AMD B650 Motherboard Roundup: VRM Thermal Testing

[Julnor]

Have you been reading the same articles that I have? Steve has said the exact opposite of that in more than one article.

We must be reading different articles for sure, I remember the 12th gen Intel motherboard roundup where he basically praised MSI and it had the best performance and price, while killing Asrock, and mentioning how Asrock hates him and this site and won't send them motherboards anymore because they exposed the PG VRMs for multiple chipsets.

Your post is very pro-MSi and anti-ASRock PG for no apparent reason. You then try to support your claim by talking about getting this "impression" from articles that say the exact opposite. Sure, the best high-end X670E motherboard is an MSi board, but that's the only one that Steve seems to like. He certainly isn't a fan of their B650 offerings based on this article so maybe you're confusing different reviews here.

It seems like you're just trying to pick an argument, and have purposely outright even refused to read the few sentences I wrote. Honestly, I don't understand writing that much while ignoring what I wrote, I didn't even write much, it's not so hard to at least read a few sentences when you're trawling and repasting entire articles worth. But you do you man.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I have three AM4 Asrock boards in use, nothing wrong with them, just my least favorite BIOS. I actually think I prefer my gigabyte GA970 the most, old and straightforward.

There's definitely something to be said about old and straightforward, no doubt!

 

[BrwPCnrd87]

Am I the only one who hates seeing BIOS Flashback buttons? I want a clear CMOS button. Doesn't really help me when tinkering and I have to remove a graphics card just to access a battery or short a couple pins etc.

I actually rigged up a pci slot cover mounted switch connected to the pins on my old Phenom II system to clear CMOS. Very useful.

 

[Avro Arrow]

We must be reading different articles for sure, I remember the 12th gen Intel motherboard roundup where he basically praised MSI and it had the best performance and price, while killing Asrock, and mentioning how Asrock hates him and this site and won't send them motherboards anymore because they exposed the PG VRMs for multiple chipsets.

Intel boards? Well, ok, now it makes a lot more sense. It didn't even register that you were talking about Intel boards because they're completely irrelevant when discussing AMD boards and vice-versa. It's because, as Steve has shown us, Intel and AMD motherboards are two completely different animals. What's great in one is "meh" in another. Sure, MSi may be great with Intel boards, but you posted in a thread about AM5 and that made your post incorrect, especially considering the boards that were covered in the article. All I saw was a post that said the exact opposite of both AMD motherboard articles in a thread for AM5 B650 motherboards. Can you really blame me for not realising that you were referring to something else entirely?

It seems like you're just trying to pick an argument, and have purposely outright even refused to read the few sentences I wrote. Honestly, I don't understand writing that much while ignoring what I wrote, I didn't even write much, it's not so hard to at least read a few sentences when you're trawling and repasting entire articles worth. But you do you man.

What do you mean I didn't read the sentences you wrote? I quoted them piece by piece. I honestly didn't know what you were talking about and since I've never interacted with you before, I wasn't sure of you were being serious or not. Nothing that I put in my post was false and I was completely puzzled by what you said. Nowhere in your post did you mention that you were talking about Intel boards (which would have made sense even if it was completely off-topic) because if you had, I would've just pointed out that one has nothing to do with the other. I can guarantee you that nobody was thinking about Intel boards when reading that article and I was no exception to that. I had thought that you were either trolling, joking or that you were genuinely confused and I don't think that anyone can blame me for that.

I wasn't looking for an argument at all, I was seriously scratching my head and wanted to make sure that you didn't go out tomorrow and buy an MSi AM5 board by mistake. Sure, maybe the ASRock PG series Intel boards aren't worth buying but that's not what you said. You just said the PG series and those are great boards on the AMD side.

Anyway, I'm just honestly glad that I understand now because if I scratched my head much more, I'd have started to draw blood!

 

[Avro Arrow]

I have a Soundblaster AE-7 PCIe soundcard, so with the gigantic video cards and so few PCIe slots on modern motherboards, it makes good sense to buy a motherboard with an m.2 wifi card for for me. Obviously if you have no need for it, don't buy a board that includes wifi. It stupid to pay for something you don't use, which is the reason I'm getting a B650E board and not a X670E.

The boards with build in wifi/m.2 also have connections for antennas, which those without does not necessarily have.

