It is still very early in the lifespan of this second generation of Ryzen processors, and with only two boards under my belt, I don't feel I can accurately represent exactly where average performance is going to fall. However, the ASRock AB350M Pro4 performed admirably when compared to its flagship counterpart, the ASRock X470 Taichi Ultimate. The ASRock AB350M Pro4 performed worse in almost every category of testing, but it was not a shutout. While it lagged behind the Taichi Ultimate, the ASRock AB350M Pro4 stayed close and on occasion even surpassed the Taichi. It turns out you can get a lot of performance out of Ryzen without a lot of motherboard.

The ASRock AB350M Pro4 even offers some modest overclocking potential, though the potential of my Ryzen 5 2600X is marginal. I was able to achieve the same clock at the same voltage on the ASRock AB350M Pro4 as with the Taichi Ultimate. The disparity in features became more obvious when I tried to overclock my RAM. The ASRock AB350M Pro4 only supports XMP profiles, and like most boards, it wasn't able to handle the 3866 MHz of my G.SKILL kit. Some boards offer an XMP profile equal to their maximum supported clock speed, but not the ASRock AB350M Pro4. While on the Taichi Ultimate, I was able to play with the frequency to find the fastest clock possible, on the ASRock AB350M Pro4, either the XMP profile works or you stick with the stock frequency.

Storage support and I/O offerings are limited as well, though that should be no surprise considering the ASRock AB350M Pro4's price point. Audio connectivity in particular is highly limited, though performance in the RightMark benchmark was pretty good. The ASRock AB350M Pro4 also does not have a single RGB LED on it, which will be a plus for some. It does have an RGB header, so RGB enthusiast haven't been left out in the rain completely. Overall, I think the ASRock AB350M Pro4 is a great board for those on a very strict budget; it is also reassurance to those who already have AM4 motherboards that AMD is supporting new Ryzen releases on older platforms.