What are the best budget B650 motherboards for micro-ATX cases?

Question

So I'm finally moving over to AM5 after years on an old Intel 9th gen setup. I already picked up a Ryzen 7600 and some DDR5 RAM but I'm really stuck on the motherboard choice. I'm building in a SAMA IM01 case so it has to be mATX and I don't have a massive budget left for the board maybe 140 or 150 bucks max since I spent way too much on the GPU already.

I've been looking at the MSI PRO B650M-A WIFI and the Gigabyte B650M DS3H. The MSI one seems better built with the heatsinks and stuff but I've heard some things about slow boot times on MSI boards lately which kinda worries me because I hate waiting for my PC to start up. On the other hand the Gigabyte one is cheaper and usually has fast boots but the VRMs look a bit wimpy compared to others and the layout looks a bit cramped. I also saw the ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2 which is super cheap and reviewers seem to love it but it only has two RAM slots and I'm not sure if that's gonna bite me in the butt later if I want to upgrade to 64GB later on.

Basically I need something stable that wont overheat in a smaller case with less airflow. Between those three which one would you guys actually put in your own machine right now?

drwydintuf · Accepted Answer

Quick reply while I have a sec. Honestly, in my experience the ASRock B650M Pro RS WiFi is the real winner here. I've tried many ASRock boards recently and they've been solid. It solves your 2-slot fear with the HDV and stays way cooler than the DS3H. Their AM5 BIOS is actually super snappy too... definitely the sweet spot for a 7600 build.

Lucy Stewart · Answer

> The MSI one seems better built with the heatsinks and stuff but I've heard some things about slow boot times on MSI boards lately... The boot time issue on MSI has been mostly ironed out with bios updates, so dont let that scare you off too much. That said, if I were spending my own money on a SAMA IM01 build right now, I would grab the ASRock B650M Pro RS WiFi. It basically solves your dilemma with the HDV model because it has four RAM slots and better aesthetics while staying well under your 150 budget. Heres why it works for your setup:

The VRMs are solid and wont throttle a 7600 even in smaller cases

You get three M.2 slots which is basically unheard of at this price point

It has WiFi 6E already built in The MSI PRO B650M-A WIFI is a decent runner up if you prefer their bios, but ASRock is really killing it in the budget segment this generation. The Gigabyte B650M DS3H is okay, but the features on the Pro RS just offer better long-term value for the money.