Motherboard Selection

[SurrealGambit]

Hi all,

Currently putting together a parts list and I'm very unsure about what is the right motherboard to get. I'll be running a 3900x, but looking for a sub-200$ motherboard. I was initially looking at X570 boards as that's what I've seen on this forum and narrowed my choices down to:

• Gigabyte X570 AORUS Elite
• ASRock X570 Pro4
• MSI X570 Gaming Plus

I should note that I'm not particularly concerned about sleep/wake, but do care about the typical iCloud features such as AirDrop, Handoff, iMessage, and FaceTime (I'm planning on getting either this Fenvi card or this one). However, with the launch of B550 and with many cheaper B450s available, I'd certainly prefer a less expensive motherboard if possible as I don't plan on overclocking much and probably will be sticking with a PCIe Gen 3 SSD for now.

I've found a variety of B450s (eg. Gigabyte B450 Aorus Pro/Elite, ASUS Strix B450-F) that support 3600Mhz memory (OC), and plenty of B550 models, but I'm concerned about compatibility/risk of things not working, especially if I went with the untested B550s. I'd really appreciate any advice you guys have and/or specific motherboard recommendations—I'd certainly prefer to not spend on features I won't use, but at the same time I am willing to pay a bit more for a motherboard that might have better compatibility/ease of setup.

 

[Aluveitie]

If your main concern is price then I'd wait a little to see how the B550 builds go if you want to be sure. But I don't expect much issues to get basic installation done as there weren't many between B450/X470 and X570. Overall the B550 looks even more modern than the X570, as they usually come with 2.5 GB/s Ethernet. Most B550 I've seen have still solid VRM, many even the same as the X570 variants and should be able to handle the 3900X without any issues (even when moderatly overclocked).

iMessage and FaceTime should work anyway and as you already know you'll need a different Wifi card independent of the chipset.