AMD B650 Roundup: 35 Motherboards Tested, Complete Buying Guide

foreign [Music] boxed today is the day the day when I can finally give you my results of all my AMD b650 motherboard testing and boy oh boy was this one a massive undertaking in total I have tested 35 motherboards in what has been months and months of work but it's finally all done and before we get into it today's sponsor spot is brought to you by thermal Grizzly and their new 12th gen CPU contact frame by De Bauer it's well known that the integrated loading mechanism or ilm of the LJ 1700 sockets Ben's 12th gen CPUs leading to an uneven contact surface that reduces cooling performance solving this issue the contact frame replaces the ilm allowing for a much more even contact with the cpu's IHS and the base of your cooler which in turn reduces operating temperatures installations quick and easy and thanks to the use of anodized aluminum the contact frame is non-conductive and then for those of you who wish to further maximize contact thermal Grizzly now offers an optional lapping tool so for more information please check the link in the video description okay so since there are 35 boards in total I'm not going to show you every single board individually as I normally would at least not in as much detail as that alone would take about an hour so instead we'll briefly do a specs comparison we'll talk about some of the standard options and then we'll dive into the varum thermal results and I'll go through the boards in order of price starting with the cheapest and then working our way up I also did a lot of benchmarking for this video stuff like boot times performance all that kind of stuff but I've decided not to include those results because some of them are now outdated with the new wave of BIOS updates and honestly I just didn't have it in me to go back and retest most of the boards almost all 35 of them but the vrm thermal data is still accurate with the latest biases so I'm happy to show that data not keen on showing what's possibly outdated data and this content's really been delayed long enough so yeah as I said don't really have it in myself to go back and test all of the boards again for stuff like boot time which may or may not be relevant to you so we're just going to stick with the vrm thermal data the specs comparisons and then the boards that I recommend you purchase but if you're wondering why there isn't more Benchmark data like what I've included in a few of the previous videos that's the reason also on that note some of the more affordable models here from each brand have already been covered in a dedicated video which featured a lot more benchmarking so given all of that I'll briefly touch on those boards and the most affordable of which is the gigabyte b650mk and although this board only costs 120 U.S it's not a particularly great board in my opinion as it uses discrete mosfets rather than power stages and as a result The vrm Thermals using a high-end processor they're not great it also only has two pcie slots and no PCI 5.0 support not even for the primary m.2 it's also very light on USB ports so despite the low price tag this is a board I'd avoid and instead set your sights on the ASRock b650m hdv m.2 the ASRock board costs just five dollars more right now but it packs a significantly better vrm using eight 50 amp power stages for the vcore along with 3p PCI expansion slots and a pcie 5.0 m.2 you also get three more USB ports it does only have a dual dim configuration so just two memory slots but for most of you I think that's going to be fine as you'll likely purchase 32 gigabytes of ddr5 memory now and that really should be ample for quite a few years to come when it comes to gaming there's also the gigabyte b650m ds3h and that's a board that should be on your radar it does have a solid vrm and decent expansion options though it does lack pcie 5.0 support but at 150 it's well stocked and does include four dim slots for memory expansion moving on we find the MSI Pro b650m-a Wi-Fi and this is the most affordable b650 motherboard to include Wi-Fi support along with 11 USB 3.2 ports you also get three pcie slots and two m.2 slots though none of them are PCA 5.0 compatible the 855 amp power stage v-core vrm does work well so at 160 dollars US this is a pretty solid option then we have the Asus Prime series which includes the prime b650m-a Wi-Fi Prime b650 Dash plus and prime b650m a Wi-Fi 2. all of which I am sad to say suck and should be avoided like the ultra cheap gigabyte b650mk the Asus Prime boards all use discrete mosfets which result in poor vrm thermals the b650 dash plus and b650m-a Wi-Fi both run at over 100 degrees and our testing while the b650m-a Wi-Fi it's a bit less garbage but at 190 dollars it is a week offering a much better option at this price point is either the ASRock b650 PG lightning or the PG Riptide Wi-Fi both of which cost 190 dollars the lightning is an ATX board and it packs 14 60 amp power stages for the v-core vrm four pcie expansion slots