If your budget is a little tight, but you still want plenty of features, I recommend the Gigabyte B550M DS3H AC. I personally use this model when building AM4 machines for customers. It’s a Micro ATX form factor, meaning that it should fit most mainstream cases, but can also allow you to downsize your case and free up space. Due to its low price and extensive feature set, the B450 chipset is AMD’s most popular motherboard chipset to date. When it comes to compatibility and functionality, the B550 and B450 are poles apart. While the AMD B450 only supports AMD Crossfire, the AMD B550 is the first chipset to allow Nvidia SLI. The B450 can only attain half of the B550’s LAN speeds. The newer B550 chipset’s WiFi 6 capability is significantly superior to the B450 chipset’s WiFi 5, making it far more memorable in terms of connection. The entirety of the bottom half of the motherboard is dominated by numerous heatsinks as well as the mandatory PCIe expansion slots. Speaking of expansion slots, ASUS has gone with a total of five of them, including two full-sized PCIe Gen 4.0 slots, along with three other PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. By going further into the specifications of the AMD B550 Chipset, the AMD B550 chipset is said to provide two USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) and six USB 2.0 connections. When it comes to storage, the B550 chipset has up to eight SATA III connections, which is just “four” fewer than the high-end X570 chipset. ZEN 3 Architecture

Its cooling features don’t end just there; ASUS has also added a 6-layer PCB with the motherboard along with two separate heatsinks for the M.2 slots. As expected, the standard amount of 4-pin PWM fan headers has also been included along with an AIO pump header which can be found right next to the VRM heatsinks. The Gigabyte B550M Aorus Pro, like other low-end B550 boards, only has one M.2 heatsink. While one cools, the other is left to cook (well, not really, but you know what I mean). The board’s cooling choices aren’t awful; with more oversized MOSFET heatsinks and sophisticated fan management, you won’t have to worry about excessive temperatures. AMD B550 Gaming Motherboard with 10+3 Phases Digital Twin Power Design, Enlarged Surface Heatsinks, PCIe 4.0 x16 Slot, Dual PCIe 4.0/3.0 x4 M.2, Realtek GbE LAN with Bandwidth Management, Front USB Type-C™, RGB FUSION 2.0, Q-Flash Plus AMD and Intel take distinct approaches to CPU design; however, AMD’s Zen architecture puts them one step ahead of Intel in multitasking. In most cases, Intel is better in single-core performance. The most significant feature of the Zen architecture is scalability; AMD can cram more cores into a smaller unit. AMD CPUs are also cheaper than Intel and come with a better future upgrade path.AMD B550 Ultra Durable Motherboard with Pure Digital VRM Solution, PCIe 4.0 x16 Slot, Dual PCIe 4.0/3.0 M.2 Connectors, 802.11ac WIFI, Realtek GbE LAN, Smart Fan 6 with FAN STOP, RGB FUSION 2.0, Q-Flash Plus AMD’s new 5000 series CPUs are a successor to the existing 3000 series; however, with the upgraded performance and efficiency improvements in the 5000 series, the Ryzen 3000 series would be left out with no friends. Even Intel fans will be impressed with their top-tier Ryzen 9 5950X processor, which has 16 cores, 32 threads, and a TDP rating of only 105 watts; you also don’t need a big cooler to cool that beast. The Voltage Regulatory Modules, or VRMs, are responsible for supplying power to your CPU. Because specific Ryzen CPUs are intended to consume more power than others, your Motherboard must be capable of delivering the needed power. When it comes to VRM supply, no compromises should be made because power is the only thing that keeps your system functioning. Buying a board with poor VRMs will not benefit your CPU in the long term. Form Factor Motherboard Form Factors ASUS has spared no expense in terms of its design, loading it with a magnitude of note-worthy design elements that make its refined look a standout feature. Not only does it go hand-in-hand with similarly themed components, making it ideal for all-white systems. ASUS’ understanding of what makes a well-designed motherboard has resulted in the ROG Strix B550-A Gaming being ranked as one of the best-looking motherboards for the B550 chipset. Pay for built-in Wi-Fi and high-end ports only if you need them. Don't spend extra for wireless if you are using Ethernet. You can future-proof your PC by getting USB 3.2 Gen 2 and/or Thunderbolt support. But Thunderbolt is very rare on AMD motherboards.

