Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming WiFi II AMD AM4 (3rd Gen Ryzen) ATX Motherboard (PCIe 4.0,WiFi 6E, 2.5Gb LAN, BIOS Flashback, HDMI 2.1, Addressable Gen 2 RGB Header and Aura Sync)

ASUS Prime B450M-A II – Great Budget-Friendly MotherboardI’ve been using the ASUS Prime B450M-A II in my Ryzen build, and it’s honestly been a really solid experience. I paired it with a Ryzen 5 5600 and 16GB of DDR4-3200 RAM, and everything worked smoothly after a quick BIOS update (which was easy thanks to the BIOS FlashBack feature).**What I like:*** It supports Ryzen 1000 to 5000 series CPUs, which gives you a lot of flexibility whether you're upgrading or building new.* BIOS FlashBack is super helpful — I was able to update the BIOS without even having a CPU installed.* RAM compatibility has been great, and the system feels very stable overall.* It’s a clean, straightforward layout that’s easy to work with, especially for first-time builders.**A few things to keep in mind:*** It only has one M.2 slot, so if you plan on using multiple NVMe drives, just be aware of that.* No PCIe 4.0 support — but for most builds, especially at this price, PCIe 3.0 is more than enough.* There are only a couple of case fan headers, so you might want to use a splitter if you’re running more fans.**Overall:**This board is a great pick for a budget or mid-range AMD build. It’s reliable, easy to set up, and works well with a wide range of Ryzen processors. If you don’t need a bunch of extra features and just want something solid that works, the B450M-A II is a great choice.

I was a little skeptical at first, but this item turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. It arrived on time and in good condition. The quality is solid, and it works just as described. Setup was straightforward, and I’ve had no issues so far. Definitely worth the price. I would recommend this to anyone considering it!

Solid board with clean layout, reliable power delivery, and no nonsense in BIOS navigation.BIOS 3621 includes AGESA 1.2.0.E, but heads-up:- System Info shows a build date of Jan 13, 2025- ASUS site lists release date as April 7, 2025This isn’t a bug—it’s standard firmware practice. The BIOS was compiled in January, validated internally, and released publicly in April.If you're checking microcode or AGESA lineage, this timestamp mismatch might trip you up. Just know:- Microcode 0x10800014 = AGESA 1.2.0.E- No update needed unless ASUS drops a newer AGESAPowers a Ryzen 7 5700G, ASRock RX 6600XT, 64GB Crucial Pro CL22 RAM, and a Samsung M.2. I used an adapter for the 19-pin-to-E_USBC, but ended up going back to the 19-pin for the USB-A ports since I use those more in the front. My M4 Pro MacBook Pro powers the USB-C stuff now, so it's all good. The heatsink on the chipset is a nice touch, just wish a Frozr or something would have been on the M.2. But, in an NZXT H9 Flow non-RGB with a Thermaltake Peerless Assassin 120 SE v3 CPU cooler, this thing is definitely cooled. The motherboard sensor is a constant 22C until I start pushing some heavy Docker stuff, and even when I ran a few benchmarks, it barely went above 27, and this was a constant benchmark run, I expected it to hit 30 easy. It did not. That speaks to its VRMs and for that it gets 5-stars. I am incredibly pleased with the VRM performance and holding its own on heavy loads and benchmarking. I pushed it hard, it said, Nah, I'm cool. Ridiculous value. No Gen2 header, no Frozr or equivalent for the M.2, but those VRMs are legit. No regrets on this, it delivers in spades. This will last me to a Zen 7 upgrade without question.

