MSI Arsenal Gaming AMD Ryzen 2ND and 3rd Gen AM4 M.2 USB 3 DDR4 DVI HDMI Crossfire ATX Motherboard (B450 TOMAHAWK MAX II)

Although I didn't intend it this way, my first PC build turned into a build with several MSI parts, this motherboard included. The B450 Tomahawk is great value for the money. At the time that I bought this part, it was about $100 US. It came with some great features I utilize, and some great improvements versus the B350 version of this board.1. The M.2 slot. This was moved to right below the CPU vs on the B350 board it was below the graphics card. This improves with the thermals of anything you have installed in the M.2 slot. It is a great addition to the board and I use it with my NVMe drive. While it does eliminate the usage of the SATA 5 and 6 ports. You still have 4 others to use. To be honest, if you are installing more than for drives into your system, you need to be buying larger drives rather than more.2. The RGB headers are a great addition. I use them for my Deepcool RF 140 front fans. They are paired with Mystic Light from MSI, so they match the breathing pattern of the under glow lights off to the right on the motherboard. Speaking of which, those lights underneath that one side are much brighter than I thought. Not too bright, but bright enough that they are noticeable. I was afraid they would be hidden by the case, but they show up perfectly.3. The different headers on the back are amazing. I love that they have USB 3.1 Gen 2 and Gen 1 ports on the back. I currently have my keyboard and mouse in the Gen 1 ports. The Gen 2 ports (one is a USB-C and one is USB-A) are saved for other items. For example, one will be for an external hard drive/backup drive that I will be purchasing in a short time.4. I find the BIOS/UEFI easy to understand. For context, the beginner mode is great for those starting out. And if the advanced mode is great for more experienced people. Even though I'm a beginner, I had an easy time understanding a good amount of what was in the advanced mode. I of course had to look things up on Google/YouTube and in the manual, but I still was able to navigate and understand it. I also loved that I could use a mouse in the BIOS. Made it easier than having to use the keyboard to click through options. I also found it helpful that they explained what certain things did within the BIOS. They had a help section, which is AWESOME for beginners that need help with adjusting any setting in there.If there's one thing I could go back and do, I think I might have gone with the MSI B450 Pro Carbon AC simply because it would free up a PCIe slot for me. I'm using a WIFI card and the Pro Carbon has Wifi built in. I know most people will be using Ethernet for a desktop, and if I were using Ethernet to connect my PC to the web, I would use the B450 Tomahawk over the Pro Carbon.Overall, well worth the price and great for building a PC on a budget if you don't need all the extra features of the X470 boards.

This review is for the 'Shout Out for MSI' Promotion. I am a long time MSI fan. Right now have an old MSI Z97 Gaming 5 mobo, a RX 580 Armor MK2, a Vigor GK30 combo, a Force GC20 Gamepad, some Lucky dolls, a MSI headset (from one of their gift bundles) along with a MSI bag. So you get the point, big fan...When i decided to update my PC to Ryzen 3, it was very clear that my mobo selection reduced to MSI and MSI only. Spent close to a month reading about the B450 lineup, the X470 and also the X570... The newer chipset brings nothing of my interest, so my decision came to the B450 Tomahawk/Mortar/Carbon Pro, or the x470 Carbon Pro (those were the models within my budget). When checking the specs, the only thing the Carbon models had as advantage over the Toma and Mortar was the Argb header, but for me it didnt worth the price difference (was not going to use the WiFi, which is the selling point for the Carbon mobos). Since the Tomahawk got so many good comments, it was the clear winner.I could not be happier with the mobo. I installed my new Ryzen 3600 and it boot up instantly. I gotta admit i updated the BIOS because i'm using a M.2 Nvme SSD, and supposedly there were issues with older bios versions, but everything went perfect. My Ryzen is working great in the Tomahawk, reaching 4375 Mhz. I like the layout, the 4 fan headers (apart from the CPU Fan and Pump headers) + 2 rgb headers (working great with my Fans, synced through Mystic Light). The audio is a nice surprise (i had a Xonar DGX soundcard in my previous rig which i decided to left in there for my kids), it did not let me down. The board seems durable, high quality.I TOTALLY LOVE the Flash Bios Button feature, as it makes the mobo virtually unbrickable. In previous builds, i was always scared of updating the Bios, but with this mobo, is just easy peasy.To be honest, the only drawback, and that's just personal preference, is the looks, as is too bland for my taste. I love my Z97 Gaming 5 looks with the red accents all over the mobo and heatsinks, so this all black style is a little boring, not bad at all (the board looks good), but i loved the black/red theme MSI had in previous generations.In overall, this is just the best bang for the buck mobo right now for Ryzen 3rd gen. If you do your homework, and read about the different vendors mobos in tech sites, you will see that there's no other b450 mobo (besides MSIs own Mortar, Bazooka and Carbon Pro) with the quality VRMs to support the new AMD CPUs. 100% recommendedDESIGN: 5 stars --> Very good layoutSPECS: 5 stars --> within this price range, and actually even up to 150$ (maybe more)LOOKS: 4 stars --> Personal tasteDURABILITY: 5 stars --> This thing looks like a tank, heavy, well built. And the Flash Bios Button means you wont brick it.PRICE/PERFORMANCE: 5 stars --> Like i said, this is the best Bang for the Buck right now, period.

I wanted to build a relatively inexpensive computer to replace my 7-year old machine (also custom built), and after looking at various options I opted for this MSI mobo. I'd used MSI several times in the past, and was happy with their product quality and their support. (BTW, I use pcpartpicker to assemble my components, I recommend the site.)After putting everything together and running it, I'm very happy with my choice. The mobo physical layout is excellent, installation of the cpu and cooler and graphics card was easy, and all those fiddly connectors were not too hard to identify and access (needed a flashlight sometimes, and younger eyes would have helped). The firmware settings interface is decently designed and easy to use: I particularly liked the fan speed controls.The Bios flash is easy to do with the firmware file loaded onto a USB key. (I didn't try the funky flash button, did it from the interface.) I wish MSI provided a Windows app to download and update the Bios, as some other brands do, but this is a minor thing.For the price paid, the value of this mobo is excellent. I highly recommend considering it for a mid-priced Ryzen build.