I only said what I said because I would feel remiss if I didn't at least point out the option. You've clearly got your bases covered though and I agree with you 100%.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I actually rigged up a pci slot cover mounted switch connected to the pins on my old Phenom II system to clear CMOS. Very useful.

Ok, that's just pure genius!

 

[Avro Arrow]

I don’t need Wi-Fi for my desktop either but I do need Bluetooth, so I benefit from that.

I grabbed one of those little USB bluetooth dongles. It works pretty well for $5 but I've never been a huge user of Bluetooth, I just wanted to see how well it worked. I have to admit, it's pretty handy to be able to have so many devices connected to just one dongle.

 

[trparky]

I grabbed one of those little USB Bluetooth dongles.

I used to use one but the range sucks. The motherboard that I bought, the Gigabyte B650 AORUS Elite AX, has a very nice external antenna that connects to the back of the desktop. With that external antenna, I can walk all around the house, even to the second floor, while streaming music to my Bluetooth headphones from my computer in the basement.

Couldn't do that with that tiny little USB device.

 

[Rockfella]

Very happy to be owner of Gigabyte 650M Gaming A AX!

 

[Rockfella]

I used to use one but the range sucks. The motherboard that I bought, the Gigabyte B650 AORUS Elite AX, has a very nice external antenna that connects to the back of the desktop. With that external antenna, I can walk all around the house, even to the second floor, while streaming music to my Bluetooth headphones from my computer in the basement.

Couldn't do that with that tiny little USB device.

yeah those USB devices are never stable. That antenna is also on the Gigabyte 650M Gaming A AX. Neat feature.

 

[Rockfella]

@Steven : Other than that they're the same motherboard, so we struggle to understand why you'd spend roughly 30% more on the Gaming X AX over the DS3 : Because the Gaming A AX has better cooling and onboard wifi/bluetooth + looks better.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I used to use one but the range sucks. The motherboard that I bought, the Gigabyte B650 AORUS Elite AX, has a very nice external antenna that connects to the back of the desktop. With that external antenna, I can walk all around the house, even to the second floor, while streaming music to my Bluetooth headphones from my computer in the basement.

Couldn't do that with that tiny little USB device.

I agree with you, that is very impressive!

 

[Avro Arrow]

Very happy to be owner of Gigabyte 650M Gaming A AX!

Congratulations! I think that you'll be very satisfied with it. I bought a Gigabyte motherboard back in 2011 because it was on sale and I was getting stuff ready for the release of Bulldozer. It was a jump from AM2+ to AM3+ so I needed a new motherboard and new RAM. I had the platform together and then.... Bulldozer sucked. I was pretty disappointed but since I had all of the new stuff, I bought a Phenom II X4 965 so that I could actually use it. The difference in overall performance between the new platform and my Phenom II X4 940 AM2+ platform wasn't that big but then I got the FX-8350 in 2012 for $170CAD and that made a huge difference.

That FX-8350 (with 4 cores disabled) and Gigabyte motherboard were the core components of a Windows 10 mining rig that I ran for the first half of 2022. They're both still used today, 12 years later, in my mother's HTPC (with all 8 cores enabled). Gigabyte sure wasn't kidding when they called it "Ultra-Durable".

@Steven : Other than that they're the same motherboard, so we struggle to understand why you'd spend roughly 30% more on the Gaming X AX over the DS3 : Because the Gaming A AX has better cooling and onboard wifi/bluetooth + looks better.

The looks would mean nothing to me but I could definitely see the built-in WiFi and Bluetooth alone being worth an extra $60 to those who would benefit from it.

 

[VoidTheWarranty]

I actually rigged up a pci slot cover mounted switch connected to the pins on my old Phenom II system to clear CMOS. Very useful.

How did it work exactly? Cause that sounds smart.
What works best for me is opened nail clippers cause you can put them in a L shape. Cause I have to wedge my hand under my graphics card and put the tip of the end of the clippers between the two pins leave it there for like 20 seconds awkwardly balancing it while only having a few mm of space to balance it up there. What a stupid design. Right up there with these *****s who put M.2's under the graphics card instead of the top PCI-E slot. I won't ever buy one of those boards cause I can't support the stupidity. We MaKe MoTheRBoaRds & GrApHiCs CaRdS BuT No IdEa HoW to MaKe ThEm MakE SenSE toGetHer. GiVe Us YoUR MonEYs.

