https://www.pctestbench.com/asus-rog-strix-b550-i-gaming-am4-motherboard-review/
Just read through this review showing detailed pictures and have to say, Im visibly disappointed that ASUS went with the 8+2 50A power stages (but really its a 4 phase with 2 stages ran in parallel) compared to other Manufacturers! I know the VRM is still overloaded and it does have a VRM fan for active cooling but really?!
Both Gigabyte Aorus Pro and the ASRock Phantom-Gaming ITX went with a 6+2 Phase with 90A power stages.. Even MSI MPG B550I went with 60A power stages aswell!
I guess each to their own marketing and design teams but a definite let down and disappointment from Asus this time round while everyone else stepped up.
Ehhhh... thos 50A SiC639 power stages on this $230 board are the same ones used on the $80 A320I-K used in my parent's pc. That's extremely disappointing considering that the X570 variant had such an overkill vrm. I was expecting at least a teamed 4 phase with 60A TDA21462s, but I guess those were too expensive for this "budget" board. The VRM plus the abysmal rear I/O means that unless you really care about front panel USB-C, you are best either spending the extra $30 for the X570 Strix (which has vrm and good rear I/O, but no front panel USB-C) or picking another B550 board from a different vendor.
Welp, looks like Asrock is the way to go.
Kinda disappointed in Asus.
Videos
Bought an ASRock B550i Phantom Gaming that was a nightmare and ended up being broken. Mailed it yesterday for an exchange but found the ASUS ROG Strix on sale for only $20 more than the ASRock, and on my birthday no less! Switched my exchange for a refund.
Question is if there are any quirks to setting it up that I should be worried about with a 5900x? The ASRock was known to ship with outdated BIOS and required an update out of the box. Will I need to worry about that with the ASUS? I have a 3600 on hand for now, but would prefer to avoid swapping the CPU if it's unnecessary.
Thanks!
It's the last part I need for my build, kept putting it off bc I haven't had time to focus on this project and now that I do, I just wanted to make sure it's still my best bet (ie, not better options out or something new coming that'll lower the price). I do want a usb type c header and I need one with usb bios flashback. Here's my build PCPartPicker Part List
| Type | Item | Price |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 3.9 GHz 6-Core Processor | $214.99 @ Newegg |
| Motherboard | ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ax Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard | $188.50 @ Amazon |
| Memory | G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory | $94.99 @ Newegg |
| Storage | SK hynix Gold P31 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $109.99 @ Amazon |
| Case | SSUPD Meshlicious Mini ITX Tower Case | - |
| Power Supply | Corsair SF 600 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply | $138.99 @ Newegg |
| Case Fan | ARCTIC P14 72.8 CFM 140 mm Fan | $10.99 @ Amazon |
| Case Fan | ARCTIC P14 72.8 CFM 140 mm Fan | $10.99 @ Amazon |
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts | ||
| Total | $769.44 | |
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-03-09 02:18 EST-0500 |
Hello,
I am building a pc right now and I have all the parts except for my motherboard. I need an itx am4 mobo and I also want to take advantage of the usb 3.2 gen 2 type c on my nzxt h1 case. I decided to go with the new asus b550i because they check all my boxes. The only problem is that I don't know where to buy it and I want it as soon as possible (I don't want to wait another month). Does anyone have any links to it or any other boards that also has a type c front panel header?
Let me just copy/paste a reply I gave to another user yesterday regarding Asus:
"Why are you limited to Asus boards?
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Asus x570 itx and dtx had numerous quality control issues. Completely missing thermal pads under the chipset heatsinks for some customers!
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Asus didn't initially include the ability to set your pcie generation, so users with a 5700/5700xt running off of a riser cable were screwed for a while. Asus DID include this option in other x570 boards, so they went out of their way to restrict the ITX board.
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Asus is notoriously the worst about BIOS updates for new AGESA versions.
And to top it all off, they charge more than anyone else. Why bother?
The MSI and ASRock b550 itx boards are similar/better than this one in every way that I can see, and they're cheaper! Maybe give them a look?"
Both the MSI and ASRock b550 itx boards have type c headers.
Buy asrock ones, stay away from those asus mobos
Hello, the ROG Strix B550-I Gaming currently has a BETA BIOS version available (https://rog.asus.com/ca-en/motherboards/rog-strix/rog-strix-b550-i-gaming-model/helpdesk_bios/), which says:
Update AGESA version to ComboV2PI 1208
Mitigate the AMD potential security vulnerabilities for AMD Athlon™ processors and Ryzen™ processors
I have a 5800x3D and I heard BIOS 2806 for other ASUS boards got PBO2 usage for the 5800x3D, yet my board never got that BIOS. Does point 1. mean that I will be able to use PBO2 with this BIOS on my CPU?
If not then I don't see any point in updating to BIOS 3001 when it's fully released.
Thank you for any help, and have a great long weekend!
I bought the ASROCK B550 Phantom Gaming for my Meshlicious build (5600X, ROG Strix 3080), but I'm having second thoughts about whether I should exchange it for the Asus ROG Strix B550-I. The ASROCK is $50 cheaper right now and it didn't seem like the Asus had much to justify the price difference beyond brand reputation/recognition and aesthetics. My main hesitation is I've never owned an ASROCK motherboard and have read mixed things over the years. It sounds like most of the ASROCK sensor issues have been resolved, but I haven't found much about that lately. I use the PC for work from home a couple of days a week, so reliability and customer service are important for me.
