MSI has launched the B550 TOMAHAWK WIFI, giving the long standing AMD Socket AM4 platform a modern hardware refresh. The revised board adds Wi Fi 6E connectivity and updated aesthetics while reducing the total number of SATA and network ports. It arrives as an updated option for builders keeping their older Ryzen hardware running.
The motherboard is built on a 6 layer circuit board containing 2 ounce copper traces for better thermal dissipation. Power delivery relies on an 8 plus 2 plus 1 phase setup fed by a single 8 pin CPU power connector. For system memory, the board carries 4 DIMM slots capable of running overclocked DDR4 past 5100 MT/s. Expansion slots include 1 full speed PCIe Gen4 x16 slot for graphics cards, 1 physical full length PCIe Gen3 x4 slot, and 2 smaller PCIe Gen3 x1 slots for expansion cards.
MSI made noticeable adjustments to the storage and port configurations compared to the original version. Storage support consists of 2 M.2 slots, with the primary slot wired for PCIe Gen4 x4 speeds while the secondary slot handles PCIe Gen3 x4. Traditional storage drops to 4 SATA ports down from the original 6. The wired networking setup also sees a reduction. The previous dual port layout was replaced by a single 2.5GbE jack.
Wireless duties are handled by an onboard module supporting Wi Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. For external peripherals, the board provides a rear USB C port running at 10Gbps and an internal header for front panel USB C at 5Gbps. These revisions modernize the connectivity while trimming down legacy ports that most modern PC builds no longer require.
