Computer Shopper - UK (2020-03)

ISSUE 385|COMPUTER SHOPPER|MARCH2020 31

WITHTHERUMOUREDB 550 chipsetstill
missingin action, evenmonthsafter AMD
marked thelaunchofits 3rd-genRyzenCPUs
with thehigh-end X570chipset, B450 remains
the waytogofor cheapRyzen-based PC
builds.Onmostmotherboards,itevenworks
with thelatest chipsfollowingaBIOSupdate.
The B450 Pro4isvery cheap indeed, but
it’s alsoaspaciousATXboardthathas
everything most desktopsystems willneed–
plus,crucially,afewsurpriseluxuries.

FULLYLOADED

First, it hasafullsetoffour DDR4RAM slots,
not just two,likealotofbudget boards settle
for.There arealso twoM.2slots,bothof
whichuse the PCI-E 3.0 standardforfaster
SSDsthantheSATAports wouldallow.
Again,thisisastepupfrom thevast majority
oftheB 45 0Pro4’s rivals, which leantowards
asingle high-speed NVMe slot.
There’salsoaverydecent line-upofPCI-E
expansion slots: two PCI-E x16 andfourPCI-E
x1slots,withno spaceoftheATXformfactor
wasted.TheB450 chipset’slowerPCI-E lane
count means usingtheM.2 slotswilldisable
othercomponents–filling thetopslot
precludes usingthesecondx 16 slot,whilethe
bottom M.2 slotcan disable the third and
fourthSATAports–buteven takingthisinto
account, it’sapretty wide range that won’t
leave youwantingfor expansioncard spaceor
storageconnectivity.
The B450 Pro4hasn’t aimedfor a
premiumdesign in its ownright. It adoptsan
unremarkable black andgreylook, with basic
heatsinks andaplain I/O shieldfortherear
ports.However,itallows youtodeckoutyour
system with someflashy decorationsby
offeringtwo 12VRGBheaders andone 5V
addressable RGBheader,yet morefeatures
we’d sooner expect ona£150 model thanan
£80 one.Thetotaloffivecoolingheadersis
less outoftheordinary,butstillenoughforan
all-in-onewatercooler and several casefans.
The main downsidesofthisbudget model
th l k f b d t i ll
ssss

VERDICT

It might not useashiny new chipset, but the
B450 Pro4 has thefeaturesofamuchmore
expensive motherboard

AM4MOTHERBOARD

helpfulfor identifying

the causeofcrashes or

unsuccessful boots.Thereeee

aaarrreeennn’ttt aaaannnnyyyyoooonnnnbbbbooooaaaarrrrddddppppoooowwwweeeerrrroooorrrr

reset buttons, either,althoughthosemainly

comeinhandyforrepeatedoverclocking

rather thaneveryyydayyytroubleshootinggg.

WATCHTHE CLOCK

Speakingofwhich, oneofthe benefitsof

B450overIntel’s equivalentB360 chipset is

thattheformer supportsoverclocking, making

itaviable platformforthosewhowanttotry

their handatsqueezingsomeextra power

from their CPU without havingtoinvest in a

fullsetoftop-endhardware.The B450Pro4 is

no exception, andhopping intothe UEFI BIOS

revealsallthesettings necessaryforraising

corespeeds and voltages.

There aren’t as manyoptionsforfine-

tuningasyou’d getfrom an X470orX 570

board, butthatmightbepreferablefornovice

tweakers;there’s enoughheretoget started

withoutitall becomingoverwhelming.

What’s more,theB450 Pro4 is a

surprisingly stable platform. Our previous

favouritelow-cost AMDmotherboard,the

MSI B350MMortar (Shopper354), could

comfortably pushaRyzen 71 700 upto

3.8GHz, but ASRock’s easilygot itto3.9GHz,

only needingamodest voltage increaseto

1.35V.Wenever sawtheB 350 MMortar

sustain3.9GHzwithout crashing.

TheB450 Pro4 also has oneofthe most

completeI/Opanelswe’ve seen onasub-£100

motherboard. With twoUSB2ports,four

USB3portsandaUSB3.1port, there’slittle

chanceofrunningoutofspaceforperipherals

d to g , nd it’ e ciiillllll oooood ttto

evvvv rsibl USB - o i t eeee s l.

Video outputsarealsoooowell covered

bythe single HDMI, DisplayPPPPort and (for

anccccient monitors)VGAconnectoooors.Alotof

RRRRyyyyzzzzzzeeeennnncccchhhhiiiippppssssddddddoooonnnn’ttttbbbbooootttthhhheeeerrrrwwwwiiiitttthhhhiiiinnnnnntegrated

graphics,buttttforAMD’sVega GPPPPU-equipped

APU chips – iiiincludingthe new AAAAthlon 3000G

opppppposite–thhhhis motherboard couuuuld be ideal,,,

particularlyasits low cost tiesintothe appeal

ofAPUs asalower-power,lower-price

alternativetohavingagraphicscard.

Completing the setare thesolePS/2,

Ethernet and audio jacks. Thelatter are

simple3.5mmline in,lineout and headphone

out ports, so there’s no optical S/PDIFor

subwooferconnections,butalong with

otherabsentfeaturessuchasintegrated

Wi-Fi andDAC-UP USB ports, these are

forgivableomissionsgiventhe price.

MOTHERLODE

Wewouldn’t saythatsums up the B450

Pro4–todosowould understatebothits

performance andits otherwise considerable

rangeoffeatures–butonthefewoccasions

wheresomethingmight seem missing, it’s

onlyever premium hardware thatyou’d

never expecttogetfor £80 anyway.Atleast

until B550 shows up,then, this is as good as

itgetsforaffordableAMD motherboards.

JamesArcher

ASROCK B450Pro4

★★★★★

£80•Fromwww.amazon.co.uk

SPECIFICATIONS

PROCESSORSOCKETAM4•DIMENSIONS 30 5x 22 4mm•

CHIPSETAMDB (^450) • MEMORYSLOTS (^4) • PCI-Ex 16
SLOTS (^2) • PCI-Ex1SLOTS (^4) • PCISLOTS (^0) • USB
PORTS2xUSB2,4xUSB3,1xUSB3.1,1xUSBType-C•
VIDEOOUTPUTS1xHDMI,1xDisplayPort,1xVGA•
WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.asrock.com•
T 90 -MXB8B0-A0UAYZ
The B450 Pro4 has one of the mostcompleteI/Opanels
we’veseen onasub-£100 motherboard