ASUS TUF GAMING B550M-PLUS AMD AM4 (3rd Gen Ryzen) Micro ATX Gaming Motherboard (PCIe 4.0, 2.5Gb LAN, BIOS FlashBack, HDMI 2.1, USB 3.2 Gen 2, Addressable Gen 2 RGB Header and AURA Sync)

Pros: The performance and featureset of this motherboard is solid given the price. It takes a Ryzen 5800X, pcie 4 performance is outstanding, it's compact, and the ASUS armory crate is truly a great app that shows how far we're coming in the department of "mobo utilities". Right from the start when you have Windows installed, the armory crate app prompts for installation and then ASUS has you covered for loading drivers & utilities. You can easily avoid any bloatware as well. They aren't "sneaky" about their partner promotion. See cons about the negative side of this motherboard, but, a pro is the ability to upgrade the BIOS without a CPU or even RAM being installed. You can flash the BIOS with a PSU connected, no RAM, no CPU, or even a HDD/SSD.

Cons: Reliability. Contrary to the branding, there wasn't much "TUF" about this motherboard's resilience to DRAM compatibility. On first powerup it wouldn't POST, giving me the yellow DRAM light. I was able to get the motherboard to POST by downloading a beta BIOS highlighting "DRAM compatibility, stability". I wasn't using off-branded DRAM either. I tried multiple RAM kits, from the new Oloy Newegg often bundles to Corsair kits ranging from 2600 to 3200 on the frequencies. Going forward, as ASUS puts out new motherboards with newer BIOS from the factory this reliability will increase. For those looking through the reviews, factor this into your decision. I could very easily recommend this board and give it a full 5 egg rating when you can expect to use common RAM kits with this motherboard. I imagine in time this will be the case, so don't rule it out on this basis alone.

Overall Review: Given the RAM compatibility issues, I can recommend this motherboard as it's simple to flash the BIOS to newer versions. You may just want to make this part of your build process. Prior to powering on the system for the first time, just flash the BIOS to a newer version and you'd be unaware of any issues. The performance is there, the value is there, and this motherboard has high quality components to it.

Pros: This board was SUPER fast when it worked as advertised.

Cons: M.2_2 Slot was INTERMITTENT regardless of which M.2 drive was installed, I have three WD Black SN750 1TB and I verified it on the QVL list. Regardless of which drive (M.2) was installed into slot M.2_2 the unexpected results were always the same. Typically when starting the motherboard, the M.2_2 would not be listed, BLANK as if it didn't even exist. I would have to reboot several times before it would show in the BIOS. On very few occasions when it did boot normally, it would eventually just disappear from Windows after "x" amount of time and in the BIOS after a warm boot.

Overall Review: Overall the system worked well but the NVMe in M.2_2 was my data drive and just not acceptable for my use. Unfortunately, I ran out the clock on the return policy, and troubleshooting with customer support although ok, was taking way to long. Friendly advise, test early, test often, keep all of your original box material until after return policy and warranty expires, be very specific with any problems, use the "UserBenchMark" tool (if possible) to export your system report, and provide it to the support team and DON'T get roped into lengthy troubleshooting processes. The attached image is with one NVMe installed in M.2_2 slot ONLY, the picture was taken after 5 reboots with no change in status. I ended up purchasing an X570 board instead.

Pros: -Nice feeling board even has some weight to it -Heat sinks look beefy -RGB is a nice touch if your into that

Cons: -driver utility software doesn't want to install for some reason to the point were I just downloaded the drivers manually

Overall Review: Solid mobo, I upgraded from the FX platform and it's nice to have all the new features with B550. I would recommend checking ASUS' website to see what you need as they have many mother boards to offer all with a different range of features.

Pros: -all the main features I wanted on a board (4 RAM slots, RGB headers, AM4, M.2) -the QLED debugging is actually pretty useful -Finally got my 3300X running :D -i liked the layout of the board/was pretty easy to work with -ASUS BIOS is pretty slick too

Cons: -one of the SATA inputs ripped off while doing some cable management/i didn't think I pulled THAT hard :/ -Probably overpaid but will hope to upgrade the CPU in 2 years or so...

Overall Review: -happy with it/would buy again -will update if anything warrants it... -cheers! Enjoy Ryzen everyone!

Pros: Great bios and tuning capability

Cons: Had trouble booting in legacy mode and had to reinstall windows

Overall Review: For the price and what you get, well worth the minor problems I had over a basic model board

Pros: Easy to use and install, a few options for extra fans and lighting. at the time of buying it was the best option for the price. All in all great board if...

Cons: Seems I have similar issues with the ram as some of the others so no long write up here. As soon as you get it if you buy it run userbenchmark and test your ram if its not up to specs get a refund because it seems to be an ongoing issue. Hopefully ASUS release an update for this or at least can make it right for the next customer please.

Overall Review: Overall for the price its impressive. I wouldn't buy again because of the ram issue I'd find money in my budget to get a solid 570.

Pros: I love the fact that this motherboard can handle 128Gb of RAM.

Overall Review: Definately recommened this for anyone who needs a smaller computer footprint.

Pros: Easy to use and fine look.

Overall Review: Will go with ASUS again