The MSI B350 Tomahawk Motherboard Review: Gaming On a Budget

Conclusions

The MSI B350 Tomahawk is targeted at gamers looking for a cheaper option to supplement their new AMD Ryzen processor, but without making too many sacrifices in key and important areas such as connectivity. The B350 chipset bridges the gap between the ultra-basic A320 and premium X370 chipsets, and the MSI B350 Tomahawk is a good example of why B350 is more than another budget chipset. The B350 Tomahawk sits as the top board of its bottom range, with a slight nod to more aesthetic applications over other options. 

While not widely considered a motherboard with tons of overclocking potential, mainly due to the 'averageness' of the B350 chipset, the B350 Tomahawk easily managed to push our Ryzen 7 1700 ($290) processor as far as any other AM4 motherboard we have tested thus far. The 4+2 power delivery certainly held up its end of the performance bargain. For those worried about VRM temperatures, even with 1.375 V running through our CPU , the heatsinks caused no issues with our test bed.

Feature wise, there are a few options bundled above the B350 chipset that might make the Tomahawk appeal. The PCB separation for the audio coincides with the best ALC892 performing AM4 board we have tested so far, and the PCIe slot protection for discrete graphics is a plus for systems that get moved and heavy GPUs in place. Legacy afficinados might like the PCI slots as well. That being said, in some areas, there isn't anything additional: only four SATA ports, only USB 3.0 support (one Type-C port), and the base Realtek audio/networking combination. Also included is a single M.2 port which allows for use of the latest and fastest consumer focused NVMe (M.2 22110) SSDs; this can be found just underneath the top PCIe 3.0 x16 slot. It is odd that MSI hasn't included any of the USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) ports that the chipset supports, however.

The decision here could come based on the price difference between the B350 Tomahawk and MSI’s own entry level X370 Gaming Plus motherboard ($110). The differences on the surface look minuscule, and aside from minor aesthetical disparity and NVIDIA SLI support, as well as two extra SATA ports, they could be considered fraternal twins. 

For a user on a budget that wants at least some frills with a Ryzen 3, 5 or 7 processor, the B350 Tomahawk ticks most of the boxes and with a base styling, ample connections, and some ports. For around $95 at Amazon.com, the Tomahawk hits near the mark based on the features and with consistent performance to back it up, and this could be a good $100 option on the entirety of the AM4 chipset. 

AM4 Reviews

• $175 - GIGABYTE AX370-Gaming 5 [review]
• $110 - Biostar X370GTN [review]
• $98 - MSI B350 Tomahawk [this review]