I'm disappointed. I thought for the money, the B450 Tomahawk is better and in terms of no compromises, the X570 is better. Mind you, I need something like the B550 Aorus Master because of its USB ports but I was still hoping I could make do with less USBs and more hubs... But no, too many compromises on Tomahawk B550. Pass!
@@MegaGasek The Aorus B550 Master's 2 lower m.2 slots steal bandwidth from the graphics card slot, so if you run them your GPU is reduced to running at x8, which may affect higher end 20 series cards and upcoming 30 series/Big Navi.
i finished a build recently with this board and i just want to mention to anyone else doing the same that if you run into issues with BIOS not detecting your second m.2 slot like it happened to me the fix for it is to update to the latest BIOS on MSI's website. That fixed the problem for me after trying everything else I could. Only reason I didnt do it at first is because I hear all the time to not update your BIOS unless the board has major issues since it could actually cause issues. Hopefully this helps someone out.
As I understand it PS2 ports are still widely used in Asia. PS2 ports are also found on LN2 suitable clocking boards because those still work when USB fails at very low temps.
PS2 ports are still popular for keyboards because traditionally most USB keyboards did not support n-key rollover (the basic USB keyboard interface only supports 6-key rollover) while many PS2 keyboards did. This problem is increasingly going away as time goes by, but USB keyboards that don't support n-key rollover are still common.
Wow, this was really indepth. So much better than the super big youtube channel that focus more on jokes and just saying positive adjectives. Very very impressed with this video, thanks a lot for your hard work!
I just wanted to say that I really appreciate you guys showing literally every detail about this motherboard, be it big or small. Really helped me out, thanks :)
Just wanted to compliment you on the best mobo reviews on YT. So thorough, you provide all the important details I want, but even with the long-ish videos they are always concise and clearly worded, and never feels like you ramble or go off on tangents. You've been invaluable for helping me evaluate boards for the upcoming Zen 3 chips, which will be my first all-new build in quite a few years now.
I think the reason why PS/2 has been brought back as of late is probably due to the lower latency of PS/2 keyboards over USB and especially since more modern keyboards have back lighting and multiple profiles and extras that the bios takes a bit longer to detect it. I have noticed that a gaming keyboard will show up as two, three keyboards in the bios. A USB keyboard will sometimes do an on, off and on cycle while the PC is booting up where as a PS/2 keyboard is on and stays on as soon as you turn the PC on. It is also a nice back up in case for whatever reason the PC stops detecting your USB keyboard or does not detect it in time to access the bios the PS/2 port will detect a keyboard more often than not. As for using a PS/2 mouse, I think it is better to stick with a USB or wireless mouse as they are constantly being polled by the system and a PS/2 port mouse would end up having a higher latency due to the constant polling. Good video and breakdown of the MB, I liked the one of the B550 Aorus Master. Anyway, class videos :-)
I was extremely impressed and happy with the depth of your review. There were several times I had to get definitions for some of the computer parts, but that's my problem, and I don't mind it. About 8 years ago, i build my first two computers (desktop and NAS). I tried some non-MSI motherboards, and was very disappointed. My MSI Z97A Gaming 7 motherboard has worked flawlessly. Even spilling coffee into the top vents of my case didn't affect it. (The CPU, however, as another story!) I am building a more current machine, and I chose this motherboard from other trusted RUclipsrs reviews. I am very happy that I still feel pleased with my choice after your indepth review. Lawrence
I like the way you review the mobo. It's exactly how I analyze motherboards myself and how I wanted motherboard reviews to be. Basically, no detail is left out. Looking forward to Asrock Extreme4/Velocita/Steel Legend and Gigabyte Aorus Pro (AC) reviews. I'll be watching your B550 Aorus Master and Strix E and F reviews now :)
A very thorough review! I've managed to get a Ryzen 9 5950X for silly money, I did my usual and bought this motherboard without seeing any reviews! Glad i did, I paid £127 for this board today, Your concerns with the board do not bother me as i've got a dedicated Vega56 graphics card, I am so pleased that the VRM cooling is top notch as i imagine a 5950X will need it? The reason i made a 'blind' purchase of this board was it's price and it's replacing my ryzen 2700 on an MSI B450 gaming pro carbon board which i have zero complaints about, That 2700 and board is going to my daughter to replace her FX8120 bulldozer system! Cheers.
I got mine a few days ago and it meets my needs. Was originally aiming for the x570 version but didn't realize how impossible it would be (in the U.S.) to obtain any b450 or x570 board during COVID-19. I was able to get mine during a newegg preorder.
@@havok3344 actually im gonna buy same setup :D can you add me on discord? Ill buy it from amazon. Ryzen 7 3700x Asus (or another brand cuz its out of stock) rtx 2070 super msi b550 tomahawk 650 or 750 corsair psu, And ofcoursw 16gb 3600mhz rams My dc name is DedeQorqud#8765
Regarding the PS2 port, your absolutely right it's well out of date but there are two very niche use cases that I know of. 1) It will service those keyboard nuts who wish to use vintage IBM keyboards like the Model M with the Topre switches. 2) Overclockers often use Windows XP for some benchmarks as you can get higher scores - PS2 is super helpful for compatibility with XP. Super super niche use cases lol. But I'm guessing it costs next to nothing to implement so maybe that's why.
i still have a Microsoft PS2 Natural Keyboard and don't see me getting hid of it anytime soon. After all of these years, the letters on keys have not faded out like other keyboards I owned and it is great typing on it because of my big fat fingers.
