MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX 2 Unboxing What Is The Difference & Is It Worth It?

[@mikesunboxing]

Available from affiliate links: Amazon Local: amzn.to/3H5paG1 Ebay UK: ebay.us/o4pzxs Ebay US: ebay.us/NfucPq Ebay CA: ebay.us/Hhxle4 Ebay AUS: ebay.us/tVV1nC

[@sheikhrayan9538]

I myself got the mortar max (matx version of this mobo), and it has served me well quite a lot. And it's been a great motherboard so far, with the rgb light on the right corner and everything. But now im waiting for AM5 and Zen4 to release and so i can buy AMD's next R5 cpu in the coming months

[@87bcpalot]

I have an MSI B450 MORTAR non MAX (2018 version) and I updated it to the latest bios. I'm currently running a Ryzen 5600. MSI's boards are great.

[@paalosordoni7932]

What makes this board a good cheap option and still getting exellent performance is the vast array of CPUs you can use, all the way up to the 5950X and it has the best VRMs of any B450 board i think, bit lacking on the number of usb ports .

[@Brianchse]

I got this board as part of a free upgrade from a b450 plus, along with a free upgrade from a r7 3900x to a r7 5800x . So I guess I'm pretty happy.

[@OlettaLiano]

I have this mobo in my second PC and it's nothing to stop the presses, but it works quite well with my 3200g. In other news, the Thermaltake View 51 I ordered should arrive today. Not many things excite me these days, but doing a build in a case like that still does. I'll post pics when it's finished. Take care.

[@mikesunboxing]

view 51 is a really nice case, hope you enjoy the build

[@OlettaLiano]

@@mikesunboxing Thanks. I'm still planning how I'll do the build. I'm thinking of moving the 200mm fans to the top for exhaust.

[@parushyordanov1363]

I've had it for almost a year now. I've gone through a R5 2600 to a R7 2700 and now a R9 3900x. Got a great deal on it second hand but it looked like it was barely used. It's been rock solid running 24/7 on PBO!

[@mikesunboxing]

Very nice!

[@zzlim3175]

I like the highlights being introduced in the early part of the video.

[@mikesunboxing]

Thanks for watching

[@jeremybadlon]

Thanks mike for the review.

[@mikesunboxing]

Thanks for watching - have a great weekend :-)

[@Wellibob68]

It's a refresh of a refresh. Big selling msi board gets at last hoorah. Right now people should be buying a B550 tbh.

[@mikesunboxing]

i am tempted to agree with you there unless you have a cpu or apu that is not suported

[@mikhail21393]

For the price point in Greece where I live I payed 72Eur instead of the first model that costs still almost like a 100Eur replacing the original with the second model and I'd say it's the same model almost except for the BIOS ofcourse and a few ports here and there. I am still running R7 2700x with 16gb 3200mhz DDR4 and 2070 Super it's still an amazing combo.

[@eprohoda]

really goood vlog-take care,

[@mikesunboxing]

Thank you 😊 Have a great weekend :-)

[@uglybob7505]

In my humble opinion......yeah I think its worth it. Its an MSI botherboard after all and its a Tomahawk which has a proben track record. Always good to have options and this is a welcome one, there are certainly a lot worse at this price point. Thanks for sharing, great video :-)

[@mikesunboxing]

yeah there is do doubt in the reliability and performance of this board in its platform class. but don't pay any extra for the upgrade over the max, it isn't worth any more or any less

[@GameslordXY]

HDMI 2.1 is very significant upgrade. If It was small,then when mobo lacks Display port , it's no big deal.

[@johnwayneasgenghiskhan4699]

I initially chose this board because during the great GPU crisis 2 years ago I opted for an R3 3200G to tide me over until the market improved and the B550 BIOS doesn't support that CPU. Now running an R5 3600 as to not half the PCIe lanes now that a proper GPU is in place. My only complaint is that I cannot control the RGB on Linux so it's always stuck on solid red.

[@HikingFeral]

mine has allowed me to overclock my 5600x to be boosting at almost 5ghz with PBO set to mobo and adjusting a negative curve, I'm looking forwards to building the fastest, most powerful AM4 build possible on it when AM5 and DDR5 is more mainstream, and all the AM4 prices plummet **EDIT - Thanks for this video mate, I didn't notice that I had 6 sata I thought I only had 4 and therefore could only have 1 nvme and 2 sata drives, I can now add 2tb of crucial SSD's minimum, so thanks again.

[@gman7949]

The Mortar Max is a better board. The Mortar Max is basically a mATX version of this board with 2 x M.2 slots and a S/PDIF audio output. VRMs are surprisingly good for a 4+2 arrangement.

