Best budget board that I can buy for new mid level build

[Kris]

What budget mother boards are out there right now that will easily run a Ryzen 5 3600? That you can actually buy!

 

[Zerileous]

The Tomahawk B450 Max in your signature should be fine, or are you looking for an additional build? What form factor? Do you want it to have future (Ryzen 4000 series / Zen 3) support? What features do you need (PCIe, M.2, onboard comforts like wifi, high speed lan, audio, etc)?

Is it safe to assume you're eating thermal paste somewhere in the United States? Knowing a location is helpful when recommending parts to buy

 

[bmwbaxter]

Not sure if you can wait until mid-june, but you will be able to get a B550 board then. Meaning you will have an upgrade path moving forward. Not able to 'buy' it yet so might not be helpful. Also can you define budget so we can give more specific help?

 

[Burr45]

There is still a month before mid-June.

 

[Grogger]

I have a similar mobo recommendation request. I'm in no hurry though. What would you recommend mobo wise for a ryzen 5 2600x for example, if I wanted ability to do some overclocking and not break the bank? Say <$200 for a board?

Targets: ATX, audio, LAN, rgb controller, m.2, min one pci express for gpu,

 

[bmwbaxter]

I have a similar mobo recommendation request. I'm in no hurry though. What would you recommend mobo wise for a ryzen 5 2600x for example, if I wanted ability to do some overclocking and not break the bank? Say <$200 for a board?

Targets: ATX, audio, LAN, rgb controller, m.2, min one pci express for gpu,

Asus ROG STRIX B450-F Will also allow you to upgrade to ryzen 3xxx chips but not ryzen 4xxx chips.

 

[Zerileous]

Honestly I would suggest either x570 or waiting for b550 at this point. $200 is pretty generous for a board that can OC 6 cores.

Here is an example: https://www.amazon.com/ASRock-X570-Phantom-Gaming-Motherboard/dp/B07TGHV63W/
gigabit lan, ALC 1200 audio (vs the newer 1220 but still decent) and 150 Amp vrm (per: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...TJFqqVxdCR9daIVNyMatydkpFA/edit#gid=611478281). That would yield over 200W at 1.45v, should be plenty for ambient OC needs. The MSI gaming plus has a pretty weak VRM for x570 but it can handle 100A, still should be plenty for the 2600x, but the VRM has been criticized pretty harshly by hardware unboxed who saw unreasonable temperatures with higher core count parts.

 

[bmwbaxter]

X570 costs a lot more, and b550 wont support r5 2600.

 

[Grogger]

Thanks guys! I'm thankful for the ideas. Not having done much overclocking, that gives me an idea of boards and prices. Sounds like with a little research I could find a decent oc board with the specs I want for in range of $150. I'm likely to get by on what I've got for a couple years. Then I can save a little money for the budget by then too.

 

[bmwbaxter]

Thanks guys! I'm thankful for the ideas. Not having done much overclocking, that gives me an idea of boards and prices. Sounds like with a little research I could find a decent oc board with the specs I want for in range of $150. I'm likely to get by on what I've got for a couple years. Then I can save a little money for the budget by then too.

Make a new post in a few years then, since if things continue progressing as they have been will be some good times for the PC world.

 

[Kris]

Looking for good boards that will take gen3 Ryzen for an additional build. MSI max boards are all over the place with availability right now. What are the best alternatives?

 

[Zerileous]

Well truly just about anything will run a 3600 provided it has the appropriate BIOS (in terms of b450) if that is the only feature you require. If you want to overclock, or have any other features, then go ahead and mention them. DaveB here has had really good luck with this board https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NH4H5X8?tag=duckduckgo-ffab-20&linkCode=osi&th=1, although I think its overpriced by about $30 right now, pickings are slim as you mentioned. If you prefer ATX https://www.newegg.com/msi-b450-a-pro-max/p/N82E16813144268 that would also work.

You can compare VRMs here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...TJFqqVxdCR9daIVNyMatydkpFA/edit#gid=611478281, as you see a green star in the right column indicates that it's suited for an OC of the 3600 or stock operation of an 8 core part. A yellow star would be suited for stock 6 core only. After that just compare features I suppose.

 

[trents]

Because most any board will suffice to overclock a 3600, focus on the features you want such as type of USB ports, number of fan headers, number and placement of m.2 connectors, placement of the PCI-e slots in relation to what you want to put into them as well as the confines of your budget.

 

[CJustin]

I have this in mind:
ASUS ROG Strix X470-F

It is the best motherboard you can get in 2020.
There are other boards as well.
ASUS ROG Strix X570-E

 

[Zerileous]

It is definitely not the *best* board you can get in 2020. Unless there is really limited availability. However it is a solid board and will run 12 cores without a sweat.

 

[Kris]

Thanks for the help everyone! Due to the lack of availability of B450 and B550 when I wanted to do this other build I ended up getting the board in my sig and using my B450 Tomahawk Max from my build to complete the budget build. To be honest I do not see the value of the B550 chip set at this time. Less features than X570 and just as expensive.

 

[trents]

They are more expensive than we expected but I would not say they are more expensive than the equivalent X570 motherboard. And keep in mind, prices for most tech is just higher than usual right now. But to me, the best part of the b550 debut is that it offers many more mATX and mini ITX choices than did X570.

The other factor is you may be looking at those inflated third party seller prices. Look at those carried by NewEgg rather than just sold through NewEgg and I think you will see they are not as bad as thought at first glance.

 

[Kris]

Actually i was looking at msrp for most of the pricing. I agree that there does appear to be some more micro atx and ITX offerings but still the feature set you get over B450 just doesn't do it for me at B550 prices. To me it almost makes more sense to go for a mid tier X570 board but your mileage may vary!

 

[trents]

I think what we might see is lower tier X570 motherboards dropping out of production and being replaced by B550 boards such that only the upper echelon X570 boards remain available. If the trade/economy situation ever returns to pre-covid-19 statues I think we will then see the prices of B550 boards drop. I think what the industry has found out is that there aren't all that many people interested in the extra PCIe lanes found in the X570 boards.