I like the setup with all 6 sata ports. I use only the pciex_4 for my soundcard. I dont need the other pcie slots. For me this is rather an advantage than a disadvantage.
This review is about as good as it gets, congrats. Things like the PCIE/NVME sharing limitations and the HDMI version are a bummer but it's good to get this info from you. Subbed.
Looks like a great board. Very happy user of the B450 Tomahawk here. Not looking to upgrade, but I hope the B550 Tomahawk is just as much of a quality board for a great price as the B450.
i went from b450 tomahawk max to b550 tomahawk recently. the only reason I went with it is i ordered a 2tb gen 4 nvme drive and needed the slot for it. plus the fact that you can run a 3900x without any cooling while keeping reasonable temps is a nice bonus. but youre right it doesnt really offer much more over the tomahawk max i have but the max is very hard to find right now. Its in stock on newegg but I doubt it will stay that way for long.
In weird cases, the ps2 port makes sense. Imagine for example that you made a "big bang" overclocking, you may need to access to info or menus at a point in which the USBs are not activated yet.
Also a concern of mine, you can use one of those open PCIE slots to add a USB 3 expansion card. Had to make sacrifices somewhere, a cheap $25 dollar fix, for a relatively inexpensive board, considering all the other features. Love this board though.
B550 Tomahawk has only 6 USB ports on its rear shield, but 7 more can be natively expanded, via rear slot brackets or front bays (as the user prefers) via simple connecting cables to the motherboard, leaving it with a total of "13 USB ports": 2.0 x6, 3.2 Gen 1 Type A x4, 3.2 Gen 1 Type C x1, 3.2 Gen 2 Type A x1 and 3.2 Gen 2 Type C x1. This motherboard has USB ports to spare, just have to be purchased separately.
Glad that you discussed the HDMI 1.4 port. It seems MSI consistently has the worst video output options in their motherboards across multiple generations. Competitors are supporting HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 in multiple B550 boards.
Hi @KitGuru Tech, I have a problem with my new B550 for my new PC. For a reason, the BIOS and the windows installer is not detecting the only memory I have in the mobo, a M.2 drive. I have tried to change the BIOS 2 times, use a different M.2 drive, change the M.2 slot, and all the combinations possible, but until now I can't have this M.2 drive detected.They are compatible with the mobo. Could you please suggest a way to solve this?
Yes, they could really have had a few more USB slots on the back I had to buy a hub. Like only a few people are ever going to use the USB C or HDMI and display port.
Thanks! A very detailed review. I do think Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite/Pro are also competitor to this one. Would you mind do a comparison between these?(M.2&PCIE really stupid design for me. using a PCIE AX200 Wi-Fi card)
More manufacturers need to tap into some of those juicy PCIe Gen 4 lanes going to the top x16 slot, allowing those 8 lanes to be used for Gen4 M.2 & PCIe slots gives users a LOT of options, and more usable IO than many x570 boards (basically everything under £250). Question: Does anyone know when x670 details will start coming out/ launch date? (I would say B650, but that could be years away).
It is possible that x670 will arrive with zen4, yes. I ll wait till zen 3 and ll build my new machine between November 2020 and March 2021. My current base system is from 2011. I did upgrade the GPU 2 times and replaced the HDD with a SSD in all this years. I don't think I ll upgrade my new future base system (CPU +Mainboard) earlier than 5-8 years after I purchased it. It's just not necessary if you are not buying the lowest end hardware.
@@lukasandreasl.7004 I'm currently running an Asus x570-P with a 3950x, but the fan bugs the hell out of me. It's blocked by the GPU (in fact the PCH cool actually breaks the ATX spec of being over 0.6" high in the card slot area", with no provision for airflow making matters worse), so the fan hits 1500rpm at idle (then it becomes noticeable, it's a high pitch that's constantly changing, I thought it was coil whine and replaced the PSU) and goes above 3000 when gaming (then it's loud!) in a very quiet system so it is by far the loudest component, plus it's also the hottest component by a good 10c - it really is useless! Right now the MSI 570x Unify is top of the list (they seem to have figured out that heat rises and not to put the fan directly under the GPU).
@@heavymetalmixer91 That's true, and given the timing of b550 it's probably not a good idea to wait for them. I'm in no hurry to move to AM5 and DDR5 (new ram is normally pretty expensive for the 1st year). I was thinking above x650 has I think the x550 PCH is broken, as it runs way too hot and never powers down.
@@garethevans9789 I would replace the 570-P. Sounds not good. The Unify is rly nice but u can avoid fans completely going for B550 premium: Aorus Master, B550 upper medium: Strix E, B550 lower medium: Tomahawk/Strix F boards.... or you could wait for x670 if they ll come for AM4 end 2020 or 1st Q 2021 like I ll do. By the way: I do not recommend waitung and upgrading to *early* DDR5 platforms, since the performance will not be (much) better than on available, cheaper high end DDR4 technology. It was the same back in the days with DDR3-DDR4. So no need to wait that long to upgrade your machines.
A great explanation, great video. So my question is that which motherboard is good for using 2 nvme drives at full bandwidth and also some sata ports with some usb ports without any bottleneck issues? I am going for a 3900x build for my purely editing focused build and any kind of bottleneck will be an issue for me. I want to run 2 nvme drives at their full bandwidth and few sata ports for storage and usb for file copying. I want to run all these at their full speed. So plz any suggestions for me? 🙏🏻
Which motherboard is the best for gaming: MSI X570 Tomahawk, ASROCK X570 STEEL LEGEND, ASUS TUF GAMING B550-PLUS, MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK, MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS?