a PCI 5.0 m.2 and an additional two pcie 4.0 m.2s there's also a boatload of USBS on offer here with support for up to 11 USB 3.2 ports and eight USB 2.0 ports the riptide on the other hand it is a Micro ATX board it uses a dozen 50 amp power stages of the vcore vrm and it still manages to squeeze in four pcie slots though unless you have a single slot graphics card you're not going to be able to use all of them there's also just two m.2 slots but the primary slot is pcie 5.0 compatible you also get nine USB 3.2 ports and eight USB 2.0 ports along with two and a half gigabit Lan and Wi-Fi 6E though I should note that all of the boards every single one of the b650 b650e boards does include 2.5 gigabit lens so that's a standard feature across all of the boards now another viable option at this price point is the gigabyte b650m aurus Elite ax which includes a dozen 60 amp power stages for the v-core vrm though just two PCI expansion slots it does include a PCI 5.0 enabled m.2 along with an additional PCA 4.0 m.2 11 USB 3.2 ports eight USB 2.0 ports and then Wi-Fi 6E then also found at the 190 us price point is the MSI Pro b650 Dash p Wi-Fi with a dozen 75 amp power stages and this is another great option that said it does lack pcie 5.0 support but you are getting four PCI 4.0 expansion slots and a pair of m.2s it's also the most affordable b650 motherboard to offer six SATA ports then price between 200 and 210 dollars we have the gigabyte b650m gaming X ax b650m auris Pro ax and MSI mag b650m model Wi-Fi all of which are pretty solid options the gigabyte b650m auris Pro ax would be my pick of this Bunch it's 12 70 amp power stages and more than sufficient and it's the only one of the three to offer pcie 5.0 m.2 support and you also get 11 USB 3.2 ports and 8 USB 2.0 ports and for ten dollars less the b650m gaming X ax it just isn't worth it as it lacks pcie 5.0 support and it packs a significantly weaker vrm meanwhile the MSI mag b650m water Wi-Fi it's decent but again it lacks pcie 5.0 m.2 support and there's less USB ports overall then we have the ASRock b650 Pro RS at 215 which finds itself in a competitive pricing bracket it's an ATX board but for just five dollars more the gigabyte b650 Aura sleet ax b650 gaming X ax and MSI mag b650 tomark Wi-Fi all become available that said the b650 gaming X ax doesn't really make sense because for the same price the aorus elite ax it's just a much better product packing 14 70 amp power stages for the v-core vrm pcie 5.0 m.2 support and 11 USB 3.2 ports so in my opinion the MSI mag b650 Tomahawk Wi-Fi and gigabyte b650rs Elite ax are both better than the ASRock b650 Pro RS with many more USB 3.2 ports and Wi-Fi 6E support and personally I'm again leaning more towards the gigabyte board for its pcie 5.0 m.2 support but really I'd be happy with either option here as they are both very good there's also the Asus tough gaming b650m plus Wi-Fi it's a Micro ATX board with a dozen 60 amp power stages for the vcore vrm it's a decent board on paper but doesn't really offer anything over the b650m RS Pro ax and there are a lot less USB 3.2 ports on offer here moving on to the 230 us price bracket we find the ASRock b650 live mixer which is a bit of an oddity to say the least but it is a very unique board and therefore I suppose it's kind of cool basically you'd buy this board over anything else here simply because you like the look of it in terms of features it's nothing special it's price point and there are certainly better options in my opinion but they're not significantly better and while the live mixer does lack Wi-Fi 6 support you do get an insane 21 USB ports or at least support for up to 21 ports though just nine of them are of the 3.2 standard but if the in-your-face design of the live mixer just isn't for you the ASRock b650e PG Riptide Wi-Fi for just ten dollars more is a better option anyway you get the same 14 60 amp power stages for your vehicle vrm but the riptide also includes pcie 5.0 support for the primary pcie slot as well as the primary m.2 and it's the most affordable b650 board to offer this configuration you also get Wi-Fi 6E support though the number of USB 3.2 ports is reduced to just seven so I think it's fair to say at 240 asrock's b650e PG Riptide Wi-Fi makes life difficult for the Asus tough gaming b650-plus Wi-Fi and MSI PG b650 Edge Wi-Fi both of which cost 240 dollars the tough gaming in particular just really struggles here the vrm has been downgraded with two fewer 60 amp power stages and there's no PCI 5.0 support beyond the primary m.2 slot so there's really no advantage to buying the Asus board the MSI PG b650 Edge Wi-Fi does receive an upgraded vrm with 80 amp power stages and there are four more USB 3.2 ports but again you are giving up pcie 5.0 support for the primary pcie slot The Edge Wi-Fi though does somewhat cancel out gigabytes b650 auris Pro ax though for ten dollars more you do get a massively upgraded vehicle vram with 16 90 AMP power stages which frankly is overkill but also