The Ones to Avoid!
Or at least it was nice while it lasted.
Now, this sort of thing isn’t that unusual.
Motherboard makers release updated boards or even revisions of existing models all the time.
However, it comes with a $40 discount, making these trade-offs seem reasonable.
But what about the VRM design?
However, there is no such information for the new ‘P’ model.
We will be testing this claim shortly.
It is currently listed at a single retailer for$135.
Given the board’s specifications, this price seems incorrect.
We would estimate it to be a $100-$110 model.
The ‘B’ model is one that we generally advise against as it lacks VRM heatsinks.
While it’s a very basic motherboard, the inadequate VRM configuration likely poses a significant drawback.
This is still functional, but it represents a significant downgrade.
Aside from that, the boards are fairly similar; the configuration of the I/O panel is very similar.
The MicroATX model drops a PCIe slot, which makes sense.
Additionally, there is a good amount of heatsink coverage on the board.
Overall, it is a decent-looking board that should perform quite well.
TheATX versionis a$200board, and we expect the MicroATX model to be priced closer to$100.
Nonetheless, it’s a little dodgy to give two very different products almost identical names.
The heatsink is also larger on the Lightning and is secured using screws rather than plastic clips.
Compared to the HDV, the ‘H’ does not look nearly as appealing.
Thus, for just $20 more, the HDV is a significantly better product.
Plus, it has ‘Gaming’ in the name, so how could you go wrong?
You also get a slower WiFi 802.11ac solution supporting transfer speeds of up to 433 Mbps.
The other three x16 length slots are only wired for x1 bandwidth using the PCIe 3.0 spec.
At first glance, this one looks a lot better than the two models we’ve already looked at.
Here, we have doubled-up On-Semi 4C06N low-side MOSFETs, with a single high-side 4C10N per phase.
Consider this the benchmark for budget B650 boards.
The new MSI models failed miserably.
It really depends on how broken the board is under these conditions and how it handles being broken.
The Asus Prime B650-Plus failed our test previously, running at over 100C.
They also have the B650M C V2, which is the worst B650 board we’ve come across yet.
This model averaged just shy of 3 GHz for a pathetic score of 1,120 pts.
This is a Ryzen 5 board if we’ve ever seen one.
A single pass from idle temperature saw most of the bad boards produce significantly better scores.
But that’s all changed now, as these more recently released models are largely subpar.
We also dislike how it shares its name with the ATX model, which is a significantly better product.
Although the mATX version is much cheaper, it’s still confusing and somewhat anti-consumer.
So having the ability to upgrade to any AM5 processor in the future is obviously a good thing.
Not only supporting multi-core CPUs but also creating the perfect conditions for your CPU overclocking."
What a load of rubbish.
But it’s not just MSI.
At least they’re not claiming perfect conditions for CPU overclocking, I guess.
They also claim it’s optimized forAMD Ryzen 7000X3D seriesprocessors, so I assume that means the 7950X3D.
The PRIME B650-PLUS is geared to cater to the demands of these high-core-count CPUs."
We feel like we’re wasting our breath at this point.
At least in this case, now you know which B650 boards should be avoided.