So I noticed that the second ssd spot on the bottom of the motherboard doesn’t like working with installation of a second card. When I connected my second ssd on the bottom and then put the M2 screw in, it made it so that I could not put the heat sink plate back on. So I’m sure if I just say screw the other M.2 screw and just use the one that comes with the heat sink plate or what.
Hi, I'm wondering about buying this board and the same CPU. If I install it, can I just leave the motherboard at stock settings? Or do I have to change things in the bios? I do not want to overclock, but I want to avoid stock settings that aren't favorable. I would greatly appreciate a reply! thanks.
There is also another glaring design flaw. Only the faster m.2 slot, the one controlled by the cpu, also supports sata ssd. It should have been the other way around. I have a 1TB nvme drive and another 2TB sata drive for general storage, this forces me to use the nvme in the second, slower slot, the one controlled by the chipset, and the sata one in the first slot, the one which could have offered PCIe gen 4 support. The TUF Gaming from Asus, for example, offers sata support on both m.2 slots.
So what your saying with the m.2 slits is that if I run my single graphics card in the first slot and 2 m.2 drives in the m_1 and m_2. All will run at full speed without sharing bandwidth?
Quick Question Please...I want to buy this Board but can I use the AMD Ryzen 2600 Processor with this one or do I have to move up to a AMD 3600 6 Core... I saw something that says I have to use a 3000 or 4000 Processor with this Board but I am not sure...Thank you for your excellent review and I hope I can get an answer to me question... :)
I'm running a ryzen 5 3600 on this board with a gtx 550 ti fossil that I had lying around. I plan to upgrade to the gtx 1080 as soon as gpu prices return to normal. What do you guys think of running the gtx 1080 with the build? I used a bottlenecking calculator and learned that it pairs with the r5 3600 really well. I'm going for a long lasting economic build that will enable me to upgrade later and sell the old parts. I do everything at 1080p and I generally don't care about speed as long as everything runs at 60fps or higher.
It is possible to buy Ps-port adaptors with a twin Usb connector for key board an mouse functions.. (Although I'm unsure if this affects software used in conjunction with these peripherals) IT does free up 2 USB ports for other peripherals such as gaming controllers an the likes ;) P>S I own this MoBo... And i confirm, audio is crisp
was about to buy this but then realized the lackluster amount of usb ports, get rid of the 2nd 1gb ethernet port and add more usb. after your mouse and keyboard you can't connect anything else.
0:23 £90? Where? I paid £150 for mine and the cheapest I can find on Ebay even is over £150. On Ebuyer I got mine and it was the cheapest I could find. *bought it yesterday*
Does it matter which spot you put the hard drive connectors? I am using a 500GB ssd drive, and 2 2T hard drives. I have power and lights, but no input. i think its a hard drive issue or something but not sure. HDMI cord is brand new and plugged in properly. Both RAM cards are in properly and lighting up with RGB. SOS
I bought this mb and i bought that WD_Black ssd too .. where to put it? In first M.2 slot or in second M.2 slot? I will have only this drive .. thaanks :)
Hi guys! Need help, I have a ryzen 7 2700x processor and I want to take the msi B550 TOMAHAWK motherboard, how will they work together, otherwise many say that it does not support the 2nd generation processor. Thank you!
i finished a build recently with this board and i just want to mention to anyone else doing the same that if you run into issues with BIOS not detecting your second m.2 slot like it happened to me the fix for it is to update to the latest BIOS on MSI's website. That fixed the problem for me after trying everything else I could. Only reason I didnt do it at first is because I hear all the time to not update your BIOS unless the board has major issues since it could actually cause issues. Hopefully this helps.
I am going to buy a cooler with 2 rgb fans, a case with 3 rgb fans from corsair and 1 seperate rgb fan, can i intall all of those on this motherboard ?
A question... is it better to update the BIOS using the flash button, with an empty motherboard, or fill out the build, get it booting successfully, then update the BIOS from within the UEFI?
Why does this motherboards ram slots die when i set my perfectly functioning 3200mhz ram to its correct speed and the infinity fabric to 1600mhz in the bios on initial boot? Two motherboards in a row have died. My first tomahawk died when i stupidly turned on bar support, for an amd gpu, which instantly killed the board. Was running perfectly prior to shitting the bed constantly.... teamgroup ram and a 3900x.
Should i move to B550 Tomahawk? My actual setup: RYZEN 5600 SSD Corsair MP600 Tomahawk B450.. i think there's no significaly improvement from gen 3 to gen4 with this corsair model.. only on read states (3500 (gen3) against 5000(gen4)).. there's another situation.. Tomahawk B450 Will only release beta Bios for this board in the feature..(should i worry about this?).. Tomahawk B450 os cappable to run 5800x3d perfectly?
If you are happy with the B450, stick with it. But if you need PCIe Gen 4 and support for newer CPUs (if the B450 doesn't get support), this is a good upgrade. Luke
186 Eur in Portugal. Not worth it in my opinion. Get the X570 version. Or the B450 for half the price. Too many compromises. It might be fine now, but what about when you're upgrading in the future?
