If you're thinking of building a PC on a budget, B550 chipset motherboards are the perfect place to start. Designed for the AM4 socket with support for AMD Ryzen series 3000, 4000, and 5000 processors, these boards support PCIe 4.0 expansion, M.2 solid-state drives, and component overclocking. We've found the best budget B550 motherboards to fit a range of needs, so let's get started on your new Ryzen build.
Best overall
The Aorus Elite is the most feature-rich B550 board in this range. It supports DDR4 memory overclocked up to 4733MHz, paired with 12+2 phase VRM stages for improved cooling. An NVMe M.2 socket supports PCIe 4.0 or 3.0, and a 2.5G LAN port delivers fast network transfer speeds.
Runner-up
This microATX board impressed Rich Edmonds in his review, with one PCIe 4.0 x16 slot and another at PCIe 3.0 for expansion cards. Its 8+2 power phase VRM still manages a reasonable amount of overclocking thanks to large heatsinks, making the B550M-Plus a fantastic mid-range choice.
Third alternative
A B550M alternative from Gigabyte, the Aorus Pro-P features a 10+2 power phase VRM with widened heatsinks to manage cooling during overclocking. An M.2 socket for PCIe 4.0 or 3.0 SSDs sits alongside a PCIe 4.0 x16 expansion slot for your GPU, and four DIMM slots for DDR4 RAM.
Best for Wi-Fi
If you're looking for wireless connectivity, the DS3H includes a Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) antenna and Bluetooth 4.2 support. Backed up with four DDR4 DIMM slots for RAM overclocked to 4733MHz with a 5+3 power phase VRM and hybrid fan headers for cooling.
Best for M.2 SSD
With one MSI M.2 Lightning Gen 4 socket rated at 64Gbps and another at 32Gbps, the B550-A Pro is perfect for rapid OS boot times and faster loads in games. If you're aiming to use onboard graphics with a Ryzen G CPU, note the older DVI port in place of DisplayPort.
Cheapest choice
For the ultimate money saver, ASRock's Phantom Gaming 4 AC still provides a PCIe 4.0 x16 lane for your GPU plus Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 wireless connectivity. Its 8-phase VRM can handle some careful overclocking, but it's perfect for a stock budget build.
AMD components are well liked for their performance versus cost, making the AM4 socket a perfect match for anyone looking to build a gaming PC on a budget. The best budget B550 motherboards include as many features as possible without pushing the price overboard, just like the Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite with its terrific 12+2 power phase VRM for careful overclocking. It packs the biggest punch in this range, next to the ASUS TUF Gaming B550M-Plus that performed well in our review.
None of these budget B550 boards detracts from the quality compared to some of the best motherboards around. The value in this chipset is an attractive way to save, considering you can pair it with a strong mid-range CPU like the AMD Ryzen 5 3600X as a strong starting point for a budget build. For those looking for the ultimate penny saver, ASRock's B550 Phantom Gaming 4 AC brings Wi-Fi connectivity and still suits the Ryzen 5 3600X or above for a decent stock build.
