The MSI MORTAR B350M Many people enjoy downsizing their PC system to save space, or to have a more convenient system, making mATX motherboards rather popular. The MORTAR B350M provides users everything they need for a straight up single-GPU gaming system. MSI haven't neglected the coming APUs either, providing users with several video output options (DVI-D, HDMI, Display Port), meaning that this would also be well suited for media-PC, or even productivity duties.
We did pick up on various things worth considering in our time with the MORTAR B350M. Firstly, is that is suffers from the sluggish 'Smart Fan' feature (something we have noticed across several MSI motherboards recently), despite not being equipped to be the most robust motherboard in regards to overclocking, if you choose to do so, you may find that you will need to set your CPU fan speed to 100%. Another recurring theme we have noticed with various MSI AM4 motherboards is the lack of the AMD Fan RGB LED header, which is simply non-existent. This could cause disappointment for those wanting to create a flashy system, though, we could also argue that RGB lighting isn't going to be much of an issue for a motherboard that only features red LED lighting. Finally, we would liked to have seen an extra 2x USB 3.1 (Gen2?) ports on the rear I/O, 5x USB Type A is reasonable, but if your chassis provides limited expansion, many people will find that they will soon run out. This point leads us to make a shout out to the manufacturers about the B350 chipset why aren't we getting that native 2x USB 3.1 Gen2?
Aside from that mentioned, the MORTAR B350M has all the features you need to create a good quality home/media/budget gaming system. It includes the high-speed NVMe M.2 slot for the latest SSDs, and features various MSI technologies including: DDR4 Boost and Audio Boost. We managed to find this motherboard for around £85-95, (a little less than its white/'Arctic' twin) making it a steal considering the potential of the latest AMD CPUs.
The MORTAR B350M motherboard comes in as a competent, high-quality, good-value motherboard, capable of creating an impressive budget gaming system.
Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.
We did pick up on various things worth considering in our time with the MORTAR B350M. Firstly, is that is suffers from the sluggish 'Smart Fan' feature (something we have noticed across several MSI motherboards recently), despite not being equipped to be the most robust motherboard in regards to overclocking, if you choose to do so, you may find that you will need to set your CPU fan speed to 100%. Another recurring theme we have noticed with various MSI AM4 motherboards is the lack of the AMD Fan RGB LED header, which is simply non-existent. This could cause disappointment for those wanting to create a flashy system, though, we could also argue that RGB lighting isn't going to be much of an issue for a motherboard that only features red LED lighting. Finally, we would liked to have seen an extra 2x USB 3.1 (Gen2?) ports on the rear I/O, 5x USB Type A is reasonable, but if your chassis provides limited expansion, many people will find that they will soon run out. This point leads us to make a shout out to the manufacturers about the B350 chipset why aren't we getting that native 2x USB 3.1 Gen2?
Aside from that mentioned, the MORTAR B350M has all the features you need to create a good quality home/media/budget gaming system. It includes the high-speed NVMe M.2 slot for the latest SSDs, and features various MSI technologies including: DDR4 Boost and Audio Boost. We managed to find this motherboard for around £85-95, (a little less than its white/'Arctic' twin) making it a steal considering the potential of the latest AMD CPUs.
The MORTAR B350M motherboard comes in as a competent, high-quality, good-value motherboard, capable of creating an impressive budget gaming system.
Pros
+ Attractive design
+ Solid performance
+ Several onboard video out (including Display Port)
+ NVMe M.2 socket
+ Attractive, easy to use BIOS
+ Glowing Red LED lighting
+ Dedicated features for gamers and VR
+ EZ Debug LED
+ Price
Cons
- Could do with more USB ports (preferably USB 3.1 G2)
- Only Red LED lighting
+ Attractive design
+ Solid performance
+ Several onboard video out (including Display Port)
+ NVMe M.2 socket
+ Attractive, easy to use BIOS
+ Glowing Red LED lighting
+ Dedicated features for gamers and VR
+ EZ Debug LED
+ Price
Cons
- Could do with more USB ports (preferably USB 3.1 G2)
- Only Red LED lighting
Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.
