HUB - 47 AMD B850 Motherboards Tested - Nearly Every Board!
Posted by Antonis_32@reddit | hardware | View on Reddit | 50 comments
Posted by Antonis_32@reddit | hardware | View on Reddit | 50 comments
imaginary_num6er@reddit
AsRock motherboards fry non-X3D CPUs too:
https://videocardz.com/newz/one-asrock-b850-motherboard-reportedly-kills-three-ryzen-7-9700x-cpus
Kryohi@reddit
Meh, without statistics news like this are entirely useless. Faulty hardware is everywhere, once a while any kind of product will fail and possibly damage other components.
For ASRock B850 mobos + X3D there is some evidence there was actually something wrong, but all the rest is anecdotal evidence at best.
RainyDay111@reddit
r/ASrock made a few graphs based on user feedback https://www.reddit.com/r/ASRock/comments/1mvgndh/9000series_cpu_failuresdeaths_megathread_2/ Astock boards seem to kill a bit of everything, though the 9800X3D has the highest casualties
Kryohi@reddit
Again, a "count number" is useless. Is the failure rate 5%? 20%? 0.7%?
The first two numbers would indicate a big problem, the third one would be normal for any kind of consumer product
Stennan@reddit
Extra scrutiny could certainly introduce a bias in reporting that doesn't match reality. We would have to get comparable data from an impartial source, like a retailer or distributor (for several brands), to get an idea if the issue is impacting all Zen5 CPUs.
However retailers will not want to leak this kind of business info since there is zero upside for them and might damage the business relationship with Asrock or any MB-vendor.
IANVS@reddit
How many of those don't have lane sharing in the year of our Lord 2025, almost 2026?
I can't believe that B650 boards are for the most part better buy since AMD didn't enforce PCIe5 on both the x16 slot and M.2, while being stingy with PCIe lanes because reasons, so you get to have full GPU throughput and full Gen4 x4 M.2 slots and potentially an extra usable PCIe slot, instead of getting an oversized mATX board with gimped M.2 speeds...
OftenSarcastic@reddit
What I remember from when I was looking at boards before RAM prices went up:
Asrock murderboards
Gigabyte boards have lane sharing on primary PCIe slot unless new X3D branded board
MSI has ALC4080 audio chips everywhere (reported audio crackling issues)
ASUS has ALC4080 audio chips on high end boards
Debug code display will cost you 300+ USD
ALC1200 and ALC4080 start around 200 USD
I put the TUF B850-PLUS on my shopping list, but it does still have lane sharing between the secondary PCIe slot and the third m.2 slot. The PCIe slot gets completely disabled when the m.2 slot is in use. Basically the same as TUF B650E-PLUS but newer wifi and cheaper locally.
IANVS@reddit
TUF also loses the 2nd USB-C in the back, something I liked a lot on the B650 version...
OftenSarcastic@reddit
Ah I don't really have a need for more than one USB-C port so I didn't check. Looks like the B850 and B650E both have two ports, one back and one front (half speed), while the B650 has three USB-C capable ports at three different speeds. Fun minefield of specs 🤣
Morningst4r@reddit
Potato sound chips make sense because any integrated sound is going to be bad vs an external DAC. Doesn't matter how fancy the controller is if the noise floor is poor.
fatso486@reddit
Whish these guys would review these dirt cheap obscure weird brands we find in aliexpress. I suspect they will do fine. 2 years ago i bought a Maxsun b450m and its been solid. not bad for $38. Im currently seeing a$64 JGINYUE b650 ATX boards that i want to pair with an $80 8400G cpu.
jammsession@reddit
I suspect half of them will come with an outdated BIOS and all of them will never see a BIOS update in the future.
alphaformayo@reddit
You can buy Maxsun motherboards from Australian retailers. These guys are Australian..
fmjintervention@reddit
Yep I bought a Maxsun B650M Challenger Ice Wi-Fi for a cheap gaming PC flip build and it's ok. Board construction quality seemed ok, feature set was comparable to other entry level B650 boards and it was literally the cheapest AM5 board I could get from any Aussie retailer. The main downside was that the BIOS was pretty clunky. Looked very dated, it was hard to find features that the board did have (enabling RAM EXPO was a bit fiddly, but to be fair once I enabled it it worked great with no tweaking required) and it listed features that the board didn't have (There was a toggle for Intel Turbo Boost and hyperthreading... on an AMD board...). The RGB software also was pretty bad, very few RGB modes, slow and unresponsive, and the installer was in Mandarin. Like come on man if you're gonna sell this board in a Western market at least translate your installer into English.
My end review is that the product itself was OK with a few QoL problems but nothing major, but it's totally worth spending another $20 to get something like a Gigabyte B650M Gaming, or an ASUS B650M AYW, just because BIOS and software will be better, you're far more likely to keep getting BIOS updates from a major brand, and if you ever need to warranty claim something I'd rather try my luck with a big brand over Maxsun.