[@mj-7444]

Does it beat it in temperatures because this is the second coldest ever made in this class?

[@mj-7444]

Where does it plug in it’s wifi antenna? I have the antenna just never bothered until I wanted too pair extra controllers.

[@gman7949]

@@mj-7444 neither of those boards come from the factory with wireless card.

[@mj-7444]

@@gman7949 I have my wifi module from my HP gaming desktop i was hoping that would work.

[@mj-7444]

@@gman7949 I just don’t wanna break anything I’m not a pro.

[@Senrab46]

Interesting review Mike and looking forward to the follow up videos especially the 4000 cpu. I use the Rog Strix B450 F Gaming II which bought "As New" from amazon and as you pointed out the lack of spare USB2 port is the only downside. Still looking to add bluetooth via M2 but confused as to what parts needed. Imo my Rog Strix looks a better finished mb though, I can't help noticing your mb is not flat as curves up near the flashback button and appears drab and well used. Would this reflect that someone has used the mb for a long period of time? Thanks for sharing your findings Mike and Kath and looking forward to the follow ups👍

[@min_nari]

I'm on the market for a5800x upgrade and I can get one of these for less than 100usd, nice deal. thanks for the good video

[@mikesunboxing]

Enjoy it

[@Glyph69]

Hi, you probably won't read this but I'm in need of big help i jave ryzen 2400g and I'm buying a used tomahawk max with lat3st updated bios will it work with the latest bios??? Cause I've heard they lost the support for older ryzen series after updating it

[@mikesunboxing]

that will be fine, the older athlon a series got canned

[@Glyph69]

@@mikesunboxing omggg thank you so much!!

[@themattprincebro]

Nice review,, i was thinking of changing my tuf b450m plus gaming to this,,also thinking of b550✌️

[@mikesunboxing]

depending on the processor you have, the B550 might be the better choice

[@themattprincebro]

@@mikesunboxing i have ryzen 5 2400g i bought it 70€ with 8gb ram✌️ used but work fine

[@mikesunboxing]

@@themattprincebro B450 would be fine

[@bcquon]

I think MSI updated the board and new versions of the board now support Ryzen 5000 series out of the box. It has "Ryzen 5000 ready" on the box, at least. The reviewer got a refurbished copy, which likely was an older version that only supported Ryzen 3000. Seemed like something to mention.

[@mikesunboxing]

i'm not sure that 5000 series was out when the video was released, but i understand the sentiment here

[@jayachakkaravarthy]

Hi Mike Good to see you, Soon I will get the R7-5700g Should I go for B450 or B550 Motherboard already I have GTX 1060...

[@mikesunboxing]

B550 ideally but as you have a GPU that would not matter that much

[@scotteric8711]

If i'm not mistaken, the only reason to buy this board is to replace an older board and re-use as much as possible with backwards compatibility & integrated graphics CPU. Its not great, but it will run any game at low to mid settings. Its also good redundancy should your discreet gpu fail.

[@mikesunboxing]

yes that pretty much sums it up, great in its day, but newer platforms offer more for modern CPUs and GPUs

[@patricklebel1141]

This would be a good board for 4xxx and 5xxx apu or to replace a board with ryzen 1xxx or 2xxx. For others recent cpus, a b550 would be better as gen4 drives starts to get better price. Good board anyway.

[@mikesunboxing]

totally agree there

[@MsNitro187]

MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX I'm currently using the version bios 7C02v39, am I sure to install the latest version for 5000 series 7C02v3E? I read somewhere that it is not possible to return the bios to the old version when installing the 5000 series. my cpu r5 3600

[@mikesunboxing]

i would stick with the bios you have if everything seems to be working as it should, or are you having issues?

[@MsNitro187]

@@mikesunboxing I don't have any problems with BIOS 7C02v39, i thought the new bios might have some improvements :7C02v3A,7C02v3E...

[@stuartcarson9378]

Do you think that board would pair well with a 5600X ? I'm using it with a 2700 at the moment. Good solid board. I paid €80 for it about two years ago.

