ASRock B550 Extreme4 Review

1. Introducing ASRock B550 Extreme42. Features and Hardware3. Test Set-up and CPU Tests4. Temperatures and Power Draw5. Closing Thoughts6. View All Pages

ASRock B550 Extreme4 is a decent motherboard that supports the latest AMD desktop CPUs with a good list of features that lean towards the enthusiast who appreciates on-board Power and Reset buttons and a POST code debug display.

You can do an easy reality check by asking yourself whether seven PWM fan headers sound like a decent number or some sort of crazy overkill. As a hint, we reckon four or five headers is about right however it never hurts to have a few extra as spares.

We have a couple more quick tests to help your buying decision; are you concerned about the absence of Wi-Fi in a PC that is necessarily tethered to the wall with a power cable and what do you think about the absence of USB Flashback? If you're fine about all that then the ASRock B550 Extreme4 should be on your list of possible purchases.

When you compare this motherboard to competing B550 models you will find a number of common features such as passive cooling on the chipset. We are happy with the USB support but you might, for example, demand better support for an APU and want more than a single HDMI output. We understand that view but frankly would have been happy to do without graphics support altogether so a single HDMI is fine.

In a similar vein you might want the ability to split the PCIe Gen4 provided by the CPU in which case you will be disappointed by the ASRock B550 Extreme4. It is a capable B550 motherboard but it doesn't attempt to mimic the X570 chipset in the same way as the much more expensive Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master.

On the subject of money we found the ASRock to be slightly too expensive at £190 and feel it should be priced closer to £150. The fact is that many B550 motherboards share a number of common features and we cannot think of a single aspect of the ASRock B550 Extreme4 that stands apart from the competition. It looks good, has a decent list of features, is laid out well, has a good BIOS and performs well. We are confident the ASRock B550 Extreme4 will serve you well but have little doubt the price means it may not get the attention it deserves.

You can buy the ASRock B550 Extreme4 for £189.98 from CCL HERE.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

Pros:

• Good array of ports and connectors.
• The BIOS is easy to navigate and works well.
• Huge number of high power PWM fan headers.
• VRMs run nice and cool.

Cons:

• Price is a bit steep.
• No Wi-Fi.
• No BIOS Flashback feature.

KitGuru says: ASRock has done a fine job with the B5500 Extreme4. We feel it could be a bit cheaper, but it is a solid motherboard.

Become a Patron!