Motherboard ASRock B550M-ITX/ac

[kreco]

I search about this motherboard but there was not topic so, here it is!

This motherboard should not be confused with B550 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ax

Here is the official ASRock page.

Price: 130$, according this reddit post

Noteworthy:

- Rear USB C.
- Only one 1 Hyper M.2 slot.
- SATA ports are not towards the side. Might be easier to build sff pc than the B450 and B550.
- No chipset fan.
- One PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Port
- Bluetooth 4.2+, not Bluetooth 5.0 like the B550 Phantom ITX.

 

[rfarmer]

Glad to see a lower cost alternative. Wish it wasn't missing so many options, especially the 2nd M.2.

 

[ermac318]

Unless you are putting a 3900X or higher in your ITX system, or you really really need Wifi 6 or 2xM.2, I think this is the board to get, pending proper reviews of course. No one needs six 90A power stages unless you're OC'ing the $(I^T out of your Ryzen CPU. Unless Zen 3/Ryzen 4000 somehow increases power usage enormously (which I doubt it will), I think the price of this board is very reasonable and its VRM is better than every X470 and B450 ITX board that I can think of.

 

[ignsvn]

Will there be any issue with regard to the location of the 4+4 CPU power pin?

Edit:

And i hope there won't be any problem with availability

 

[kreco]

[...]

Edit:

And i hope there won't be any problem with availability

Fortunately, the same information is also written for the B550 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ax. ?
I have hope (I'm actually not really interested since there is only one M.2 slot).

 

[Phuncz]

Quite a lightly equipped board for that price but I guess that's what you get for needing PCIe 4.0 and 16-core support at a low price point.
Remarkable that only Ryzen 3000 is supported, with no support for the Ryzen 5 3400G or 3200G. Hopefully they'll support the 4000G CPUs though.

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

If they don't support 4000G, that'd be a waste of HDMI and Display port on the I/O

 

[Valantar]

4000-series APU support is a given for B550. I've been looking at this board for my upcoming HTPC build, but the power phases (and tiny VRM heatsink) has me wary of it - I won't be touching CPU clocks for that APU, but I'll definitely be looking at pushing the iGPU as far as it's willing to go, and those VRMs combined with that toothpick-sized heatsink probably won't be a good choice for that. IMO $130 sounds too high for a relatively stripped-down board like this - only one m.2, cheap VRM, terrible heatsink, no front USB-C, cheap audio codec, and the most stripped-down rear I/O I've seen in a while. Not to mention a relatively poor layout. I don't think this is worth $130. It would be great at $100. It's good that we get budget ITX options, but they should at least then be priced reasonably. If the Gigabyte B550I Aorus is the rumored $179, you'd be paying $49 over this for an extra m.2 slot, two much better heatsinks, far superior power stages, 2.5GbE, WiFi 6, even dual HDMI ... that's a bargain in comparison!

 

[CuMiCo]

In this case I woud either go with an 'old' B450 its the same price

 

[Valantar]

In this case I woud either go with an 'old' B450 its the same price

You'd lose out on HDMI 2.1 though, and it would likely have worse memory speeds too.

 

[ermac318]

I fail to see how going with an older b450 board is better, unless Zen+ support (3200g/3400g) is important to you. Maybe the Asus B450i with dual M.2 would be better, but good luck finding it right now, and again you have roughly the same port counts and an inferior VRM compared to even this AsRock board.

If you're looking at used B450 ITX boards that end up sub $100 then I can see the argument. Right now the Strix B450i (which is out of stock) is listed on NewEgg at $135, so $5 more for a ~2 year old board.

 

[Ricky Zeng]

I think this board is more ideal (feasible) to accommodate a low profile 12cm fan cooler like blackridge or the new IS-47K from ID-Cooling, if fitted in a thin case like Dan A4 SFX or any of the thinner Silverstone ones. Pratically same PCI-E 4.0 and power phase functionality compared with B550 ITX Phantom Gaming, yet without the cumbersome I/O shield & cooling structure which might block CPU cooler. I'd get this one as long as the power design proves to be no worse (hopefully better) than B450/X470 Fatality gaming ITX to go with a top 65W TDP CPU like 3700X or Ryzen 4000 equivalent. Waiting for reviews...

