Hi. I’m looking to build a linux system with Ryzen 5 3400G APU. But I’m unable to decide with motherboard I should choose. I have gone through many forums but didn’t find good motherboard. This is my first pc build and I don’t wanted to go through wrong board. I’m on tight budget so I’m thinking of B450 chipset. So which B450 motherobard I should consider. Sorry for my bad engish.
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You should change the Title to “Help Choosing Motherboard for Ryzen 3400G” sir/madam.
You’re attracting GNU/Linux people instead of Motherboard experts. They’re not always on the same group.
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I can solidly reccomend the ASRock Fatal1ty B450 ITX/ac. I’ve built 5 rigs (all running the 2200G) with it, had 0 issues so far. Board is really well built, BIOS is pretty good, and it has all the stuff you actually need. Looks gorgeous too, it’s a very clean grey/black mobo with a visually appealing layout (IMO, but I am a fan of very simply layed out boards). It’s also the cheapest one according to the US PCPartPicker.
Hey thanks for reply. And sorry for title.
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Thank you for your reply.
I live in India. And ASRock service is really bad. I was thinking about Asus or MSI. But don’t know which one is better.
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It’s not as simple as choosing Asus/Msi. What is your budget? Where are you buying it from? Flipkart? Amazon? Local pc hardware store? And why do you think ASRock service is bad?
I read on forums that ASRock serice is bad. I’m buing from local pc hardware store.
I know it’s not that simple. But Asus and MSI are just my choice. That doesn’t mean I only need one of those. My budget is around 10000 INR ( Roughly around $110-$140 )
Are you looking for a specific size mobo or do you not care? And what’s your budget?
For general reccomendations (all these boards are overkill for the 3400G, but leave you options to easily upgrade to a 3700X or higher once you have the money or they start getting cheap on the used market like the 2000 series is now):
ATX: MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX - 10,999 INR - one of the best B450 boards out there, can easily handle up to a stock 3950X IIRC, so if you wanna upgrade in the future it’s a non-issue. Also supports BIOS flashback without a CPU, and the MAX line ships with a 3000 series compatible BIOS anyways. It’s more expensive than the cheapest ASUS option by 80 INR, but ASUS’ B450 gen was meh compared to the competition.
mATX: MSI B450M Bazooka V2 - 9,190 INR - Solid mATX option, will handle up to a 3700X VRMs wise, and IIRC it supports BIOS flashback as well (this isn’t a MAX board so you’re not 100% guaranteed a compatible BIOS out of the box).
mITX: MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC - 12,344 INR (or) ASUS ROG Strix B450-I Gaming - 14,657 INR - Both solid B450 ITX boards, should handle up to a stock 3950X, I’d just look at both of them and pick whichever has the features you want, otherwise go for the MSI because it’s cheaper.
For reference, using this sheet to compare the VRMs (the important part for powering the CPU):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1d9_E3h8bLp-TXr-0zTJFqqVxdCR9daIVNyMatydkpFA/htmlview?sle=true#gid=639584818
And India’s PCPP for pricing:
https://in.pcpartpicker.com/list/
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Thank for your reply. I really appreciate.
MSI B450 Tomahawk was my initial choice. But when I saw Linux Status Report For ASUS Desktop Motherboard my mind switch to Asus.
I know Linux will install on any motherboard. But I’m just concern about stabilty. I want mothterboard on which Linux will run without any issue.
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I haven’t been much into Linux lately (used to just dabble with various distros for funsies), but AFAIK mobos don’t effect it? It’s not something like hackintoshing with macOS, which has very specific hardware requirements. And even there the community has built fixes for all sorts of stuff, it’s easier now than it’s ever been. Linux should just run on any B450 mobo same as any other B450 mobo. If it uses a certain NIC, audio or wifi card that isn’t compatible with your distro then it could be a problem? Pretty sure Linux works with most hardware just fine though.
I know that. I only use Linux. I’m using it on my laptop i3 2nd gen. Sometimes all the distros didn’t work well on linux. I really need to fixed a lot of issue. Also I have MacBook Pro Mid 2012 and using Linux on virtualbox. But sometimes it’s also sort buggy.