[@mikesunboxing]

yes it will be fine, you miss out on the pcie4 speeds but most people wont notice or need that anyway

[@R_McGeddon117]

Hi Mike. I've got the bits to hammer the Max II and a 5600g together It's being recommended to upgrade the bios to 7C02vH5 to run the CPU but newer ones are out. A lot of people on the message boards say they're getting a performance drop with the later bios, 7C02vH6, so I'll avoid that one MSI have just issued a newer bios update, 7C02vH72 Beta in the last few days Being a newbie at computer builds would you recommend I just stick with the H5 or chance my luck with the H72 Beta? PS I don't intend to use the computer for gaming or do any overclocking

[@mikesunboxing]

i would go with the H5 to begin with and maybe update to the beta and compare the results you can easily switch between them if needed

[@R_McGeddon117]

@@mikesunboxing Thanks for the quick response Mike. I wasn't sure if you could roll back the bios update to a previous version if things went wrong (silver surfer and just muddling my way through these things)

[@mikesunboxing]

yeah the bios flash back doesn't seem to know what versions are so you can flash pretty much any version you like whenever you like

[@jmac79ers]

Hi, I'm curious as to how this worked out for you, I am running the older bios, and wondering if it's worth updating.

[@R_McGeddon117]

@@jmac79ers Yes, I've updated it on a new board and new processor and everything was recognised and is running fine

[@valentin3186]

Have it available for really cheap, under 60 bucks. Any problem to pair it with 5800X in your opinion? (VRMs mainly, i don't need pcie 4.0)

[@mikesunboxing]

it is only a 4 phase VRM so under constant load eventually it is going ot either get hot or throttle a bit

[@spaznetwork6982]

Hey Mike do you have any more videos lined up for the MAG B660M MORTAR? Thanks.

[@mikesunboxing]

not at the moment sorry, anything i can help with?

[@spaznetwork6982]

@@mikesunboxing not really just about ready to start my build and just wanted to see it in action get some tips etc. 😃

[@Pragatisheel]

I m pairing my b450 tomahawk max ii with 5600x directly out of the box. No need to update bios

[@mikesunboxing]

Check for the ryzen 5000 series ready logo on the box

[@1967KID]

I got the 1st msi b450 tomahawk g-skill flare x 3200hz cl14 b 4x8 32gb xmp memory, 3600x, gtx 1070ti. And my girl's play all games 144mhz 1ms 1080p 27in monitor's. Evga 850 supernova power supply. 2, 1tb 850 Samsung ssd for Windows and programs , 1tb Samsung m.2 Samsung plus for games.

[@mikesunboxing]

nice!

[@komzatonHC]

Needed a quick replacement motherboard for my 2700x. Hope it works fine

[@mikesunboxing]

Should be a good reliable replacement

[@TylerVeale]

I am new to building PC's When he was talking about the RGB connector. Does that mean that rgbs on my case will only be solid colors with this mother board if I wanted to control it from there instead of the case itself?

[@mikesunboxing]

yes that is right all leds will be the same colour at the same time not individually addressable (rainbow)

[@tollietime]

just got one of these and ryzen 5k series is ready out the box, however you will still need to upgrade the bios as theres a bug that allows the cpu fail light to show constant when using a 5600x

[@mikesunboxing]

i was not aware of that do you have a link to the press release for that?

[@tollietime]

@@mikesunboxing no link, box was stickered by MSI, the bios included did need an update but my 5600x worked out the box without the patch

[@tollietime]

@@mikesunboxing i can email you a photo of the box if you like?

[@mikesunboxing]

@@tollietime That would be great thanks [e-mail] :-)

[@tollietime]

@@mikesunboxing sent buddy!

[@nicmonberg5974]

B450 GAMING PRO CARBON MAX WIFI is the better version to the Tomahawk it corrects what is missing and did have a price deduction so they was only £5-10 difference. B450 Tomahawk Max still still be at had places for £55 new I would choose this over paying £40 for a D grade item which will have bits missing also no warranty (if the backplate is missing this is £5 more if you want metal one & rear shield hard to find replacement price could be anything people who do 3d printing charge about £10 sometimes more)

[@Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh1]

Hi, I recently bought a MSI B450 Tomohawk Max 2 and I was wondering how do I screw/lock in the SSD. I didn’t see a stand off screw attached to the board and the screws that were in the Motherboard box were too small

[@mikesunboxing]

there should be a pillar in the kit also that the screw goes into, join the discord chat to post images so we can advise more

[@Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh1]

@@mikesunboxing I’ll join the discord group, ttyl

[@JohnDavidSullivan]

Just wondering if it would it be worth doing to replace MSI Gaming Plus X370 with 1700X?

[@mikesunboxing]

i don't think you will see any benefit there really

[@JohnDavidSullivan]

@@mikesunboxing no that's what I was thinking. just was interested because I've had issues with the board with memory timings/profiles. but it seems to be more stable now. so maybe it's okay.