I guess why not so you really could go with either of these boards but again neither really match the value of asrock's b650e PG Riptide Wi-Fi now currently priced at 255 dollars is the Asus Pro art b650 crater it's another odd entry that doesn't really compete that well on paper it's a cool looking motherboard very elegant I guess you could say at least compared to the norm but it's also very Normy when it comes to Features the vrm is more typical of a 200 board with a dozen 60 amp power stages so not amazing for core heavy work with say a 7950x though it'll certainly work there's no pcie 5.0 support for the PCI expansion slots though you do get a single PCI 5.0 enable m.2 with an additional two PCA 4.0 m.2s there's just eight USB 3.2 ports and really the only unique feature on offer here is a second wired ethernet connection but it's just a gigabit connection and they cost basically nothing to include via an add-on card so that's not exactly an exciting feature and the board misses out on Wi-Fi 6 which I do find a bit odd you do get USB C DisplayPort so maybe that's useful not exactly sure on that one I'd actually say that the gigabyte b650rog is a much better Creator type motherboard and the vrm here is massively upgraded with 1690 amp power stages for the vcore you also get Wi-Fi 6E and more USB 3.2 ports so it just seems like a better board all round that said at this price point I'd be eyeing off the ASRock b650e steel Legend Wi-Fi you get the same vrm configuration as the Aero G but the board offers pcie 5.0 support for the primary pcie slot but beyond that the feature lists are very similar the only odd aspect I'd say of the steel Legend is the fact that it supports just two SATA devices and has a grand total of just two pcie slots then at 280 we find the Asus Rog strix b650-a gaming Wi-Fi and this is another Asus board that looks a bit lost at this price point it really does need to be priced below 260 dollars to make sense in my opinion again you're only getting a dozen 60 amp power stages so a v core VM configuration that competes better at the 200 price point there's no pcie 5.0 support for the primary pcie slot there's just seven USB 3.2 ports in total and everything else is pretty standard and making the Rog strix b650-a gaming Wi-Fi seem even more bizarre is the fact that for the same 280 dollars right now you can buy the Rog strix b650e F gaming Wi-Fi which switches to the more powerful 80 amp power stages it includes PCA 5.0 support for the primary pcie slot and it packs 10 USB 3.2 ports along with two more USB 2.0 ports when compared to the steel Legend you also get twice as many pcie slots with the addition of two times one slots which can be useful for adding in more SATA ports for example via an add-in card it also competes well with msi's Flagship b650 board the mpg b650 carbon Wi-Fi which currently costs 290 and I think it's a little bit underwhelming at that price point when compared to the b650-a gaming the carbon drops PCI 5.0 support for the primary pcie slot but you get an additional PCA 4.0 m.2 and two more 80 amp power state I just saw overall the boards are pretty similar but I like the Asus board for the superior pcie 5.0 support but if you want to spend even more money on an Asus b650 motherboard then we have the Rog strix b650e E gaming Wi-Fi pretty confusing names all of these ASU sports but whatever this one does cost an eye-watering 350 and the key Advantage it has over the F gaming is the inclusion of a second pcie 5.0 times 16 slot and a fourth m.2 it's hard to say if that's worth the 70 premium I kind of think not but for those of you who wish to go all out it is a very nice motherboard alternatively for twenty dollars more you could buy the ASRock b650e Tai Chi with its insane 24 105 amp power stage v-core vrm you could say extreme Overkill I suppose there's no chance this board even needs vrm heatsinks but other than the insane vrm there's really nothing amazing here and really for a hundred dollars less this steel Legend is basically the same product then we have the gigabyte b650e aorus Master which I had to price check several times while I was making this content as I couldn't quite believe that it costs 430 us which it does cost at the time making this video I believe upon release this board was more like 350 which seems like a lot more reasonable for what it is 430 dollars though not so much that said as I was about to dunk on the b650e aorus master and its high asking price I did start to compare it with other high-end x670e boards and it started to become a bit more reasonable at least for those of you considering spending about 400 on an am5 motherboard firstly you do get a 16 105 amp power stage v-core vrm which again is Extreme Overkill but if for some reason you're into overclocking or whatever this could be a good board for you it does of course include a PCI 5.0 times 16 slot but rather than go for a second like Asus did with the e-gaming they've instead included not one but rather four pcie 5.0 