What do you think about Asus Rog Strix B450-F Gaming. I know it’s expensive than Tomahawk. And I also watch video about VRM.
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Ah then I can’t help much more 
, IDK Linux all that well. Last time I full on ran it on my main computer was when I had an old Core 2 Duo HP laptop (actually ran VMs just fine though, that’s where I did most of my dabbling with different distros). That was Ubuntu 12.04, I’ve looked at a few others more recently (Manjaro and such) but they’re too much work to set up compared to macOS or Windows and don’t have compatibility with the apps I need for work, or the games I play at home. If it did then I’d be on Linux in a heartbeat.
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You really helped me alot. Thank you. I just love linux. Because it makes me feel positive. I also used Manjaro. it is really great distro. I just do coding, watching tutorials, movies so linux is really fine for me.
I just want your thoughts or more specifically opinions about Asus Rog Strix B450-F Gaming board and Asus prime B450m-a. I’m not doing any kind of overclocking. But I will use it for little bit of gaming.
Thanks again.
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Compared to the competition the B450-F is usually overpriced for what it offers. But outside of that:
I had one for a while, ran my 2700X on it (it’s in a friends rig with an R5 2600 now), never had an issue. Board looks nice, performs well, though I never pushed an OC hard or anything. BIOS is amazing as well, on par for ASUS (even back on my X58 ASUS board the BIOS was very well layed out). I only upgraded to an X470 board because I wanted to try out SLI since I’d gotten my mitts on a pair of 1080s at the time.
I also heard the BIOS on asus are really easy to use compared to other brand. I’m thinkig to go with Asus Prime B450 Plus because of it’s price.
But still not sure.
These are my parts
Ryzen 5 3400G
Asus Prime B450 Plus ( Not decided yet. Still confused about its longevity)
Corsair Vengeance LPX 1 6Gb ( 2x8 )
Kingston A400 480 GB SSD
Corsair VS550
Well not really, those Msi B450 Tomahawk boards aren´t,
really capable of handling a 3900X / 3950X at all, atleast i wouldn´t recommend it.
I could go into details about why that is, but that is a little bit irrelevant for this topic.
But those boards vrm implementations are simply not designed to handle such current loads at all.
I´m not sure if topic starter is looking for an itx build in particular?
BUt those itx boards you listed are pretty decent indeed.
Still for an apu build the Msi B450 tomahawk should be okay,
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I just need decent b450 motherboard. No OC. But just want to run Linux only.
Yup i understand.
I would recommend to atleast pick a board with heatsinks on the vrm.
I believe Asus kinda dissapoints a little bit in this department,
with some of the B450 boards.
I´m not sure if you would consider an itx build?
Because in terms of itx there are couple of decent options.
But the Msi B450-i gaming AC in that regards is the better board of the itx options.
But asuming you are looking for just a cheap solution build,
for a bit of linux and gaming.
Then something like the Msi B450 Tomahawk or Msi B450 Mortar should be fine for an apu setup.
Like @ZandoBob already mentioned.
Another decent slightly more expensive option could be the MSi B450 Gaming pro carbon.
In terms of linux support, i personally don´t really expect that much difference between Asus and Msi really.
Because most controllers on those said B450 boards are randomly used.
So there should be generic support for those for the most part now days.
Of course iommu groupings are a different story,
but those are simply depending on uefi / Ageesa updates.
Thank you for your reply.
I’m thinking about Asus Prime B450 Plus. But after @ZandoBob and your opinions I will consider MSI also ( It is expensive than my budget so it seems like I need to increase my budget ). Seems like Asus are really bad for AMD. It’s like thery are just making good looking motherboard instead of good working motherboard.
Also I don’t care about motherboard size. I wil only use Mid tower case ( Don’t have good options for ITX cases in india ).
And If I want to go with asus then which option should I choose. Priem B450 plus or TUF b450 plus. Those are in my budget.
Depends on the generation and price level. On AM4, the… X470-F IIRC is solid (not the X370 and the B series boards are meh compared to the competition) and the Crosshair VI and VII Hero are very good boards.
Even a stock one? Though to be fair the PBO boost on Ryzens is incredibly aggressive (I’ve seen people freaking out that their 3700X pulled 1.5v under boost, my 2700X did that as well though).