[@DavidUnderhill]

why not the Tomahawk B550 ? 100 GBP in aust. MSI Bazooka B550 is only 75 GBP. more headers including ARGB on both of them

[@mikesunboxing]

both of those are much more expensive here the b550 tomahawk around £150 and the bazooka about £120

[@DavidUnderhill]

@@mikesunboxing OK fair enough, I have noticed that with US KZbinrs as well that Motherboards are generally much cheaper here in Australia.

[@Garth2011]

Limited ports on the rear I/O. Made in China vs. Taiwan.

[@insomniacbritgaming1632]

I have this board but I went from Z97 Intel to B450... if you have the Tomahawk Max, it isn't worth it as an upgrade except the HDMI port.

[@Momaquesa]

Where is the argb header for 3 pin i have this motherboard and my fans dont have any lighting because i cant find the header

[@mikesunboxing]

No this board doesn’t have 3 pin argb headers

[@vlastimil-furst]

These B450 boards are dirt cheap in Czechia. Probably still cheaper than most of the garbage tier H510 boards. Combine it with Ryzen 5 5500 that got so much cheaper again and you have an inexpensive platform to build a low-mid budget gaming rig on, with likes of RX 6600 (XT) or RTX 3060.

[@josephcabayacruz9249]

what's the difference with Motherboards with MAX and non-MAX on MSI products?

[@mikesunboxing]

max has newer larger bios

[@josephcabayacruz9249]

@@mikesunboxing meaning we store more bios info and we can support future Generations(CPU)?

[@johnstancliff7328]

its identical to the B450 gaming Plus Max. the only difference I see to the USB type C jack. other than that, it looks identical except for the color... the gaming plus had red in it.... this unit is all black.

[@mikesunboxing]

yeah that is probably about it

[@012345678944107]

And its supporting up to 4133mhz ram speed

[@narcis4none]

Is this board enough for a ryzen 5900x? i want to know if the VRM can handle the CPU at his full potential.

[@mikesunboxing]

not really with all core loads constantly it is only a 4 phase vrm

[@narcis4none]

@@mikesunboxing Thank you sir for the genuine answer I'm a newbie when it comes to PC building .. so what motherboard should I get for 120 dollars that's my maximum budget .

[@mikesunboxing]

@@narcis4none b550 gaming plus or b550 tomahawk you won't regret it

[@narcis4none]

@@mikesunboxing again thank you ... That's what I will get!

[@JerryMouse.]

which one is better? MSI B450m Tomahawk Max ii or ASUS Rog Strix b450-f gaming ii.

[@mikesunboxing]

tough call, i might be swayed in both directions, and price would probably the decider altought the asus is the better spec board but has reliability concerns

[@JerryMouse.]

@@mikesunboxing Thank you 😊.

[@siakai173]

i see rog strix b450 f gaming ii have problems and sent back to service center for get a new replacement unit in my country,i think should go to MSI brand right now,,or you have better option Mike?🤔

[@mikesunboxing]

@@siakai173 This is maybe easier to advise if we can ask more questions and get direct answers, so feel free to join our Discord chat and we can go over it in more detail discord.gg/XtBTGQ6BDu Agree to the rules by clicking the emoji and you will get access to the rest of the Discord channels

[@WilliamAndrewPhilipBodie]

Review is Worthy of Support comment & a Like 🙂

[@mikesunboxing]

Thanks for the support, William :-)

[@ahmedelassi3747]

Is it good to install it with ryzen7 5700g?

[@mikesunboxing]

yes if the bios is updated

[@welshtechie6832]

VRMs are not great it seems. i am all for SATA ports more the better as you can use big HDs whereas NVMEs at that size are expensive! Also, I have a blu ray writer that reads 4k so needed! I do have a monitor 1920x1200 that has a DVI port but now use a 4k Dell 32in monitor. Never used those audio ports to be honest possibly for media purposes on a TV but really outdated for me!

[@mikesunboxing]

vrms were great in their time, but now thing have moved on quite a bit

[@welshtechie6832]

@@mikesunboxing You are missing the point Mike!!! It is all about allowing future to past etc. HDs are good end of!

[@justrio7173]

Hi, i was just wondering if the MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX 2 was actually compatible with a ryzen 5 5600g because it is AM4 so i dont see no problem but im not sure and i just want to be 100%. My specs for my build are: CASE Corsair spec delta rgb, CPU /APU ryzen 5 5600g, SSD samsung 980 500gb, HDD seagate barracuda 1tb, PSU corsair cv650, RAM crucial ballistix 32gb 3200mhz, MOTHERBOARD MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX 2. So i dont really see a problem only that i might have to update the bios but can you tell me if you see any problems

[@mikesunboxing]

yes it is, just update the bios

[@BosniaNBoY]

I have it, this motherboard and 5600g, works great!

