ASRock B550 PG Riptide

[ir_cow]

ASRock brings the PG Riptide series to B550 with an affordable solution for APUs and PC gamers on a budget. It comes with 2.5 Gb/s LAN from Killer Networking and RGB and PCIe Gen4 support. This motherboard has a lot of the same features as the X570-based Riptide, so let's see if it can hit all the marks!

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[mechtech]

Too bad it wasn't an intel 2.5G network and had a rear IO DP 1.4.

 

[ir_cow]

Too bad it wasn't an intel 2.5G network and had a rear IO DP 1.4.

Killer owned by Intel now? Full title is Intel Killer 3100G 2.5. Sorry about that.

Edit: It looks like Intel bought it in early 2020.

 

[mechtech]

Killer owned by Intel now? Full title is Intel Killer 3100G 2.5. Sorry about that.

Edit: It looks like Intel bought it in early 2020.

I never knew. So is it still old killer chip or a rebranded/rebadged Intel architecture network chip with Intel driver?

also that audio test. Interesting that the 897 outperformed pretty much every 1220 chip!?!?

 

[ir_cow]

also that audio test. Interesting that the 897 outperformed pretty much every 1220 chip!?!?

Im not sure about that. It "matches" the ALC1220 for the 20KHz sweep but has a high noise ratio. Bump it up and the 897 drops off at 50KHz.

Also RightMark is a little fincky to use. The correct way is to set the output volume to 100% and the line-in up until -1db. You can fake good results or false bad results based on the volume.

The second issue is this test relies on a quailty line-in. The best way would be to externally record it to a recording grade device. The comon and easy way is to use the line-in on the motherboard. Which is 99% of the reviews included me.

The point I am trying to make is someones elses test may be conducted differrently. To that, there is also a ton of other small things like the DAC which can also change the outcome.

 

[tabascosauz]

@ir_cow looks like ASRock marketing dept successfully got you

At the time of writing, ASRock's website lists these as 60 A, which is incorrect.

ASRock always advertises a current rating for their inductors. The website does say 50A for the SiC654, but as usual they want you to look at the [basically useless] 60A "premium choke" rating next to it instead. Even their boards like Pro4 with the crappiest Sinopower 5.3mΩ parts will advertise a 50A/60A inductor rating, I know it's the most idiotic marketing gimmick........knowing ASRock, wouldn't be surprised if the inductors don't even live up to that claim

 

[cadaveca]

Im not sure about that. It "matches" the ALC1220 for the 20KHz sweep but has a high noise ratio. Bump it up and the 897 drops off at 50KHz.

Also RightMark is a little fincky to use. The correct way is to set the output volume to 100% and the line-in up until -1db. You can fake good results or false bad results based on the volume.

The second issue is this test relies on a quailty line-in. The best way would be to externally record it to a recording grade device. The comon and easy way is to use the line-in on the motherboard. Which is 99% of the reviews included me.

The point I am trying to make is someones elses test may be conducted differrently. To that, there is also a ton of other small things like the DAC which can also change the outcome.

I played for years with Rightmark and other audio testing options; choices are limited for what's viable.

At least with loopback you're sure to show what the entire loop is capable of.

 

[bug]

Unfortunately, AsRock is no longer on my buying list. I had an unpleasant experience with the last board, so I'll be looking elsewhere from now on.

 

[Selaya]

This might've been interesting in the <$100 bracket, but as-is there are similar, if not lower priced competitors offering much better value than this typical ASRock-garbage-VRM budget board.
Alas.

 

[Mussels]

The board looks nice, but good lord am i sick of boards with shitty 4+2 VRMS
They serve a purpose for low end machines, but shouldnt exist on anything but the A320/A520 chipsets

And why the heck waste the space on a board for x16 plastic if they're 4x and 1x... good old open ended 1x slots exist

 

[MIRTAZAPINE]

also that audio test. Interesting that the 897 outperformed pretty much every 1220 chip!?!?

Realtek ALC897 is really not that bad if you have good implementation around it. My old biostar z97we got the same chip and it emerge ahead realtek higher offerings of its day with poor implementation. Even my old dac or soundblaster of the 2000s still emerge further than most higher end realtek onboard these days despite being technically inferior.

 

[mechtech]

The board looks nice, but good lord am i sick of boards with shitty 4+2 VRMS
They serve a purpose for low end machines, but shouldnt exist on anything but the A320/A520 chipsets

And why the heck waste the space on a board for x16 plastic if they're 4x and 1x... good old open ended 1x slots exist
View attachment 222182

Yes all pcie slots should be open ended!!

and that 4+2 vrm. Isn’t that what Asus used on the b550 creator mobo? And yes should only be on the ‘A’ series motherboards!!