enabled m.2 slots personally I would have preferred to see a second pcie times 16 5.0 slot as that adds a lot more flexibility to the board but still four pcie 5.0 m.2 is kind of cool now if you wanted to get a similar vrm configuration from an x670e motherboard you'd have to pay 490 for the x670e aorus master though the MSR x670e carbon Wi-Fi for 440 is also a great option so at 350 the b650e auris master might make sense but for 400 you are better served by a simile priced x670e board in my opinion finally for those of you after an ITX motherboard I have tested the MSI MPG b650i Edge Wi-Fi and Asus Rog strix b650e I gaming Wi-Fi the MSI model costs 270 and the Asus model 330 so both are quite pricey since acquiring all of my b650 motherboards or 35 of them the gigabyte b650i aorus Ultra for 206 dollars that has become available and the ASRock b650e pg-itx Wi-Fi for 290 dollars now the MSI MPG b650i Edge Wi-Fi packs 8 80 amp power stages for the vehicle vrm but no pcie 5.0 support there is a single PCI 4.0 times 16 slot and two PCI 4.0 m.2 slots then you get 9 USB 3.2 ports two USB 2.0 ports and four SATA ports for 60 us more the Asus Rog strix b650e I gaming Wi-Fi that does offer PCI 5.0 support for the primary or the only pcie times 16 slot as well as PCI 5.0 to the m.2 the primary m.2 that is along with a secondary PCA 4.0 m.2 you also get eight USB 3.2 ports and four USB 2.0 ports along with two SATA connectors so it's certainly a better equipped board but whether or not it's worth the premium hard to say and of course that will be up to you to decide okay so now that we've taken a look at each motherboard individually it's time to get testing and for testing all b650 boards we're using the gigabyte auris c500 glass case with the aorus water force x 360 millimeter AIO now for recording temperatures I'm using a digital thermometer with k-type thermocouples and I'll reporting the peak rear PCB temperature finally I'm not reporting delta T over ambient instead I maintain a room temperature of 21 degrees and to ensure a consistent ambient temperature a thermocouple is positioned next to the test system as for the stress test I'm using the ryzen 9 7950x and for load cinebench R23 which was looped for an hour at which point I'm reporting the maximum PCB temperature again recorded using k-type thermocouples so let's go take a look at the results so here are the vrm temperature results and I don't think it'll surprise anyone to learn that the aorus master and taiichi are the two best performing boards though there are a number of aorus pro and Elite models with similar temperatures in the low 50s now I should stress that one sparium temperatures dip below say 70 degrees it really doesn't matter which board runs cooler for core heavy productivity workloads in a warm environment all boards will perform very well even sub 80 degree vrm temperatures are very acceptable and really it's only the boards running over 90 degrees that I'd recommend you avoid especially if you're in a warmer climate and this data really just confirms that the vast majority of b650 boards run at acceptable temperatures with just three boards in particular that you should avoid if you're going to be running a 170 watt CPU like the 7950x even then though regardless of the CPU plan on using now those boards should be avoided as you can purchase similarly equipped boards for the same price or even less in some instances that run at much lower vrm temperatures so in a nutshell any of the boards shown here running at sub 80 degree temperatures should be purchased based on the price and features not how cool they ultimately run and as an example you wouldn't buy the MSI Tomahawk over the ASRock PG lightning because it runs five degrees cooler in our testing in fact it might be wise to save 30 and get the ASRock board especially if you don't need Wi-Fi as the pcie 5.0 m.2 support could be more useful to you but if you're looking at two boards that occupy a similar price point and offer the same features but one run say 10 to 15 degrees cooler than the other then vrm thermals might see you favor the cooler running board in that example it's just another piece of the puzzle and depending on your needs well you'll have to piece it all together there's just so many b650 motherboards I tested 35 of them which I think is pretty insane it took a ridiculous amount of time and even then I haven't been able to look at all if there are a couple that either weren't released in time for this content or they were just unavailable when I was rounding up all of these boards which just getting my hands on this many boards was a huge undertaking in itself anyway we've now looked at 35 of the boards and I think the good news is that most of the boards pretty much all of them really are a couple are very good and you can spend as little as 125 dollars and still get a really good board that'll work under all conditions there are a few standout options though and the 125 ASRock b650m hdv m.2 is one of them if you