2 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: Simple Questions - December 02, 2020
Thank you for the help!
I hate that there are sooo many mainboards that are more or less the same and you don't really know what the differences are or what you should just buy. I can buy one for 100€ or one for 180€ and I'm not sure if this is anything worth.
The B450 Tomahawk Max doesn't have wifi if I see this correct?
It has wifi, the M.2 Slot I wanted and should be compatible with the desired cpu, also it is relatively cheap. Also it looks like it has those USB-Ports that are powered when the pc is shut down, which could be nice? I probably won't upgrade the cpu then for several years, the last one was good for 7 years now (AMD FX 8350), so I think I won't look to much into future-proofing it and get a new one in some years? But maybe you are right and I will get a better cpu then the 3600, but this mainboard would be compatible with all current AMD Ryzen CPUs, correct?
Comment by Nicolello_iiiii at 03/12/2020 at 10:14 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
That will work. You're right in everything. I want to remember you that there are usb wifi antennas which are far cheaper than buying a more expensive motherboard just for having integrated wifi. Still, the choise is yours. As you said there are a lot of names and I think it's better if I explain you all of them. The chipset in the motherboard is responsible for the communication of the cpu with other components such as pcie 1x and 4x, sata cables and many others. You should read in the motherboard site what does it actually do because it varies from motherboard to motherboard.
Whatever I say from now on only applies to motherboards for amd cpus
They're labeled as [letter] [number] [number] 0 For example X570. Let's break it down. The first letter is the type of chipset. A is the most basic, I'd avoid it. B is budget oriented, but not bad. X is the top tier. The first number is the generation. B450 is one generation before B550. The second number doesn't mean anything, but as far as I know they go like A*20, B*50 and X*70 where the * is the generation.
Usually, the higher the chipset the better other motherboard components will be. This refers to vrm, mosfet and many other things.
Vrm is one of the most important parts of a motherboard, it's the module which gives power to your cpu (Voltage Regulator Module). It basically takes the 12V output from the psu and transforms it into whatever the voltage may be (usually 0.9-1.4V but may differ from cpu to cpu). This current has a "noise" which are little alterations to the voltage (same applies to the psu), so for example while your cpu may request 1.1V your vrms may give it 1.095-1.105V (just an example). As far as the difference is very tight, you won't have any problem. But if the vrms suck, your cpu may demand 1.1V and it may be receiving very lower/higher voltages, which will lead to a computer crash, or if the voltage goes very high (never heard someone with this problem, but who knows) could lead into the cpu dying. Plus, higher quality vrms do resist better to extreme temperatures, and they are usually equipped with better heatsinks, to make sure they're cool.
Other than that, a motherboard can have a lot of otwhr variables which have to be taken into account. For example the number of pcie slots, number of m.2 slots, SATA slots, fan headers, which of them are argb (addressable rgb) or PWM (idk what stands for but basically being able to adjust a fan's rpm) and i/o (the "outputs", how many USBs do you have, which Gen, maybe usb type c, high speed Ethernet, etc).
Hope this helps you