I'm looking to replace my MSI B450M-A Pro Max II with an inexpensive AM4 motherboard that gives me more NVMe storage options. My current system has a Ryzen 7 5700X, 32GB of DDR4-3600 memory, an RTX 3060 Ti, a 1TB WD SN5000 PCIe 4.0 SSD, a 512GB Intel 660p, and a 1TB Samsung PM9A1. I recently bought another used 1TB PM9A1, but my current motherboard only has one M.2 slot.
Ideally, the replacement board should have one PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot for the Samsung PM9A1, a second PCIe 3.0-or-better x4 M.2 slot for the WD drive, and preferably another PCIe slot or adapter option for the Intel 660p. USB 10Gbps and USB-C would also be useful, but they are not essential. I would like to keep the cost below roughly $100 or ₹10,000 since I plan to move to a newer platform eventually.
I'm currently considering the MSI B550M Pro-VDH WiFi at about ₹9,200 and the ASUS Prime B550M-K ARGB at about ₹6,800. The MSI board costs more but offers Wi-Fi and additional expansion flexibility, while the ASUS board is cheaper but makes me more concerned about warranty support and reliability. Would either be a sensible choice, or is there a better inexpensive AM4 board for this setup?
2 Answers
Before replacing the motherboard, consider putting one of the secondary NVMe drives in a USB enclosure. It will be slower, especially if the board or enclosure is limited to 5Gbps, but it may be good enough for general storage and backups. Replacing an otherwise functional AM4 board just to gain one M.2 slot may not be the most cost-effective upgrade.
A PCIe NVMe expansion card is probably the simplest way to add another drive. Many of these cards can hold up to four M.2 SSDs, although you need to check whether the motherboard supports PCIe bifurcation. With your RTX 3060 Ti installed, lane availability and physical clearance are also worth checking. If the board cannot bifurcate the slot, a four-drive card may only detect one SSD.
I only have one PCIe x16 slot on the current B450 board, so I’m not sure whether it supports splitting that slot into x8 and x8. I’m still learning how the lane allocation works.
The slower Intel 660p is already running through a roughly 5Gbps connection, but I’d rather use the Samsung PM9A1 internally because it has DRAM. I could also move the WD drive and install the Samsung in the existing M.2 slot, but that would leave the PCIe 4.0 WD drive underused.