Antonis_32@reddit (OP)
TLDW:
Recommendations:
- Asrock mobos only recommended if you don't intend to use an X3D CPU
- Best value:
~$130: Asrock B850M Pro RS
~ $160: Gigabyte B850 Gaming X WiFi6E or MSI B850M-A WiFi
~ $210: MSI B850 Tomahawk Max WiFi
- Micro-ATX:
~$180: Asrock B850 Steel Legend WiFi, Gigabyte B850 Aorus Elite WiFi7 Ice if you want a white mobo
- Mini-ITX:
~ $200: Asrock B850I Lightning Wi-Fi (best VRM thermal performance of all boards tested)
~ $290: MSI MPG B850I Edge Ti Wi-Fi (offers 5GbE LAN)
- Expensive B850 boards that don't make sense due to X870E boards**:
~ $320: Gigabyte B850 AI Top (only one to offer Dual 10GbE LAN)
letsgoiowa@reddit
Man...remember when you could get decent motherboards for like $90-100? "Good" boards were like $130. I'm still using my X370 Gaming Pro Carbon from 2017 I bought for my 1st gen Ryzen and it's running a 5700x3d now.
spacerays86@reddit
Yeah the tomahawk nearly doubled in price.
fmjintervention@reddit
The Tomahawk also used to have terrible VRMs that would spike to well over 105C and then thermally throttle if using a 16 core CPU. Yes motherboards are more expensive now, but the quality has gone up dramatically. Also need to keep inflation in mind, of course products are more expensive now than they were 8 years ago. Letsgoiowa saying their motherboard is "good" because it can run a 105W 8 core chip is a low bar to clear.
https://www.techspot.com/review/2065-amd-b350-vs-b450-vs-b550-tomahawk/
varateshh@reddit
Asus X470-f had the VRMs to run all AM4 processors and it cost $130 when I bought it. You could save an additional $10-$20 if you went with x470 prime that had the same VRMs but less bulky heatsinks (if I recall correctly).
dexteritycomponents@reddit
The X370 Gaming Pro Carbon was 180$ at release which is 240$ in today’s moneys.
I would agree that it has gotten more expensive but so has quality, for the most part.
Also bear in mind that motherboards vary heavily in value by age. B650s can be had for ridiculously cheap right now due to B850s being mainstream. People said the same thing about B650 series boards on release, and now they can be had for 100-140$.
TheCookieButter@reddit
I went with an ATX ASRock B850 Pro RS. After that fried my 9800X3D I switched to the MSI B850 Tomahawk Max WiFi
Feel like I'm well represented here in this list!
Stennan@reddit
Such a damn shame that I bought this one and assembled it with a 7600X while planning to upgrade it to an X3D in the future! Asrock not communicating at all about the X3D-deaths (BIOS only mentions "improced CPU compatability") really creates a lot of badwill. And an additional depreciation should I try and replace my motherboard (which Gamers Nexus jokingly call "murderboards")
Which is a shame since Asrock had/has solid offerings and Steve/HUB's recommendation of) the B650M HDV/M.2 caused it to sell more than all other Asrock (B650?) Motherboards combined. On HUB podcast he mentioned that the budget board was a centrepiece of their Computex booth among their premium boards.
viladrau@reddit
It kills 9000 series cpus. You could get a cheap 7800X3D.
courey@reddit
yeah also stuck with asrock board on ryzen 7700. considered upgrading to 9800x3d but that will again means extra cost due to new mobo cause im not slotting 9xxx into any am5 asrock board
Stennan@reddit
Hopefully you won't get any CPU bottlenecks in the coming 3-4 years. By then, you could sell the motherboard and CPU as a package.
"Yep, this murderboard has tried to kill the CPU since I bought it, but she's a tough cookie."
AnechoidalChamber@reddit
Quite a few boards to avoid if you want to later upgrade to Zen 6 as it's allegedly moving to 12 cores CCDs instead of 8.
A 24 cores top of the line Zen 6 is likely to draw more juice than the 16 cores 9950X.
Jumpy_Cauliflower410@reddit
They're moving zen 6 to 2nm according to all the rumors so expect about double the power efficiency.
Morningst4r@reddit
Depends on your use case as well. Gaming on a 12 core Zen 6 CPU limited to ~100W will probably be 95-100% performance of max power draw.
If you're blasting all core workloads for any sustained time you should invest in a better board for sure.
capybooya@reddit
Maybe Zen6 means new chipset hardware as well. Not strictly needed, but AMD probably could if they wanted to.
AnechoidalChamber@reddit
Nah, they confirmed it's gonna be AM5 compatible.
