Best AM4 Motherboards Q3 2020

[Dirk Broer]

Best AM4 Motherboards Q3 2020 (https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/1137619-motherboard-vrm-tier-list-v2-currently-amd-only/)

Tier S: 300A current draw on little ambient airflow (i.e below a big air cooler in a well-ventilated case), maxed out 3950X on liquid nitrogen (LN2) overclocking
Asus: X570 Crosshair VIII Hero
Gigabyte: X570 Aorus Xtreme
MSI: X570 Godlike

Tier S-: 250A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 3900X on liquid nitrogen (LN2) overclocking
Asus: X570 X570-E, Pro WS Ace, B550 B550-E
Asrock: X570 Taichi, Phantom Gaming X, Creator
Gigabyte: X570 Aorus Master, B550 Aorus Master
MSI: X570 Creation, Ace, Unify, Tomahawk, B550 Tomahawk

Tier A: 200A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 3950X on ambient cooling, 2700x on LN2
Asus: X570 X570-F, TUF Plus, Prime Pro, Crosshair VIII Impact, X570-I, X570-P, B550 TUF Plus (mATX & mATX WiFi), X470 Crosshair VII Hero, B450 TUF Pro S (mATX), X370 Crosshair VI Extreme
Asrock: X570 ITX/TB3, X470 Taichi (Ultimate), X370 Taichi, Professional Gaming
Gigabyte: X570 Aorus Ultra, Pro (ATX), B550 Aorus Pro (& AC) (ATX), X470 Gaming 7
MSI: B550 Mortar

Tier B: 160A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 3900X, 3950x at 1.3V on ambient cooling, maxed out 1800X on LN2
Asus: X470 X470-F, X370 Crosshair VI Hero, X370-F
Asrock: X570 Extreme4, Steel Legend, Pro4 (ATX & mATX), Phantom 4
Biostar: X570 GT8, X470 GT8, X370 GT7
Gigabyte: X570 Aorus Elite, ITX
MSI: B550 Gaming Plus, A-Pro, X470 M7 AC, Gaming Pro Carbon

Tier C :125A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 2700, 3900x at 1.3V on ambient cooling (P95)
Asus: X370 Prime Pro
Asrock: B550 Pro4 (ATX & mATX), Phantom 4
Gigabyte: X570 UD, Gaming X, B550 Aorus Pro (mATX), Gaming X, X370 Gaming K7, Gaming 5
MSI: X570 Gaming Pro Carbon, B550 Pro-VDH WiFi, Pro-DASH, Bazooka, X470 Gaming Plus, B450 Gaming Pro Carbon (& Max), Tomahawk (& Max), Gaming Plus ATX (& Max), B450-A Pro (& Max) (ATX), Mortar (& Max), Gaming Plus mATX, Bazooka Plus, Gaming Plus ITX, X370 M7 ACK, XPower Titanium

Tier D :100A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 1700 and 3700X, a tad more than maxed out 2600/1600AF, maxed out 2700 in ambient cooling (Cinebench R15)
Asus: X470 Prime Pro, X470-I, B450 TUF Pro (mATX and ATX), B450-E, B450-I, X370 X370-I, B350 B350-I
Asrock: X470 Master SLI, K4, ITX, B450 Pro4 (mATX and ATX), Pro4-F, K4, M/AC, Steel Legend, ITX, B350 Pro4, K4
Gigabyte: X470 Gaming 5, Ultra Gaming, B550 Aorus Elite (mATX), Gaming, DS3H, B450 Aorus Elite (mATX), Gaming
MSI: X570 X570-A Pro, Gaming Plus, Edge, X470 Gaming Pro, B450 Pro-VDH (& Max & V2), Bazooka (& Max Wifi & V2), X370 Gaming Pro Carbon, Krait Gaming, SLI Plus, Gaming Plus, Gaming Pro, B350 Gaming Pro Carbon, Krait Gaming

Tier E: 75A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 1600 and 3600, a bit more than maxed out 2500X
Asus: B550 B550M-A, X470 TUF Plus, B450 B450-F, TUF Plus (mATX and ATX), Prime Plus, X370 X370-A, B350 B350-F, Prime Plus, TUF Plus
Asrock: B450 HDV, X370 Gaming X, Killer SLI, mITX, K4, Pro4, B350 ITX, HDV, AB350M
Biostar: X470 GTA, GTQ, GTN, X370 GT5, GT3, B350 GT5, GT3, GTN
Gigabyte: B450 Aorus Pro (ATX), Aorus Elite (ATX), Aorus M, Gaming X, S2H, DS3H, ITX, X370 Gaming K5, K3, 3, Gaming, DS3H, B350 Gaming 3, Gaming, DASH, DS3H, AB350N Gaming-WiFi
MSI: B450 Pro-M2 (& Max), B350 Gaming Plus, Tomahawk, PC Mate, Bazooka, Mortar, Pro-VDH, Pro-VH Plus, Pro-VD Plus

Tier F: 50A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 1200/2200G (CPU only)/3100/3300X or 3600/3700x at stock with downdraft air cooler
Asus: B550 B550M-K, B450 B450M-K, B450M-A, Dragon, B350 B350M-A, B350M-E, B350M-K
Asrock: B450 HDV R4.0, B350 HDV R3.0, HDV R4.0
Biostar: X570 GT, B350 B45M2, HiFi B350S1, ET2
Gigabyte: B350 D3H, D3V, HD3, DS2, B450 B450 H
MSI: B450 Pro-M2 V2, B450M-A Pro, B350 Gaming Pro

Tier H2O: Liquid cooled only VRM, quite bad if cooled only with air, tier S if liquid cooled
Asus: X570 Crosshair VIII Formula
Asrock: X570 Aqua

Tier W: Workstation features, can appear here and above tiers
Asus: X570 Pro WS Ace (proper ECC certification)
Asrock rack: X570 D2I, D4U-2L2T, D4I-2T, X470 D4U (ECC cert + KVM switch), D4U2-2T (ECC cert + KVM switch)


B550 Speculation: If you cant find the board above, then it should be here. If it's already up there, then ignore what it's placed here

Tier A: Asrock Steel Legend ATX, Extreme4, Taichi, Asus B550-A, B550-F, Gigabyte Aorus Elite ATX, MSI Edge WiFi, Carbon

Tier B: Asrock Steel Legend mATX, Phantom Gaming ITX, Asus B550-I, Biostar GTA, GTQ, Gigabyte Vision D, Aorus Pro ITX, MSI Edge ITX

Tier C : Asrock B550M-ITX

Tier D : Asus Prime B550 Plus, Gigabyte S2H

Tier F: Gigabyte B550M H

[NeoGen]

Wow, they seem to have put those motherboards through some serious stress testing, maybe borderline destruction... but at first glance I'm not sure I understand what do they mean by those current draw values, is that really amperage? How can you push 300 amps of current through a motherboard? That sounds like enough current to power a whole datacenter.

[Dirk Broer]

Wow, they seem to have put those motherboards through some serious stress testing, maybe borderline destruction... but at first glance I'm not sure I understand what do they mean by those current draw values, is that really amperage? How can you push 300 amps of current through a motherboard? That sounds like enough current to power a whole datacenter.

I can only think of this: Power design MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE
https://storage-asset.msi.com/global/picture/news/2019/mb/x570-vrm-20190626-4.png