MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX II AM4 AMD B450 ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: I picked up this motherboard for following reasons:

* Better VRM cooling. It has 4x2 + 2 phases. So, in worst case it is equal to other B450 motherboards but because it has twice as many components it is better from heat point of view and there is less pressure on these components
* Looks like VRM cooling is adequate or even good
* There is no plastic cover that covers VRM
* It has Intel LAN and they are better than Realtek that are on other motherboards (except Asus Strix)
* It has Nahimic 3 audio and it from what I read it is better than other boards (except Asus Strix). I’m not audio fan but it is nice to have.
* It has flashback+ so you can reflash you BIOS without CPU and/or memory. Nice to have
* Other brands limit memory speed at 3200. MSI limits at 3466. I was not planning to do it but better to have this ability.
* From all motherboard that I looked it has cheapest memory from QVL. You can read forums and find memory that will work with high chance but I prefer to pay few dollars more and buy something from QVL.
* It has debug LEDs, so if your computer does not start you would know which component to blame. It is quite important feature if you are planning to overclock. And I checked it and it works as described. Pretty much all other boards don’t have it
* It has WIFI. Not planning to use it but who knows.
* M2 slot is above video card. Only Asus has it there. All other brands have it under video card, so it is much harder to access, and it will be in bad thermal conditions as video card will heat it up. Also, MSI has some thermal pads for top M2 module. I found different options about that in internet. Still in worst case I will not use it

Cons: As disadvantages it has only 6 USB ports on back and one of them USB Type C, so you cannot use it for normal USB connectors. But considering that usually you have at least 2 USB on your case I think it is ok. And I personally have 4 USB connectors in my monitor so 9 + 1 USB connector is just fine. If you need more you can buy brackets and connect them to motherboard. They are quite cheap

Overall Review: * MemTest86 showing crazy temperatures like 125C but looks like it was not updated to support Ryzen and there are a lot of reports like that. I think it should be divided by 2. vCore VRMs barely worm. Chipset is cold. vSoc heatsink a bit worm.
* In Prime95 without Core Performance boost and fixed 3.6 GHz VRM MOSFET’s were 56C, chipset around 40C. Temperature in my room around 24C. My 2 case fans are always at 780 RPM, so I think airflow is a bit limiting here.
* When I powered it first time, BIOS showing 1.41V and that’s probably too high but people in internet stated that it is normal. After I switched off Core Performance Boost to lock speed at 3.6GHz it dropped to 1.1V.

Pros: This motherboard is GOOD. Does what it offers.
-Ran my RAM in 3200mhz
-USB 3.0 is a plus
-Easy to install

Cons: My motherboard died after 2 weeks of normal use. One day, it randomly re-booted my PC and got stuck in the CPU debug light, and would not get display after that. I had to force a shutdown by turning off the PSU. After that, my PC would turn on for a second, then shuts off right away. And then, it would not turn on again. I did the paperclip test in my power supply, was working fine. Called MSI for help. Cleared the CMOS, removed GPU, and every single hardware from motherboard, still didn't turn on. So it looks like the motherboard just died randomly.

This is not to say the motherboard sucks because it was running just fine before. It just committed suicide I suppose. I'm giving it 2 stars for the faulty motherboard I received. As soon as I get my replacement, and doesn't die like this one, I will give it 5 stars.

Overall Review: Would I recommend it? Mmmm... It's only human that I say no right now. But if you are really interested in buying it, go for it.
However, this is not a bad product