I have a Ryzen 9 3900x amd cpu on this board, and I can't seem to get the m2_1 to get the advertised gen4 x4 full speed using a Samsung 990pro nvme or any other gen4x4 drives I've tried, I only get a gen4x2 connection. Thinking I've used too many pcie lanes elsewhere, I've tried removing all other sata drives and high speed USB components, moving my 3070 video card to PCIE_3 temporarily, adjusting and updating Bios, even updating the OS ..all to no avail. I've tried putting the 990pro on a sabrent daughter card in the PCIE_1 slot, and that works full speed 7400MB/s, so the nvme drive is capable, but then that's an unacceptable waste of my 3070 video card. I'm really at wits end with this. Whatever I try, I only see gen4x2 connection on the m2_1. Beginning to think something maybe wrong with the motherboard. Any Ideas?
I love MSI products my only gripe is there daft placement of there bios reset header which on my pc is hidden under the graphics card which looks like this is the same. So you have to plug a switch to it like the power button switch.......Otherwise your in for a bad time if it goes wrong.
@KitGuruTech does this B550 tomahawk support front case usb 3.0? ive only see the front panel type c 5gigabit support that mentioned but not usb3.0 front panel case support.
@@brunobeggiato8551 se tens guito para gastar compra mas a performance não vai aumentar muito. Se rodas tudo o que jogas na boa então não Vale a pena gastar o dinheiro. Guarda para a jola 🍺
you keep saying @ this price point, what price point is that ? the £90 in your vid or the actual price of £179, the later price negates all your price point comments
@@fadeljordhy if money is no issue or you plan to use the pcie 4.0 functions then go for it. otherwise you can save some money going for a b450 that you can use towards a better GPU. I have both tomahawk's and theres really no difference other than pcie 4.0 and better vrm performance. So it all depends on your use case and your wallet size.
what do you make of the B550 Tomahawk - has MSI done enough to carry on the legacy of the B450 Tomahawk?
hmm, why not spend a small bit more and get the x570 version?
I'm disappointed. I thought for the money, the B450 Tomahawk is better and in terms of no compromises, the X570 is better. Mind you, I need something like the B550 Aorus Master because of its USB ports but I was still hoping I could make do with less USBs and more hubs... But no, too many compromises on Tomahawk B550. Pass!
At the price, why not get a tomahawk x570, more features and better vrms
Yeah horrible like gigabyte board cheap go with Asus TUF b550 or Strix B550 for best overall performance and reliable
@@MegaGasek The Aorus B550 Master's 2 lower m.2 slots steal bandwidth from the graphics card slot, so if you run them your GPU is reduced to running at x8, which may affect higher end 20 series cards and upcoming 30 series/Big Navi.
i finished a build recently with this board and i just want to mention to anyone else doing the same that if you run into issues with BIOS not detecting your second m.2 slot like it happened to me the fix for it is to update to the latest BIOS on MSI's website. That fixed the problem for me after trying everything else I could. Only reason I didnt do it at first is because I hear all the time to not update your BIOS unless the board has major issues since it could actually cause issues. Hopefully this helps someone out.
thank you, you're a good person ❤️🙏
thank you so much for this info
Thank you man
thanks, I'm planning on doing exactly this and if I ever come into any problems I know what to do now
Always update your BIOS...
As I understand it PS2 ports are still widely used in Asia. PS2 ports are also found on LN2 suitable clocking boards because those still work when USB fails at very low temps.
PS2 ports are still popular for keyboards because traditionally most USB keyboards did not support n-key rollover (the basic USB keyboard interface only supports 6-key rollover) while many PS2 keyboards did. This problem is increasingly going away as time goes by, but USB keyboards that don't support n-key rollover are still common.
Wow, this was really indepth. So much better than the super big youtube channel that focus more on jokes and just saying positive adjectives. Very very impressed with this video, thanks a lot for your hard work!
I just wanted to say that I really appreciate you guys showing literally every detail about this motherboard, be it big or small. Really helped me out, thanks :)
Just wanted to compliment you on the best mobo reviews on YT. So thorough, you provide all the important details I want, but even with the long-ish videos they are always concise and clearly worded, and never feels like you ramble or go off on tangents. You've been invaluable for helping me evaluate boards for the upcoming Zen 3 chips, which will be my first all-new build in quite a few years now.
MSI has since updated their specs page to show that the on-board HDMI is 2.1 and does support 4k 60hz with an APU.
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I think the reason why PS/2 has been brought back as of late is probably due to the lower latency of PS/2 keyboards over USB and especially since more modern keyboards have back lighting and multiple profiles and extras that the bios takes a bit longer to detect it. I have noticed that a gaming keyboard will show up as two, three keyboards in the bios. A USB keyboard will sometimes do an on, off and on cycle while the PC is booting up where as a PS/2 keyboard is on and stays on as soon as you turn the PC on. It is also a nice back up in case for whatever reason the PC stops detecting your USB keyboard or does not detect it in time to access the bios the PS/2 port will detect a keyboard more often than not. As for using a PS/2 mouse, I think it is better to stick with a USB or wireless mouse as they are constantly being polled by the system and a PS/2 port mouse would end up having a higher latency due to the constant polling. Good video and breakdown of the MB, I liked the one of the B550 Aorus Master. Anyway, class videos :-)
Hey I have one of those ps2 to usb adapters, should I connect my rgb keyboard to it so i can free up a usb port? Is that a good idea?
I was extremely impressed and happy with the depth of your review. There were several times I had to get definitions for some of the computer parts, but that's my problem, and I don't mind it.
