Question Which brand/model should I consider for motherboard?

[rulercw]

Hi Guys,

It is my first post on PCGamer, recently I bought an AMD Ryzen 5 3600. First time in life I'm trying to build a new custom gaming rig.

I need help to choose a motherboard, local market prices are on high and most popular brands and models are not available in the market like MSI, ASUS Rog Strix, and Gigabyte due to pandemic.
Today, I found some online sites of my city that do have ASUS TUF GAMING B550 and ASUS PRIME B550 motherboards but WiFi boards are micro-ATX and without WiFi are available with ATX.

So, I want to know, is ASUS these models are good to buy or should I wait for other famous mobos like MSI Tomahawk.
Also, I want to know the difference between micro-ATX and ATX, it is worth buying micro-ATX as they are cheaper than ATX, I want to save money for other PC items like GPU.

So suggest me some cheaper and best motherboard which can also help me in future upgradations. Like I'm going with B550 for next-gen AMD processors.

 

[Oussebon]

I suppose one question is whether you actually need the system to have wifi.

ATX boards and mATX are different sizes but most ATX cases will include mounting holes for ATX, mATX and ITX. ATX boards will have more expansion slots, which may not be relevant if you are not planning on using them.

Why buy B550 for the next gen AMD CPUs? The next gen AMD CPUs are going to be out in a couple of months. In which case, why buy an R5 3600 only to replace it with a product that will be available very shortly after? Can you return your R5 3600 and just wait for Zen 3?

Also B450 boards will support Zen 3 with BIOS updates. No PCIe 4.0, but that's not why you said you were getting B550.

Strix motherboard are, well, expensive at the best of times. Some of Asus's TUF boards are very good like the X570 TUF. The VRM cooling on the B550 is probably good. bit-tech says it is anyway. Though not massively important with a Ryzen 5.

As for suggesting alternatives, what country and currency are you shopping in? What stores are you using?

What's your budget for the system?

What is your full prospective build?

What are you using it for? Anything besides gaming? What games and what settings? What monitor are you using it with?

Can you do a partpicker list if partpicker covers your country?

Pick parts. Build your PC. Compare and share.

pcpartpicker.com

 

[rulercw]

Thanks @Oussebon for detail response

Actually, I'm a professional programmer, I was using laptop and love to play high graphics games so on daily basis I give 2 hours.

Also I live in Karachi, Pakistan, next gen AMD processor will launch late in my country may be after 2 to 3 months of launching date.

I'm planing to use 3600 processor for a year and after that I can move on next gen processor because I think after a year next gen will be available with reasonable price.

Why I'm considering WiFi, because sometimes I want to connect Bluetooth/Wireless devices with the system due to work or personal reason, I check the PCIe card prices for WiFi first, in Pakistan available PCIe cards only support WiFi also it is costly more than price difference of WiFi motherboard with normal motherboard.

Why I'm choosing B550 because it is providing PCIe 4.0 with USB 3.2 gen 2 plus type C, which can help me on works and I love to use latest technology so as you know both PCIe 4.0 and USB 3.2 gen 2 are faster than old ones.

Why I'm not going with X570 because it will only support PCIe 4.0 and may be I can face difficulty to buy PCIe 4.0 cards due to unavailability in Pakistan so it will help me in future, whenever it's available I can use it until that I can use 3.0 slots. So in future I just need to upgrade processor not motherboard.

I know that 4th gen processor will support 400 series and 500 series are base for 4th gen but if I'm not wrong, I can say that whenever AMD will launch 5th gen processors 500 will support it after bios update but 400 will not if you see history of AMD motherboard chip-set support for processors, you can find it that logic.

By the way I have DELL U2414H led monitor.

Thanks for ATX info, I compare ASUS TUF gaming mATX and ATX boards only difference was price and heat sink in the boards other than both have same slots, so is this can be cause for heat up my system, actually weather in my city normally too hot and my room temperature will also high.

Other parts of PC I'll choose as per need or budget, but I'm planing to use 8X2 16GB 3200/3600 freq non RGB rams right now and will add 2 more same rams in future. I'll also use one NVME SSD plus (HDD/ or sata SSD), I can use external blu-ray optical device and casing will choose after buy motherboard where I'll check which case will be more suitable for my motherboard, I'm not considering RGB lights in my gaming PC because I just want to play games and do work.

 

[Oussebon]

Cool, good info

I'm not sure I followed you regarding the X570 boards, but ultimately if B550 has the features you need and works out cheaper, it sounds like a good argument for getting one.

One thing I would suggest is to buy all the parts at the same time. Otherwise you have components sitting on your shelf that you cannot test to see if the were faulty when they shipped. Which could affect return rights or at least effectively reduces your warranty.

For the case, pretty much any common ATX case will be suitable for your motherboard (because they nearly all have holes for mATX and ITX mounting as well). Of course you'll check to make sure it fits mATX motherboards, but hopefully it won't be too hard to find one. Make sure to get one with good ventilation though. A mesh front panel, not solid plastic or glass. A Fractal Focus G is a good budget case, although I've no idea what availability is like in your area.

What 'level' of Zen 3 do you expect you'll buy though? A Ryzen R9?

You'll want to make sure that the case has good airflow, and also good options for supporting large air coolers / liquid coolers if going with a high end CPU.

 

[rulercw]

Thanks, bro

R9 processor is not a piece of my cake, I'll choose it when I want to invest a big budget on a gaming rig, I'm ok with R5 as it is budget-friendly also fulfill my need.