NEW MSI B550 UNIFY better than X570 UNIFY??

hardyxd · 28 Oct 2020 at 06:54

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MEG-B550-UNIFY? VS https://uk.msi.com/Motherboard/MEG-X570-UNIFY (tomahawk too)

B550 14+2 power stages 90A
X570 12+2 power stages 60A

Both have PCIe 4.0, Triple Lightning Gen4 x4 M.2 so same number of general purpose lanes?

I'm getting 5900x / dark group 16gb cl14 3600mhz

any reason to get the x570 over the b550?

only reason I can think of is latency from chipset if any? but VRMs better on mature not yet released b550.

Or shall I just bite the bullet and go for dark hero?

kevman · 28 Oct 2020 at 09:12

Also looking at getting the unify

I cant see much difference between these two.
extra pci-e slot on the 570
slightly different lan/ audio chips
more sata and m.2 slots on the 550
more usb ports on the x570

the 550 does not have an onboard fan either.

I have not seen a price for the 550 yet so it might be a bit of a replacement for the x570 if it comes in around 250 quid

pandem0nium · 28 Oct 2020 at 09:29

With the B550, for the slots to be gen 4 x 4, you'd need to use CPU lanes. That'd mean dropping the top slot down to x8 for the graphics card.

4x M.2 slots (Key M)

M2_1 slot (from CPU)
- Supports PCIe 4.0/ 3.0 x43
- Supports SATA 6Gb/s
- Supports 2280/ 22110 storage devices
M2_2 slot
- Chipset support mode (default, from Chipset ) - supports PCIe 3.0 x2
- CPU support mode (From CPU) - supports PCIe 4.0/ 3.0 x4 3
- Supports 2280 storage devices
M2_3 slot
- Chipset support mode (default, from Chipset ) - supports PCIe 3.0 x2
- CPU support mode (From CPU) - supports PCIe 4.0/ 3.0 x4 3
- Supports SATA 6Gb/s
- Supports 2280/ 22110 storage devices
M2_4 slot
- Supports PCIe 3.0 x4
- Supports 2280 storage devices

hardyxd · 28 Oct 2020 at 17:17

The B550 unify is showing 3 out of 4 m.2's PCI - 4 along with 1 graphics slot.

I would only use 2 m.2's max anyway so should be good for me.

haszek · 28 Oct 2020 at 17:30

I would still assume price £300 for this new b550, while x570 can be found for cheaper now.

Guest2 · 28 Oct 2020 at 18:58

Where’s the specification page for the b550 unify?
I already have the x570 unify but interested anyway

Doesnt matter, just not working on phone for some reason.

B550 2x PCI-E x16
X570 3x PCI-E x16

B550 ALC1220P
X570 ALC1220

B550 4x M2
X570 3x M2

B550s 4x m.2 slots are pcie 4.0 ready but are 3.0 when using a gpu. So not really pcie 4.0, unless you run a Ryzen with Vega graphics / Ryzen 4000

Glad I bought an X570

There's also a Unify X coming - https://wccftech.com/msi-unveils-amd-ryzen-5000-cpu-ready-meg-b550-unify-motherboards/

hardyxd · 28 Oct 2020 at 20:48

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MEG-B550-UNIFY/Specification

says CPU support mode providing its zen 2 or 3 should have support for it.
Looks like you're getting the lanes direct from the CPU.

B550 unify
+ no active cooling on chipset
+ better VRMs
+ impressive overclocking
+ more mature high quality board
+ 1 more m.2 slot @ pci 3
3 of the m.2 4.0 slots are direct from CPU (won't it provide latency benefit from the b550 unify M.2S direct to CPU rather than running through the chipset on x570 or is it any tax/downside on the cpu over chipset?)

X570 unify
+ more pci 4 general purpose lanes

2 of the m.2 4.0 slots are passing through chipset

For me, ill only ever have 1 graphics card and max 2 m2s plugged in. seems like b550 the better choice for me!?

Seen the X, but won't be worth getting for most of us.

