I recently sold my old Intel based 4790k system with the intention of upgrading to something a little more future proof, and importantly, faster. After doing a lot of research I decided to be daring and make a move over to the red team! This was for a few reasons. AMD at the moment just represents far better value for money, power for pound. The AM4 platform has also matured to a level where it is robust and reliable, so no longer an unknown quantity as was the case when it first launched. AMD are also promising that the AM4 platform will be around until at least 2020, whereas Intel are rumoured to be dropping socket 1151 after the 9th gen CPU’s are launched in the near future.
Red team decided, I quickly opted for a Ryzen 5 2600 processor. With Amazon’s pricing at the time of purchase it was amazing value for money. The question though, which motherboard to slot it into!
Again I donned my research cap and settled on the Asus ROG Strix B450-F gaming motherboard, and with good reason. The B450 platform offers almost all the advantages you would get from the new X470 platform, but with a significant cost saving. You lose some functionality such as less USB ports and SLI compatibility, but get access to precision overboost overdrive and Store MI. That’s not to mention guaranteed support for second gen Ryzen CPU’s. If you have the cash I would recommend getting an X470 board, but if you want value for money, or a good system on a budget, then B450 is the obvious choice.
The board was a pleasure to work with when building a new system. I have been self-building systems for 22 years and off the top of my head I cannot think of a board I’ve worked with that was more intuitive. Observations include:
Fan headers are just ‘in the right place’. There’s a selection close to the CPU, but also close to where rear mounted fans would go. Additional headers can be found at the top (perfect for AIO solutions), and also at the bottom which works well for both bottom and front mounted cooling solutions. Also, whilst I can’t speak for others, the RBG headers were perfectly located for my needs (top and bottom of the board).
All 6 SATA ports are mounted perpendicular to the motherboard, which places less stress on the SATA connections and is also better for good cable management.
The IO shield is already connected as part of the motherboard; this is a small but useful feature. You’re less likely to misplace it (it happens), and less likely to cut your fingers on the sharp edges (it happens).
Port selection is very good. There are more than enough connections on the motherboard, with a sufficient amount of headers for additional connectivity.
Two M.2 slots. On a board of this level and price I would expect to see a single M.2 slot, but to have two is a real treat. However note that when populating the second M.2 it drops the speed of the PCI-E lane for your GPU from 16x to 8x. This translates to a performance loss of under 1% (Source – Gamers Nexus), so it’s not really anything to worry about.
The Aura RGB looks absolutely lovely. The on-board RGB close to the IO shield can be set to light up all the time, or just when the system is on, which is a nice touch. My CoolerMaster AIO cooler also has RGB and synced to the motherboard automatically with no set-up required. The Asus Aura software is excellent too; it even lets me Sync with my Philips Hue lights!
Overall this board ticks all the boxes. It’s relatively cheap, I’d say it hits the premium budget category, but it’s still a step up from an Asus Prime motherboard. It’s comprehensively kitted out and features a chipset that won’t leave you regretting the purchase. Overclocking is impressive too. When running 3DMark the motherboard automatically boosted by CPU to 4.2GHz, which is the level most overclockers see with their 2600’s running more expensive X470 chipsets. One thing of note, for dual channel memory use slots 2 and 4, not 1 and 3.
The motherboard and CPU should see me all the way to 2020 without incident. Then unlike Intel I will be able to swap the CPU for the best one around in 2020 and continue to benefit for a few additional years.
TL;DR - This is a great board, buy with confidence.
| Brand | ASUS |
|---|---|
| Product Dimensions | 30.5 x 24.4 x 4 cm; 900 Grams |
| Batteries | 1 Unknown batteries required. |
| Item model number | ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING |
| Manufacturer | Asus |
| Series | ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING |
| Color | Black |
| Form Factor | ATX |
| Processor Type | Xeon |
| Processor Socket | Socket AM4 |
| Memory Technology | DDR4 |
| Computer Memory Type | DDR4 SDRAM |
| Maximum Memory Supported | 128 GB |
| Memory Clock Speed | 4400 MHz |
| Graphics Card Interface | PCI-Express x16, PCI Express |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 2 |
| Number of HDMI Ports | 1 |
| Number of Ethernet Ports | 1 |
| Operating System | Windows 10 64-bit |
| Are Batteries Included | No |
| Item Weight | 900 g |