About 8 years ago, i build my first two computers (desktop and NAS). I tried some non-MSI motherboards, and was very disappointed. My MSI Z97A Gaming 7 motherboard has worked flawlessly. Even spilling coffee into the top vents of my case didn't affect it. (The CPU, however, as another story!)
I am building a more current machine, and I chose this motherboard from other trusted RUclipsrs reviews. I am very happy that I still feel pleased with my choice after your indepth review.
Lawrence
I like the way you review the mobo. It's exactly how I analyze motherboards myself and how I wanted motherboard reviews to be. Basically, no detail is left out.
Looking forward to Asrock Extreme4/Velocita/Steel Legend and Gigabyte Aorus Pro (AC) reviews. I'll be watching your B550 Aorus Master and Strix E and F reviews now :)
Awesome review, would love to see a review of the MSI X570 Tomahawk Motherboard
A very thorough review! I've managed to get a Ryzen 9 5950X for silly money, I did my usual and bought this motherboard without seeing any reviews! Glad i did, I paid £127 for this board today, Your concerns with the board do not bother me as i've got a dedicated Vega56 graphics card, I am so pleased that the VRM cooling is top notch as i imagine a 5950X will need it? The reason i made a 'blind' purchase of this board was it's price and it's replacing my ryzen 2700 on an MSI B450 gaming pro carbon board which i have zero complaints about, That 2700 and board is going to my daughter to replace her FX8120 bulldozer system! Cheers.
I got mine a few days ago and it meets my needs. Was originally aiming for the x570 version but didn't realize how impossible it would be (in the U.S.) to obtain any b450 or x570 board during COVID-19. I was able to get mine during a newegg preorder.
what cpu and gpu do you use? should i buy it for ryzen 7 3700x
@@karayev8229 I have the 3700x and a 2070 Super. Works great. Check pcbuilder site for many similar builds.
@@havok3344 actually im gonna buy same setup :D can you add me on discord? Ill buy it from amazon. Ryzen 7 3700x Asus (or another brand cuz its out of stock) rtx 2070 super msi b550 tomahawk 650 or 750 corsair psu, And ofcoursw 16gb 3600mhz rams My dc name is DedeQorqud#8765
Regarding the PS2 port, your absolutely right it's well out of date but there are two very niche use cases that I know of.
1) It will service those keyboard nuts who wish to use vintage IBM keyboards like the Model M with the Topre switches.
2) Overclockers often use Windows XP for some benchmarks as you can get higher scores - PS2 is super helpful for compatibility with XP.
Super super niche use cases lol. But I'm guessing it costs next to nothing to implement so maybe that's why.
1)a ps2/usb converter costs about 50c
2)ln overclockers probably buy more expensive boards..
i still have a Microsoft PS2 Natural Keyboard and don't see me getting hid of it anytime soon. After all of these years, the letters on keys have not faded out like other keyboards I owned and it is great typing on it because of my big fat fingers.
Excellent review thank you. Just bought this board for £129 three years on. Aiming to run a ryzen 5600x with it. Seems to be really well made.
do you need to update the bios to run this cpu or the mobo is 5000 series ready ?
@@alexandregrenier1512 I updated the bios as matter of course. Works perfect. Lots of vids on you tube on how to do this.
I like the setup with all 6 sata ports. I use only the pciex_4 for my soundcard. I dont need the other pcie slots. For me this is rather an advantage than a disadvantage.
This review is about as good as it gets, congrats. Things like the PCIE/NVME sharing limitations and the HDMI version are a bummer but it's good to get this info from you. Subbed.
a lot of others have already said, but thanks for the in-depth review mate
Excellent review! I found this guide very helpful in my buying process and ended up going with it. Thanks for what you do!
Looks like a great board. Very happy user of the B450 Tomahawk here. Not looking to upgrade, but I hope the B550 Tomahawk is just as much of a quality board for a great price as the B450.
i went from b450 tomahawk max to b550 tomahawk recently. the only reason I went with it is i ordered a 2tb gen 4 nvme drive and needed the slot for it. plus the fact that you can run a 3900x without any cooling while keeping reasonable temps is a nice bonus. but youre right it doesnt really offer much more over the tomahawk max i have but the max is very hard to find right now. Its in stock on newegg but I doubt it will stay that way for long.
@@musek5048 without any cooling what would make you think that ?
In weird cases, the ps2 port makes sense. Imagine for example that you made a "big bang" overclocking, you may need to access to info or menus at a point in which the USBs are not activated yet.
HDMI is port 2.1
MSI updated their specifications.
take a shot every time you hear "at this price point" 😇 Thanks Luke very detailed review
Hey, Mike. Didn't know you're a KitGuruTech fan too.
I bought this and only had the one gripe as you did, it needs a few more USB ports on the back. Otherwise it's a great board.
Also a concern of mine, you can use one of those open PCIE slots to add a USB 3 expansion card. Had to make sacrifices somewhere, a cheap $25 dollar fix, for a relatively inexpensive board, considering all the other features. Love this board though.
B550 Tomahawk has only 6 USB ports on its rear shield, but 7 more can be natively expanded, via rear slot brackets or front bays (as the user prefers) via simple connecting cables to the motherboard, leaving it with a total of "13 USB ports": 2.0 x6, 3.2 Gen 1 Type A x4, 3.2 Gen 1 Type C x1, 3.2 Gen 2 Type A x1 and 3.2 Gen 2 Type C x1.
This motherboard has USB ports to spare, just have to be purchased separately.
