msiMAG 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.

my last pc i built for myself was a fx6300 on an old msi military board now 20 years old. cleaned it up gave it to a family member. yes it is still being used daily and so when i went to build my new pc it was a no brainer for me to go with msi again. this thing is heavy like a brick. came new no dents dings or cowboy boots. so yeah read about these "warning lights" going nutty ect. that concerned me and there is no documents that explains how they are to work. should they come on then go off ect. so i used a known bad hard drive. yup the light lit up and stayed on even though the drive was acting fine. it knew there was an issue. i used that drive till it died and yup the light never went out. so i put in a new m.2 and 2.5 ssd as well as two 2 tb hard drives. now the lights come on first the hard drive then the graphics then memory. then one at a time as it boots up then they go out. before the lights go out it has to see the whatever and make sure its there and ok then out they go like clock work. now could you get a board with an issue or maybe using old parts with unknown issues? of course that is what these lights are for and how i :think: they are to work. was i afraid to buy this? yes i was! would i suggest this board? after the use of this for a month bet your booty. this was the best i could do price wise so if you are in a tight spot building price wise and this fits the budget. get it! i watch voltages ect but i do not overclock never needed to. this board has been running great no magor voltage issues or fires lol used with a 3700x and 32 gigs 3600 ven.have seen where others could not get this ram to run at these speeds. read on one article that had like a cpl sentences saying to only install one ram stick as you set up and the rest after you after finished. the first time i used all ram and it didnt run them at these speeds so whatever the one stick thing does if anything would suggest trying that on a fresh install. as for me the second install that way worked... just why i have no idea. i play e sports and triple a games. this has not had one issue or made me scratch my head asking that age old question (ram thing aside)... now what the hell are you doing! LOLonly thing new to me on this board is rgb and argb thing and right off the bat i made the mistake>>>WARNING<<< i bought a three pack of thermaltake rgb fans. was all the best buy had nearby. of course it needs the usb plug but my wifi needs it as well as my front panal connections. that lead to the purchase of "Motherboard Internal USB 2.0 Hub 9 pin USB Header Male 1 to 4" wich you guessed it needs the usb pins. just read how the signals are split on this thing. i placed the wifi on the mb. i set the rgb hub on one side then the font panal on the other side so signals are not sharing or splitting one side in half.

Excellent instructions and videosMade the installation easyRecommend notifying installers to record the serial number from the motherboard before install - the CHK number is only on the motherboard(its needed for registration)Working fine after installing

Absurdly overkill power delivery (VRM) for ANY AM4 processor overclocked to the max. 6 layers PCB. All the features you would need and then some. Excellent sound, excellent LAN. This thing is a BEAST.