BS Dave · 30 Nov 2020 at 00:44

I've just ordered an x570 but the b550 does look better, no fan, and better overclocking/VRMs I'll be running a 3950x in it so that is important... I think the x570 might have to go back

pc-guy · 30 Nov 2020 at 22:13

B550 unify will turn the top PCIe x16 slot into x8 bandwidth if you install more than 2 m.2 slots running at full x4 speed. Alternatively you can run x2 speed for the middle two M.2 and loose SATA drivers and still have x16 bandwidth for GPU

x570 unify don’t have those limits. X570 have loads more pice lanes available through chipset.

overclocking likely to be very much similar. Those power stages are complete overkill’s. 90A each is ridiculous. Even 60A is high enough. Hardware unboxed have tested the x570 unify, it is amongst the top VRM performer.

the b550 unify manual is better than x570 tho. At least it has all the jumper heads documented. My x570 manual doesn’t even tell me where the front panel connectors are

BS Dave · 2 Dec 2020 at 10:25

pc-guy said:
B550 unify will turn the top PCIe x16 slot into x8 bandwidth if you install more than 2 m.2 slots running at full x4 speed. Alternatively you can run x2 speed for the middle two M.2 and loose SATA drivers and still have x16 bandwidth for GPU

x570 unify don’t have those limits. X570 have loads more pice lanes available through chipset.

overclocking likely to be very much similar. Those power stages are complete overkill’s. 90A each is ridiculous. Even 60A is high enough. Hardware unboxed have tested the x570 unify, it is amongst the top VRM performer.

the b550 unify manual is better than x570 tho. At least it has all the jumper heads documented. My x570 manual doesn’t even tell me where the front panel connectors are

I'm really in 2 minds, the B550 does look nicer without the fan, but it doesn't have bluetooth which would be nice so i can go wireless with my headphones. i tried to cancel my order on Monday but couldn't get through (not here), x570 is likely to be cheaper too...

pc-guy · 2 Dec 2020 at 11:07

BS Dave said:
I'm really in 2 minds, the B550 does look nicer without the fan, but it doesn't have bluetooth which would be nice so i can go wireless with my headphones. i tried to cancel my order on Monday but couldn't get through (not here), x570 is likely to be cheaper too...

the wifi and bluetooth on the X570 is very good. strong and no drop outs. i had the ASUS tuf wifi, that was problematic.

again the chipset fan doesnt spin up on mine.

PurePickage · 4 Dec 2020 at 11:51

hardyxd said:
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MEG-B550-UNIFY/Specification

says CPU support mode providing its zen 2 or 3 should have support for it.
Looks like you're getting the lanes direct from the CPU.

B550 unify
+ no active cooling on chipset
+ better VRMs
+ impressive overclocking
+ more mature high quality board
+ 1 more m.2 slot @ pci 3
3 of the m.2 4.0 slots are direct from CPU (won't it provide latency benefit from the b550 unify M.2S direct to CPU rather than running through the chipset on x570 or is it any tax/downside on the cpu over chipset?)

X570 unify
+ more pci 4 general purpose lanes

2 of the m.2 4.0 slots are passing through chipset

For me, ill only ever have 1 graphics card and max 2 m2s plugged in. seems like b550 the better choice for me!?

Seen the X, but won't be worth getting for most of us.

Did you purchase one of these boards in the end? Im looking at the X570 Unify currently but dont know weather to wait to see if they do a revised Unify X like they are for the B550

Jamin280672 · 4 Dec 2020 at 20:12

Its a bit off putting that they put the Realtek LAN on the board, id of preferred the Intel 1gb LAN to the Realtek 2.5gb

Interesting looking PCI-e 6 pin connector on the bottom of those 2 boards too.

The specs for the M.2 slots basically say if you use all of the M.2 slots, you will lose all of you PCI-e slots and the top PCI-e slot where your GPU will be plugged into will run at x8, you will also lose a couple of your SATA ports

The Gigabyte B550 Master has a similar setup where the M.2 slots all run at X4 PCI-e4 mode by dropping the GPU to x8 and sharing the other 8 lanes to the other 2 M.2 slots.

