MSI B350 Tomahawk Review - Review 2022

Building out or upgrading a gaming desktop PC on a budget may mean forgoing sure features, but you lot shouldn't have to settle for scraps. MSI'due south B350 Tomahawk ($99.99) motherboard makes for a nice remainder between functionality, way, and value. Information technology provides a solid foundation for an AMD Ryzen-based budget build, and information technology fifty-fifty squeezes in a decent LED illumination scheme, in the event you're edifice out your upkeep dream rig in a windowed PC chassis. The board blueprint and chipset effectively limits yous to a single video card (unless you're willing to install 2 AMD Radeon-based boards in CrossFire, with the second slot existence bottlenecked), simply that compromise will be fine for near buyers. You lot also won't find USB 3.one Gen 2 back up on this board, nor can y'all expect onboard RGB LEDs. Just MSI designed the B350 Tomahawk to be a lean gamer, and it lets you spend more than on the stuff that matters most: your CPU or GPU.

A Blood-red-Lit Racer

The B350 Tomahawk is a standard-ATX motherboard with an uncluttered, comfortable layout. Every key component has some space around it, which translates to an easier installation feel than y'all'll get with some cram-packed MicroATX boards or feature-stuffed full-ATX flagships. (For a primer on motherboard lingo, come across Buying a Motherboard: xx Terms Y'all Need to Know.)

The AM4 CPU socket has plenty of infinite around it for exotic cooling gear, should you want something more powerful than the very capable (and often downright attractive) stock Wraith CPU-cooling fans that ship with Ryzen CPUs. The board's dual-channel memory slots have pollex tabs at both the summit and lower ends and sit down well away from the CPU. The dual-channel slots support up to 64GB of DDR4 retention.

MSI doesn't reinforce the B350 Tomahawk's memory slots with a metal casing, only it does gird the PCI Express x16 slot, which is the about important (and about stressed) slot to protect. After all, video cards can be heavy and their slots vulnerable to dandy whenever you jostle your PC. MSI's so-called "Steel Armor" includes the steel slot wrapping, which gives the slot a especially tough look while providing EMI protection, as well equally some reinforced solder points to lock the slot onto the PCB.

The 2nd PCI Express x16 slot doesn't become the Steel Armor handling and is an PCI Express 2.0 slot running at x4, rather than a 2d PCI Express 3.0 x16. All of the 16 lanes on this lath are meant for the main PCI Express slot, and while CrossFire is technically supported, it'll bounciness down the performance of your card duo due to the bandwidth.

Twin-card Nvidia SLI isn't on the menu at all. MSI keeps the high-terminate pieces to a minimum and puts them but where they're needed most. Your other expansion slots include two legacy PCI (yes, straight old-school PCI) slots and two PCI Express x1 slots. If you lot just can't quit that ancient sound card, welcome it home.

MSI tucks an Thou.two slot just beneath the first PCI Express x16 slot, which means you lot'll nigh certainly have to install your storage device before plugging in whatsoever video carte. It'due south not an platonic location from a builder'south perspective, simply it's the simply spot on the board that has room to back up extra-long Type-22110 devices. Once you install your M.ii storage, you can plug your video card into the PCI Express x16 slot, and the carte'south cooling gear volition overhang the 1000.two device. (See our guide to the best Thou.2 SSDs.)

Part of the B350 board chipset sports a large heatsink with the MSI logo at the center. Information technology's a classy look, resembling a silvery shield, simply it's certainly non a caput-turner. That goes for the ability-phase heatsinks, too, each bank of which has a single, demure red stripe to jazz it up a footling.

Those touches may exist understated, but that'due south not to say that the B350 Tomahawk doesn't accept a flake of bling. Red LEDs ring the back of the motherboard, creating a noticeable glow confronting your PC instance's motherboard tray. Also, similar on many other modern boards, an irregular LED stripe embedded in the PCB travels from the lower end of the board up to the I/O ports, isolating the sound-capacitor zone.

