Upgrade options - MSI x570 vs B550

[RandomMonkeH]

Gents, I would welcome your advice or thoughts to help break my indecision deadlock.

Let me start by saying my Ryzen build has been running faultlessly these last few months, I’ve really enjoyed it.

Specs are:
3700x with stock cooler
MSI B450 Mortar Max
32Gb Crucial Ballistix Sport LT
Gigabyte 2070 Super OC
Crucial MX500, Corsair MP510 and some spinning rust all living in a Fractal R6

When I built the system I had considered an x570 board, but because of the somewhat anaemic x570 line-up at launch, I went with the B450 instead - as recommended on here.
The board has been great, can't fault it – although I would have preferred the better sound on the x570 boards and having something a bit more future proof.


I now need to build a second system – a basic compact workstation which *might* do double duty as an HTPC type thing (no gaming).
My plan was to use this as an excuse to upgrade my system to a B550 board and use my B450 Mortar along with a 3400G or similar in the second system.

Originally I thought B550 would be the way to go as I’m not keen on the x570 chipset fan and can’t see I’d need the PCIe4 chipset.
However, now comparing the B550 boards to something like the Tomahawk x570 I'm no longer sure what to do for the best.


For example, the Tomahawk B550 isn't massively cheaper than the Tomahawk x570, less USB ports and disables expansion port if a second M.2 is used. It also won't support the 3400G, so should there be some issue in the future I won't be have the option of swapping CPUs between boards to troubleshoot.

The Tomahawk x570 is more expensive and has the chipset fan, but with wider compatibility and otherwise seems a solid board. Other than the chipset and some minor differences they appear quite comparable.


I suppose I could just buy another B450 for the second system but it seems like a missed opportunity to upgrade.

• Is the tomahawk x570 worth the extra 60 squid over the B550?
  
• How annoying/unreliable is the fan? (I’ve heard it doesn’t normally come on in use)
  
• Any serious issues with either board? (Nothing seems to stand out from my searches)
  
• Is it really worth upgrading at all? (Future proof might be academic if AM4 doesn’t have long to run)
  
• Which way would you go and why?

Any opinions welcomed (I’m aware there are other manufactures, I’m just looking at MSI for example as I have one).

TL;DR -Need a new motherboard, Tomahawk B550 vs X570 vs Mortar B450 which and why?

 

[RandomMonkeH]

I don't think anybody is expecting a PCIe4 to provide any significant uplift in GPU performance - to my mind the advantage would be a nice little storage upgrade when the system is getting on and drives become dirt cheap.

I'd really be looking at the Tomahawk x570 or B550 boards - they both seem pretty well received from what I can tell, but it would be nice to hear first hand from anybody who has upgraded.
Again my current B450 system is working just fine, but by the time I've sourced another B450 board, I'm already a significant chunk of the way towards a B550 or X570.

I think if the B550 board was at the B450 pricing teir I wouldn't even been asking, but at £160ish vs £220ish the gap isn't vast, so the question is if the balance of the feature differences is worth the extra money.