Since the new Ryzen 2000 CPUs are already here, it was just a question of time when will the new generation of compatible motherboards appear. Only two chipsets have been launched so far – their names are AM4 B350 and AM4 B450.
How do these midrange Ryzen chipsets compare? Is getting one of them a worthy upgrade? What are their main differences? We’ve decided to give our readers answers to these questions by having a closer look at each of these brand new platforms (and for top product picks you can just skip straight to our main Best AM4 Motherboard guide here).
Let’s check them out together!
AM4 B350 Chipset Features
- USB 3.1 Gen 2 – 2
- USB 3.1 Gen 1 – 2
- USB 2.0 – 6
- SATA III – 2
- PCI-express 3.0 – 1
- PCI-express 2.0 – 6
- GPU – 1 x 16
- Overclock – Yes
- XFR2 – Yes
- Precision Boost Overdrive – No
- StoreMI – No
If you’re a true budget builder, your choice of chipsets isn’t that large – you could either get the locked down A320 platform that has no OC support or a B350 motherboard that will give you a freedom to boost your new Ryzen CPU up to 4GHz. Purchasing a really cheap A320 board makes sense only if you intend to do no overclocking whatsoever and you don’t actually care about the lack of flexible memory upgrades or the resale value.
Adding $10 and purchasing a B350 motherboard will allow you to boost both your graphics card and the processor on the Raven Ridge APUs, which is something that can’t be done with an A320 model. Adding ten dollars more (so, $70 total) and purchasing an even better B350 model will give you access to some pretty impressive features, such as four DIMM slots for the future memory upgrades.
Overclocking aside, a small investment of just $20 more also brings quite a few extras, such as the better audio implementation, more USB ports, extra SATA and M.2 ports, as well as more PCI-express slots. Even though there are a couple of B350 motherboards that support Ryzen 2000 CPUs out of the box, most of them don’t – you will have to download the appropriate BIOS update first.
AM4 B450 Chipset Features
- USB 3.1 Gen 2 – 2
- USB 3.1 Gen 1 – 2
- USB 2.0 – 6
- SATA III – 2
- PCI-express 3.0 – 1
- PCI-express 2.0 – 6
- GPU – 1 x 16
- Overclock – Yes
- XFR2 – Yes
- Precision Boost Overdrive – Yes
- StoreMI – Yes
Now that we’ve concluded that the B350 motherboards are a much better choice than the A320 ones, let’s have a closer look at the B450 chipset and its advantages. First of all, we have to say that this platform is also intended for the more price-conscious PC enthusiasts who have just bought a Ryzen CPU. People who don’t want to spend between $150 and $200 on an X470 board will find that the B450 models are actually well-packed with features and worthy of being considered for purchase.
Coming at around $100, these motherboards have the majority of features found on their X470 cousins. The most essential of these features is that they support processor overclocking, which is not a common occurrence when it comes to sub-$100 models. Along with the useful Precision Boost Overdrive and StoreMI features (allows speed increase through pairing HDDs and SSDs), a quality B450 motherboard will also accept your Ryzen 2000 processor right out of the box – there is no need to update the BIOS.
Conclusion
All in all, we can safely say that both of these midrange Ryzen chipsets are absolutely worthy of being considered for purchase. Even though it’s the cheaper of the two, the B350 chipset still stands as an excellent choice for the cost-conscious Ryzen builders. As we’ve already said, a good B350 motherboard costs just a bit more than the A320 one but offers better performance and more useful features.
The B450 chipset, on the other hand, is also budget-friendly but comes with features such as StoreMI and Precision Boost Overdrive. It is, therefore, a lot closer to chipsets such as X470, especially when we consider the fact that it accepts Ryzen 2000 CPUs straight from the box.
In our opinion, both of these chipsets prove that AMD is still at the top of their game – purchasing a B350 or a B450 motherboard certainly won’t leave you disappointed.
