While all the focus right now is on B550 and X570, B450 is still an actively produced chipset and ASUS will be continuing to release B450 motherboards for the foreseeable future. Also realising some users want to maximize their budget and do not need the benefit of PCIe Gen 4 support.
With this in mind, ASUS has and will be refreshing some of their B450 motherboards to offer even better features, functions, and specifications. These boards will be positioned lowered and priced lower than the new line of B550 motherboards.
The first refresh board will be the TUF GAMING B450M-PRO S, read more below:
This board will be replacing the current B450M-PRO Gaming it’s projected MSRP is $129.99
So what’s new?
- The VRM has been revised and updated to offer superior power handling and efficiency. It will be an 8+2 power stage based design moving up from discrete MOSFET/driver-based design.
- Upgraded CPU power connector. The board now features our ProCool power design, which features solid pins. This improved current rating and overall amperage handling and lower impedance and improves pin to pin internal temperatures. This is especially beneficial for high core count CPUs under heavy load.
- Further improved on the solid thermal design and considerably enlarged the dual heatsink assembly. In addition to two large extended finned heatsinks, the design also offers the benefit of dual contact. Specifically, the heatsink makes contact with the power stages and the inductors. This board will provide good thermal performance at idle and full loads, even with higher-end Ryzen CPUs.
- The board offers CPU support for all current Ryzen CPUs 1000 series, 2000 series, and 3000 series.
- Added an M.2 heatsink for those using higher-performing M.2 PCIe NVMe SSDs, which can benefit from the added heat dissipation.
- For users that want to take advantage of integrated graphics the board now offers HDMI 2.0b as well as onboard DP connectivity.
- The onboard Ethernet has been upgraded. With the board now offering 2.5Gb compared to the previous 1Gbps standard. The board still comes with TURBO LAN for easy packet priority monitoring and management.
- An increase to two (2) USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports.
- Inclusion of ASUS innovation – UEFI BIOS FLASHBACK – Easily update your UEFI BIOS without the CPU, DRAM, or GRAPHICS CARD installed. Just connect the PSU and update by using a flash drive with the supporting file and depressing the FlashBack button.
- Increase to onboard ROM size with 32MB offering full support for ASUS UEFI alongside future CPU updates.
- Revision to our fan connectors, the board now features dual CPU fan headers. CPU and CPU OPT which is ideal for common CPU coolers, whether tower heatsinks or 240 AIO coolers.
- The audio is the same as the previous generation with TUF GAMING isolated audio and the S1200A audio codec. The codec is also fully shielded compared to other entry gaming boards. The audio design is updated to support our new AiNoise cancelling technology, an easy effective way to clean up audio on analogue or digital microphones or headsets. The board also maintains the inclusion of a custom DTS EQ suite and gaming-specific presets.
Lastly, this board still feature many other common ASUS design benefits:
Integrated EZ Flash 3 UEFI updating – Update your UEFI directly from the internet.
DOCP (XMP profile loading) – Easily read the XMP profiles of your DRAM and load them and have the board apply frequency, timings and voltage.
Performance enhancement options for PBO with ASUS Performance Enhancer – 4 different modes to let you easily enable and maximize PBO operation.
Per Core CCX control – Fine-tune CCX ratio/multiplier for improved overclocking headroom.
QLED diagnostic LED’s – 4 easy to reference LEDs for troubleshooting issues during your POST (CPU, DRAM, GPU and Boot Device).
ASUS AURA RGB connectivity and control – 2 onboard headers for fans or LED strips or other RGB accessories. Easily control and sync your device through ASUS Armoury Crate.
