CPU Best B550 ITX Board

Mopar63

Caliper Novice
Original poster
Jul 13, 2019
23
6
So I am looking at a new build and want to get a B550 ITX. Looking at the MSI, Gigbyte and higher end ASRock. Not considering the Asus right now as the extra cost seems silly. I can but a Gigabyte X570 board for less than the Asus B550.

I wanted to see everyone's thoughts on which is the best B550 ITX board. Will not be overclocking a Ryzen 3600 or one of the new 5xxx series.
 

PVC

Cable-Tie Ninja
Jul 12, 2020
177
91
Watch this long and boring video about the Gigabyte B550i Pro AX mini-ITX. The details talked about in that video is what convinced me to use the Gigabyte B550i Pro AX mini-ITX motherboard for my upcoming APU/(no GPU) build.

Though, my APU build will be different from your build with GPU. But you still may find the reviewed details interesting.
 

rfarmer

Spatial Philosopher
Jul 7, 2017
2,588
2,702
The 3 you listed kind of depend on what you are using it with. The Gigabyte looks really good but it doesn't have front panel usb-c if that is something you need. The MSI also looks good but it has the backplate with additional holes so you need to make sure whatever cooler you choose uses the stock backplate. The Asrock Phantom has the right angle SATA ports and doesn't work with sandwich cases and 2.5 drives. There is also the LAN, all three are 2.5 but only the Asrock is Intel.
 

smitty2k1

King of Cable Management
Dec 3, 2016
967
492
The 3 you listed kind of depend on what you are using it with. The Gigabyte looks really good but it doesn't have front panel usb-c if that is something you need. The MSI also looks good but it has the backplate with additional holes so you need to make sure whatever cooler you choose uses the stock backplate. The Asrock Phantom has the right angle SATA ports and doesn't work with sandwich cases and 2.5 drives. There is also the LAN, all three are 2.5 but only the Asrock is Intel.
Isn't there some issue with that Intel 2.5 Gb/s controller?
 

ShamedGod

Cable-Tie Ninja
Apr 21, 2019
147
77
I have the Gigabyte B550I, updated to F10, and have had zero issues. It will probably end up being the best AM4 ITX board option available. I don't see AMD release a new chipset until AM5 is released next year.

The Gigabyte B550I is basically the same as the Gigabyte X570 with a fan port adapter to convert the chipset fan to a standard PWM, 90A power stages instead of 70A, and a PCIe Gen 3 M.2 slot on the bottom instead of PCIe Gen 4. Unless someone really needs a second PCIe Gen 4 M.2 slot I can't see an advantage of using an X570 board.

Zen 3 is rumored to pull quite a bit more power at stock then Zen 2 so that may change things a bit but... I like it. VRM stays cool with an OC 3600 pulling over 100W and I plan on putting a 5950X in it when those CPUs are out.
 

Skripka

Cat-Dog Perch Manager
May 18, 2020
443
543
Wow a lot of people have look at this but no one has an opinion?

Any of them will do fine. These days VRMs are good enough to OC a 3950x and not worry much.

It depends on your priorities of I/O and which you trust more....MSI has burned a ton of bridges in the last year in the tech review community, most of the major tech 'influencers' and reviewers are blacklisted from getting their stuff for simply calling the products like they were.