Conclusion

Final Words 

Gigabyte offers a really decent performing B450 motherboard, there is a small exception here and there, but considering we're running the initial F1 BIOS, that's all looking good.  It functions well and offers a decent enough feature set. Please make sure that you flash the latest firmware to this new platform. At €159 we did expect a bit more though. We did not run into stuff that worried us though. The motherboard used seems pretty well tuned, we had no stability issues. We tried a 3200 CL14 kit, all works fine. Tweaking wise, the motherboard will not be any limitation either, not all Zen+ processors will reach that 4.2~4.3 Ghz domain, but I do not see this motherboard to become the actual bottleneck. Be warned though, tweaking has been limited more with the BIOS for this board, you cannot force a strict voltage on the CPU, but can apply an offset.

Gaming performance

Previous Ryzen reviews have taught me that it is extremely hard to convince a big part of the guru3d community and reader base that Ryzen is plenty fast for gaming. The new Zen+ processors and the respective platform overall bring a bit more oomph compared to last year's Ryzen. The fact remains, that if you take a Core i7 8700K it will still beat Ryzen in CPU bound gaming situations (low resolutions or extremely high refresh rate where a game is not GPU bound). The difference and gap towards Intel are getting smaller though. Get yourself a nice G.Skill FlareX memory kit at 3200 MHz and you've covered your gaming bases. Keep in mind that a CPU bottleneck has always been far less important compared to a GPU bottleneck, which is why I'll keep saying it, that differential is trivial at best. Honestly, with the money you save on this processor compared directly to the cheapest eight-core Intel processor you can find, you probably should invest in a faster graphics cards. 

DDR4 Memory

The latest firmware for both the older 300 chipsets series and the new 400 Chipset series including the B450/X470 have matured and is an accumulation of DDR4 memory support that evolved when the original Ryzen series was released. Memory compatibility should not and likely will not be an issue as long as you stick to recently released DIMMs. I'll keep repeating this, but there are some really good Ryzen optimized kits out there. The G.Skill Flare X series at 3200 MHz CL14 is hitting a nice sweet-spot and is 100% stable + optimized for your Ryzen infrastructure. We also quickly tested a new Ryzen Sniper X optimized kit from G.Skill, it runs 3400 MHz perfectly fine with our processor and this mobo. However, take my advice:  Flare X at 3200 MHz CL14. Install it, activate the profile in the BIOS, restart and never look back. 

Energy efficiency

With the 2700X processor now fabbed at 12nm TDP now has risen towards 105 Watts, that is a bit steep. Realistically, does anyone really care? I doubt it. A full PC at idle will sit in the 50~60 Watt range with a dedicated graphics card installed (GeForce GTX 1080 / 16 GB memory / SSD and the motherboard). When we stressed the processors with a Prime 1024M run we reached roughly 166 Watts. A threaded CB15 run, however, reveals close to 200 Watts of power consumption (for the entire PC). That certainly is on the high side. When we game we hover at 270~280 Watts, but obviously that factor is dependent on the type of game and graphics card you use of course. So yeah, it's all a notch higher with the 2700X for sure, it's up to you whether or not this is a relevant thing for your purchasing choices. Remember, this is a fully locked & loaded eight-core and 16-threads processor. 

Conclusion

I've tested a dozen or so X370 and X470 motherboards, the B450 doesn't feel any different. Yes, you will have certain restrictions mostly found in connectivity and PCIe lane distribution, but other than that, it's all the same really. So if one graphics card and one super-fast M2 SSD are enough? Well, then this stuff is golden really, You can add another albeit slower M2 unit, you can add some SATA3 SSDs and HDDs so really this oozes value. That said, the B450 and X470 motherboards are growing towards each other, initially, the B series was the budget stuff that ended up on OEM builds or in business PCs. Slowly but steadily it has been transitioning towards the mainstream, maybe even high-end as I mean, just look at what we tested today if it didn't have a B450 label on it, would you have believed that this is the entry-level proposition? The board also has a proper VRM implementation, overclocking options and sure a hint of RGB bling, next to a really nice looking motherboard. Audio as well, you get the more expensive ALC1220 Realtek CODEC. So heck, this is pretty good stuff, and it'll all sit in-between that 100~125 USD range. In the end, it's a very nice looking board at roughly 139,-  certainly recommended if you are not planning more than one graphics cards, and one full speed M2 SSD, due to more stringent PCIe Lane availability. Other than that, really great stuff. Gigabyte is back on track, doing things right.

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