Best B850 Motherboards: Top 3 Picks for Your First Build in 2023

With CES now behind us, the spotlight has turned to the upgraded B650 series and the new B850 motherboards designed for AMD’s AM5 socket. ASUS and Gigabyte have already rolled out their first batches of these exciting new products, while MSI is just getting started with two initial offerings. However, Star has managed to uncover the specifications of a few other boards that might interest you—so if you’re in the market, be sure to keep this information handy!

Here’s a look at the first wave of products from the Big Three:

**ASUS:**
– Strix B850-E
– Strix B850-F
– Strix B850-A Snow (a fan favorite for its sleek white design)
– TUF B850-Plus
– TUF B850M-Plus

**MSI:**
– B850 Edge Titanium
– B850 Tomahawk
– B850 Gaming Plus
– B850-P
– B850M Mortar (perfect for compact builds)

**Gigabyte:**
– B850 AORUS Elite
– B850 AORUS Pro
– B850M AORUS Pro
– B850M Gaming X
– B850M DS3H

A few key points to keep in mind about these motherboards:
1️⃣ The ASUS Strix B850-E stands out with its USB4 interface, effectively placing it in the same league as an X870 motherboard. However, there’s a trade-off: using any M.2 slot below the GPU will reduce the speed of the graphics card slot to PCIe 5.

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2️⃣ For the rest of the lineup, utilizing the M.2 interface directly connected to the CPU may either reduce or disable non-GPU PCIe expansion slots. Since these slots aren’t frequently used by most users, we won’t delve too deeply into them here.

Star’s take on these boards? While they do bring some improvements over the B650 series, the differences aren’t dramatic enough to justify the significant price hike, which brings them dangerously close to the cost of the X870. On the flip side, the X870, with its mandatory USB4 (except for the WeChat X870 Tomahawk), doesn’t offer much better M.2 PCIe channel support compared to the B650. It’s enough to leave even the savviest shopper scratching their head [disappointed R][disappointed R].

Fortunately, AMD CPUs don’t demand extreme power supplies, meaning many B650 motherboards can comfortably handle high-end processors like the Ryzen 9 9950X. So, before pulling the trigger, consider your specific needs and choose wisely [doge][doge][doge]!