MSI B450M-HD4 is a great motherboard with excellent performance and a good price tag. It has several features that will make your overclocking experience much better than before. In this review, I will review the pros and cons of the MSI B450M-HD4 and share my findings.
So, let’s dive into the review and see what the MSI B450M-HD4 motherboard offers!
At a Glance:
5 BEST B450 Motherboard
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1. MSI B450 GAMING Pro Carbon AC
Best PickThe MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC is a great motherboard for gamers who want the best of both worlds. It offers good performance and plenty of features for the price.
The MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC is a motherboard catering to gamers and content creators. It supports AMD Ryzen 1st and 2nd Generation / Ryzen with Radeon Vega Graphics processors for socket AM4, giving users a choice between gaming and content creation.
The chipset supports dual graphics setups with AMD’s latest Radeon RX Vega graphics cards. It also supports both single and dual-channel DDR4 memory configurations.
The MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC supports overclocking and a range of USB 3.1 ports. It also has a range of onboard audio, including a Realtek ALC1220 codec that delivers exceptional audio quality.
The Mystic Light RGB lighting and Mystic Light Sync features are great and offer a wide range of lighting effects. Plenty of slots and connectors exist for all your devices and accessories. It’s a very versatile motherboard and makes a good choice for gamers and content creators.
Pros
- Supports AMD Ryzen 1st and 2nd Gen processors
- Supports DDR4 memory
- DisplayPort, HDMI, and USB 3.1 support
- Compact form factor
Cons
- Slower than competing motherboards
- No RGB lighting
2. ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming II
Our top pick comes from ASUS, a well-known brand that has been producing motherboards for over 30 years.
The ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming II is one of the best motherboards we’ve reviewed, thanks to its robust design, excellent performance, and superb features.
We’ve tested a lot of motherboards over the years, and this one is our favorite. We like its robust design and great features, and we think it’s a great choice for those who want to build a gaming rig.
First off, the board comes with a large number of inputs and outputs, including eight SATA 6Gbps ports, four USB 3.1 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, two HDMI 2.0 ports, three DisplayPort 1.2 ports, an RJ45 LAN port, and a headphone jack.
We were impressed that this motherboard has three USB 3.1 ports; we’ve seen fewer motherboards with that many.
The motherboard supports up to 64GB of DDR4 memory, which is a lot for a motherboard in this price range.
The heatsink is very good, and four heatpipes bring the heat to the rest of the board.
We appreciate the presence of an M.2 slot, as it makes installing an NVMe SSD much easier.
There’s also an onboard RGB LED that you can change the color of and turn the lighting on or off at the push of a button.
ASUS provides a variety of software utilities, including the Aura Sync utility, which lets you customize the lighting effects.
Overall, the ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming II is a well-designed motherboard with many features and a great design. We recommend it to anyone looking for a great motherboard.
Pros
- AMD Ryzen 5 2400G Processor
- AMD B450 Chipset
- 8+4 Power Stages
- 256Mb BIOS Flash ROM
Cons
- No RGB LED Strip on Motherboard Front Panel
- No SLI or Crossfire Support
3. ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming ITX/AC
Staff PickThis mini-ITX motherboard is designed to support the AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors, but it can also be used with other models.
This motherboard doesn’t come with the standard USB ports, but it does have a USB Type-C port that can be used as a Type-A port for the video card.
There are two sets of audio jacks on this board. One set is for the front panel audio output, and the other is for the rear panel audio output. This motherboard can support both Pinnacle and Summit water cooling systems.
The rear I/O is fairly simple, with four USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports, a USB 3.1 Gen 1 port, HDMI 2.0, and DisplayPort. There’s also an RJ45 port for LAN and Wi-Fi.
The front I/O consists of a PS2, VGA, and 7.1 audio jacks.
One of the highlights of this board is the audio jack. It’s an optical-style jack similar to the ones found on some high-end headphones.
There are two sets of audio jacks on this board. One set is for the front panel audio output, and the other is for the rear panel audio output.
The front panel audio output is a standard 3.5mm jack, but the rear panel audio output is an optical-style jack similar to the ones found on some high-end headphones.
There are two sets of audio jacks on this board. One set is for the front panel audio output, and the other is for the rear panel audio output.
Pros
- Supports AMD Ryzen series CPUs
- Supports 105W Water Cooling
- AMD Ryzen series CPUs compatible 1
- 8 Power Phase design 1
- supports AMD Ryzen series CPUs (Pinnacle Ridge)
Cons
- Not compatible with Intel Graphics Cards
- Only supports 2133MHz memory speeds
4. GIGABYTE B450M DS3H
I’ve been a fan of Gigabyte products for years now, but this time around, I’m impressed with their motherboard.
The B450M has great features, including support for AMD’s latest Ryzen CPUs and Radeon RX Vega GPUs. It also supports Intel’s 8th Gen CPUs (Skylake-X), and you can even use it to run Windows 10 Home Edition.
The onboard memory is rated at DDR4-2933, but you can still use DDR4-2666 or DDR4-2400.
The B450M supports two M.2 slots (NVMe) and two standard PCI-Express x16 slots. It also comes with four USB 3.1 ports and three USB 3.0 ports.
The typical audio and video connections on the rear of the board, including HDMI, DVI, and DisplayPort. There’s also an RGB Fusion port that can be used to connect RGB LED strips.
The power delivery is rated at 24A, with two 6-pin power connectors. These are rated at a combined capacity of up to 50A.
It also has an internal antenna for wireless networking, and it’s certified to work with 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi. The B450M is a solid choice for anyone who wants a decent board at a great price.
Pros
- Dual channel non-ECC unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs.
- HDMI and DVI D ports for multiple displays.
- PCIe Gen3 M.2 NVMe.
- High-quality audio capacitors and audio noise guard.
- RGB fusion supports RGB LED strips in 7 colors.
Cons
- No Thunderbolt port.
- No 802.11ac Wi-Fi support.
5. GIGABYTE B450 AORUS PRO Wi-Fi
Budget PickGigabyte is known for its great build quality and reliability. This motherboard is no exception.
While it is very pricey, this is a premium motherboard for the price. It is also a great board for those who want to use an Intel processor.
The Aorus Pro WiFi is a great motherboard for the Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 7 2700X processors.
It has two PCIe slots that can handle the 8th-generation processors.
Many connectivity options include USB 3.1 Gen 2, HDMI, DVI, VGA, DisplayPort, and USB 3.1 Gen 2.
You also get 2 M.2 slots that can handle the latest SSDs.The onboard Wi-Fi is great as it supports up to 802.11ac and is dual-band. It has a Smart Fan 5 and fan stop to lower noise.
The RGB Fusion is awesome and works flawlessly with this board. You also get an RGB header on the rear panel for customizing the look of your build.
Overall, this is an amazing motherboard for the price and is recommended if you want to use an Intel processor.
Pros
- Dual channel non-ECC unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs
- Intel Ethernet LAN plus Dual band 802.11AC Wi-Fi
- Dual PCIe Gen3 M.2 NVMe with dual thermal guards
Cons
- No DisplayPort support
- No USB 3.1 Type-A support
Conclusion
In this article, we will discuss the best B450 motherboard for gaming. We will be looking at some key features that make each board unique and ranking them from best to worst in terms of performance.
So if you’re considering upgrading your existing PC build or purchasing a new one, read through the list and see which one is right for you.