1 slot, with support for up to 2-way AMD CrossFireX.

In addition, you’ll get two M.2 sockets, although one M.2 socket on the Aorus Pro WiFi board is taken up by the wireless module. Both M.2 sockets get their own dedicated heatsink to help dissipate heat from the drives and prevent thermal throttling. The boards also offer six SATA 6Gbps ports, while on the rear I/O you’ll find four USB 3.1 (Gen 1) Type-A, one USB 3.1 (Gen 2) Type-C, and one USB 3.1 (Gen 2) Type-A port.

If you want to trick out your rig with RGB lighting, you can hook up LED strips to the onboard headers and sync them with the built-in lighting on the board’s I/O cover and PCH heatsink.

On the other hand, the micro-ATX B450 Aorus M offers something for system builders looking to put together a small form factor system. It still supports up to 2-way AMD CrossFireX and comes with six SATA 6Gbps connectors and one M.2 socket.

Finally, the B450 DS3H is a more modest offering with fewer gaming-oriented features. In addition to the more subdued design, it features just one M.2 socket, four SATA 6Gbps connectors, and four USB 3.1 (Gen 1) Type-A ports at the rear. It is missing any USB 3.1 (Gen 2) ports, and the other four USB ports on the back are USB 2.0 ports.

MSI

Last but not least, MSI has the widest selection of B450 boards so far, with no fewer than 12 boards announced:

• MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC (S$255)
• MSI B450 Gaming Plus (S$185)
• MSI B450M Gaming Plus
• MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC (S$229)
• MSI B450 Tomahawk
• MSI B450M Mortar
• MSI B450M Mortar Titanium
• MSI B450M Bazooka Plus (S$159)
• MSI B450M Bazooka
• MSI B450-A Pro
• MSI B450M Pro-VDH
• MSI B450M Pro-M2

The B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC sits at the top of the line-up. It features the Carbon series’ signature carbon fiber styling and beefy heatsinks, and its all-black design will go well with most builds.

It supports up to 2-way CrossFireX and is equipped with one PCIe 3.0 x16, one PCIe 2.0 x16, and three PCIe 2.0 x1 slots. In addition, it features two M.2 sockets and six SATA 6Gbps ports, which should be more than enough for most folks.

The rear I/O is a little sparse however, and the board has just two USB 3.1 (Gen 1) Type-A, one USB 3.1 (Gen 2) Type-A, one USB 3.1 (Gen 2) Type-C, and two USB 2.0 ports.

That said, the board does have decent networking features, with support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0.

The B450 Gaming Plus is a slightly more pared down offering with a more striking design that will go best with red-themed builds. It still supports 2-way CrossFireX, but you get just a single M.2 socket.

There’s no support for Wi-Fi either, and the LAN controller is a Realtek solution instead of the Intel one that the Gaming Pro Carbon AC uses.

The mini-ITX B450I Gaming Plus AC looks very similar, but its compact form factor means that it uses some expansion options. Instead, it gains Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities.

Moving down the line-up, the more affordable B450M Bazooka Plus is a micro-ATX board that focuses on delivering the essentials to small system builders. It comes with a single M.2 socket that supports both PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA devices and six SATA 6Gbps ports. However, there’s no support for multi-GPU configurations.

Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.