Motherboard designed for the Professional and Enthusiasts as well
The ASUS ProArt B550-CREATOR is part of the Creator lineup, and as the same says out loud, it is targeted towards a few segments, mainly for the content creators, editors, professionals, to the certain extend, even those who needs additional ports and functionality with features for all their work, and sometimes play as well.
Today we will be reviewing this motherboard, talk about some of its features, design and whole lot of software suites included
Design & Ports
Looking at the motherboard, it is a fully fledged ATX form factor board with alot of ports access and choices, it has 2 x PCIe 4.0/3.0 x16 SafeSlots (x16, x8/x8), 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slot (x4), 2 x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. The PCIe expansion variety available alone lets you expand hardware component such as Graphics Card, Wifi Card, NVME PCIe based expansion cards and so on. Do take note also that in order take full advantage of the motherboard performance, using AMD Ryzen 5000, 5000G or 3000 series of processors would be the best.
Over to the storage expansion portion, it supports 4 SATA3 connections, 1 NVME slot (PCIe Gen4 x4) & 1 NVME (PCIe Gen3 x4 & SATA3) which looking over most B550 boards, it is considered standard by most design and meets any user requirements also, especially users that wanted to slot in more storage just to keep their work files on one drive while another as backup or store their favorite games on it. With PCIe Gen3 or 4 SSD installed, this ensures quick bootup on your favorite operating system.
RAM/Memory slots wise, the Motherboard supports up to 128GB DDR4 expansion (all 4 slots occupied) and overcloked data rates up to 4866Mhz with XMP 2. If you plan to use it with ARGB based RAM, it supports with ASUS Armory Crate application which you can download from the support page.
Over to the rear ports, this is where I would say, I am thrilled seeing so many ports, Dual 2.5G LAN ports, which one you can use it to connect to your router for your internet connection, while another port you can use it to connect to your NAS as your own personal backup drive only, if you wish not to share with others. Then there is 2 Type C Thunderbolt ports available, which you can use it for monitor display expansion, expand more USB port with buying additional hubs, or plug in more Thunderbolt expansion storage, it’s really up to the user how they want to expand it. Another highlight is the DisplayPort which if you are using Ryzen G processors with Radeon APU, at least you will be getting advantage for high refresh rates compatible display with AMD FreeSync.
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 via BIOS Flashback function or the usual BIOS update via UEFI menu.
ASUS ProArt B550-CREATOR standard features and specifications
| CPU | AMD Ryzen™ 5000 Series/ 5000 G-Series/ 4000 G-Series/ 3000 Series Desktop Processors |
| Chipset | AMD B550 Chipset |
| Memory | AMD Ryzen™ 5000 Series/ 3000 Series Desktop Processors DDR4 4866(O.C)/4600(O.C)/4400(O.C)/4266(O.C.)/4133(O.C.)/4000(O.C.)/3866(O.C.)/3733(O.C.)/3600(O.C.)/3466(O.C.)/3333(O.C.)/3200/3000/2800/2666/2400/2133 MHz ECC and non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory *” AMD RyzenTM 4000 G-Series Processors DDR4 5100(O.C)/4800(O.C.)/4600(O.C)/4466(O.C.)/4400(O.C)/4266(O.C.)/4133(O.C.)/4000(O.C.)/3866(O.C.)/3600(O.C.)/3466(O.C.)/3200/3000/2800/2666/2400/2133 MHz ECC and non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory” OptiMem II Dual Channel Memory Architecture |
| Expansion Slots | AMD Ryzen™ 5000 Series/ 3000 Series Desktop Processors 2 x PCIe 4.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8)* AMD RyzenTM 4000 G-Series Processor 2 x PCIe 3.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8)* AMD B550 Chipset 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slot (supports x4 mode)** 2 x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots*** * Support PCIe bandwidth bifurcation for RAID on CPU function. ** PCIe 3.0 x4 will be switched from Thunderbolt™ 4 to PCIEX16_3 if the slot is populated; by then Thunderbolt™ 4 will have no output *** These PCIe x1 slots share bandwidth with M.2_2, which runs at PCIe 3.0 x4 by default. You may go to BIOS setting to set M.2_2 to PCIe 3.0 x4 or x2 at will |
| Storage | Supports 2 x M.2 slots and 4 x SATA 6Gb/s ports AMD Ryzen™ 5000 Series/ 3000 Series Desktop Processors : M.2_1 slot (Key M), type 2242/2260/2280/22110 (supports PCIe 4.0 x4 & SATA modes) AMD RyzenTM 4000 G-Series Processor : M.2_1 slot (Key M), type 2242/2260/2280/22110 (supports PCIe 3.0 x4 & SATA modes) AMD B550 Chipset M.2_2 slot (Key M), type 2242/2260/2280/22110 (supports PCIe 3.0 x4 & SATA modes) 4 x SATA 6Gb/s ports Supports RAID 0, 1, 10 |
| Ethernet | 2 x Intel® I225-V 2.5Gb Ethernet ASUS LANGuard |
| USB | Rear USB:Total 8 ports 2 x Thunderbolt™ 4 port(s) (2 x USB Type-C®) with up to 5V/3A, 15W charging support 4 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 port(s) (4 x Type-A) 2 x USB 2.0 port(s) (2 x Type-A) Front USB:Total 7 ports 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 connector (support(s) USB Type-C®) 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 header(s) support(s) additional 2 USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports 2 x USB 2.0 header(s) support(s) additional 4 USB 2.0 ports |
