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CallMeLeonidas 17 Jul @ 5:09pm
Is the MSI B550M PRO-VDH (not WIFI) any good?
So I've been thinking about buying a new motherboard with PCIe 4.0 support because I've been having anxiety over losing performance due to MSI A520M-A PRO's PCIe 3.0. I have a Ryzen 5 5600, PowerColor RX 6600 Fighter, and G.Skill Aegis 16GB (two sticks) DDR4 RAM with CL16.

I'm aware that switching to another motherboard of the same socket is a pretty silly idea, but in order to get over my PCIe anxiety I must get a B550M motherboard. RX 6600's performance loss in PCIe 3.0 is quite significant in The Last of Us Part II and, while I can't test it because I don't have it, Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered.

I originally considered the ASRock B550M Phantom Gaming 4, but apparently people say Pro 4 is a lot better but a lot more expensive in my area, so I started looking into the MSI B550M PRO-VDH (not WIFI), and judging by Hardware Unboxed's video, the VRM seems good at cooling the 3700X, but I digress.

What are your thoughts on my motherboard of choice? It has four DIMM slots, meaning that I can upgrade my RAM capacity to 32GB by buying the exact same G.Skill Aegis 16GB kit, and also put a second NVMe SSD. This sounds pretty enticing to me, but I wonder what people have to say about it.
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_I_ 17 Jul @ 6:31pm 
for any decent cpu, no its not very good

looks like 4+1+1 vrm config
4 with cooling to cores ~100w max
1+1 without cooling to igpu and imc, thats ok they dont need much compared to the cores

for a ryzen 5 or better get a board with 10 or more chokes and heatsinks around the cpu socket, so they can put more than 200w to the cpu cores


the vrm does not cool the cpu, its what regulates power to the cpu
weak vrm will throttle the cpu before the cpu can get hot
#1
CallMeLeonidas 17 Jul @ 6:44pm 
Originally posted by _I_:
for any decent cpu, no its not very good

looks like 4+1+1 vrm config
4 with cooling to cores ~100w max
1+1 without cooling to igpu and imc, thats ok they dont need much compared to the cores

for a ryzen 5 or better get a board with 10 or more chokes and heatsinks around the cpu socket, so they can put more than 200w to the cpu cores


the vrm does not cool the cpu, its what regulates power to the cpu
weak vrm will throttle the cpu before the cpu can get hot
Is the ASRock B550M Phantom Gaming 4 also not good? That and the MSI motherboard are my only decent options without ending up with an empty bank account.
#2
_I_ 17 Jul @ 11:17pm 
better
6 with heatsink, +1+1 without heatsinks, 8 total
~150w to cpu cores

basically count the chokes (black bricks around the socket) each is one phase, and the board should have heatsinks near them all

amd says the cpu tdp is 65w, but with pbo and boosting, they can draw about 2x their rated wattage


looks like you are trying to find a m-atx am4 board <$120
i think thats about the best you can do

at $160 usd
Asus TUF GAMING B550M-PLUS
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hrCFf7/asus-tuf-gaming-b550m-plus-micro-atx-am4-motherboard-tuf-gaming-b550m-plus
8+2, all with heatsinks, good for ~200w to cpu cores

or if the case has room for a full atx board, this is $105usd
MSI MPG B550 GAMING PLUS
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/yKVG3C/msi-mpg-b550-gaming-plus-atx-am4-motherboard-mpg-b550-gaming-plus
also 8+2 all with heatsinks
Last edited by _I_; 17 Jul @ 11:18pm
#3
smokerob79 17 Jul @ 11:38pm 
you can do better then this for around the 100 dollar US price point....the TUF is over priced given how old the platform is now....

something like this would do well

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/4bqPxr/asus-prime-b550-plus-ac-hes-atx-am4-motherboard-prime-b550-plus-ac-hes
#4
_I_ 18 Jul @ 4:44am 
Originally posted by smokerob79:
you can do better then this for around the 100 dollar US price point....the TUF is over priced given how old the platform is now....

something like this would do well

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/4bqPxr/asus-prime-b550-plus-ac-hes-atx-am4-motherboard-prime-b550-plus-ac-hes
thats a full atx board
same 8+2 with heatsinks, but at $130usd

if you need wifi and have room for full atx board
Gigabyte B550 UD AC ATX is $120usd
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/wjXV3C/gigabyte-b550-ud-ac-atx-am4-motherboard-b550-ud-ac
but 10+3 vrm config all with heatinks
can give ~250w to cpu cores
Last edited by _I_; 18 Jul @ 4:45am
#5
smokerob79 23 hours ago 
wont touch gigabyte with a 10 foot pole....and real world most of what we list wont matter as it will depend on his region more then anything.....
#6
CallMeLeonidas 10 hours ago 
So I went for the MSI B550M PRO-VDH anyway despite the suggestions, and it seems to be working fine so far. I now get a lot higher FPS in TLOU2 on both Windows 11 and CachyOS (Linux), and I've got my peace of mind. Thank you people for your thoughts, even if I didn't listen to you.
#7
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All Discussions > Steam Forums > Hardware and Operating Systems > Topic Details
Date Posted: 17 Jul @ 5:09pm
Posts: 7
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