I've used it about 3 weeks now for reference. The main components in the build are a 5800x3d CPU, MSI RX 6950 XT GAMING X TRIO GPU, 2x16gb Corsair Vengeance 3600 c18 memory, and just because I also mention a small software/bios default config that does increase CPU temps my CPU cooler is the deepcool lt720 (that I'm using as a top exhaust since it is pretty overkill for a 5800x3d) and the case is the dynamic evo with 6 ml120 case fans for intake and one for exhaust on the back so the case airflow isn't the issue.Positives:-Loved the bios design and how its organized. best ive used so far. small but is a nice touch.-The bios does make overclocking any (Yes even for the 5800x3d even if ryzen master wont let you in windows) also can be negative if you don't know your way around in bios since default it was overclocking my CPU in multiple different bios settings some you cant see unless you select advanced bios instead of the "EZ" one.-Overall Aesthetics-Has most of the quality of life upgrades (the GPU Pcie slot guard, built in wifi 6, bios flashback, m.2 heat shields, the ram "safe slot" (I honestly didn't see how it was any safer or easier than the other 2 standard locking thats on other boards other than maybe it being easier for someone whos never seated ram before), gen 2 argb, the preinstalled I/O shield, pretty good looking audio ports if you do plan on using a 5.1 or 7.1 surround setup (don't use any of them so idk if they're good quality or not), 2.5g lan port, plenty of usb 2 and 3 ports, some like the software asus provides if you want it like armory crate and the AI thing was a negative IMO but i also prefer other software options instead but if your the kind of person that likes to set and forget the things like fan control then seems like it would be good if not for the crazy amount of bloatware that comes with it and no I didn't see any option of keeping only the essentials of armory crate without them EXCEPT for asus Aura to control the motherboard rgb on the IO shield.Negatives:-The Default BIOS settings was the main negative i have with this board but you can workaround it so that's why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. The settings I'm talking about are like I mentioned earlier where it was overclocking my CPU before i changed anything in the bios. Which can be a positive if your kind of new to OCing and just want a little extra performance but I personally didn't want to overclock my CPU since it can shorten the lifespan of your CPU and possibly other components that are affected by OCing the CPU but also because it wouldn't really increase game performance in my setup enough for me to make that trade off. The main setting ive found causing it was the Asus performance enhancement setting in bios but it also does still seem to be providing a little too much voltage to my cpu even with it off but not by enough to worry about so no it wont make your 5800x3d explode like their newer high end board did with the 7000 series x3d CPUs lol. setting a -30 offset in bios did help some as well though with temps and power usage. with default settings the temps would get up to 90-92C in the OCCT 2hr CPU benchmark. After adjusting the bios it doesn't go over 85C.- Again another bios default setting...... I would highly recommend turning off the armory crate automatic download in bios if you don't it'll not only install armory crate which already is full of bloatware it'll also automatically download other software automatically which you may or may not want like the AI thing, the "Free 60 day" subscription to aida 64 extreme which is worth absolutely nothing since it doesnt give you a 60 day subscription it just downloads the free version of aida 64 extreme which yes is FREE TO ANYONE the difference is with the paid version it comes with more tools and removes the "Trial version" logo on anything you make with it which the "Free 60 day subscription" Asus claims to gratuitously bestow unto you doesn't include. IMO i would say that's fake advertising and they should remove that from the product page. anyway back to the bloatware... I made the mistake of downloading armory crate and let me tell you it is the absolute hardest software I've ever seen to completely remove once you install it. I have used the uninstall executables that come hidden in the folders, ive tried using deep cleaners/uninstallers that even removes small traces left after in the windows registry and ive still not removed all the bloatware that uses system resources for basically nothing i use. I've seen people say armory crate bloatware but seriously wtf it installs random drivers that run in the background just in the off chance you have ANY of the other hardware asus or im guessing third party hardware they work with?? im talking multiple background processes running and waiting to detect if you ever install a specific brand of memory , SSD, HD, Keyboard, mouse, headset, controllers, router, speaker, and some others I haven't bothered google searching for. i do admit they're not using hardly any resources on their own but combined it can be a decent amount so depending on your hardware you might be wasting 5%+ of your cpu and memory on something that doesnt benefit you in the slightest. the only option i can think of to completely rid my life of it is to format my SSD and do a fresh windows install which i would do if i had made a backup that doesn't include it. If anyone does have a different solution PLEASE post it on a review because you'd be a hero.anyway rant about the bios/armory crate over. Would i recommend the motherboard? Yes absolutely. Would i recommend asus's bs "Free" subscription and software? No fk you asus and your automatic bs software downloads. and if your living the hell that is uninstalling it like me, HMU if you know of a Alcoholics anonymous like support group for it.