man i have been building PCs since the DDR2 days so i usually know my way around a spec sheet but looking at these B650 boards is giving me a massive headache. i’m trying to put together a mid-range AM5 rig for my cousin by this weekend and i need to grab the board today or tomorrow at the latest to get it shipped in time. i was leaning towards the MSI Tomahawk because it’s usually the safe bet but then i started reading all these horror stories about insane boot times and some weird coil whine issues on the latest revisions. then i looked at the Gigabyte Aorus Elite but apparently the v2 has different components than the original?? its so annoying how they keep changing things mid-production.

basically i need something stable that won't break the bank—budget is strictly under $200 since we're pushing most of the cash into the GPU. we're just dropping a 7600X in there for now but i want decent enough VRMs so he can upgrade to a 9000 series chip later without the board melting.

• must have at least 3 m.2 slots
• wifi is a must (hes in a dorm)
• bios flashback because i dont want to deal with cpu compatibility issues out of the box

is the Asrock Steel Legend still the king for value or did i miss a better option that came out recently? i'm hovering over the buy button and just need some real-world feedback before i commit to one of these...