The MSI B350 Tomahawk Motherboard Review: Gaming On a Budget
by Gavin Bonshor on March 12, 2018 10:45 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- AMD
- MSI
- ATX
- Zen
- AM4
- B350
- Ryzen
- Tomahawk
- Raven Ridge
Conclusions
The MSI B350 Tomahawk is targeted at gamers looking for a cheaper option to supplement their new AMD Ryzen processor, but without making too many sacrifices in key and important areas such as connectivity. The B350 chipset bridges the gap between the ultra-basic A320 and premium X370 chipsets, and the MSI B350 Tomahawk is a good example of why B350 is more than another budget chipset. The B350 Tomahawk sits as the top board of its bottom range, with a slight nod to more aesthetic applications over other options.
While not widely considered a motherboard with tons of overclocking potential, mainly due to the 'averageness' of the B350 chipset, the B350 Tomahawk easily managed to push our Ryzen 7 1700 ($290) processor as far as any other AM4 motherboard we have tested thus far. The 4+2 power delivery certainly held up its end of the performance bargain. For those worried about VRM temperatures, even with 1.375 V running through our CPU , the heatsinks caused no issues with our test bed.
Feature wise, there are a few options bundled above the B350 chipset that might make the Tomahawk appeal. The PCB separation for the audio coincides with the best ALC892 performing AM4 board we have tested so far, and the PCIe slot protection for discrete graphics is a plus for systems that get moved and heavy GPUs in place. Legacy afficinados might like the PCI slots as well. That being said, in some areas, there isn't anything additional: only four SATA ports, only USB 3.0 support (one Type-C port), and the base Realtek audio/networking combination. Also included is a single M.2 port which allows for use of the latest and fastest consumer focused NVMe (M.2 22110) SSDs; this can be found just underneath the top PCIe 3.0 x16 slot. It is odd that MSI hasn't included any of the USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) ports that the chipset supports, however.
The decision here could come based on the price difference between the B350 Tomahawk and MSI’s own entry level X370 Gaming Plus motherboard ($110). The differences on the surface look minuscule, and aside from minor aesthetical disparity and NVIDIA SLI support, as well as two extra SATA ports, they could be considered fraternal twins.
For a user on a budget that wants at least some frills with a Ryzen 3, 5 or 7 processor, the B350 Tomahawk ticks most of the boxes and with a base styling, ample connections, and some ports. For around $95 at Amazon.com, the Tomahawk hits near the mark based on the features and with consistent performance to back it up, and this could be a good $100 option on the entirety of the AM4 chipset.
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drexnx - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link
the RGB-LED header on the regular tomahawk is a reduced functionality version that only gives you those 7 color choices - not 16.7 million like it shouldSaabensippen - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link
In the "board explorer" in the BIOS on my tomahawk it clearly identifies two of the rear usb ports as USB 3.1 Gen2. I have never tested the speeds so I do not know if they actually run at that. Also, I have read TERRIBLE things about the latest BIOS such as RAM refusing to run below 1.5v, vcore not going below 1.3, and fan curves not being adjustable anymore. I have not updated, still on 1.9 or whatever the one from a few months ago was.Geranium - Tuesday, March 13, 2018 - link
The board explorer showing wrong information. Couldn't find mention of USB 3.1 AKA USB 3.1 G2 on specification page.https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B350-TOMAHAWK/Spec...
Saabensippen - Tuesday, March 13, 2018 - link
Yeah, I don't really know. The tomahawk arctic which is the same but white says that it has g2 so who knows. My BIOS says it's g2... It wouldn't be the first time that something reports that it's something other than what it is.vkristof - Friday, March 16, 2018 - link
This could be a function of the B350 FCH supporting USB 3.1 Gen2 per AMD's claims, but the higher speed not actually working reliably in the real world. That might be the reason that MB manufacturers have to add the Asmedia USB 3.1 Gen2 chip for their motherboards that actually claim Gen 2 ports.I'm somewhat surprised that I haven't seen any articles that detail this AMD Gen 2 wrinkle. Maybe that AMD reddit guy might respond...
Saabensippen - Thursday, March 22, 2018 - link
I would be interested to find out. I don't run external hard drives or anything that would benefit from it though.Saabensippen - Thursday, March 22, 2018 - link
Update: The latest BIOS 7A34v1F does not have any of these problems, although I had never personally experienced them with the earlier BIOS, only read about them. For me this board has lasted a year without any issues, running a 1700 at 3.75 at 1.264v. I have read about issues with it on forums and newegg (A lot of DOAs it seems) but never experienced any. I must be lucky. Also, the board explorer still says there are two USB 3.1 Gen2 ports on the back. At least one USB port from the header IDs as USB 3.1 Gen2 as well.barleyguy - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link
I bought a B350 Tomahawk at launch and mine was terrible. I had two problems. The first was corruption on an m2 ssd. The second was that it wouldn't work properly with any sound card other than the the onboard. I tried usb and pcie sound cards, all very high end, and they had glitches. Tjis was true under both Windows 10 and Windows 7.In summary, might be an ok board, but the one I owned wasn't. I replaced mine with an Asus B350 Prime Plus, which resolved all issues.
Myrandex - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link
FYI I bought mine at launch and have enjoyed it, but things did get better with bios updates too, especially with memory speed capabilities.Honed1967 - Tuesday, March 13, 2018 - link
All the way you right