The AMD B550 Motherboard Overview: ASUS, GIGABYTE, MSI, ASRock, and Others
by Dr. Ian Cutress & Gavin Bonshor on June 16, 2020 11:00 AM ESTGIGABYTE B550M DS3H
Sitting at the bottom of GIGABYTE's B550 product stack is the B550M DS3H, which is one of just a handful of micro-ATX sized models to choose from. Aimed specifically at the sub $100 market, the B550M DS3H includes support for DDR4-4733 memory, dual M.2 slots and a Realtek Ethernet and audio codec pairing.
The GIGABYTE B550M DS3H has perhaps one of the funkiest black and grey patterned PCBs from GIGABYTE, with small black heatsinks that feature gold text for contrast. Included is a full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot, with another full-length PCIe 3.0 x4 slot, and a single PCIe 3.0 x1 slot. There are four memory slots with support for up to DDR4-4733, and up to a maximum capacity of 128 GB across four available memory slots. For storage is a pair of PCIe M.2 slots, one PCIe 4.0 x4 and the other PCIe 3.0 x4, with four SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays.
Included on the rear panel is the bare necessities to what an entry-level board should include, with four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A, and four USB 2.0 ports. For users looking to utilize an AMD Ryzen APU, GIGABYTE has included a pair of video outputs consisting of a DVI-D port, as well as an HDMI output, with a PS/2 keyboard and mouse combo port for legacy devices. A single Realtek Gigabit Ethernet controller powers the RJ45 port, while a Realtek ALC887 HD audio codec drives the board's three 3.5 mm audio jacks.
The B550M DS3H has an MSRP of $94 which sets it as the cheapest GIGABYTE B550 model at launch. With its budget controller set including a Realtek Gigabit Ethernet controller and Realtek ALC887, it has all the basics needed for a low-end and entry-level system. It has no Type-C or USB 3.2 G2 connectivity, but that's acceptable for a board in the sub $100 market space.
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Operandi - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link
Looks like some nice mATX versions this round, nice!YB1064 - Thursday, June 18, 2020 - link
I was hoping to see a $75-$90 board.kenjiwing - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link
Fortunately, this component is a unique motherboard among B550 and well worth reading up on [add link].Needs to be edited.
anirudhs - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link
There's a noise sensor which can adjust fan speed for maximum quietness with good thermals. Saw it on the KitGuruTech video. The noise sensor isn't there to spy on you though.PeterCollier - Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - link
The quality of the editing here is shit tier. Seriously, just run the articles through Grammarly before publication. It's free and it spots plenty of errors.Heavenly71 - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link
Sadly none of the mITX boards have more than 6 external USB ports. My old ASUS mITX has 8! And in really small mITX cases you can't add a bracket with more USB, because the two brackets are already used by the gfx card. Guess I have to wait for an enthusiast mITX board )-:damianrobertjones - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link
Or, just maybe, get a usb dongle with 4 ports?Mr Perfect - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link
That is disappointing. The number of USB devices people need to plug in can't be dropping, surely? I know I've got more now then even a year ago.rrinker - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link
Are they really going up? I have 2 USB devices plugged in to my system - a keyboard and a mouse. I occasionally plug a USB stick in one of the front ports to transfer files. My phone and tablet sync over wifi, they don't get plugged in. I have a charger behind my desk and a cable to charge them. My printer is on the network.The one place I DO need lots of USB ports is also the place where I have a small cube case machine, with no discreete GPU, because it doesn;t need one. On that one I added a USB PCI card to get enough ports. In addition to the keyboard and mouse, that machine is on my workbench where it connects to several electronic test instruments and I have multiple cabled for programming microcontrollers. I also have a USB microscope for board inspection. And then I have 3 more USB devices connected for my other hobby that shares the bench. Plus a front port kept free for USB sticks.
So the use case I have for more USB has the PCI slots open to add expansion cards, the use case where I have a discrete GPU eating up the slot space doesn't need an excess of USB ports.
DigitalFreak - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link
I use 3 USB 3.0 ports just for my Oculus Rift