AM4 boards roundup: iTX format

[Dirk Broer]

The Asrock AM4 iTX-boards

Model	SATA 600	M.2 S600/ Pcie3.0x4	USB 3.1 Gen2	USB 3.1 Gen1	USB 2.0	NIC	WiFi	Bluetooth	Video out	Sound	Power design phases
ASRock Fatal1ty X470 Gaming-ITX/ac	4x	1x	Rear, 1x Type-A 1x Type-C	2 Front, 2 Rear	2 Front, 2 Rear	Intel I211AT	Intel®2T2R Dual Band 1733 Mbit/s	5.0	2x HDMI	Realtek ALC1220	3 CPU VCC (x2) +2 SoC VCC
Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX/ac	4x	1x	Rear, 1x Type-A 1x Type-C	2 Front, 2 Rear	2 Front, 2 Rear	Intel I211AT	Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168 433 Mbit/s	4.2	2x HDMI	Realtek ALC1220	3 CPU VCC (x2) +2 SoC VCC
ASRock Fatal1ty X370 Gaming-ITX/ac	4x	1x	-	2 Front, 3 Rear 1x Type-C	2 Front, 2 Rear	Intel I211AT	Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265 867 Mbit/s	4.2	2x HDMI	Realtek ALC1220	3 CPU VCC (x2) +2 SoC VCC
ASRock Fatal1ty B350 Gaming-ITX/ac	4x	1x	-	2 Front, 3 Rear 1x Type-C	2 Front, 2 Rear	Intel I211AT	Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168 433 Mbit/s	4.2	2x HDMI	Realtek ALC1220	3 CPU VCC (x2) +2 SoC VCC
ASRock A320M-ITX	4x	1x	-	2 Front, 3 Rear 1x Type-C	2 Front, 2 Rear	Intel I211AT	-	-	2x HDMI	Realtek ALC1220	3 CPU VCC (x2) +2 SoC VCC

No doubt a X570 model will soon come out, offering PCIe 4.0 and other performance tweaks. The top model for now, the X470, goes for around 170 Euro's here,
the B450, X370 and B350 boards do some 110 Euro and the A320 board is nowhere to be found, except on the Asrock website. No vendor dares to sell it here.
The X370 has gone from Asrocks website, so seems to be discontinued. I already wrote earlier that I think the X370 is total overkill in the iTX setup anyway.
My advise would be to take the B450 board, based upon chipset capabilities and better CPU VRM cooling (but bear in mind that it will not support Excavator-based AM4 APUs and CPUs).
If you want an Asrock AM4 iTX, the X470 isn't worth the extra money -or you would have to have a desperate need for the greater WiFi speed.

Asus

Model	SATA 600	M.2 S600/ Pcie3.0x4	USB 3.1 Gen2	USB 3.1 Gen1	USB 2.0	NIC	WiFi	Bluetooth	Video out	Sound	Power design phases
Asus RoG Strix X470-I Gaming	4x	2x (1x M.2 PCIe3.0x4)	2x Type-A	2 Front, 2 Rear	2 Front	Intel I211AT	Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 867 Mbit/s	4.2	HDMI	ROG SupremeFX S1220A	6 CPU VCC + 1 SoC VCC
Asus RoG Strix B450-I Gaming	4x	2x (1x M.2 PCIe3.0x4)	2x Type-A	2 Front, 2 Rear	2 Front	Intel I211AT	Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 867 Mbit/s	4.2	HDMI	ROG SupremeFX S1220A	6 CPU VCC + 1 SoC VCC
Asus ROG Strix X370-I Gaming	4x	2x (1x M.2 PCIe2.0 x4)	2x Type-A	2 Front, 4 Rear	2 Front	Intel I211AT	Dual Band Wireless-AC 867 Mbit/s	4.2	-	ROG SupremeFX S1220A	6 CPU VCC + 1 SoC VCC
Asus RoG Strix B350-I Gaming	4x	2x (1x M.2 PCIe2.0x4)	2x Type-A	2 Front, 2 Rear	2 Front	Intel I211AT	Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 867 Mbit/s	4.2	-	ROG SupremeFX S1220A	6 CPU VCC + 1 SoC VCC

It seems that adding 'ROG' to an ASUS product warrants an extra amount of money to be asked for it. The X470 board goes for just short of 200 Euro's here, the B450 board does 150 Euro's,
the two 300-series board go at the moment for 140 Euro's, making ASUS by far the most expensive choice when choosing the mini-iTX format. And just as Biostar seems to think "WiFi? Why? No WiFI!"
ASUS seemed to have thought "APUs? Why? No APUs, no video-out!" with the 300-series of boards, only to have come back to their senses with the 400-series.