These days, RGB lighting on the board proper, as opposed to unmarried-color illumination, is fairly mutual on gaming motherboards, so I think some buyers will exist put off by the lack of choices. Nevertheless, the red LED basis-effects glow looks sharp. I can see the B350 Tomahawk anchoring a build that features all-cerise lighting.

Ports and Headers: A Good Mix

The B350 Tomahawk's I/O console doesn't feature whatsoever USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports. That's not to say that a Type-C port isn't bachelor; MSI puts a USB 3.i Gen 1 Blazon-C port right in the center of the I/O panel, forth with three of the standard, rectangular USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A ports.

A single Gigabit LAN port (backed up past a Realtek 8111H controller, as opposed to an Intel solution) sits nigh the sound ports, while the other side of the I/O console is habitation to two USB 2.0 ports, a legacy PS/2 port, and both DVI and VGA connectors. The panel also sports an HDMI port, merely these video-out connectors won't matter if you install your ain video card. Of class, given the vagaries of the video-card market, relying on the Ryzen CPU and sticking to games that aren't overly graphics-intensive may exist the route for some casual gamers. The onboard video-outs will piece of work with one of the 2000-series Ryzen "G" chips, too as the AM4-socket APUs from the seventh-Generation "Bristol Ridge" line.

MSI does right past its customers when it comes to fan headers, fifty-fifty on budget-friendly boards. The B350 Tomahawk sports six fan connectors, one of which is designated for a water pump. That connector stands in the upper-right corner of the board, along with the CPU fan header and an extra organisation fan header. Another header stands behind the I/O panel'southward audio ports. Ii more are about the bottom of the motherboard. The event: You lot shouldn't have much trouble finding an open up header while assembling your PC.

The right side of the motherboard looks somewhat spare. Aside from three fan headers, the ability connector, and a front-panel USB three.ane Gen 1 connector, the just other ports on the right edge are four SATA ports. Interestingly, two of the ports face off the edge of the board (which is typical), while the other two stand upright. That's a nice touch, from a cable-management perspective.

Call me old-fashioned, but I retrieve the front end-panel headers should be in the bottom-correct corner of the board, where information technology's easy (or at least easy-ish) to reach and the least probable spot to exam the length of your PC example's born cords. Lately, I've seen boards that move that particular header to the heart of the board'south lower edge. I'm glad to come across that MSI keeps things old-school with the front-panel header on the B350 Tomahawk.

The lower border of the B350 Tomahawk likewise sports a USB iii.i Gen 1 header and 2 USB two.0 headers, along with a parallel-port pin connector. More important (at least, for the states bling-minded DIY types), the board's bottom edge likewise has an RGB LED-strip connector for 50/50-way LEDs. Purchase a fifty/50 LED strip, plug it in, and y'all can either pump more ruby into your organisation, or mix things upwards with dissimilar colors.

A Trivial Calorie-free on Accessories

The B350 Tomahawk'southward accessories bundle is a fleck lean. Just 2 SATA cables send with the board. I like that one of the cables has an L-shaped end, though. An RGB LED-strip extension cord would have been nice hither, as would an adapter for the front-panel header. Just these are some of the showtime things to get in a budget-lath accessories package.

Of class, the box includes a driver DVD and the I/O console bracket. And the paperwork is worth a flip-through: a quick installation guide, a full manual, and a glossy note that gives tips for installing the memory and a CPU cooler, complete with graphics. Still, the accessories package seems slim.

Trying Out a Test Build

I built a test PC effectually the MSI B350 Tomahawk to encounter whether the board's design is likely to cause whatsoever difficulties during installation. The SilverStone Primera PM01 makes an platonic example for this sort of build considering it has a reasonable amount of elbow room in its main compartment just isn't massive. (See our guide to the best PC cases.)