Stennan@reddit
Yeah, unless TSMC brings out the black magic with the node shrink and the packaging becomes more efficient. At some point, the cores will be so dense/small that CPU coolers will need to be offset and the IHS redesigned to enable all core workloads for more than 60s. Part of the issue with Zen 4 temps was according to AMD that they wanted to maintain cooler compatability and thus needed to make the IHS thicker, which worsened the heat transfer from the SOC to the heatsink. Perhpas they managed to fix this with Zen 5 as it seems to be better att getting reasonable temps, but that could just be changes to the temp sensor on chip.
InflammableAccount@reddit
So... Depending on your opinion on ASRock AM5 boards, there are only 12 board that should be avoided. Only 6 to avoid if you're only building a budget/6-8 core system. (PPT limit below 160w).
If you want to avoid ASRock, well, yeah, fewer choices.
Every_Recording_4807@reddit
Can vouch for the Asrock Lightning B850I. Also has the ALC1220 audio codec chip.
gusthenewkid@reddit
Idk how you can put Asrock as best anything until they stop nuking CPU’s
Tiny-Independent273@reddit
yeah I wouldn't trust them at this point
Vodkanadian@reddit
One thing I know from having issues with my AM4 rig is that mobo manufacturers are up-ing voltage a lot at stock settings. Had constant RAM instability with a Asrick, MSI and Gigabyte boards due to them pushing too high voltage in the SoC and RAM. The jumbers weren't THAT off from what people would reccomend running daily put on my early-batch 5800x it would blackscreen daily until I lowered them.
Screw having ridiculous power limits right out the box, make it a god damn baseline like Intel had to do and let those who want more juice toggle it easily.
Stennan@reddit
At some point, I almost wonder if these boards with 14 80A power stages become so over-engineered that they are a poor fit for CPUs that draw 60-90W when gaming? Yes, your VRM setup is a relatively cheap way of "adding specs", but if I were to use the car analogy, not every commuter needs a Lambo to get to and from work.
gusthenewkid@reddit
Yeah, I agree. All the turbo boost algorithms throw a ridiculous amount of voltage for a tiny boost.
professionaldouche@reddit
I am well aware of the risk and will be reporting here first when/if my9600x and b850m-x wifi r2.0 what a ridiculous name fries itself
Nordmuth@reddit
I wouldn't trust any Asrock B850 or AM5 board. Just not worth the gamble, given that AMD keeps releasing low cost AM5 CPUs.
Plus, there is the hypothetical risk of those boards also feeding incorrect voltage for non-X3D CPUs. The problem being that it could potentially take years for damage to manifest under normal use, which would then be well out of warranty period.
Better off just buying any of the non-Asrock boards at this point.
Nojevah@reddit
Asrock murderboards also fry non X3D CPU, cf ASRock reddit. Recommend ASRock right now looks like a sponsored advice. GamerNexus conclusion was to avoid ASRock motherboards.
Stennan@reddit
Non-X3D CPUs can fail on any motherboards so unless we get info that the Asrock boards also are overrepresented when it comes to non-X3D units. I think we can be cool about it for now. Steve mentions his reservations and the video is meant to be used as a reference for the foreseeable future. In the comparative test and feature sets the Asrock boards are solid value for money and provided that the issue gets fixed we can use those boards as reccomendations.
However, he really should have had alternatives to Asrock for each category, as his B850M Steel Legend (which I bought before the drama) could use an alternative suggestion for M-ATX users.
Nojevah@reddit
Don't you find strange that there are multiple reports in ASRock subreddit, but not on Gigabyte or MSI ones ?
Stennan@reddit
I don't think there are any spreadsheets tracking Non-X3D failures for those brands? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the slew of X3D deaths prompted extra scrutiny/tracking on Asrock which could introduce a bias.
skinlo@reddit
No not really, not everything is a conspiracy.
Plus-Candidate-2940@reddit
Many seem to have higher wattage charging for the front usb c but not the back usb c very annoying
lutel@reddit
What do you think of using MSI MPower as a mainobard for new gaming rig? Looks like very high quality, no nonsense features and passive cooling makes the best mainobard for AMD currently in mATX or ITX format.
Stennan@reddit
MSI Mpower looks attractive with its dual RAM sticks you could try some more agressive RAM speeds/timings; another option could be the B850M Mortar as well. But if you get a X3D, you will benefit less %-wise from RAM speeds.
gusthenewkid@reddit
I have the Z790 Mpower and it’s great. Handles 8400 on the memory and it was like 1/4 of the price of the APEX.
Klaritee@reddit
People with functioning systems are looking to swap off asrock because even if everything seems fine they live in fear of a ticking time bomb resulting in a huge waste of time with warranty replacements just to play the same game again.
Nobody informed is buying Asrock new.