 

[Valantar]

I think this board is more ideal (feasible) to accommodate a low profile 12cm fan cooler like blackridge or the new IS-47K from ID-Cooling, if fitted in a thin case like Dan A4 SFX or any of the thinner Silverstone ones. Pratically same PCI-E 4.0 and power phase functionality compared with B550 ITX Phantom Gaming, yet without the cumbersome I/O shield & cooling structure which might block CPU cooler. I'd get this one as long as the power design proves to be no worse (hopefully better) than B450/X470 Fatality gaming ITX to go with a top 65W TDP CPU like 3700X or Ryzen 4000 equivalent. Waiting for reviews...

If you're planning on running at stock, this board will be fine, but that VRM is unimpressive and its heatsink is downright terrible, so I would make sure there's some airflow over it. No worries for a 65W CPU even if it's pegged at its ~90W boost power, but anything higher could make things quite hot. Saying it has "practically [the] same [...] power phase functionality" compared to the PG B550 is simply untrue though. Fewer phases, much lower rated components, and much worse VRM cooling. The PG is a board fully capable of running a 3950X clocked as high as it'll go, this is a strictly run-at-stock board, and in a tightly packed case with limited airflow across the VRMs I wouldn't trust it past an 8-core. You're also losing out on WiFi 6/AX, front USB-C, 2.5GbE, the second m.2, etc. The featureset is absolutely not bad for a budget board, but the price needs to match its features for this to be worth it over the cheaper "premium" B550 offerings.

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

I'm looking to build a computer for my oldest daughter. She's 13 yo and it would be her first own computer. That kind of board with a 4400G would be ideal I think, keeping cost low while not cutting too much on the features.

Being compatible with zen2 and zen3 also opens a quite nice upgrade path. Other B550 boards, like the Asus B550-I or the Gigabyte B550I will cost quite a lot more (around $200 from what's already listed on etailers)

 

[Ricky Zeng]

If you're planning on running at stock, this board will be fine, but that VRM is unimpressive and its heatsink is downright terrible, so I would make sure there's some airflow over it. No worries for a 65W CPU even if it's pegged at its ~90W boost power, but anything higher could make things quite hot. Saying it has "practically [the] same [...] power phase functionality" compared to the PG B550 is simply untrue though. Fewer phases, much lower rated components, and much worse VRM cooling. The PG is a board fully capable of running a 3950X clocked as high as it'll go, this is a strictly run-at-stock board, and in a tightly packed case with limited airflow across the VRMs I wouldn't trust it past an 8-core. You're also losing out on WiFi 6/AX, front USB-C, 2.5GbE, the second m.2, etc. The featureset is absolutely not bad for a budget board, but the price needs to match its features for this to be worth it over the cheaper "premium" B550 offerings.

Good clarifications. I'm planning to run at stock for myself as I rarely play with O/C these days anymore, so to me this board and B550 PG is the same, even providing better clearances for coolers. But if planning on O/C or using higher TDP CPUs, yeah you're absolutely right, Phatom Gaming is AT LEAST, other more O/C enthusiast orientated boards from ASUS/MSI/Gigabyte are probably even better.

With WiFi 6 though, I think the wireless/BT module on B550 ITX/c should be easily swappable since it's mounted on a vertical M.2 Key E slot?

 

[ermac318]

VRM is unimpressive and its heatsink is downright terrible

I would just point out, again, that the VRM on this board is better than every B450 ITX board except the MSI, which is 6x60 as opposed to this board's 6x50. The MSI does have a better heatsink as well.

 

[LJA]

I would just point out, again, that the VRM on this board is better than every B450 ITX board except the MSI, which is 6x60 as opposed to this board's 6x50. The MSI does have a better heatsink as well.

Exactly, the VRM si more than good, more taking in consideration the price. The heatsink is pretty bad. For the 3200G that I'm using is excellent, but I'm confident it will handle even my 3900 from my main rig either.

I have both ASRock's, this one in my secondary RIG, so far so good in these couple of days. I've managed to put a Ryzen 3200G, I've took the risk and so far it paid off. Yet I won't update the BIOS just in case.
I wanted a lower cost secondary sort of vintage Rig and I didn't want right now to spend on a VGA plus a CPU. It's my backup PC and also the one to use if anything fails in the main one or if I sell sthg from the main one to upgrade. I can't be without a PC because of my job.Let's hope still rocks the 3200G with no issues