 

[Rockfella]

Congratulations! I think that you'll be very satisfied with it. I bought a Gigabyte motherboard back in 2011 because it was on sale and I was getting stuff ready for the release of Bulldozer. It was a jump from AM2+ to AM3+ so I needed a new motherboard and new RAM. I had the platform together and then.... Bulldozer sucked. I was pretty disappointed but since I had all of the new stuff, I bought a Phenom II X4 965 so that I could actually use it. The difference in overall performance between the new platform and my Phenom II X4 940 AM2+ platform wasn't that big but then I got the FX-8350 in 2012 for $170CAD and that made a huge difference.

That FX-8350 (with 4 cores disabled) and Gigabyte motherboard were the core components of a Windows 10 mining rig that I ran for the first half of 2022. They're both still used today, 12 years later, in my mother's HTPC (with all 8 cores enabled). Gigabyte sure wasn't kidding when they called it "Ultra-Durable".

The looks would mean nothing to me but I could definitely see the built-in WiFi and Bluetooth alone being worth an extra $60 to those who would benefit from it.

The price difference is 25USD here in India + I had a Wifi card (sold after this purchase) which needed and extra PCIx1 slot on the board. I also have Asus Xonar DX sound card which needs another PCIx1 slot : This also means I had to buy ATX board to run those 2 cards. So buying the A AX gaming was a no brainer for me

 

[BrwPCnrd87]

How did it work exactly? Cause that sounds smart.
What works best for me is opened nail clippers cause you can put them in a L shape. Cause I have to wedge my hand under my graphics card and put the tip of the end of the clippers between the two pins leave it there for like 20 seconds awkwardly balancing it while only having a few mm of space to balance it up there. What a stupid design. Right up there with these *****s who put M.2's under the graphics card instead of the top PCI-E slot. I won't ever buy one of those boards cause I can't support the stupidity. We MaKe MoTheRBoaRds & GrApHiCs CaRdS BuT No IdEa HoW to MaKe ThEm MakE SenSE toGetHer. GiVe Us YoUR MonEYs.

I'll see if I can find it when I get home and snap a pic, but basically wired a surface mount push button switch connected to the pins. Hold the button down to close the circuit. Drilled a hole in a solid slot cover from my Antec 300 to hold it. .

 

[passwordistaco]

I used to use one but the range sucks. The motherboard that I bought, the Gigabyte B650 AORUS Elite AX, has a very nice external antenna that connects to the back of the desktop. With that external antenna, I can walk all around the house, even to the second floor, while streaming music to my Bluetooth headphones from my computer in the basement.

Couldn't do that with that tiny little USB device.

In the last year or so I've gone from only using Bluetooth on my phone and laptop for audio to using it on several systems for kb/trackball/controller. Those big antennae make very reliable connections.

 

[Biostud]

The price difference is 25USD here in India + I had a Wifi card (sold after this purchase) which needed and extra PCIx1 slot on the board. I also have Asus Xonar DX sound card which needs another PCIx1 slot : This also means I had to buy ATX board to run those 2 cards. So buying the A AX gaming was a no brainer for me

I also have a PCIe soundcard and pcie wifi card, and for the exact same reason am I getting a motherboard with build in wifi for my 7800X3D.

 

[Rockfella]

I also have a PCIe soundcard and pcie wifi card, and for the exact same reason am I getting a motherboard with build in wifi for my 7800X3D.

Do that because I used to buy expensive motherboards (ATX) just to use those 2 components. It is a good move specially because wifi/bluetooth also come up with newer faster versions/speeds/stability.

 

[Kevin82485]

What is the difference between the MSI Pro B650-P WiFi [162] and MSI Pro B650-P WiFi [163] in the gaming benchmarks -- what change our difference does 162 and 163 denote? I tried re-reading the article, but don't see the difference noted anywhere.

 

[Rockfella]

I can guarantee you that they're all pretty much the same. I've had ASRock, Gigabyte, Biostar, ECS/Elitegroup and MSi. Other than the fact that the MSi board failed on me, I've been 100% satisfied with their features and performance levels because motherboards have a very small (if any) effect on overall PC performance. As far as actual PC performance was concerned, I never noticed a difference between any brand because, let's face it, the actual working parts of the motherboards (the chipsets) are all supplied by AMD or Intel (although at the time, AMD chipsets were ATi and nVidia also had their nForce chipsets) so a board's features were dictated by which chipset was used. That's still true today.