[@mikesunboxing]

@@BosniaNBoY Thanks for the info :-)

[@lemmyrichards9477]

Hi how is it working now? I'am thinking of getting this mobo with the ryzen 5 3600 and was wanting to know if it was a good fit.

[@matthewday7565]

Not sure if that's a light line running around the audio section

[@mikesunboxing]

on some boards there is a light in that area, most just have it as a isolated area and the section is translucent

[@petertremblay3725]

Can i put a sounblaster z + a rtx 2060 and a pci p2 crucial ssd on this board?

[@mikesunboxing]

yes but the max pcie gen is 3 on this so the b550 might be a better choice

[@petertremblay3725]

@@mikesunboxing I am still pretty confuse about what MB to choose but now i balance toward the B550 A-pro!

[@mikesunboxing]

@@petertremblay3725 Feel free to join our Discord chat if you want to get help to decided which board is best for your needs discord.gg/gaeeDPw

[@petertremblay3725]

@@mikesunboxing Thank mate i finally bought the MSI B550-A Pro after reading good thing about it.

[@warrencanal4717]

Which is better Mortar Max II or ROG Strix B450 F Gaming II?

[@mikesunboxing]

the strix in my opinion

[@warrencanal4717]

@@mikesunboxing thanks sir.

[@mikesunboxing]

@@warrencanal4717 No problem 🙂

[@Dymond-qu8lh]

I think this is the one i have in my pc

[@The_Majid_Bhat]

Does this mobo support rtx 3050?

[@mikesunboxing]

yes and no, it only has PCIe gen 3 so you are leaving a little bit of performance on the table but only a few percent

[@C.R.M95]

Does this motherboard suport Ryzen 5 4500 ?

[@mikesunboxing]

yes it will with the appropriate bios installed

[@alexb4096]

to be honest I'm extremely disappointed that I did not see an actual UNBOXING. I need to know if they just sent me a used refurb instead of the new MB and the best way is to compare to someone else.

[@mikesunboxing]

sorry about that, i was in a similar position as it was a refurbished board

[@orlunaire6202]

Is it worth getting or not

[@mikesunboxing]

that depends on your location, the price it is, the parts you are using with it and what the B550 range is selling for

[@JynxedKoma]

I do love how the heatsinks contrast well with the overall pattern on the Motherboard circuit board itself. Shame it's not a fully shielded IO... Though you do get shielded PCI-E, so great appearance for the price. I'd definitely buy that if it wasn't AMD.

[@mikesunboxing]

it is a nice looking board, but modern boards are making this look dated now

[@SIPEROTH]

@@mikesunboxing What board can i get at low price that supports 5600G out of the box?

[@mikesunboxing]

@@SIPEROTH This is maybe easier to advise if we can ask more questions and get direct answers, so feel free to join our Discord chat and we can go over it in more detail discord.gg/gaeeDPw

[@californiadreams9408]

this motherboard is compatible with AMD Ryzen™ 5 4500?

[@mikesunboxing]

yes it should be

[@XENONEOMORPH1979]

It misses one more thing for me it is still a low to mid gaming board

[@GangsterDolphins]

Planning on selling my asus x570 pro prime for this

[@mikesunboxing]

why? backwards compatibility or something>? I still have mine i'll swap you in a heartbeat

[@GangsterDolphins]

@@mikesunboxing No I just think the motherboard is complete trash. My asus board seems to always forget my fan settings and the ram rgb lights and power button led stay lit even during a shut down. I also don't like the software.

[@uglybob7505]

CRAP JOKE FRIDAY !!!!!! How does Bigfoot tell the time ? With his Sasq Watch !

[@mikesunboxing]

Legend says that a Bigfoot can grow up to 15 feet… but they usually just have two…

[@ExalyThor]

Key differences over the original: I found it for 35 pounds.

[@D_8KEN]

All they needed to add was a bloody 5v argb header! Stupid stupid stupid MSI 😅

[@mikesunboxing]

yep whata mistaka to makea

[@DoubleJHas2ManyDoodles]

Vrms getting smoked by the 5900x I have even in eco mode. This board is trash. Go B550 or X570. B450 is for anything Ryzen 5 or maybe 7 series non x only imho. Board is solid as long as that core count don’t go over 8 lol. Then it’s vrm smoked city son!

[@asfakpatel1]

tomahawk not best ....................AS Rock B550 PG Riptide best in same price same performance....... tomahawk wasted money

[@mikesunboxing]

Asrock has worse audio and VRM, you get what you pay for