In today’s comparison review, we will discuss two phenomenal motherboards in the form of the Asus TUF Gaming B550-Plus vs Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming. The Taiwanese manufacturer has managed to cement itself in most of the products in the electronic market.
The Asus TUF series motherboards are known for their durability and functionality. Besides, they come with a 5-year warranty compared to most of the other products giving you only 3 years. Users can find top-end models coming with motherboard armor and also covers for dust enabling them to work in any environment.
They have now shifted their focus on budget gamers as well. You can notice that their products come with several sublime features, specifications, and a budget price range. It is safe that today, the TUF models are mainly preferred by consumers in the market.
Besides, the brand is known to produce budget models. The models that we are going to see today come priced under $200. For the TUF Gaming B550-Plus, we get an above-average motherboard on the specifications.
We noticed that the power delivery heatsink is widely spread on the socket. That means you do not require the rear I/O cover. You can also find an 8-pin power socket and a section where grey lines place themselves from one side to the other.
We are delighted to say that during testing, the B550-Plus did exceptionally well. We did notice that the application startup and the Powerpoint tests came lower than they should have. Apart from that, this is a sublime model to opt with.
The Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming motherboard is another exciting model. It comes with a stunning design and incredible specifications. Like most of the B550-F models, it comes with the 14-phase power delivery, integrated Wi-Fi 6 AX200, 2.5 GbE LAN, 2 M.2 slots, premium audio, and 6 SATA ports.
Our tester found handling the motherboard a breeze. The installation to the functioning was simply superb. There was nothing much to complain about, nothing special either. You get what you exactly want and need.
The overclocking of the 24 thread Ryzen 9 3900X worked smoothly. We noted that it could effortlessly push all cores on the CPU to 4.3 GHz. Let us continue reading the post with the same vigor and find out who the winner is, mentioned in the end.
 |  |
|---|---|
| ASUS TUF GAMING B550-PLUS | ASUS ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING |
| PROS | PROS |
| We found the installation procedure smooth. It has Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200. It comes with the USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port. There is the infusion of TUF protections. Overclocking was sensational in the model. | Users can quickly install the motherboard. It comes with special 14-Phase power delivery. It has a 2.5 GbE LAN and Wi-Fi 6 AX200. The model is infused with terrific audio quality. Overclocking was stupendous in the motherboard. |
| CONS | CONS |
| Few users were not satisfied with the appearance. | The unit is quite expensive for the B550 motherboard. |
Asus TUF Gaming B550-Plus vs Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming: Features & Layout
The Asus products are known for their sublime packaging. We usually do not say these things in our reviews. But this is truly a notable feature if you look at it. The moment you lay your eyes on the packaging, you see how nicely they have placed it.
You can find the user manual with small letters (difficult to read), the I/O shield, the Driver DVD, M.2 screw package, TUF gaming sticker, 2 SATA cables, and the Wi-Fi antenna with it.
If you see the motherboard, you can notice the black PCB and heatsinks. As we mentioned in the earlier paragraph, it comes with a sublime pattern of grey lines. These lines start from down and go all the way up on the chipset.
When you are fond of RGB light, then the TUF Gaming unit can satisfy you. It comes with a small portion at the bottom, sending light at the top of the model. Our tester noticed that the board’s design could easily fit inside most of the PC cases in the market.
The heatsinks are a notable feature in the TUF unit. It sends power to the VRMs effortlessly using the single 8-pin EPS connector. It comes with both the left and top VRM banks. You can find a VRM heatsink covering a lot of PCB at the rear I/O.
We found the logo at the top of the heatsink giving it an elegant appearance. We also liked the grey and yellow patterns that represent the brand. You can find the 4 DIMM slots coming in black and grey that matches well.
You will be amazed to know that the product can effortlessly support 128GB RAM speeds of DDR4 4600(OC). Using the socket, you can access 4 4-pin fan headers, and 2 of them are above, and 2 of them are below.
Additionally, the 4 DRAM slots have alternative colors. Each of the side latches offers you with first PCIe slot. On the right, you can find a USB 3.0 header, 6 SATA ports, a 24-pin ATX connector, and the RGB header.
In the PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot, you can notice a heatsink. You can see a full-length slot of PCIe 3.0 x4 that is just above the PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slot. At the bottom, you can find the audio subsystem, Thunderbolt header, Clear CMOS header, RGB headers, 2 USB 2.0 headers, and COM port.
You can also see the DIMM slots coming with 2 fan headers, a 4-pin RGB header. Please note that the fan headers can effortlessly support 1A/12W. Our tester thought there could have been 1 header support output for several fans or a water pump.
Likewise, we can find on the Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming motherboard that it comes with PCIe/M.2 that are held using pushpins and not screws. At the bottom of the heatsink, you can find the 4 SATA ports oriented vertically.
The headers and ports are neatly arranged on the unit. We found them to be reasonably accessible. They are the aRGB header (3-pin), RGB header (4-pin), front panel audio header, COM port, front panel headers, 2 USB 2.0 headers, speaker header, and 4 SATA ports.
The unit comes with several USB ports that were quite a surprise. Asus typically does not provide most of its budget models with so many ports. However, in this model, it comes with several ports at the rear.
When you open the package, you can find the Wi-Fi antenna, user manual, DVD, the ROG Strix stickers that quite attractive, M.2 rubber package, M.2 SSD screw package, cable tie, LED extension cable, and 4 SATA cables.
Our tester was highly impressed with the slots, black PCB, and heatsinks. You can notice that the only elements not in black are the chipset heatsink. It does not come with a fan. Besides, the unit makes less use of power as there is no support for several PCIe 4.0 lanes.