But MSI have certainly upped there game since the release of the X570 Tomahawk, especially in the VRM area, probably because of the first big round of failures they had.

ssmacc · 14 Dec 2020 at 09:05

Hello All,

I'm about to buy a new MBoard and leaning towards the x570 Unify, would you still recommend it, or if you were buying today would you go for something else? I'm jumping from a x370, I'm upgrading for the full speed M.2 slots.

Cheers,

BS Dave said:
I'm really in 2 minds, the B550 does look nicer without the fan, but it doesn't have bluetooth which would be nice so i can go wireless with my headphones. i tried to cancel my order on Monday but couldn't get through (not here), x570 is likely to be cheaper too...

PurePickage said:
Did you purchase one of these boards in the end? Im looking at the X570 Unify currently but dont know weather to wait to see if they do a revised Unify X like they are for the B550

kevman · 14 Dec 2020 at 11:29

ssmacc said:
Hello All,

I'm about to buy a new MBoard and leaning towards the x570 Unify, would you still recommend it, or if you were buying today would you go for something else? I'm jumping from a x370, I'm upgrading for the full speed M.2 slots.

Cheers,

I am also looking at this board and think it is still considered to be a good board although seems to have gone up in price since the 5000 release.
For the B550 unify I think I would find the limitations on the PCI bandwidth annoying. I am currently running 2 M.2 Nvme and 4 sata drives which would mean PCI-4 x8 on the GPU which is basically PCI-E3. B550 board does look nicer though.

ssmacc · 14 Dec 2020 at 13:31

kevman said:
I am also looking at this board and think it is still considered to be a good board although seems to have gone up in price since the 5000 release.
For the B550 unify I think I would find the limitations on the PCI bandwidth annoying. I am currently running 2 M.2 Nvme and 4 sata drives which would mean PCI-4 x8 on the GPU which is basically PCI-E3. B550 board does look nicer though.

Cheers for you thoughts, I'm heavily leaning towards the Unify x570 for the same reasons, for me M.2 NVME storage has been the biggest upgrade in a long time - video editing wise, and certainly doesn't do loading times in games any harm!

Unless anyone has compelling reasons not to (Gigabyte X570 AORUS ULTRA?) I'll be ordering today...

kevman · 14 Dec 2020 at 14:29

ssmacc said:
Unless anyone has compelling reasons not to (Gigabyte X570 AORUS ULTRA?) I'll be ordering today...

Have also been looking at this board. Seems the realtek network card (unify) seems worse than the intel version (ultra). Plus the gigabyte has a couple more USB ports and SATA ports. You get AC valhalla with the MSI and can claim* a 500gb M.2 drive with gigabyte. I think for me the gigabyte looks slightly better on paper but the unify more stylish. Its quite the decision!!!

Joxeon · 14 Dec 2020 at 14:50

It it worth spending so much on a motherboard for a dead end platform with AM5, PCIe gen 5.0 and DDR 5 coming in around a year?.

ssmacc · 14 Dec 2020 at 14:52

kevman said:
Have also been looking at this board. Seems the realtek network card (unify) seems worse than the intel version (ultra). Plus the gigabyte has a couple more USB ports and SATA ports. You get AC valhalla with the MSI and can claim* a 500gb M.2 drive with gigabyte. I think for me the gigabyte looks slightly better on paper but the unify more stylish. Its quite the decision!!!

I've tried to look, but find descrambling motherboard info. almost impossible! Do the extra 2xSATA ports (on the Gigabyte X570 AORUS ULTRA) have any effect on the speed of other ports etc? as in, is there a reason MSI have left them off the Unify?

ssmacc · 14 Dec 2020 at 14:55

Joxeon said:
It it worth spending so much on a motherboard for a dead end platform with AM5, PCIe gen 5.0 and DDR 5 coming in around a year?.

That is always on my mind! but I'm on a 370x now and I assume the leap to DDR 5 will be initially much more expensive and not feasible until 2022 at the earliest? (maybe 2023 after Brexit tax is added to everything!)