Biostar

Model	SATA 600	M.2 S600/ Pcie3.0x4	USB 3.1 Gen2	USB 3.1 Gen1	USB 2.0	NIC	WiFi	Bluetooth	Video out	Sound	Power design phases
Biostar Racing X470GTN	4x	1x	1x Type-A 1x Type-C	2 Front, 4 Rear	2 Front	Realtek RTL8118AS	-	-	DVI-D, HDMI	Realtek ALC892	4 CPU VCC + 3 SoC VCC
Biostar Racing X370GTN	4x	1x	1x Type-A 1x Type-C	2 Front, 4 Rear	2 Front	Realtek RTL8118AS	-	-	DVI-D, HDMI	Realtek ALC892	4 CPU VCC + 3 SoC VCC
Biostar Racing B350GTN	4x	1x	1x Type-A 1x Type-C	2 Front, 4 Rear	2 Front	Realtek RTL8118AS	-	-	DVI-D, HDMI	Realtek ALC892	4 CPU VCC + 3 SoC VCC

All three models still feature on the Biostar website, but the B350 board has has fallen off the price lists here. The remaining two board lack WiFi as compared to their competitors and have the over-the-top (for iTX) X370 and X470 chipsets.
Why? You can't do crossfire or SLI on an iTX board, and there's no room for the other extra's that might be given chipset-wise too.

Gigabyte

Model	SATA 600	M.2 S600/ Pcie3.0x4	USB 3.1 Gen2	USB 3.1 Gen1	USB 2.0	NIC	WiFi	Bluetooth	Video out	Sound	Power design phases
Gigabyte Aorus B450 I Pro WiFi	4x	1x	2x Type-A	2 Front, 4 Rear	2 Front	Intel®GbE LAN	Intel® 2x2 Wave2 Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 1733 Mbit/s	5.0	Display Port, 2x HDMI	Realtek ALC1220	4 CPU VCC + 2 SoC VCC
Gigabyte AB350N Gaming WiFi	4x	1x	2x Type-A	2 Front, 4 Rear	2 Front, 2 Rear	Realtek	Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165 433 Mbit/s	4.2	Display Port, HDMI	Realtek ALC1220	4 CPU VCC + 2 SoC VCC

A total redesign for the Aorus B450 I Pro WiFi by Gigabyte here. A far bigger CPU VRM heatsink and a complete relocation of components.
On top of that they actually dropped the price of the B450 board here (116 Euro's), as compared to the B350 board (125 Euro)

MSI

Model	SATA 600	M.2 S600/ Pcie3.0x4	USB 3.1 Gen2	USB 3.1 Gen1	USB 2.0	NIC	WiFi	Bluetooth	Video out	Sound	Power design phases
MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC	4x	1x	-	2 Front, 4 Rear	2 Front, 2 Rear	Realtek RTL8111H	Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168 433 Mbit/s	4.2	Display Port, HDMI	Realtek ALC887	6 CPU VCC + 2 SoC VCC
MSI B350I Pro AC	4x	1x	2x Type-A	2 Front, 2 Rear	2 Front, 2 Rear	Realtek RTL8111H	Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168 433 Mbit/s	4.2	Display Port, HDMI	Realtek ALC887	6 CPU VCC + 2 SoC VCC

The better-looking 120 Euro's B450 model lost the heatsink on the SoC VCC VRMs and the Gen2 USB ports, as compared to the B350 model while that can be bought for 112 Euro's.
What matters more to you?

[Dirk Broer]

MSI

Bit of a surprise here, at first just one board but later on both two B450 and two B550 boards (with WiFi to distinguish between them):

Model	SATA 600	M.2 S600/ Pcie3.0x4	USB 3.2 Gen2	USB 3.2 Gen1	USB 3.1 Gen1	USB 2.0	NIC	WiFi	Bluetooth	Video out	Sound	Power design phases
MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC	4x	1x	-		2 Front, 4 Rear	2 Front, 2 Rear	Realtek RTL8111H 1Gbps	Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168 433 Mbit/s	4.2	Display Port, HDMI	Realtek ALC887	6 CPU VCC + 2 SoC VCC
MSI B450I Gaming Plus Max WiFi	4x	1x	-	2 Front, 4 Rear		2 Front, 2 Rear	Realtek RTL8111H 1Gbps	Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168 433 Mbit/s	4.2	Display Port, HDMI	Realtek ALC887	6 CPU VCC + 2 SoC VCC
MSI MPG B550I Gaming Edge WiFi	4x	2x	1(Type A) Rear	1(Type C), 2(Type A) Front 1(Type C), 2(Type A) Rear		2 Front, 2 Rear	RTL8125B 2.5Gbps	Intel? AX200/AX210 up to 2.4Gbps	5.2	HDMI	Realtek ALC1200	8 CPU VCC + 2 SoC VCC
MSI MPG B550I Gaming EDGE MAX WIFI	4x	2x	1(Type A) Rear	1(Type C), 2(Type A) Front 1(Type C), 2(Type A) Rear		2 Front, 2 Rear	RTL8125B 2.5Gbps	Intel? AX200/AX210 up to 2.4Gbps	5.2	HDMI	Realtek ALC1200	8 CPU VCC + 2 SoC VCC

The better-looking, but by now unavailable B450 without WiFi in the name that lost its heatsink on the SoC VCC VRMs and the Gen2 USB ports as compared to the B350 model -and that disappeared from the MSI portfolio even earlier- was for a while the only MSI Socket AM4 iTX board.
It was followed up by the almost identical (white for red) WiFi version and went out of sales when the B550 arrived. The MAX model is slightly less luxorious (no LED light, one less fan port).
P.S. : They are all gone from the MSI portfolio by now, but you can still buy them 2nd hand.