Here you get effective heatsinks, particularly the VRM one, though sadly Gigabyte opted not to include its excellent finned heatsink design on this model. The board supports a single 5Gbps Type-C front connector and up to two Type-A and four USB 2.0 ports. Not bad, but a 10Gbps Type-C port would have been nice. mATX motherboards always have reduced cooling options when compared to their ATX counterparts, but the MSI Mortar still gives you enough fan/pump headers to run an AIO and still feed your graphics card with the cool air it requires to push polygons at a prompt pace. We’ve already been impressed by the capabilities of the MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk, and the Mortar appears at first glance to be the mATX version of that. Whilst we didn’t quite know what to expect from the Tomahawk our time with it means that we go into our review of the MSI MAG B550M Mortar with heightened expectations. Beyond the form factor difference the main change is a drop from 10+2+1 power phases on the Tomahawk to 8+2+1 on the Mortar, although still 60A power stage. Hopes are high.

The audio is nothing special, with an aging Realtek ALC897 codec taking care of things. An S/PDIF output would be nice too, but apart from that, there's not much to complain about with regards to connectivity. Supports AMD Ryzen™ 5000 & 3000 Series desktop processors (not compatible with AMD Ryzen™ 5 3400G & Ryzen™ 3 3200G) and AMD Ryzen™ 4000 G-Series desktop processorse The Z790 Tomahawk comes with seven SATA ports. For bulk storage, SATA still has a place and those seven ports alone may be a deal maker for some users. Some boards costing a lot more come with only four SATA.

LAN with LAN Manager and Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX Solution: Upgraded network solution for professional and multimedia use. Delivers a secure, stable and fast network connection. The Dark Hero features a rather subtle design. Some might even say it’s a little bland. Perhaps we have reached ‘Peak RGB’ with recent motherboards being a little more discrete with their RGB implementations. It’s also unusual that there’s not a Crosshair VIII Apex or Extreme, especially when Gigabyte and MSI have boards priced well above the Dark Hero. If nothing else, the Elite AX shows that manufacturers are getting a bit greedy at the high-end of the market. If you absolutely must have USB4, 10G LAN or Thunderbolt, you'll have to pay a LOT more for it. For the mainstream market, a board like the Aorus Elite AX is where it's at. There is, however, a drop in gaming performance with the B660 boards we've tested so far, so this chipset may not be the perfect option for a gaming PC if you're aiming to squeeze the absolute most from your components. It has to be said though, that the difference is slight, and only really noticeable with a super high-end GPU and CPU combination, and even then only at 1080p. The original X570 chipset is starting to show its age, but there's a subtle difference with this motherboard—something given away by that trailing S. That S stands for silence, and unlike many of the first-generation X570 motherboards, this one doesn't require active cooling to keep it running smoothly and coolly.

In total there are four M.2 slots made up of the aforementioned primary PCIe 5.0 x4 one, plus a further three PCIe 4.0 x4 slots that are cooled by a single large heatsink. There are four SATA ports to round out the storage complement. Asus has done a wonderful job with the TUF B650 Plus' cooling design. The big and chunky heatsinks provide lots of surface area while allowing lots of air to circulate freely. Some mid-tier boards can skimp a little on VRM cooling. Here, Asus did not.LAN with LAN Manager: Upgraded network solution for professional and multimedia use. Delivers a secure, stable and fast network connection. Here for review I have the DDR5 version. There's also a DDR4 version should you have a good set of DDR4 memory on hand, though if you need to buy memory too, the DDR5 version is definitely the way to go. DDR4 is very much at the end of its life and the 13th Gen platform is almost certainly its last hurrah.

With the primary objective of the B550 chipset keeping manufacturing costs to a minimum with a few design changes, the many additional USB ports found on the X570 are absent on most B550 motherboards. It is a bit unfortunate, to say the least, but the idea is you only need a mouse, keyboard, and possibly one extra USB port for any peripherals such as a game controller or headset. But you would be surprised how easy it is to use all 5 (Type-A) connectors even just for gaming. You also get 2.5Gbps networking, courtesy of Realtek, and Wi-Fi 6 support from Intel. Your top Z690 boards offer 10Gbps LAN and Wi-Fi 6E, but for our purposes that is another one of those luxuries we can afford to ignore. Though I shouldn't continue to complain without at least giving the technical specifications of the included USB Ports for those who are interested, so they go as follows. The two grey Type-A ports are USB 2.0, followed by two blue USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps). Next, are red A and C type ports supporting speed up to USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps). Overall this is not that many USB ports considering how many modern computers rely on them for everything. At least they are color-coded making it easier to take full advantage of what is provided. It doesn’t have a VRM that you’d use to run a Ryzen 9 3950Xat full power for extended periods but it will do the job with a suitable CPU. Something like a Ryzen 3 3300Xwould be right at home. Our eight core 65W Ryzen 7 3700Xpurred along without an issue. The heatsinks do a decent job, having no issue keeping things cool when presented with a sustained all-core load. A recorded peak of 73°C VRM temperature is perfectly acceptable.Even if Zen 5 or Zen 6 CPUs take a step up in TDP, it’s hard to imagine the Aorus Elite AX struggling to power them. MSI has released the usual lineup of motherboards under several names including Pro, Tomahawk, Bazooka, Gaming, and the Mortar. While the actual name doesn't have any bearing on the B550 chipset, the additional features each model provides is what is important. For those who favor only a system for gaming might consider the aptly named "Gaming" motherboards. Or if you prefer a more rounded experience and features, possibly the Pro series aimed at professional workflows. To be perfectly honest, the names of most of the different series from motherboard vendors generally have little to no connection to what is offered in the form of extra features besides a bit of marketing flair. Yes, there is a difference, but it requires a bit of digging to understand the subtle changes. It's a bit misleading, as the "Gaming" series doesn't have to be strictly for gaming purpose builds. Neither does the Pro or Tomahawk motherboards. The board comes with a 16+2+2 phase VRM with 70A power stages. More than enough for the average user. Throw a Ryzen 9 7950X with PBO enabled into the Elite AX and you won’t have a problem. Your cooling will hit that 95 °C operating temperature of a 7950X long before the VRM gets stressed.