A more affordable PCI-e 4.0 platform is finally now amongst us, the arrival of AMD motherboards based on the long awaited AMD B550 AM4 chipset for Zen 2/3 processors.
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/TUF-GAMING-B550M-PLUS-WI-FI/
These days, mATX models especially for the AM4 platform seem less common place (vis a vis ATX and m-ITX) and this is one budget oriented yet definitely still well featured model vs the competition.
For now, this appears to be the highest end mATX B550 model from Asus. The SRP seems to be roughly USD150-170 thereabouts according to most web info/rumours/leaks.
Features
- AMD AM4 socket: Ready for 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen™ Processors
- Enhanced power solution: 8+2 DrMOS power stages, ProCool connector, military-grade TUF components, and Digi+ VRM for maximum durability
- Comprehensive cooling: VRM heatsinks, PCH fanless heatsink, M.2 heatsink, hybrid fan headers and Fan Xpert 2+ utility
- Next-gen connectivity: PCIe 4.0 M.2, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A and Type-C support
- Made for online gaming: Intel® WiFi 6, 2.5 Gb Ethernet, TUF LANGuard and TurboLAN technology
- AI noise-cancelling microphone: Provides crystal-clear in-game voice communication
- ECC Memory (ECC mode) support varies by CPU
This is a good comparison table for Asus B550 models
Unboxing
Unassuming small retail box as expected in a budget mATX model.
Accessories
Motherboard
That large piece labelled as TUF GAMING is actually a solid aluminium heatsink and not a plastic shroud. Back I/O reveals the presence of digital SPDIF output and also a BIOS Flashback button for this model. This model has a 256Mb (32MB) capacity BIOS chip.
All these are higher end features, quite unusual on a budget model, which leaves one most pleasantly surprised.
This model uses 8+2 DrMOS power stages which is quite a step up from the equivalent B450 model using just 4+2.The beefed up components especially with its PCI-e 4.0 certification incrementally contributes to the new SRP of this B550 model over its B450 predecessor.
A cooler B550 Southbridge with passive cooling means less noise and one fewer potential failure spot vs an actively cooled one with its embedded mechanical fan viz. X570 chipset.
Video out ports mean that one can actually install the APU Ryzen processors in their moments of sudden insanity. OK OK, there is also the incoming Renoirs too.
The rather busy looking faux military PCB print scheme may yet appeal to some fans... well, guess it's still less in your face than actual golden toy bullets variants.
8 pin 12V CPU power plug, provision for enough juice.
Diagnostic discrete LEDs in lieu of a numerical panel, still useful. Its budget nature is showing up here.
SATA ports x 4, very well placed out of the way from the GPU slot.
nvme M.2 slots x 2 - 1 x 4.0 (no heatsink but very nicely located between CPU and GPU) and 1 x 3.0 (long heatsink bundled). Too bad, the nvme heatsink is not interchangeable between the 2 slots.
The CR2302 CMOS battery location is still nicely accessible with an installed GPU.
UEFI
Only the factory stock 0244 BIOS was available at this time of testing in late May 2020. Nonetheless, this version seems stable and mature enough already in testing as it is.
Both Ryzen 3300X test piece and 3600X retail processor POSTed 1st try and ran without any issues. Given only 2 days of proper availability for the 3300X sample with potentially super rushed testing, I decided instead to use my own retail 3600X for a more thorough and leisurely testing.
The UEFI appears to be well featured, complete with AMD CBS and overclocking sub-menus. Sample screenshots are as follows...
Still haven't found a good simple utility which can extract the AMD AGESA version info since it was reported that B550 models use a brand new version with cumbersome numbering reset as ComboAM4 V2 1.0.0.0 Just what you might expect from AMD Numerical Numbskull Nomenclature department.
hwinfo64 Summary
First GPU tried was the Asus Strix Radeon 5600XT which ran just fine as expected since it is a modern up to date PCI-e 4.0 GPU. Yup, definitely reported as communicating at PCI-e 4.0 alright.
Also tried out my faithful old non-GOP legacy GTX670 GPU for compatibility testing and the motherboard BIOS auto-configured itself for legacy mode and POSTed successfully and everything ran smoothly too.
Setup
Asus TUF B550M-Plus (Wifi) | Ryzen 3600X uv air | Strix RX5600 XT | 16GB Ballistix Sports kit 3200@3600 | 500GB WD Black nvme | Win 10 1909Open ambient air, non-ac late May 2020 weather
The China iCafe Adrenalin 20.4.2 slim drivers, discovered by some sharp eyed Redditor, was installed. Note this is not WHQL certified and would not work properly with Microsoft secure boot either.
Benches 'n' Stresses
CPU-Z
AIDA64
Other than upping the RAM frequency from DDR4-3200 to 3600 and loosening the tRCD by 1, no particular tuning was done so it should be easy to improve on these numbers.
7Zip
HyperPi 32M
RAM stability check
Unigine Heaven 4.0 Bench
VRMark Orange
Rated Outstanding! https://www.3dmark.com/vrm/47339218
Cinebench R20
Realbench 2.56
Overall system stability check
Speedtest
Wired fibre connection using the onboard Realtek 2.5Gb LAN port. There are some reports of a buggy Intel 2.5Gb LAN chip implemention so the Realtek solution looks like a suitable alternative on budget motherboards.
MC Extractor Report
Still supports Athlon 3000G (CPUID 00810F081) in the present latest 1804 BIOS (AGESA 1.2.0.0). At ~SGD65 definitely the cheapest AM4 CPU and very useful for troubleshooting and flashing BIOS updates.
Initial Impressions
Very solid B550 mATX effort from Asus, totally smooth and fuss free during testing even at this early stage of introduction. Excellent choice as a backbone for a modern budget AMD rig for which Intel will have a very hard time competing against. Instead, the actual competition may be the lower end models of AMD's own X570 series which are now occasionally priced close enough for serious consideration eg. Asus X570 TUF Gaming.Likes
- Sizeable heatsinks for the VRM and PCI-e 3.0 nvme slot
- Well designed layout - very spacious around CPU socket, good SATA ports clearance etc...
- Very fast POST
- Stable well featured UEFI
- Easy RAM overclocking - DOCP works great and DDR4-3200@3600 easily achieved
- BT and dual band Wifi 6 AX200 are onboard bundled
- 32MB BIOS chip size - potential to cater for more generations of processor support
- Video out ports x2 - 1 x DisplayPort 1.2, 1 x HDMI 2.1(4K@60HZ)
- Useful debug LEDs
Can be improved...
- Lack of heatsink for PCI-e 4.0 nvme slot, fortunately cheap to source for your own