When I worked at Tiger Direct, I had the opportunity to really look at the difference between many motherboard manufacturers because we had ASRock, ASUS, Biostar, ECS/Elitegroup, EVGA, Gigabyte, Jetway and XFX. The differences were mainly cosmetic with the biggest differences being the number of USB and SATA ports, the number of PCI and PCI-Express slots and whether or not they had IDE and Floppy Drive connectors. There weren't even huge differences when it came to the BIOS because they were all by American Megatrends.

I honestly don't know how ASUS got the reputation that it has because I've never found them to be overly-impressive. In fact, I've never been impressed enough to pay the extra cost associated with them and so I've never owned one. My stepfather, the one who got me into computers at the age of 8, has owned several ASUS motherboards but, like most Baby-Boomers, he's a bit of a brand-wh0re because, in his day, brand-names actually mattered so, you know, old habits and all that.

He got an ASUS TUF X570 motherboard and he had audio issues with it. He had to RMA it but he had no motherboard to use with his R9-3900X. I lent him my ASRock X370 Killer SLI board and then went back to install his TUF motherboard when he got it back many months later. He lives 3 hours away from me so I ended up driving 12 hours total. I bought him a Unicomp keyboard a couple of years prior (bloody expensive) and I found it, mostly unused, in his basement. He said it was too loud (well, it IS an IBM model M, so yeah...) and gave it to me (I love that thing!). In the end, he asked me if I just wanted to take his TUF board and leave the Killer SLI. I refused because I didn't think that trading an X570 board for an X370 board was fair to him and put the TUF back into his PC.

So, here's a guy who swears by ASUS but was satisfied with an ASRock X370 board to the point that he was willing to trade his ASUS TUF X570 for it. That should tell you all that you need to know about being a brand-wh0re when it comes to motherboards.

This is also my honest opinion about ASUS since the time I got into PCs. They lack refinement and tend to charge more for what they offer. I have purchased ASUS only once ASUS P5B and the audio on it died. Never got one again.

 

[Rockfella]

I grabbed one of those little USB bluetooth dongles. It works pretty well for $5 but I've never been a huge user of Bluetooth, I just wanted to see how well it worked. I have to admit, it's pretty handy to be able to have so many devices connected to just one dongle.

Using those dongles is not that great. Using inbuilt wifi/bluetooth or the extensions cards you mentioned (I've used both) are way better than those dongles.

 

[Avro Arrow]

This is also my honest opinion about ASUS since the time I got into PCs. They lack refinement and tend to charge more for what they offer. I have purchased ASUS only once ASUS P5B and the audio on it died. Never got one again.

Well, a defective audio chip isn't something that can be blamed on ASUS because all the AIBs use audio chips either from Realtek or Crystal Audio and it could happen to anyone. I don't think that ASUS are any better or worse than ASRock, Gigabyte or MSi because they all make good boards and any of them can have a defective 3rd-party chip. The problem that I have with ASUS is that they tend to be more expensive than the other three, sometimes significantly so. When something has a significantly higher price but not significantly better quality, I describe it the same way that Steve does; "Hard Pass".

 

[Avro Arrow]

Using those dongles is not that great. Using inbuilt wifi/bluetooth or the extensions cards you mentioned (I've used both) are way better than those dongles.

Well, being better than a $5CAD Bluetooth dongle isn't really setting the bar all that high. I do know that my ASUS craptop has built-in Bluetooth but it's unstable as hell. I tried using a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard with it and they would randomly disconnect. I don't know if it was the craptop itself or the mouse and keyboard but they were never more than 1m away from the craptop. It probably was the craptop because sometimes the Bluetooth adapter would disappear from the Device Manager.

Since I was just trying it out, I just decided to stick to normal wireless.

 

[neeyik]

What is the difference between the MSI Pro B650-P WiFi [162] and MSI Pro B650-P WiFi [163] in the gaming benchmarks -- what change our difference does 162 and 163 denote? I tried re-reading the article, but don't see the difference noted anywhere.

Sorry for not making that clearer -- it's different BIOS revisions, with the 163 being more recent than the 162.