are looking at jumping on the am5 platform but wish to spend as little as possible while still ensuring that you have a solid upgrade path in the future then the hdv is the board for you the gigabyte b650m ds3h is also a very good board but the hdv is better in my opinion and a little bit cheaper the only potential advantage of the ds3h is its extra dim slots for memory expansion but if you don't need that then the ASRock board is better in my opinion and if you were going to step up to the ds3h then the MSI Pro b650m-a Wi-Fi it's a better buyer right now for just 10 dollars more you get an extra PCI expansion slot more USB 3.2 ports and Wi-Fi 6E as for the best Micro ATX b650 motherboard my pick here is the gigabyte b650m auris Pro ax you get pcie 5.0 m.2 support an amazing vrm and plenty of USB 3.2 ports all for 210 us basically it outclasses the Asus tough gaming b650m plus Wi-Fi MSI mag b650m water Wi-Fi and gigabytes own b650m aurus Elite ax and b650m gaming X ax now if you're after a more affordable ATX b650 board there are a few options priced between 190 dollars and 220 U.S none of them though offer PCI 5.0 times 16 support though some of them do offer PCI 5.0 m.2 support and those models include the ASRock b650 PG light ASRock b650 Pro RS and gigabyte b650 aorus Elite ax now of those boards the PG lightning is the cheapest and yet it offers the most pcie slots three m.2s in total and loads of USB ports really all lacks relative to the competition is Wi-Fi but if you don't care about Wi-Fi then it is my recommendation as the best value b650 ATX motherboard and if you are after Wi-Fi 6E support out of the box either the MSI Pro b650-p Wi-Fi or gigabyte b650 or sleet ax will work nicely now of the b650e boards the best value option here is also the cheapest the ASRock b650e PG Riptide Wi-Fi though it is a little light on USB 3.2 ports with a possible seven so if you require more a 30 premium will be required to acquire asrock's b650e steel Legend Wi-Fi though be aware this board only features two SATA ports and two pcie slots therefore I feel the Asus Rog strix b650e-f gaming Wi-Fi is the best all-rounder b650e motherboard at 280 you get four PCI expansion slots three m.2 slots 10 USB 3.2 ports and a further 8 USB 2.0 ports and there's also four SATA ports then beyond that it's really either the Asus Rog strix b650e e-gaming Wi-Fi ASRock b650e taiichi and of course the gigabyte b650e auris Master the auras Master just makes very little sense right now at its current price the Tai Chi is a decent board but it's not amazing at anything really though it does offer USB 4 support out of the box so that might be useful to you anyway in my opinion I think the Asus e-gaming is the best high-end option here the fact that it offers two pcie 5.0 enabled times 16 slots is very cool mind you I'm not saying that you particularly need that feature but if you want it this is the cheapest means of acquiring that particular configuration for example the MSI MPG x670e carbon Wi-Fi is the most affordable x670e motherboard to offer two pcie 5.0 enabled times 16 slots and it costs 440 us right now so you're looking at an almost 100 discount with the Asus e-gaming the e-gaming is also the most affordable of the three boards and although it has the weakest vrm it is still massively Overkill peaking it to 60 degrees with the 7950x in our testing so the Asus Rog strix b650e e-gaming Wi-Fi is the best high-end board and it's what I would get if I was looking at spending comfortably over 300 U.S on a b650 motherboard and with that said let me know which of these b650 boards you're planning on buying or which one maybe you've already bought so hopefully it was one of the good ones not one of the Asus Prime boards anyway let me know in the comment section below and hopefully this b650 buying guide was useful to you and if it was please do give it a like does help out a lot well I think it does I don't know maybe it does anyway help helps out my mental state and maybe it'll encourage me to do something like this again with future motherboard Generations not sure on that one I also have to try and convince balen to do a lot of b-roll and editing so it was a lot of work for both of us anyway enough waffling I think we're done with this one if you did enjoy it you know what to do subscribe for more content and we have float plane and patreon I honestly did a lot of this content for our float plate and Patra members who have been begging for it apologies for the delay but yeah it was a it was a bigger undertaking that even I could have imagined and we've done some big content here at Harbor unboxed so yep patreon flight plane you get access to our exclusive Discord server monthly live streams behind the scenes content and Q and A's I'm your host Steve thanks for watching I'll see you next time [Music] [Music]

Channel: Hardware Unboxed

Views: 528,753

Keywords: hardware unboxed

Id: ZtHOOyWYiic

Length: 29min 26sec (1766 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 24 2023