ASROCK B550 PG RIPTIDE Review

Balanced board that pairs with AMD RYZEN system

Introduction

Motherboards from Asrock has been known for its lineup from budget to the higher end ones, but choosing a board has been proven quite important, not just on what you spent, but also what you need besides fitting other parts together so it will meet the user’s performance that is just needed.

Today we will look at the ASROCK B550 PG RIPTIDE, a motherboard that offers quite a lot for the user, that demands from balanced performance build and also suited for gaming purposes.

Design & Ports

Looking at the motherboard, it is a fully fledged ATX form factor board with plentiful of ports access and choices, it has 1 PCIe 4.0 x16 Slot, 2 PCIe 3.0 x16 Slots, 1 PCIe 3.0 x1, Slot 1 M.2 Key-E for WiFi for future expansions, while the WiFi module is not included, you can just get it online and a pretty good price, and pairs well with AC or AX modules.

Over to the storage portion, it supports 6 SATA3, 1 Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4 x4) & 1 Ultra M.2 (PCIe Gen3 x4 & SATA3) ensuring if you have not enough storage, you can just add as you like it and this is great for those who wanted to store more Games or even your work files with PCIe Gen4 support. it also has a 2.5Gbps LAN jack powered by Intel Killer E3100G for blazing LAN connectivity.

RAM Wise, the Motherboard supports up to 128GB DDR4 expansion (all 4 slots occupied) and overcloked data rates up to 4933Mhz with XMP 2. If you plan to use it with RGB based RAM, it supports with with ASROCK’s own ARGBLED application which you can download from the support page.

Being an AMD B550 motherboard, it can supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzen™ 3000, 3000 G-Series, 4000 G-Series, 5000 and 5000 G-Series Desktop Processors without hassle and most can be installed and booted off the shelf with its current firmware, and of course, you can update it later after that.

Other features such as ASRock Graphics Card Holder which is included in the box its a great welcome for the users who wish to install a beefier heavier card on to their computer case which prevents sagging and fits steadily.

ASRock B550 PG RIPTIDE standard features and specifications (From ASRock Website)

• Supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzen™ 3000, 3000 G-Series, 4000 G-Series, 5000 and 5000 G-Series Desktop Processors
• 10 Phase, Digi Power, Dr. MOS
• Supports DDR4 4933+ (OC)*
• 1 PCIe 4.0 x16 Slot, 2 PCIe 3.0 x16 Slots, 1 PCIe 3.0 x1 Slot
  1 M.2 Key-E for WiFi
• Graphics Outputs: HDMI
• 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC897 Audio Codec), Nahimic Audio
• 6 SATA3, 1 Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4 x4)
  1 Ultra M.2 (PCIe Gen3 x4 & SATA3)**
• 3 USB 3.2 Gen2 (Front Type-C, Rear Type-A+C)
  10 USB 3.2 Gen1 (4 Front, 6 Rear), 8 USB 2.0 (6 Front, 2 Rear)
• Killer E3100G 2.5G LAN*Actual support may vary by CPU.
  **If M2_2 is occupied by a PCIE-type M.2 device, SATA3_5_6 will be disabled

Test Bench

For this purpose of review, we will be using the following specifications, all speed will be set to default with RAM set to XMP profile ON.

Benchmark Scores (With BAR Enabled)

Software Suite and BIOS

The ASRock B550 PG RIPTIDE does includes the ASRock Polychrome App that does provide vast flexibility over your RGB lighting control, as long your components supports ARGB lighting and certified by ASRock, so far we have tested with our setup and it does work well with exception of our RAM kit not be able to select some of the lighting style mode, which is normal and it is not a weakness either from the board or the component, we prefer the rainbow style of light mode in general.

Audio wise, the motherboard comes with Nahimic Suite by Steel Series that enables user to select different profile for your music and gaming needs, as long you are utilizing your 3.5mm audio jack equipment such as headphones or a combo of headphone and microphone.

Over to the BIOS/UEFI panel, ASRock uses a pretty detail yet flexible interface which you can overclock, set fan curves, voltage control and of course updating the BIOS with your flash drive, selecting boot devices, XMP selections for RAM and detailed information on your hardware. With its new 1.30 update, it comes with the support for Windows 11 as well.

Verdict

Overall, we liked this motherboard for a few reasons, one being its price around RM699, second which is the motherboard ports panel that has over 6 USB 3.x with 1 USB C port that gives flexibility on plugging devices. Third is the classic PS/2 port for backwards compatibility over old keyboards/mice. Lastly is the 10 phase power which provides adequate power over any components you want to pair, with some overlocking capabilities that enable budget minded enthusiast to push their PC System further.

For more information on the Motherboard, Click Here

Special Thanks to ASRock for providing the Motherboard for the purpose of this Benchmark and Review.