The Gigabyte isn't a consideration because I will use the front USB-C frequently and it doesn't look like the MSI is compatible with my cooler.
Any thoughts from experience with either one? Thanks!
I don't know which to pick because their specs are so similar. I planning to put in a ryzen 9 5800x with a aio connected. I also have some Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x16GB ram sticks if that helps you guys know which is best for me
Making this post to bump this issue that I know many are having to see how others are handling it and maybe get some more visibility from Asus.
I took the plunge and purchased a 4070 even though I read about the issues with the Asus B550-I motherboard.
I went about a week with no issues using Nvidia's “Normal” power mode in the settings but finally had my first crash while the card was idle.
I am aware of the current band-aid fix of turning the power mode to “Prefer maximum performance” but I do not like that solution since my card doesn’t have a quiet bios and therefore disables zero-rpm mode and spins the fans up to a decent speed (58%, thanks Gigabyte) at idle.
I am also aware that Asus is doing an exchange for the X570-I board. I don’t love that solution since I’ll have to tear down my PC but it’s an option. However not sure I can trust Asus to send me a board without issues.
I’m still in the return window for my 4070 so I wanted to keep the discussion going.
How are others with this motherboard and an RTX 4000 card handling this? I’m considering going the AMD GPU route but I am a fan of the 4070 overall.
References of other posts and Asus rep: https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/164hbej/b550i_bios_3301_maybe_crash_serie_4000_solved/
https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/163u6b6/new_rog_b550i_bios_3301_rtx_40_series_crashing/
https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/16rghm6/5800x3d_asus_b550i_sf750_3080ti_32gb_ram_running/
https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/169gabv/asus_support_confirmed_a_hardware_fix_is_required/
https://www.reddit.com/user/ROGJake
Update: I've had 4-5 crashes/freezes in the past couple weeks of owning the card so I'm going to return and get a 7700 XT / 7800 XT. As annoyed as I am at Asus and this motherboard I can't justify swapping platforms or motherboards so I'll get a different card and be done.
Is Asus DUAL OC V2 Radeon RX 7600 8 GB compatible with a ASUS Rog Strix B550-I gaming motherboard?
Asus ROG Strix B550-i new bios 1402(2020/12/10) is out!
ROG STRIX B550-I GAMING BIOS 1401
New CPU support
Add a ReSize BAR shortcut for AMD SAM support
Link
I just got this and I can't believe what a pathetic engineering afterthought this teeny tiny whiny fan is.
It's not even lined up over the heat sink, the port half blocks it, the mesh above it is quite dense, there's barely any fins on the heatsink. The fan could be nearly twice as thick. The list goes on.
I thought this was meant to be a premium board in the B550 range...
What's particularly annoying is Amazon UK has >3k positive reviews for this board, and it turns out that's only for the other sizes, not the ITX one. I wish they wouldn't lump together reviews for essentially different products.
So I decided to replicate the OptimumTech 5800X3D build, and noticed the Asus B550-I Strix mainboard is no longer available. There are alternatives with different suffixes (B550-F etc), but they seem to have different headsinks and layout. I'm especially interested in the "ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming WIFI II", as Wifi 6E is interesting to me.
I want to make sure that nothing is blocking the Alpenföhn Black Ridge, can I choose any variant or are there known incompatibilities? Are there other mainboards that have some kind of advantage or good reputation in this community? I'm using the OptimumTech build as a template for simplicity and "proven to work", but I'm open to alternatives for all parts.
UPDATE - 10/26/2023 - Got my replacement in and of course I was sent a ASUS B550-F ROG ATX motherboard. Do not trust the company.
Some of you here are probably aware that the popular ROG STRIX B550-I GAMING doesn’t work with the latest series of NVIDIA GPUs. Once a 4000 series GPU has been installed any low power situation will cause a whole system crash.
There is a workaround, setting the NVIDIA control panel to Prefer Maximum Performance. That doesn’t work for me as I live in an area with high electricity cost. This has been a known issue since the 4090 and 4080 released. Three bios revisions since then haven’t resolved this.
The board was purchased 01/22/22 so I figured I would RMA it and see what happens. Believe it or not this is when the real craziness starts. ASUS makes it quite simple to start an RMA in the US. I break down my system and ship the motherboard off. A week after the motherboard was delivered, I give them a call to see if there is any update. I’m told I should hear back within a few business days.
The next day I get an email from ASUS starting that my motherboard has signs of damage which is not covered under the manufacturers warranty. The email includes this photo of the clear CMOS button that fell off. They then quote me $298.94 to fix the button. The MSRP of the motherboard was $209 just to keep things in perspective. I call in to explain that even if I spend almost $300 to fix the clear CMOS button my original issue would not be resolved. I was told my case was escalated and that someone would reach out to me soon.
That takes us to today when I receive another email from the wonderful ASUS CS department letting me know that since there is physical damage I would need to pay for the replacement. Graciously they offer me a 30% discount and I would need to pay just $209.26 to get another B550-I that would still not work the 4000 series GPUs. Five email and three calls now and I am personally done with ASUS at this point. I won’t purchase another thing from them.
I wrote this up more as an FYI for others about what you might run into during an RMA process with them and to bring more eyes to the issue with the ASUS B550-I.