There is usually a lot of confusion regarding the differences between AMD chipsets, but in summary, the main ones are the number of lanes of their PCIe ports, their speed and their utilization. Manufacturers have a lot of freedom to choose what to include and what to omit, but the B650 chipset guarantees a 4-lane PCIe 5.0 port for one of the NVMe controllers. That doesn’t guarantee one for the graphics card, but it’s not necessary because a 16-lane PCIe 4.0 port is enough to support up to an RTX 4090. Also, the next generation of graphics shouldn’t achieve the maximum bandwidth cap provided by PCIe 4.0 (because 16-lane PCIe 3.0 wasn’t fully utilized until the most recent generation of graphics cards), so it’s a more than reasonable option for those looking to save money.
And it is that in recent times saving has become very necessary, because although the prices of motherboards for the AMD Ryzen 7000 series were already quite expensive when they came to market, the fact that only “extreme” motherboards ” could be purchased (e.g. something designed for extreme overclocking) was not helpful. However, a lucky few try to sell them at a higher price.
The TUF Gaming B650-Plus WIFI has a completely different price: the cheapest I found was around 248 euros. This price is appropriate because AMD has now moved to LGA (meaning the small pins that connect the CPU and motherboard are now on the motherboard), making it much more expensive to produce.
The plate is completely black, with orange details and TUF badges. In my opinion, it’s pretty, maybe some people find it a bit 2000s inspired, but that’s the aesthetic that the TUF series has had for many years. I don’t mind, because it’s quite subtle. However, I would recommend using a black heatsink to match. Even the VRM heatsinks are completely black – there are a lot of them and they are quite big, but you don’t even notice it. It’s nice to have a layout that makes the most of the surface area. Even the NVMe heatsinks are almost ridiculously long, but at least they ensure the right temperature is maintained. It doesn’t have a 2×8 pin processor, but 1×8 pin + 1×4 pin, but it’s there and that’s enough.
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There is a USB-C port on the back of the motherboard, which I thought was empty. It has Wi-Fi 6E and 12+2 power stages of 60 amps, which is more than enough to power even a 230 watt TDP like the Ryzen 9 7950X, which specs say it’s running at. It’s 170 watts, but according to our tests, it can go a long way. . It also has a 2.5G LAN, plus space for an AIO fan connector and three temperature sensors. It even has a hidden USB-4 Thunderbolt connector, if you look closely. Not what I expected to see on a cheap entry-level motherboard.
It has both HDMI and DisplayPort ports, two USB-C ports, one Gen 1 port and one Gen 2×2 port, two USB 3.2 ports, and four USB 2.0 ports. It also has a full output for audio ports. The only thing I’m missing is an optical port. It would have been nice if it also had a CMOS battery, but at least it has a BIOS Flashback button. Contrary to what we usually see, it does not have two RAM slots, but four, as is usual with DDR5.
Inside there is everything you could need: two front USB connectors and one USB-C, three ARGB connectors, a special connector for an RGB light strip, four SATA connections, four front USB 2.0 and three PCIe to connect NVMe controllers, two with a speed of 4.0×4 and the third 5.0×4. In my opinion, I think there is still quite a bit of time before games can use the full interface, but it’s always nice to have access to the latest technology. Additionally, they (wisely) chose to use reinforced metal edges around the graphics card port and anti-static material on most ports.
It includes cables, screws and spacers for M.2, wifi antenna and stickers. It still comes with the stickers, but the truth is I haven’t seen anyone use them. It’s also true that I’m about ten or fifteen years older than the target audience they are addressing.
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BIOS menus created by Asus have always been easy to understand and use, and this one is no exception. Easy access to overclocking is essential and all the essential parameters are in sight. There’s even a battery saver mode. If you don’t want to use BIOS, you can also use Asus Armory Crate. It could be better designed aesthetically, but it works and can be used to access many settings. In fact, I don’t see why in 2023 you would have to access the BIOS, be able to access everything via Windows applications, restart and continue calmly. It includes other tools such as AI noise suppression for audio, safety circuits for each fan slot, and other little extras like a solid pin socket and metal reinforcements for all PCIe slots.
The bottom of the motherboard is quite easy to work with, as the cooling fins are not sharp, but strong and pointed. There is a lot of space between the various connectors and it looks like someone actually tried to build a computer, because the cooling fins go down to the CPU in a cone shape, making it easier to mount the CPU and heatsinks thermal. The back is rounded soldered spikes, so you don’t dig into them like many other high-end motherboards.
For everyday use, with a few NVMe controllers and a few SSDs, a new graphics card and a new AMD 7000 processor, nothing is missing in terms of options and possibilities. People who want to play video games will not miss anything. It also has a very good price, since for less than 600 euros you can get a very adequate package, accompanied by a Ryzen 7600X processor, which could be the heart of your system for many years.