Should I go with B450 Tomahawk or B550 with this build:
CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
GPU: Powercolor RX5700 RedDragon
RAM: 2x8GB Corasiar LPX Vengence
SSD: Patriot 512GB Viper M.2
HD: Seagate Baracuda 1TB 2.5" 5400rpm
SUPPLY: Seasonic Core GM-650W Gold
Thanks in advance :D
B450 Tomahawk is more then enough
@@romanstechtips5237 Thanks for a feedback :D
450 max enough but If u want Upgrade/Future plan use B550
amazing review. I wish you all the best in the future endeavors
MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk website states - 1x HDMI 2.1 port, supports a maximum resolution of 4096x2160 @60Hz 1 2
Support HDCP 1.4 & 2.3
Glad that you discussed the HDMI 1.4 port. It seems MSI consistently has the worst video output options in their motherboards across multiple generations. Competitors are supporting HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 in multiple B550 boards.
1x HDMI 2.1 port, supports a maximum resolution of 4096x2160 @60Hz 1 2
Support HDCP 1.4 & 2.3
Outstanding review, channel needs more from you!
Excellent review thnx...
Finally some good info!
Hi @KitGuru Tech, I have a problem with my new B550 for my new PC. For a reason, the BIOS and the windows installer is not detecting the only memory I have in the mobo, a M.2 drive. I have tried to change the BIOS 2 times, use a different M.2 drive, change the M.2 slot, and all the combinations possible, but until now I can't have this M.2 drive detected.They are compatible with the mobo. Could you please suggest a way to solve this?
Yes, they could really have had a few more USB slots on the back I had to buy a hub. Like only a few people are ever going to use the USB C or HDMI and display port.
Thanks! A very detailed review. I do think Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite/Pro are also competitor to this one. Would you mind do a comparison between these?(M.2&PCIE really stupid design for me. using a PCIE AX200 Wi-Fi card)
Compare MSI Tomahawk vs Asus Strix B550-F.
B550 Tomahawk or.... B550 Strix-F ??? I've looked at literally everything you could research but I'm learning towards STrix more.
1x HDMI 2.1 port, supports a maximum resolution of 4096x2160 @60Hz 1 2
Support HDCP 1.4 & 2.3
More manufacturers need to tap into some of those juicy PCIe Gen 4 lanes going to the top x16 slot, allowing those 8 lanes to be used for Gen4 M.2 & PCIe slots gives users a LOT of options, and more usable IO than many x570 boards (basically everything under £250).
Question: Does anyone know when x670 details will start coming out/ launch date? (I would say B650, but that could be years away).
No date for those, or even if they will be released. IIRC AMD said that Ryzen 4000 will be the last generation before they jump to AM5.
It is possible that x670 will arrive with zen4, yes.
I ll wait till zen 3 and ll build my new machine between November 2020 and March 2021.
My current base system is from 2011. I did upgrade the GPU 2 times and replaced the HDD with a SSD in all this years.
I don't think I ll upgrade my new future base system (CPU +Mainboard) earlier than 5-8 years after I purchased it. It's just not necessary if you are not buying the lowest end hardware.
@@lukasandreasl.7004 I'm currently running an Asus x570-P with a 3950x, but the fan bugs the hell out of me. It's blocked by the GPU (in fact the PCH cool actually breaks the ATX spec of being over 0.6" high in the card slot area", with no provision for airflow making matters worse), so the fan hits 1500rpm at idle (then it becomes noticeable, it's a high pitch that's constantly changing, I thought it was coil whine and replaced the PSU) and goes above 3000 when gaming (then it's loud!) in a very quiet system so it is by far the loudest component, plus it's also the hottest component by a good 10c - it really is useless!
Right now the MSI 570x Unify is top of the list (they seem to have figured out that heat rises and not to put the fan directly under the GPU).
@@heavymetalmixer91 That's true, and given the timing of b550 it's probably not a good idea to wait for them. I'm in no hurry to move to AM5 and DDR5 (new ram is normally pretty expensive for the 1st year). I was thinking above x650 has I think the x550 PCH is broken, as it runs way too hot and never powers down.
@@garethevans9789 I would replace the 570-P. Sounds not good. The Unify is rly nice but u can avoid fans completely going for B550 premium: Aorus Master, B550 upper medium: Strix E, B550 lower medium: Tomahawk/Strix F boards.... or you could wait for x670 if they ll come for AM4 end 2020 or 1st Q 2021 like I ll do.
By the way:
I do not recommend waitung and upgrading to *early* DDR5 platforms, since the performance will not be (much) better than on available, cheaper high end DDR4 technology. It was the same back in the days with DDR3-DDR4. So no need to wait that long to upgrade your machines.
Great review. thank you
1x HDMI 2.1 port, supports a maximum resolution of 4096x2160 @60Hz
A great explanation, great video.
So my question is that which motherboard is good for using 2 nvme drives at full bandwidth and also some sata ports with some usb ports without any bottleneck issues? I am going for a 3900x build for my purely editing focused build and any kind of bottleneck will be an issue for me. I want to run 2 nvme drives at their full bandwidth and few sata ports for storage and usb for file copying. I want to run all these at their full speed. So plz any suggestions for me? 🙏🏻
Please do Gigabyte b550 Aorus pro and tell about its bandwidth sharings compared to this msi board
Please do an overclock tutorial please. Thank you for your videos.
Hm.. few years ago people kept saying PS2 port is important, because it allows for n-key rollover, while USB doesn't. Do people just not care anymore?