| Audio | Realtek S1220A 7.1 Surround Sound High Definition Audio CODEC* – Impedance sense for front and rear headphone outputs – Internal audio Amplifier to enhance the highest quality sound for headphone and speakers – Supports: Jack-detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel Jack-retasking – High quality 120 dB SNR stereo playback output and 113 dB SNR recording input (Line-in) – Supports up to 32-Bit/192 kHz playback*” Audio Features – Power pre-regulator reduces power input noise to ensure consistent performance – Rear optical S/PDIF out port – Premium Japanese audio capacitors – Dedicated audio PCB layers – Audio cover – Unique de-pop circuit * Due to limitations in HDA bandwidth, 32-Bit/192 kHz is not supported for 7.1 Surround Sound audio. |
| Rear I/O Connector | 2 x Thunderbolt™ 4 USB Type-C® port(s) 4 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 port(s) (4 x Type-A) 2 x USB 2.0 port(s) (2 x Type-A) 1 x DisplayPort (Input only) 1 x HDMI™ port 2 x Intel® I225-V 2.5Gb Ethernet ports 5 x Audio jacks 1 x Optical S/PDIF out port 1 x BIOS FlashBack™ button 1 x PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse combo port |
| Internal I/O Connections | Fan and Cooling related 1 x 4-pin CPU Fan header(s) 1 x 4-pin CPU OPT Fan header(s) 1 x 4-pin AIO Pump header(s) 4 x 4-pin Chassis Fan header(s) Power related 1 x 24-pin Main Power connector 1 x 8-pin +12V Power connector 1 x 4-pin +12V Power connector Storage related 2 x M.2 slots (Key M) 4 x SATA 6Gb/s ports USB 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 connector (support(s) USB Type-C®) 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 header(s) support(s) additional 2 USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports 2 x USB 2.0 header(s) support(s) additional 4 USB 2.0 ports Miscellaneous 2 x AURA Addressable Gen 2 header(s) 2 x AURA RGB header(s) 1 x Clear CMOS header 1 x COM Port header 1 x Front Panel Audio header (AAFP) 1 x Speaker header 1 x SPI TPM header (14-1pin) 1 x 20-5 pin System Panel header 1 x Thermal Sensor header |
| Accessories | Cables 2 x SATA 6Gb/s cables 1 x DP to DP cable for Thunderbolt™ 4 Miscellaneous 1 x M.2 Rubber Package(s) Installation Media 1 x Support DVD Documentation 1 x ACC Express Activation Key Card 1 x User manual |
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.
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 5800X |
| Motherboard | ASUS ProArt B550-CREATOR (BIOS v2423) |
| System Memory | ADATA XPG D50 3600MHz 8GB X 2 |
| Graphics Card | AMD Radeon 6700XT |
| Primary Drive | ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 256GB |
| Secondary Drive | INTEL m.2 SATA SSD 480GB |
| PSU | Aigo 750w Modular Power Supply (80+) |
| Operating System | Windows 10 64bit Professional |
| Processor Cooler | DeepCool GAMMAXX L240 V2 ARGB |
Benchmark Scores (With BAR Enabled)
cpuprofile
geekbench5CPU
PCmark10
Portroyal
puget2
timespy
timespyextreme
farcry6
borderlands3
SOTTR
Software Suite and Application
The ASUS ProArt B550-CREATOR includes two useful suites to customise your motherboard. The first one is Armory Crate, which is ASUS all in one app that controls from Fan Curve settings, AURA RGB controls, CPU Profile with driver and tool update suites. This is one crucial app that you will definitely need it to monitor your system.
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proart2
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The next one is ProArt Creator Hub, where the features include grouping your most needed apps together and launch it based on your preferences, a good feature for users that need to launch group of suites whenever needed one. It also serves as a dashboard for your overall system summary on monitoring speed, drives, temperature. On top of that the ProArt Creator Hub also has the performance optimization presets where user can select based on sessions needed, for example if you are gaming, you can select gaming mode and the app will optimize resources for gaming.
Verdict
We would recommend this motherboard for a certain category of users, the first being the content creator obviously, where this board is greatly optimized for that reason based on the benchmark scores, the second category is the power users and enthusiast where one would need a vast option of ports available for the user to keep storage, networks, files all organized and connected to the same system where launching and managing things have to be fast. The last but not least is the business professional category where user connects to multiple monitors and network ports to monitor critical business needs, such as stocks monitoring, market share analysis, blockchain applications. Currently the price of the Motherboard is hovering around RM1100 to RM1400, its a bit on the higher price tier, but what you paid for is stability, options of ports and flexibility over customizations.
For more information on the Motherboard, Click Here
Special Thanks to ASUS for providing the Motherboard for the purpose of this Benchmark and Review.