Review on ASRock B450 STEEL LEGEND Motherboard (AM4, ATX)
3 min readMy review today is dedicated to the ASRock B450 STEEL LEGEND (AM4, ATX) motherboard that I purchased to build the system unit from scratch.
It will work in conjunction with an AMD Ryzen 5 2600 AM4 processor, KINGSTON HyperX Predator HX430C15PB3K2 / 16 DDR4 – 2x 8GB RAM, a PALIT GeForce GTX 1050 StormX 1354Mhz PCI-E 3.0 2048Mb 7000Mhz 128 bit HDMI DVI DisplayPort (NE5101010), graphics card KINGSTON SSD 2.5-inch SSDNow UV500 240 GB SATA III TLC SUV500 / 240G with 640 gigabyte hard drive and Seasonic S12II-520 power supply (SS-520GB) in Deepcool Tesseract ATX package.
Nice packaging in signature colors consists of two parts. A thin glossy cover with high-quality printing is on top, it contains detailed information about the specifications and proprietary technologies used in it.
Inside the cover is the main black box made of thick cardboard and perfectly protects the contents from external influences during transportation.
The only complaint about the packaging is that the package is not fixed inside. Opening the box, we see randomly scattered content. You could pack it in a separate flat box and nothing would dangle and rattled.
The delivery set is scarce, but also mom from the budget category. The main thing is the bracket on the back wall of the computer case and a pair of cables for connecting hard drives. In addition to them there is a couple of paper instructions for installation and operation, a software disc and several screws.
The motherboard itself is protected during transportation from below and around the perimeter by a soft and elastic material such as noise insulation and is additionally fixed with four clamps.
One of the main selection criteria for this model was the excellent value for money. What you need to build an inexpensive system unit. For more than seven thousand rubles, we get almost everything you need in a modern computer, with the exception of the possibility of serious overclocking, but not everyone needs it. But choosing the remaining components of the system correctly, you can get a modern and fairly fast home computer that will be relevant for at least a few more years.
Capabilities of this motherboard
It has an AM4 socket from AMD with the ability to install modern Ryzen 1XXX-3XXX processors.
The ability to install four DDR4 memory modules. You will have to tinker with the BIOS settings in the BIOS; by default, most of them will work at a minimum, for example, my two KINGSTON HyperX Predator HX430C15PB3K2 / 16 trims are set as DDR4-2400 CL 17-17-17. Also, the manufacturer on a separate piece of paper recommends installing modules in the second and fourth slot from the processor for full functionality, these are DDR4_A2 and DDR4_B2.
Two PCIe 3.0 slots, which makes it possible to install two video cards at the same time. And four PCIe 2.0 slots for a variety of expansion cards.
It is also possible to connect up to six hard drives or SSDs.
The following connectors are located on the rear panel: PS / 2 mouse / keyboard port for connecting old mice or keyboards, two already obsolete USB 2.0, HDMI and Displayport video connectors that will only work with processors that have their own integrated graphics (in my case, the Ryzen 5 2600 processor there is no such possibility and a discrete graphics card is needed), two USB 3.1 gen 2 and USB 3.1 gen1, a connector for connecting an Internet cable LAN RJ-45, one USB 3.1 gen 2 TYPE-A and TYPE-C, as well as audio connectors for speakers and microphone.
ASRock B450 STEEL LEGEND (AM4, ATX) pleases with a full range of necessary interfaces, including the most modern USB versions and the use of high-quality components, such as Japanese NICHICON capacitors, which are replaced by cheaper ones on some motherboards, which can affect the reliability and durability of the product. It is hoped that it will last much longer than the warranty period, which is three years. Overclocking fans should take a closer look at the older models of the X470 / X570 chipsets, especially the second with recently appeared support for PCIe 4.0.
The article is written on the basis of materials of this site.
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