A matter to note, though: AMD's Ryzen 2000-series CPUs launched well after the B350 Tomahawk did, with the result that early versions of the board crave a BIOS update to support a 2000-series CPU. That ways installing an older processor first, and updating the BIOS. MSI offers an updating kit for customers who take this issue via its tech support at (626) 271-1004. Recently built versions of the board volition recognize the new CPUs without a BIOS update, and so whether you run into the issue might depend on when your store or due east-tailer received the lath recently or is moving older stock.

Take information technology from me: It'due south worth looking for a version with the newer BIOS out of the box, because I encountered this issue, and it was a pain. The organization failed to starting time and a red-alarm light appeared when I installed an AMD Ryzen 3 2200G. Replacing the CPU with an older Ryzen 7 1800X ($332.00 at Amazon) got me into the BIOS, at which point I updated to the latest BIOS version and reinstalled the Ryzen three 2200G. That did the trick, and the board had no issues after that.

CPU-swapping aside, the PC-build process was typical. I installed 32GB of DDR4-3200 One thousand.Skill TridentZ retentivity and an MSI GeForce GTX 1060 Gaming X ($369.22 at Amazon) video carte without any trouble. MSI provides adept instructions for new DIY-ers.

The BIOS: A Brief Look

Press the Delete cardinal during boot, and you'll enter the MSI's custom BIOS, which has both EZ and Advanced modes. The EZ mode doesn't let you lot suit many of the BIOS settings, but it provides a overnice overview of your PC'southward condition.

MSI puts your lath'south model number, BIOS version, and BIOS build appointment correct at the top of the screen, which is handy, especially given the B350 Tomahawk's extenuating BIOS circumstances. Critical info nearly your CPU, memory, and other devices is forepart and heart, with tabs on the left for navigation...

You lot can besides achieve the Hardware Monitor from EZ mode (or Advanced mode, for that matter). This BIOS console covers temperature and fan speeds throughout your PC...

Board Explorer is another worthwhile tool, providing an interactive map of the board, consummate with component statuses...

Advanced mode, of course, lets you lot drill down to all of the board's settings. You lot access the majority of these via the large subcategory squares on the left edge, with about of what you'll mess with under Settings, unless you're overclocking or updating the BIOS...

MSI does a nice job with the layout, putting individual settings in the center of the page. As with EZ mode, much of your arrangement'due south well-nigh important statuses are visible, fifty-fifty when you're working with granular settings.

An On-Ramp to Value for Builders

With a price tag nether $100, the B350 Tomahawk is going to entreatment to many gamers planning budget PC builds. AMD has solid budget processors that volition pair well with the lath (with the right BIOS update, in some cases), leaving more room in your budget for a meliorate course of video carte.

One upshot worth extra consideration is the board'due south CPU support. If y'all're building a quick-and-muddied upkeep PC, information technology might non seem worth exposing yourself to the run a risk of a complicated, multi-CPU BIOS update procedure. On the other hand, as DIY-ers, nosotros like to curl up our sleeves and dig into stuff like this. For some buyers, the possibility of swapping CPUs is an interesting claiming.

The Tomahawk B350 is proof that you lot don't need to trash your build budget to choice up a decent (if somewhat spartan) gaming board. Whether you're a gamer aspiring to get into VR, or a fan of standard PC-platform video games, you'll find this board to be gear up for action. The decision you'll need to make is whether you're willing to invest more of your budget into a lath that has more than features. Merely for a single-card build, the B350 Tomahawk provides a squeamish mix of connectivity, legacy support, and access to some of the most value-minded components—that is, AMD'south Ryzen chips—on the market today.

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Further Reading

• MSI Responds to Coronavirus With Extended Warranties
• How Trump's Tariff Hike May Affect Prices for PC Parts
• Gigabyte Launches a $900 Motherboard
• Mega-Guide: All the Intel Z490 Motherboards for 10th Generation 'Comet Lake-S' CPUs
• Here's All the AMD X570 Motherboards We Saw at Computex 2022 (and Information technology'south a Lot)

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/migrated-88362-components/28702/msi-b350-tomahawk-review

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