Which motherboard is the best for gaming: MSI X570 Tomahawk, ASROCK X570 STEEL LEGEND, ASUS TUF GAMING B550-PLUS, MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK, MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS?
If I would have Ryzen 5 3600x should I buy cheaper X570 motherboard or more expensive B550 ?
I fully agree with your analysis.
Great board, but the choices made regarding the Pcie bandwidth do not please me either.
So I noticed that the second ssd spot on the bottom of the motherboard doesn’t like working with installation of a second card. When I connected my second ssd on the bottom and then put the M2 screw in, it made it so that I could not put the heat sink plate back on. So I’m sure if I just say screw the other M.2 screw and just use the one that comes with the heat sink plate or what.
Hi,
I'm wondering about buying this board and the same CPU.
If I install it, can I just leave the motherboard at stock settings?
Or do I have to change things in the bios?
I do not want to overclock, but I want to avoid stock settings that aren't favorable.
I would greatly appreciate a reply! thanks.
There is also another glaring design flaw. Only the faster m.2 slot, the one controlled by the cpu, also supports sata ssd. It should have been the other way around. I have a 1TB nvme drive and another 2TB sata drive for general storage, this forces me to use the nvme in the second, slower slot, the one controlled by the chipset, and the sata one in the first slot, the one which could have offered PCIe gen 4 support. The TUF Gaming from Asus, for example, offers sata support on both m.2 slots.
Does it have built in WiFi?
Hey KitGuruTech, I'm trying to figure out the speed of the PCIe lanes between the PCH and CPU of this mobo. Is it PCIe 3.0 x1, so 1000mb/s?
Please make a review of Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro motherboard
So what your saying with the m.2 slits is that if I run my single graphics card in the first slot and 2 m.2 drives in the m_1 and m_2. All will run at full speed without sharing bandwidth?
Well done. Detailed functionality of yes & no, good & bad.👍
Did you got this board from any online store? If one had to buy it from Ali express who would you suggest?
What would you select between b550 tomahawk, b550 f strix gaming wifi and x570 tuf gaming. These are available for me.
Tuf gaming
Quick Question Please...I want to buy this Board but can I use the AMD Ryzen 2600 Processor with this one or do I have to move up to a AMD 3600 6 Core... I saw something that says I have to use a 3000 or 4000 Processor with this Board but I am not sure...Thank you for your excellent review and I hope I can get an answer to me question... :)
I'm running a ryzen 5 3600 on this board with a gtx 550 ti fossil that I had lying around. I plan to upgrade to the gtx 1080 as soon as gpu prices return to normal. What do you guys think of running the gtx 1080 with the build? I used a bottlenecking calculator and learned that it pairs with the r5 3600 really well. I'm going for a long lasting economic build that will enable me to upgrade later and sell the old parts. I do everything at 1080p and I generally don't care about speed as long as everything runs at 60fps or higher.
Rx6600 is also a good buy maybe consider an AMD option for similar bucks compared to the 1080
It is possible to buy Ps-port adaptors with a twin Usb connector for key board an mouse functions.. (Although I'm unsure if this affects software used in conjunction with these peripherals) IT does free up 2 USB ports for other peripherals such as gaming controllers an the likes ;) P>S I own this MoBo... And i confirm, audio is crisp
was about to buy this but then realized the lackluster amount of usb ports, get rid of the 2nd 1gb ethernet port and add more usb.
after your mouse and keyboard you can't connect anything else.
0:23 £90? Where? I paid £150 for mine and the cheapest I can find on Ebay even is over £150. On Ebuyer I got mine and it was the cheapest I could find. *bought it yesterday*
any issues with clearance on the main PCIe slot with a big air cooler like a noctua D15? Or with the VRMs if using an offset cooler like the D15S?
do you think this bord is any good for server applications
Tell me if i'm wrong but the MB HDMI is probably not gonna be used since the GPU has all the video connectors needed ? noob here
Does it matter which spot you put the hard drive connectors? I am using a 500GB ssd drive, and 2 2T hard drives. I have power and lights, but no input. i think its a hard drive issue or something but not sure. HDMI cord is brand new and plugged in properly. Both RAM cards are in properly and lighting up with RGB. SOS
I bought this mb and i bought that WD_Black ssd too .. where to put it? In first M.2 slot or in second M.2 slot? I will have only this drive .. thaanks :)
Hi guys! Need help, I have a ryzen 7 2700x processor and I want to take the msi B550 TOMAHAWK motherboard, how will they work together, otherwise many say that it does not support the 2nd generation processor.
Thank you!
I know it’s a 3 year old video…. But garbage that you have to update the BIOS to enable TPM 2.0 for Win 11
who would used 1.4 DP or 2.0 HDMI off from the main motherboard?? Seriously???? So what the heck PCIE slot for graphic card for?
What was the SSD he installed at 7:03?
Can I use PCIE 3.0 Riser for GPU to make it Vertical inserted on the 4.0 PCIE? what do you think it will work or not?
So whats the best
B450 tomahawk max or the new b550 tomahawk
Just made my first build with this mobo.
Question: I'm running storage on just m.2 gen 3 SSD currently, do I use the top or the bottom PCIe m.2 slot?
Either or.
