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B450 vs B550: Which chipset should you choose?

While the AM4 socket is on its way ou as AMD releases CPUs on their new AM5 platform, it's still a plenty powerful platform that many gamers will choose to build with. Today, we'll compare two of the most popular consumer chipsets for AM4 builds: B450 and B550 - hopefully you'll have a better idea of which one fits your needs better by the end of the article.

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B450 vs B550 Specs

 

B450

B550

CPU Socket

AM4

AM4

Ryzen Support

Ryzen 2000 series and newer

Ryzen 3000 series and newer

Supports Overclocking

Yes

Yes

Max Memory Capacity

128GB

128GB

Max Memory Speed*

3600MHz

4800MHz

Total PCIe Lanes

36

38

Usable PCIe Lanes

28

30

PCIe Configuration

1x16 + 1x4

1x16 + 1x4 or 2x8 + 1x4

Total USB

14

14

Max USB 3.2 Gen 2 SuperSpeed Ports

2

6

Max Sata Ports

6

8

*Memory control is highly dependent on what generation of Ryzen you are running - Ryzen 2000 will cap at significantly slower speeds.

While both chipsets have identical memory capacity, B550 is technically capable of higher memory speeds - that being said, if you're running Ryzen 3000 or 5000 you'll want your memory running at 3600MHz anyway, so this difference is negligible in practice.

Where the B550 chipset shines, however, is in peripheral I/O - with triple the USB SuperSpeed ports and an additional two SATA ports, it's capable of much higher throughput to drives, both internal and external. Finally, if it's important to your use case, B550 also provides an additional two usable PCIe lanes for even more peripheral devices.

B450 vs B550: Which one do I pick?

Since the AM4 socket is being sunsetted soon, we'd recommend just buying the chipset you think makes the most sense for your current build - don't worry too much about futureproofing, it's likely you'll need to upgrade to an AM5 board next time you pick up a Ryzen chip anyways. The biggest deciding factor between the chipsets is USB capacity - if those USB 3.2 ports are important to you, we'd definitely recommend going with B550.

In the end, both chipsets are excellent for a modern PC build. Just make sure to pair whichever you choose with some high-quality components, like CORSAIR DDR4 RAM, a CORSAIR M.2 SSD, or a sleek new CORSAIR Case to complete your setup.

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