However be aware that it's very cramped. Even the Ryzen Stealth cooler doesn't fit due to the angle and size of one of the board's heat sinks. And you cannot orient it in the other direction either since it covers the ram slot. You're limited to buying another much smaller cooler or going with liquid cooling.
So I have been spending the last few weeks doing research on the perfect motherboard to pair with a new Ryzen 5 2600. I had been focusing on the X470's, primarily because I didin't want to have to wait on AMD to send me a new cpu to flash the bios update onto one of the older mobo's (instant gratification of a purchse and all that).
One of the sales people at MicroCenter suggested this board as I was eyeballing the Aorus Gaming 5, and after making the spec comparisons, this board offered more than I needed. I was happy to walk out with a better board than I was looking for at a price that shaved off of my budget!
Getting it home and set up was a breeze! I have had no issues with it at all! All I can say is, be SURE to update drivers right away! They are all on the MSI website, and Windows 10 doesn't auto find them so navigate to the window to get them.
The cpu socket is so close to the vrm heatsink and ram that in had to take a grinder to the stock amd heatsink and grind the amd logo off to fit it on the board. This seems to be a massive oversight by msi, the heatsink to the vrms really shouldnt intrude on the stock cooler!!!!
I chose this mobo for my very first PC build/entry-level gaming PC, and I think I made an excellent choice. I didn't need a full ATX size because I'm minimalist... I don't plan on having a lot of components or peripherals, I'm not HUGE into gaming, and I wanted a physically smaller case. This board also has 4 RAM slots rather than the usual 2 for mATX, which is great. I spent a lot of time reviewing mATX boards, and this was the one consistently ranked highly.
My build is:
CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core
Motherboard: MSI - B450M BAZOOKA Micro ATX AM4
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000
Storage: Samsung - 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5" SSD
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6 GB GT OCV1
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX
Case: Thermaltake - Versa H18 MicroATX Mini Tower
Being a newb to PC building, I discovered I couldn't use the on-board graphics, because the Ryzen 2600 requires a dedicated graphics card. So until my graphics card arrived, it would boot with no display and 3 beeps, and show "VGA" LED on the "EZ Debug LED" strip. (Which, by the way, is a very handy feature). I think it's kind of a bummer that I can never use integrated graphics on this system as a back-up if my gfx card fails, but oh well.
Then, I was also a bit worried my gfx card wouldn't fit, but it does. Lol. (What can I say, the last time I tinkered with graphics cards was 15 years ago when they were much smaller).
The mobo arrived in great packaging, with very clear instructions on how to install everything, both physically and for the software/drivers. MSI is great about making very user-friendly instructions and software, and this is partly why I chose MSI, as a first time builder. Installing the drivers and software was easy and flawless. Now I will be spending months just figuring out what all of the options mean in the Command Center! ^_^ Building a PC has been an awesome and rewarding experience, largely thanks to MSI.
Small nag: The Mystic Lighting, by itself, is pretty underwhelming, but I guess better than nothing.
I will start off by saying that I think I've tried just about every Mini ITX board out there with the 350 chipset. Seemed to be ok running my Ryzen 2600X. But then I decided to jump into the 450 chipset and see what the difference was if any. I decide to go with this MSI board just because im becoming a fan of the Dragon. Once I got this board, I could tell it was pretty good quality, maybe not the top of the line, but pretty darn close. I love this board. I'm a small form factor Gamer and this thing is a beast and my games haven't run better. There are only 2 things that I can live with, but would liked to see more is it only has 2 fan headers. One more would've helped out alot. And the other thing is that I can't get my ram to 3200 mhz, just stuck at 3066 mhz which isn't a game breaker. But MSI is really good at updating its bios and software, so that last one isn't much of an issue. Other than that, I would highly recommend this board to any Ryzen 2 owners wanting to do anything including gaming.
Feature Product
- Support AMD Ryzen 1st and 2nd Generation / Ryzen with Radeon Vega Graphics Processors for Socket AM4
- Supports 64GB Dual Channel DDR4 Memory 1866/ 2133/ 2400/ 2667 MHz by JEDEC, and 2667/ 2800/ 2933/ 3000/ 3066/ 3200/ 3466 MHz by A-XMP OC MODE
- Supports 2-Way AMD Crossfire Technology
- In-Game Weapons: Game Boost, GAMING Hotkey, X-Boost. EZ Debug LED: Easiest way to troubleshoot
- GAMING CERTIFIED: 24-hour on- and offline game and motherboard testing by eSports players.LAN Chipset:Realtek 8111H
Description
Featuring heavy plated heat sinks and fierce looks, MSI ARSENAL GAMING motherboards are packed with gaming features for a refined gaming experience. MSI Audio Boost delivers the highest sound quality through the use of premium quality audio components. This lets you enjoy breathtaking, game-changing sound to create the most exciting gameplay. MSI motherboards are crammed with features to fuel your gaming rig's memory with more speed, higher overclock ability and increased stability.
