BIOSTAR RACING B550GTA Ver 5.0 Motherboard Review

[Daniel_Doty]

Introduction



In the lab today, we have the BIOSTAR RACING B550GTA Ver 5.0 Socket AM4 motherboard. When most of us think of budget or value-oriented motherboards, BIOSTAR comes to mind. However, this specific motherboard brings in a mid-retail price point of $159.99. This, of course, isn’t at the high end or the bottom of the barrel. Being in the mid-level range of the AMD B550 chipset motherboards, we expect to see most of what the mid-level boards offer running the AMD B550 chipset. Let’s take a look at what BIOSTAR has to offer with this board.



Of course, most enthusiasts and do-it-yourself builders have heard of BIOSTAR, as they have been...

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[noko]

Very nice review, also nice seeing BioStar covered. I have yet to be disappointed with them.

I bought an Open Box BioStar B550GTA from NewEgg, awaiting for delivery. Somehow I thought the last slot was a 3rd pcie slot, turns out to be a pci slot which is most likely I will never use (I usually end up using every slot on a board or close to it). I have a BioStar B350GT3, bought very early with the Ryzen 1 launch, what a stable motherboard, problem free, what was so odd at the time with that motherboard was it was able to run Hynix ram @ 3200mhz with 1.45v (virtually all boards at the time were 2933mhz or less if you were lucky even with B-Die ram). Except I broke the first slot pcie x16 slot lock plus worn out the socket -> Time for a new board.

Will be using a Ryzen 3900x, will see if 4 dims also work for 32gb of ram with the 5700 XT AE.

 

[noko]

Commenced testing system, I normally do this outside the case for ease of motherboard testing, B550GTA, Ryzen 3900x, 32gb of ram here. Here it is CPU, Cooler, Ram and video card. Goal is to maximize memory speed by using a self bootable form of MemTest86 using a USB flash drive. 4 dims, 32gb, passing 3200mhz XMP profile, Vram 1.37v, Soc set to 1.1v, had to set ProcODT to 36.9ohms (XMP without that would not post).

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Cooler clearance was very tight and is slightly pushing on the dim closest to the CPU. This is actually the first AMD motherboard that this CPU cooler would fit with first dim slot used. Biostar B350GTA and ASUS CrossHair VI Hero cooler did not allow first dim slot to be used.

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Once I get the memory tested and maximize initial speed for the ram, I will install the M2's/SSDs and eventually an operating system. So far all slots filled and 3200mhz Cas 14 memory passed without issue, currently testing at 3600mhz.

 

[Dan_D]

Very nice review, also nice seeing BioStar covered. I have yet to be disappointed with them.

We are trying to ensure we get a little variety on the brand front.

 

[noko]

We are trying to ensure we get a little variety on the brand front.

That is good.

Well the motherboard tested good for 3600mhz ram timings, 16,16,16,16,36 with all 4 slots filled. 1:1 ratio. 3733mhz also tested good, installed SSDs and installed Win 10 Pro and found that it was 2:1 ratio so have to redo 3733mhz testing. Current ram Aida64 benchmark. Will optimize timings further and speed. ZenTimings indicate VDim is 1.2v but actually is 1.4v in the bios. HwInfo or Aida64 does not read the voltage of the Dim at all.

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Installed WiFi card, loaded latest bios, so far all is working good, still more testing needed. Deciding which case it will get to be installed in, have several spare empty ones laying around.