AMD B850 Series Motherboards

The AM5 boards here are built on AMD's B850 chipset. They run from the Micro-ATX MSI PRO B850M-E EVO, with two DDR5 slots and one M.2 slot, to full ATX boards such as the MSI MAG B850 TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI, Gigabyte B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 and Gigabyte B850 AI TOP, with four DDR5 slots for up to 256 GB. Compact builds get the Mini-ITX Gigabyte B850I AORUS PRO and MSI MPG B850I Edge Ti WIFI. MSI covers its boards with a 3 year warranty.

Start with the case size. ATX boards give four RAM slots and up to four M.2 slots. Micro-ATX models range from four RAM slots down to two. Mini-ITX boards have two RAM slots (up to 128 GB) and two SATA ports. Next, check M.2 slots if you plan several NVMe drives. Then check networking: most boards carry Wi-Fi 7, 6E or 6, while the Gigabyte B850M DS3H, MSI PRO B850M-G and PRO B850M-E EVO have no Wi-Fi. The MSI B840 GAMING PLUS WIFI also sits here; it uses the lower B840 chipset with PCIe 4.0. The MSI B850 Series and Gigabyte B850 Series pages list each brand on its own.

Frequently asked questions

Which processors work on a B850 motherboard? B850 boards use the AM5 socket, and the MSI listings name AMD Ryzen 9000 series processors as supported.

Can I use DDR4 RAM on these boards? No. Every board here supports DDR5 memory only.

What is the difference between B850 and B840? The B850 boards support PCIe 5.0. The B840 GAMING PLUS WIFI is limited to PCIe 4.0, which suits builds that do not need PCIe 5.0 drives.