MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK Gaming Motherboard (AMD AM4, DDR4, PCIe 4.0, SATA 6Gb/s, M.2, USB 3.2 Gen 2, HDMI/DP, ATX, AMD Ryzen 5000 Series processors)

I bought this as a replacement for an ASRock X570 Steel Legend that I've had since they first launched back in the summer of 2019. As, it was gradually showing more signs of failure over the time that I had it in my system.First, the onboard audio stopped working. Which, I just switched over to using the audio interface that I had for recording. So, that didn't bother me TOO much. I also was noticing that games were starting to have more and more issues with micro-stutter. I did some tinkering and got it behaving a little better. But, that never fully went away. The final thing that prompted me to look for a replacement was I started having really bad lag issues while playing online games. Yes, legitimate lag. Not the "I missed my shot, the stupid server must be lagging!" type of lag. As, I'm very well aware of and openly recognize how bad I am at competitive games. This is "friend and I are in a car together, friend awkwardly crashes car into a building, I wonder why they did that, then the game suddenly snaps to us being on a completely different street and still moving" level of lag. Quite a frequent occurrence, at that.I tried a list troubleshooting steps. Driver updates for everything, lowering the games' settings, reinstalling the games, cleaning the operating system, reinstalling the operating system, adjusting settings and also resetting the router back to factory defaults, port forwarding, pestering the cable company about connection issues, different ethernet cables, etc.I figured seeing as the motherboard was already having other issues, perhaps it was drying out even further. So, I decided to start looking for replacement options. Which, being that the 7000 series processors had been out for a while, I knew that my options would be slimmer than before. At least for a NEW board. Also, pricing may not be ideal. But, reading a bunch of reviews and doing comparisons, this particular board sounded like it would be a solid choice without having to spend a lot more for the available higher end boards. I had mixed feelings about "stepping down" a notch to the B550 chipset. But, upon further consideration and reading, the performance difference was minimal. Plus, I didn't use enough of the extra features that X570 had over B550 to really be concerned about that. So, I went ahead and grabbed it.Yeah, it was a great decision to grab this board! Though there are still occasional lag quirks (which, is to be expected, honestly), there was a HUGE improvement in connection stability with games. Plus, games and the system overall feel notably smoother than before. Far less micro-stutter and things just feel more responsive, as a whole. Oh, and I have onboard sound back. Which, is cool too!But, yeah, I am VERY happy with this board! Everything about it seems to work great! And, I can't think of any major complaints. Maybe that the UEFI menu feels a little messy to navigate. But, that could just be a familiarity thing. Also, I don't use any of the "software suite" stuff that often comes with motherboards. That's just unnecessary bloat, to me. So, I can't comment on any of that stuff.I was worried that I was getting a step down from my previous board. But, that was not at all the case. A very solid choice for anyone that plays demanding games, does content creation, and/or software/game development.

The motherboard does exactly what’s need and then some for the price it was. The slot capacity is a whole lot more than I just had previously.(MATX-ATX) not to mention how well the performance of the machine when put together. This motherboard has several fan, pump, pcie, and the mini pcie slots as well. Just a great amount of features. The speed of the device is sound. I give it even more kudos for the stability it has given me. There isn’t any WiFi connectivity without another module, however the dual Ethernet ports more than make up for it.P.S. I don’t cable manage. Old case anywho.

This gaming motherboard offers top-notch performance for AMD Ryzen processors, especially the 5000 series. It’s packed with features like PCIe 4.0 support and dual M.2 slots, which provide excellent speed and future-proofing for gamers and creators alike. The DDR4 memory compatibility ensures smooth multitasking, and the multiple USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports provide fast data transfer options.The ATX form factor offers plenty of room for components, and the build quality is solid. Additionally, the HDMI and DP outputs add versatility for different display setups. The BIOS is easy to navigate, and overclocking settings are straightforward.Overall, this motherboard delivers impressive performance and functionality, making it a great choice for building a powerful gaming PC or a high-performance workstation.

I bought a Ryzen 5600x and you need a bios update to run these chips for any mobo currently available as far as I'm aware, none will run these new generation Ryzen chips out of the box. This mobo does have the feature where you can flash a bios update without a CPU installed. This is VERY key, if like me, you do not already have a compatible AMD chip. 1st Mobo I bought did not have the BIOS flash ability. And would not post. Nada. I found out the hard way that the only way to update the bios, unless the mobo has the CPU-less bios flash ability, is to A) already have a compatible Ryzen chip on hand or B), I guess AMD will send you a chip on loan to perform the bios install. Those are the only solutions, seriously?? Would have taken weeks seemingly to get the loaner chip in the mail and what a colossal PITA. Nowhere in that mobo's description was any of this mentioned. It just said the BIOS could be updated without elaborating on how painful it was going to be and how many prerequisites and hoops to jump through. Great. False advertising, I call that.So I sent back the mobo and got this one. Got the proper bios install file onto a thumb drive, put it into the proper USB slot on the mobo, pressed the button, waited with baited breath....and it actually worked. You can google the instructions. It's not too hard. So now I'm rocking the new Ryzen 5000 chip, this mobo was pretty easy to work with, seems well built, good connectivity, no Wifi but I didn't need it. You don't need to futz around with a back plate, which is a long overdue improvement in mobos as far as I'm concerned. I did have to go into the Bios and change a setting, UEFI to CSM I believe, to get it to boot out of bios and into the windows boot drive.I do kinda wish there were a few more USB ports. But the fact that it was relatively painless to update this mobo's bios, and the fact that the process for doing so *actually worked*, is invaluable. I also got significantly faster transfer speeds via PCI between hard drives than I was used to with the old setup. I'm up and running and happy with this mobo.