ASUS Takes B550 Up To Eleven
We have seen AMD’s announcement of the “XT” line of slightly faster Ryzen 3000 desktop processors, but those CPUs are not the only AMD-related hardware being introduced today. AMD’s partners are rolling out their new B550 motherboard lineups as well, and ASUS has no fewer than 11 options sporting the newest AMD chipset, at price points ranging from $134.99 all the way up to $279.99.
“ASUS engineers and designers have produced a grand total of 11 B550 motherboards across three families. ROG Strix boards fill out the top end with innovative features like efficient and cool-running VRMs, enhanced audio, and 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. TUF Gaming boards blend high-end features with a battle-tested, reliable, and attainable package, while the Prime series rolls up all the features needed for all-around builds. A complete motherboard guide with specifications and images as well as links on where to purchase each board is located in the Edge Up Article and product page.”
| ASUS B550 Motherboards | |
|---|---|
| Model | Launch Price (with Amazon link) |
| ROG STRIX B550-E GAMING | $279.99, Amazon.com |
| ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING (WI-FI) | $209.99, Amazon.com |
| ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING | $189.99, Amazon.com |
| ROG STRIX B550-I GAMING | $229.99, Amazon.com |
| TUF GAMING B550-PLUS | $169.99, Amazon.com |
| TUF GAMING B550M-PLUS (WI-FI) | $179.99, Amazon.com |
| TUF GAMING B550M-PLUS | $159.99, Amazon.com |
| PRIME B550-PLUS | $149.99, Amazon.com |
| PRIME B550M-A (WI-FI) | $149.99, Amazon.com |
| PRIME B550M-A/CSM | $134.99, Amazon.com |
| PRIME B550M-K | (Pricing TBA) |
The ASUS TUF GAMING B550 PLUS
PCI Express 4.0 is the star of the show here, with 300 and 400 series motherboards losing support for this when the X570 chipset launched last year (unless you didn’t update your pre-launch AGESA 1.0.0.2 BIOS, that is).
“The latest ASUS B550 series motherboards enable 20 general-purpose PCIe 4.0 lanes from 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen desktop processors. The primary PCIe slot on all of the new ASUS B550 motherboards offers 16 lanes of Gen 4 connectivity, and the 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen processor features as many as four USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports running at up to 10Gbps directly from the CPU.
ASUS is also bringing exciting features to enhance the B550 series motherboards, including Wi-Fi 6, robust power delivery, increased DRAM speed, a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port, BIOS Flashback and AI Noise Cancelling support. The new AI Noise Cancelling technology works by applying advanced filters to ensure background noise is cleanly filtered out. The B550 chip itself gets an upgrade to PCIe 3.0 for its built-in lanes. These upgrades make B550 a tantalizing platform for mainstream builders around the world.”