If your M.2 is Gen 3.0, use either. But if it was Gen 4.0, you would use the top one. That's the one that supports PCIe Gen 4.0
i finished a build recently with this board and i just want to mention to anyone else doing the same that if you run into issues with BIOS not detecting your second m.2 slot like it happened to me the fix for it is to update to the latest BIOS on MSI's website. That fixed the problem for me after trying everything else I could. Only reason I didnt do it at first is because I hear all the time to not update your BIOS unless the board has major issues since it could actually cause issues. Hopefully this helps.
im new to rgb, how do you control it? fe
I am going to buy a cooler with 2 rgb fans, a case with 3 rgb fans from corsair and 1 seperate rgb fan, can i intall all of those on this motherboard ?
Yes i believe u can connect up to 6-7 fans with this board
just bought with a 5600x and a corsair 400d airflow on way.. not built in 13years so i hope im not too rusty and mess something up
A question... is it better to update the BIOS using the flash button, with an empty motherboard, or fill out the build, get it booting successfully, then update the BIOS from within the UEFI?
I did the latter in the end. It worked fine.
What speeds would I be looking at for the secondary m.2 SSD if the PCIe x1 slot is populated by a wifi card?
will it work with ryzen 5 3600?
yes
1:54 only for a single stick of ram, it diminishes the more stick you put into it
£179 cheapest UK price, it's now in lower tier X570 boards price bracket.
are rgb headers for fan rgb??
Why does this motherboards ram slots die when i set my perfectly functioning 3200mhz ram to its correct speed and the infinity fabric to 1600mhz in the bios on initial boot? Two motherboards in a row have died.
My first tomahawk died when i stupidly turned on bar support, for an amd gpu, which instantly killed the board. Was running perfectly prior to shitting the bed constantly....
teamgroup ram and a 3900x.
Should i move to B550 Tomahawk? My actual setup: RYZEN 5600 SSD Corsair MP600 Tomahawk B450.. i think there's no significaly improvement from gen 3 to gen4 with this corsair model.. only on read states (3500 (gen3) against 5000(gen4)).. there's another situation.. Tomahawk B450 Will only release beta Bios for this board in the feature..(should i worry about this?).. Tomahawk B450 os cappable to run 5800x3d perfectly?
If you are happy with the B450, stick with it. But if you need PCIe Gen 4 and support for newer CPUs (if the B450 doesn't get support), this is a good upgrade. Luke
0:23 £90? I don't think that's correct. If it is post a link now and I'll buy it immediately! lol
It is £179
186 Eur in Portugal. Not worth it in my opinion. Get the X570 version. Or the B450 for half the price. Too many compromises. It might be fine now, but what about when you're upgrading in the future?
Can the chipset LED be controlled via the bios?
Can I pair 5900X & 3080 with this board?
MAG B550 users, please share your problems here so we can aware. It is good to know general issues before we buy a product.
I have a Ryzen 9 3900x amd cpu on this board, and I can't seem to get the m2_1 to get the advertised gen4 x4 full speed using a Samsung 990pro nvme or any other gen4x4 drives I've tried, I only get a gen4x2 connection. Thinking I've used too many pcie lanes elsewhere, I've tried removing all other sata drives and high speed USB components, moving my 3070 video card to PCIE_3 temporarily, adjusting and updating Bios, even updating the OS ..all to no avail. I've tried putting the 990pro on a sabrent daughter card in the PCIE_1 slot, and that works full speed 7400MB/s, so the nvme drive is capable, but then that's an unacceptable waste of my 3070 video card. I'm really at wits end with this. Whatever I try, I only see gen4x2 connection on the m2_1. Beginning to think something maybe wrong with the motherboard. Any Ideas?
Does this is compatible with i9-9900K by any chance can I run it thx.?
I love MSI products my only gripe is there daft placement of there bios reset header which on my pc is hidden under the graphics card which looks like this is the same. So you have to plug a switch to it like the power button switch.......Otherwise your in for a bad time if it goes wrong.
@KitGuruTech does this B550 tomahawk support front case usb 3.0? ive only see the front panel type c 5gigabit support that mentioned but not usb3.0 front panel case support.
Yes, it has a 3.0 header.
would i buy b550 tomahawk or x570?
A Tomahawk é melhor ✌🏻
If the noise of the fans does not bother you and it is at a good price in your country, x570.
@@josebarroso2184 vale eu sair da Tomahawk b450 pra b550? Migrei do 3600 para o 5600
@@brunobeggiato8551 se tens guito para gastar compra mas a performance não vai aumentar muito. Se rodas tudo o que jogas na boa então não Vale a pena gastar o dinheiro. Guarda para a jola 🍺
Can I use dual monitors for this?
Can someone please tell me if this board uses the intel standard pinout for the front panel?
Can you plz make a video explaining msi x570 tomahawk?
you keep saying @ this price point, what price point is that ? the £90 in your vid or the actual price of £179, the later price negates all your price point comments
Can u use 2 Monitors on this?
Great video. I am looking at buying a B550 for a ryzen 3600 x I have to build a pc for Steam VR on my Oculus Quest Would this be a good one to go for?
@@fadeljordhy if money is no issue or you plan to use the pcie 4.0 functions then go for it. otherwise you can save some money going for a b450 that you can use towards a better GPU. I have both tomahawk's and theres really no difference other than pcie 4.0 and better vrm performance. So it all depends on your use case and your wallet size.
In my country, for the MSI Tomahawk :
185€ for B550
250€ for X570
Clearly a better option to go for the B550 no ?
I have it and it works perfectly for me!
yes, also you there's a msi promo for the B550. I got my x570 for 200€ in Germany.
@@kylemcgill9146 how's the audio quality? Especially the bass?