I will save u some aggravation. U need windows 10. Windows 7 wont get pass what install error said..cannot load phase 2.
The problem is win7 does not support usb3. Regardless of how u set bios to handle legacy usb ports..don't waste your time. I bought the oem 10. It is a full install not a upgrade.
Btw if u can't load the os on existing hard drive
Get to windows install command prompt
Diskpart
List disk
Select disk number
Clean
Convert got
Partition esi
Exit
When reload is
And still can't load
Delete
U should see unallocated space.
Btw u r welcome..took me 3 days to figure all that out.
First Time Ryzen build and I can say it went smoother than other systems I have built in the past with almost no issues at all. Great Motherboard. It's well built and sturdy. Sound quality isn't as bad as other reviews had stated. The Lighting effects with MysticLight software is pretty cool to. Overall the Motherboard is pretty sturdy, Well built and I would recommend.
Helpful tips below for new Ryzen builders on this board
Tips:
#1 If using dual channel Ram/Memory always install in the 2nd and 4th slots "from left to right"
#2 For those wanting to install an upgraded version of Windows 10 "Originally upgraded from Windows 7/Windows 8/8.1" You don't need to install the previous version of windows 7 or 8 to upgrade any longer, Microsoft has now made it easy to install Windows 10 direct and using your windows 7 or 8 product key to activate your Windows 10 directly. Install Windows 10 without a product key and when windows loads go to Windows properties/System Information page and Activate while connected to the internet and It should allow you to Activate.
#3 Buy some mounting screws to mount the board to the case as this board doesn't come with any needed hardware "At least mine didn't come shipped with the mounting screws as many other reviews stated"
#4 I am using Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz C15 Desktop Memory Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B3000C15) On this board. I had to go into bios after installation of Windows and turn on XMP Profile 2. Ram/Memory was set at 2133MHz stock, After setting XMP Profile 2 then saving and restarting the Ram/Memory then was set at 2933MHz "Yours may be different"
Pros: The instruction manual was great with pictures to follow (Do Read the instruction manual)
Cons: Mounting screws not provided, I am very upset I got this board and ready to install into the case and there were no mounting screws provided, I am lucky I had enough from a previous build already on hand.
-I paired this board with an R5 2600. I was easily able to hold a stable 4.0 OC with Hyper 212 Evo stressing it with
Aida64 for an hr at 67c.
-It also OC'd my Trident Z RGB to 3200 nicely using A-XMP.
-BIOS is easy to use and easy to OC.
-Mystic Light is nice! Using ML software you CAN change the built-in board LEDs to different colors. Not just red. They
are NOT, however, individually addressable LEDs. Board LEDs and both top and bottom RGB headers work in unison.
-Mystic Light features:
Color Cycle
Breathing Color Cycle
Flashing Color Cycle
Breathing (Choose color including White)
Flashing (Choose color including White)
Double Flashing (Choose color including White)
No Animation
CPU Temp
Music
Default (Red)
-Sexy neutral gunmetal gray sinks
What I like:
1. Awesome look and neutral theme, can be used for other color themes due to its rgb.
2. Simple and not too flamboyant.
3. Great VRM temps as per hardware unboxed reviews.
Cons:
1. Arrived in "sealed" amazon prime box, but the inside actual box of MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC was already opened.
2. Shipping price to Philippines is 40$ more or less.
3. Only 1 M.2 Shield.
4. Onboard JRGB headers are too spread out, making RGB lighting cables go to all places.
5. RGB lighting would have been appreciated if they placed some near the upper left part.
I ordered mine via amazon prime, it arrived in 1 week to Philippines from US, but I received the box already opened, luckily, it still works, but its weird to receive it opened, the other parts I ordered via newegg were all sealed, though they arrived 3 weeks.
Used in the following build:
Case: RAKK Hawani
Motherboard: MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC
RAM: Team Vulcan TUF 2x8GB 3200 Mhz
CPU: Ryzen 2700x
PSU: CoolerMaster MasterWatt 650 TUF
Case Fans: 2 sets of RAKK Maris X2
GPU: GT 630 -> planning to upgrade to AMDs upcoming GPU
I bought it to replace a lackluster B350 Tomahawk board. This board sports a very well thought VRM design, without the bell and whistles of flagship motherboards but with solid thermal performance - it has a couple of big passive heatsinks and doubled up mosfets and inductors.
The board also has good clearance for air coolers, good features like the dual M.2 slots (one of them on top of the PCIe slots to allow the ssd to not be enclosed beneath the graphics card heatsink), the inclusion of AC wireless and Bluetooth, a lot of fan headers and a variety of led lighting headers, supporting regular led strips, digital led strips and Corsair specific led products.
In the end, a lot of features without the need to break the bank.
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