If you own a higher-end B450 board, then upgrading it to a B550 is not a good option. However, if your product does not have some new features such as HD/ surround audio, network, lighting, or enhanced I/O, then upgrading to a B550 can be a worthy upgrade. In particular, when you are finding a new CPU.
For many years, AMD’s B450 chipset has been powering some of the most widely and popular motherboards. But a twist came when AMD introduced B550 boards. With this launching, the company started pushing for up-gradation to the B550 which promises more benefits. However, these additional features cost you much. This factor necessitates addressing the question of whether one should upgrade theb450 motherboard to the b550 chipset.
As far as price is concerned, B450 costs you almost $120. On the other hand, the most decent B550 comes at the price tag of $150. In the later section, we will compare both these products and get the answer in what conditions it is worth upgrading from b450 to b550.
Let’s first discuss the details of both the products and then analyze the question.
B450 Chipset
With no doubt, b450 is the most popular motherboard by AMD. Sold in million boards and still counting manifests the popularity of this chipset. A well-balanced combination of both robust features and affordable price makes this model a priority for everyone. Due to this, it is well ahead of both the X470 and X370 series. Some analysts have compared this chipset with X570, X470, and X370. According to them, b450 comes at an affordable price with almost identical features.
Originally, it was launched for the Ryzen 2000 lineup with all the specs of the high-end X470 motherboard. This chipset supports six SATA 6Gbps ports, six USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports, and two USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports. The PCIe 3.0 connects the CPU with the chipset and the NVMe SSDs directly to the CPU. Moreover, the PCIe 3.0 also has four-lane configurations.
The original aim of the b450 was to support up to Zen 3-based Ryzen 5000 lineup. However, AMD did decide to go back from his promise. Later on, AMD caved finally and allowed 400 boards to work with newer processors. On the other hand, OEMs started releasing the BIOS for every board. Simply put, AMD is one of the best brands for b450 motherboard.
Specifications of AMD B450
- The AMD B450 does support NVMe RAID.
- This model comes with 14 ports (two among them are 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2) along with 6 maximum SATA ports.
- Memory routing and enhanced CPU VRM
- This model is the very first budget motherboard that is capable of overclocking.
- AM4 socket does support up to Zen 3 microarchitecture along with the Ryzen 5000. However, the older AMD B450 chipset supported the new series via an updated BIOS.
- It uses 36 total PCIe lanes 28 of which are usable and a PCIe 3.0 interface.
- This chipset can be cooled with an extremely tiny heatsink thanks to a reduced idle power draw of less than 2W.
AMD B550 Motherboard
The AMD replaced b450 with the b550 series. Several b450 users are reluctant to upgrade this with b550. Because features of both the models are almost similar. However, it can be true in some cases. The new model comes with some very new features such as advanced PCB, enhanced VRMs, WLAN adapters, faster LAN, increased number of USB 3.* ports, NVMe drives, and PCIe 4.0 support for graphics cards. Although technically the new model may not be an improvement, AMD b550 does smash all the expectations. The company launched a very good product in the name of b550 mobo. Due to this, it easily became one of the best chipsets available in the market.
Furthermore, this model also supports Zen 3 along with the Ryzen 5000 processors. For this, there is no need to flash a new BIOS or any other update.
Specifications of AMD B550
- B550 supports NVMe RAID
- This model comes with an upgraded network connection. It now supports up to 2.5Gbs via LAN and has Wi-Fi 6 for wireless connectivity.
- It is one of the best budget chipsets to utilize 38 PCIe lanes 30 of which are usable, and a PCIe 4.0 interface.
- B550 also accompanies four SATA 3.0 ports and a total of 14 USB ports.
- This chipset has enhanced memory routing and VRM.
- It is also one of the best chipsets that enable overclocking on a budget.
- AM4 also supports Zen 3 microarchitecture along with Ryzen 5000.
Let’s now compare both of them to get the answer to the question.
Comparison of Overclocking
AMD b450 was the first to support overclocking. Later on, b550 inherited this feature and supports overclocking for both CPU and memory.
Comparison of Compatibility
Both the chipsets utilize the AM4 socket designs. Every b450 board now supports Zen 3. And b450 has a wider range of processors support.
Comparison of PCIe Support
For the PCIe support, the b450 clearly excels the b450. The AMD b550 comes with PCIe 4.0 almost twice faster as the b450. Due to this, b550 has a data range of up to 16GT/s as compared to 8GT/s of the b450.
To pen off, we can conclude from the above discussion that in some cases it is better to upgrade b450 to b550. But if you have a high-end b450 motherboard, then upgrading is not preferable. Otherwise, you should upgrade your motherboard.