The Asus ROG Strix B550-I Gaming Mini-ITX Motherboard has AI Networking, an intelligent software designed to optimise online play. It uses GameFirst VI for streamlining play with a smarter and faster network, achieved by comparing an analysis of usage patterns and digital signals to a database of 200,000 apps. The software prioritises gaming applications and adjusts settings for prime gameplay, even when streaming. A network overview is available to monitor in a real-time graph, showing bandwidth usage for each application and a WiFi channel analysis. To further support this software, the integrated Intel hardware for WiFi 6 and 2.5Gb Ethernet provide stable and reliable connection, even in WiFi dense areas. Speaking of storage media, we’re delighted to report that all three chipsets support various RAID configurations. RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is a virtualization technology that combines multiple physical hard drives or SSDs into one virtual disk drive, significantly improving data transfer speeds while enhancing data protection and minimizing the risk of data loss in case of a drive failure. But even the finest have flaws, and AMD’s architecture had one that caused its gaming performance to suffer. Because the CPUs are physically separated, latency is an issue. But, with their new Zen3 architecture, AMD pledges to dethrone Intel as the gaming performance king. Supports AMD Ryzen™ 5000 Series/ Ryzen™ 5000 G-Series/ Ryzen™ 4000 G-Series and Ryzen™ 3000 and Ryzen™ 3000 G-Series Processors The MSI B550M Mortar has a VRM rating of 11 (8+2+1) power stages, ensuring that your processor’s performance is not compromised. The board’s cooling solutions are also rather impressive; with MSI’s extended PWM heatsink and only a single M.2 shield frozr, I wouldn’t say it isn’t perfect.

Providing you with a flexible and fast storage solution, the Asus ROG Strix B550-I Gaming Mini-ITX Motherboard features 2 x M.2 and 4 x SATA ports. You will experience blisteringly fast transfer speeds on your HDDs and SSDs with this motherboard. One of the M.2 ports is equipped with both SATA and PCIe 3.0 modes, further expanding your options when it comes to creating ample storage for your gaming PC. What’s more, this motherboard is PCIe 4.0 ready, which can achieve double the output of the previous PCIe generation. Compact Thermal Solution A single PCIe 4.0 slots sit at the bottom of the motherboard, while just above it lies the fast PCIe 4.0 M.2 slot complete with a heatsink and cooling fan for keeping high-speed SSDs cool. Another M.2 slot with the PCIe 3.0 spec is present on the rear. Two DIMM slots are present with support of up to a maximum of 64 GB and speeds of DDR4-4600. Moreover, all three chipsets incorporate integrated LAN and WiFi into their unit, with the B660 sporting the faster Intel WiFi 6E AX211 Gig+ while the B560 has WiFi 6 AX201, and the B550 brings up the rear with WiFi 6 AX200. AMD makes up for the disappointment by offering dual GPU support with the B550, which, admittedly, isn’t something that blows our minds nowadays, unlike the previous Nvidia SLI and AMD CrossFire era. AMD B550 AORUS Motherboard with 12+2 Phases Digital Twin Power Design, Enlarged Surface Heatsinks, Dual PCIe 4.0/3.0 x4 M.2 with Dual Thermal Guards, WiFi 6E 802.11ax, 2.5GbE LAN, Front USB Type-C™, RGB FUSION 2.0, Q-Flash Plus B550 Motherboards, like any other board, are available in a variety of sizes. The boards come in three sizes: ATX, Micro ATX, and Mini ITX. Keep your PC case in mind when deciding which form factor is ideal for you, as it is the one that will house your motherboard. It is impossible to buy an ATX board and then fit it into a Micro ATX case. When it comes to size, full-size ATX boards generally have more connection, storage, and other characteristics than Micro or Mini ITX boards. Rear I/O Connectivity IO Shield (Image By Tech4Gamers)