MSI has added the MAG B550 Tomahawk WiFi ATX motherboard to its entry-level lineup, featuring versatile connections and strong hardware support. Importantly, this Socket AM4 board uses DDR4 memory, so you don’t need to fork out for exorbitantly-priced DDR5 RAM.
Up to 128GB of DDR4 memory is supported, in speeds reaching 5,100MT/s on certain module configurations. As its name implies, this board is powered by AMD’s mid-range B550 chipset, and supports all modern AM4 CPUs, including the Ryzen 5000 and 3000 series, as well as the recently launched Ryzen 5 5500F. While it lacks the latest and greatest technologies, such as Wi-Fi 7 and PCIe 5.0, it remains capable of handling most tasks, as long as your CPU and GPU are fast enough.
Gamers can equip it with a Ryzen 7 5800X3D to experience excellent gaming performance, while enthusiasts can fill it with the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X’s 16 Zen 3 cores, though overclocking may be limited by its 8+2+1 Duet Rail power system.
Plus, unlike some B550 boards the first time round, you also get 2.5GbE LAN and Wi-Fi 6E support. Meanwhile, its PCIe 4.0 interface provides sufficient GPU and SSD bandwidth for a mid-range build. You get two M.2 slots, topped by Shield Frozr heatsinks, alongside four SATA 6Gb/s ports. That’s nothing fancy, but it’s fast enough for most use cases.
Three additional PCIe slots are also available on top of the top x16 one for your GPU, including a x4 slot and a pair of x1 connectors. Note, however, that the MAG B550 Tomahawk WiFi lacks fancy EZ mechanisms, such as the PCIe or M.2 unlock buttons.
In terms of I/O, we find a wide variety of connections, though in limited quantities. Namely, we find one PS/2 legacy connector, HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 outputs for iGPUs, and three 3.5mm audio jacks. You also get two USB 2.0 ports, two USB-A 5Gbps connectors, one USB-A 10Gbps socket, and a single USB-C 10Gbps port on the rear. In addition, there are headers for four USB 2.0, two USB-A 5Gbps, and one USB-C 5Gbps ports on your front case panel.
MSI hasn’t shared pricing and availability information for this board yet. But, considering the fairly similar MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk Max WiFi’s $159.99 tag, we expect this new model to retail slightly below this level, since it carries a slightly smaller VRM and SATA configuration.
