MSI joins us for the review today bringing with them the B450 Tomahawk. The B450 Tomahawk threatens to level the battlefield: let’s see if it brings the missile or the axe…
Full Specifications can be found here –
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B450-TOMAHAWK/Specification
MSI B450 Tomahawk Review: The Verdict
The MSI B450 Tomahawk is a serious contender and it’s blown (pun intended) its way through the competition, sitting firmly at or near the top in nearly every test. To be honest, this is somewhat expected from a top-tier manufacturer.
Saying that though, we need to remember that the B450 chipset is the “middle of the road” chipset from the AM4 range, so we shouldn’t be expecting all the bells and whistles from these boards like the more feature rich and pricier X470 boards.
Still it’s good to see MSI including quality components and features on the B450 Tomahawk:
- BIOS Flashback – great to see as the AM4 roadmap is here until 2020.
- USB 3.1 Gen 2 (Both A and C).
- On-board RGB LEDs under the board, controlled by MSI Mystic Light software.
- 12v RGB headers for MOAR RGB.
- A single M.2 slot
- Realtek 8111H LAN
- Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec
The MSI B450 comes in, at the time of the review, at just over the £100 mark in the UK and around the same in $ over in the US. This is a very attractive price point for the rich features you get on the board as a result. Performance, on the whole, was on a level pegging with the B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC which is a slightly more expensive board. Though with the B450 Tomahawks offerings the gap between B450 and X470 is diminishing and that can only be better for everyone.
Huge thanks to MSI for sending the B450 Tomahawk in for review.
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