At the top of the unit, the IO shroud comes at the rear I/O bits. This lets it cover the massive VRM heatsink and the 2 EPS connectors that are above it. You can also find 2 additional fan headers at the right of the I/O shroud and on the top M.2 slot.
Asus TUF Gaming B550-Plus vs Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming: Software and Firmware
The Asus TUF Gaming B550-Plus motherboard comes with top-notch software and firmware. They come with several applications that are designed for a barrage of operations. Some of them include audio, RGB lighting control, overclocking, and system monitoring.
If you notice, the firmware theme is not what you typically find on most ROG units. The board comes with a black, blue, and white tone. However, it is an Asus BIOS, and most of the functionalities are similar in style to those found on it.
The standard benchmarks and power tests were enabled on it thanks to the stock frequencies found on the CPU. Using the optimized defaults, you can get the BIOS, and the memory uses the XMP profiles.
The power of the processor worked sublimely during the stress-test loading at 216W. Of course, the power was used slightly higher than what was given in there. When you look at the present VRM temperatures on the chipset, you can quickly notice 8+2 phase power delivery.
It worked nicely using Ryzen 9 3900X and the hottest sensor hitting at 50degree Celsius. On the other hand, we have the Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming motherboard. The standard benchmarks and power tests were done using the stock frequencies.
For baseline testing, the Windows was set at high performance. Our tester then switched to the balanced for enabling the PC to become idle. The Wi-Fi worked just fine on the chipset. You might check the resolution of the board using them.
You will be glad to know that the processor idle time was 52W. This is the highest in this segment with a couple of watts. The temperature on the chipset was found to be expected. All in all, the software and firmware of the motherboards are quite stunning and exceptional.
Asus TUF Gaming B550-Plus vs Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming: Overclocking
Depending on your requirement, you can overclock AMD processors. As usual, our tester signifies the importance of that and uses higher specifications. When you want to use a single-threaded performance, then you will want to tweak the PBO.
Similarly, when you want to, you can allow the CPU to work in the given parameters. Likewise, when looking for a multi-threaded performance, you can overclock the cores using the same speed.
You will want to know the capability of the unit. Hence, more power was chosen, like we used 4.3 GHz and 1.35V for an all-core overclock. The VRM temperatures were low, which is not surprising considering this is a TUF model.
The VDroop was a non-issue offering a little sluggish performance. You can adjust it sublimely. Please do note that overclocking, most of the VRM’s did not peak at 56degree Celsius. Our tester did not face a problem at overclocking with the power delivery configuration.
We are happy to let you know that the overclocking of the Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming motherboard was stunning. You can adjust the threads and cores depending on your requirement.
We used the Ryzen 9 3900X to 4.3 GHz for this purpose without having any problem. There was not much problem using VDroop. As you know, AMD comes with 3600/3733 MHz, and hence you do not want to push it beyond the FCLK 1:1 ratio.
In the end, the results of both the motherboards did quite well. There was no sluggishness in the performance, and the overclocking was just fine. You could notice how quick or slow they were performing on the 3900X to 4.3 GHz with aplomb.
Asus TUF Gaming B550-Plus vs Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming: Price
In some reviews, you may notice that the same brand makes the products. The pricing can play a significant role in deciding who the winner is. Will it turn out to be in this post? The Asus TUF Gaming B550-Plus gaming motherboard is priced under $170.
Our tester felt that the motherboard is priced aggressively for the features infused in it. Likewise, the Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming motherboard is priced under $210. Now, it makes the unit $40 higher than the B550-Plus model.
However, we did notice that it is priced much lower at the time of writing. So, you can always find it cheaper if you keep your eyes open. We highly recommend the B550-F Gaming model for hardcore gamers.
Asus TUF Gaming B550-Plus vs Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming: Verdict
We have ended our comparison review between two invigorating motherboards from Asus. They come with galvanizing features and an incredible design tone. This is a common trend among most of the Asus models released in the market.
Probably, this could be a reason for their rankings in the market in most segments. The Asus TUF Gaming B550-Plus comes with invigorating specifications that are sufficient to make any professional gamer very happy.
It is able to perform well in the benchmark test and can effortlessly overclock on the CPU tests. As you read, it comes with 4 SATA ports, dual M.2 slots, and many USB ports. Few of them include USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C for this price point.
It also comes infused with the Wi-Fi AX200 and Realtek 2.5G LAN. This is a new trend among TUF motherboards. The model comes with striking features when compared to most boards present in the market made from brands like MSI, ASRock, and others.
It is an excellent option when you are short on budget and looking to spend less than $180 on a new board for your PC. Please do note that you need to update your BIOS with the help of a Ryzen 5000 series CPU.
Likewise, the new Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming motherboard comes with incredible features embedded in it. They include Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200, SupremeFX Audio, energizing power delivery, and others.
This is a sublime choice for more than the $200 price range. As we said, you can get it cheaper if you keep looking. It also has dual M.2 slots, one PCIe 4.0, PCIe 4.0 video card, and can efficiently support the Ryzen 3900X CPU effortlessly.
It is a top-notch unit that comes with Wi-Fi for $30 more. When you do not require it, then you can get it slightly cheaper. The model is the ideal platform for gamers, coders and uses to design a B550 PC beginning at a price range of $200.
Our winner in the review is the Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming motherboard.
James Smith has always been intrigued by electronic products since his childhood. After his post graduation in electronics from a popular university, he decided to pursue a career in the electronics sector. But his calling for writing about these marvellous pieces of work got the better of him. That is how UBG was started. With a writing career spanning more than 12 years, James has worked on several hundred product reviews. During his free time, he like to spend time with his pet dog and relax in the swimming pool.