Msi b450i gaming plus ac review in Spanish (full analysis)

MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC technical characteristics

Unboxing and design

MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC is presented in a very compact box with a predominant red color. The case design follows the typical MSI pattern in its Gaming Plus series, with red and black colors.

While in the back we have the main characteristics and specifications of the motherboard.

Once we open the box we find the motherboard packed in an antistatic bag to avoid damage during transport to the hands of its end user. Under the plate we find all the accessories, perfectly packed. Your bundle consists of:

MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC motherboard Back plate SATA cables

MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC is committed to a Mini ITX form factor with dimensions of 17 x 17 cm. Its main function is to install it in an SFF chassis and to have a super powerful team in the smallest possible space. Its PCB has a matte black color, while its heatsinks use black and red colors.

MSI is committed to a feeding system using a VRM with 6 + 2 feeding phases. This power system is in charge of giving the processor the energy it needs to function, which is why it is of great importance so that everything goes well. Next to it, it incorporates a very robust aluminum heatsink that will avoid excessive overheating and thus take advantage of a moderate overclock slightly.

As main power it has a 24-pin ATX connector and an 8-pin EPS connector. Enough to take any AMD Ryzen 3, 5, or 7 to its maximum TDP.

Keep in mind that this motherboard does not need BIOS updates to run the second generation AMD Ryzen processor. Since it comes exclusively for the first and second generation, but you can really get the most out of it with the B450 and X470 chipsets.

MSI has decided not to incorporate an RGB lighting system to improve other aspects: network card and sound card that we will talk about later. Bravo! The use of the Mini ITX format has limited the manufacturer to place just two DDR4 DIMM slots on this motherboard, enough to put up to 32GB of memory in dual channel configuration.

At the storage level we find a total of four SATA III ports for hard drives compatible with RAID 0, 1 and 10.

As well as a single M.2 NVMe slot which does not come with any refrigeration to lower the high temperatures of these units. This detail must be taken into account and we hope that MSI will assess it for future releases in this series. We leave you an image of what the ITX motherboard looks like behind and the detail of the only M.2 connection.

Another limitation of the Mini ITX format is that there is only one PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot, which will only allow us to install a graphics card or any dedicated card. This PCIe connection incorporates PCI-E Steel Armor technology that allows better resistance and cushions the high weight of the new high-end graphics cards.

The sound has not been neglected either, in this case we find the Realtek ALC887 engine with improved components. This will help us to have good 7.1 surround sound and an experience that years ago was not expected on a motherboard of such a small factor.

As a network card we have a Realtek 8111H that allows a Gigabit connection and a Wifi 802.11 AC module of only 1 x 1 at a speed of 433 Mbps and Bluetooth 4.2. We believe this wireless section is highly improvable and that at least it could have included a 2 x 2 system.

Among the rear connections we will find the following:

1 x HDMI1 x LAN port (RJ45) 2 x USB 3.0 type A4 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 (red) 3 x LED-lit audio connectors 1 x GO! Wi-Fi module (Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac and Bluetooth v4.2)

Test bench and performance tests

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	AMD Ryzen 2600X
Base plate:	MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC
Memory:	16 GB G.Skill Sniper X 3600 MHz
Heatsink	Stock
HDD	Crucial BX300 275 GB + KC400 512 GB
Graphic card	Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti
Power supply	Corsair RM1000X

To check the stability of the AMD Ryzen 2600X processor in stock values and the motherboard we have stressed it with Prime 95 Custom and air cooling. The graphics that we have brought to the test bench is a powerful Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti. Without further ado let's see the results obtained in our tests with a 1920 x 1080 monitor.

BIOS

Since last year, the BIOS of all manufacturers have improved a lot. MSI is increasingly improving its BIOS both visually and optionally. As expected, it allows us to overclock, create a curve for each fan we install, a component map installed, create profiles and order the storage units. Very good work guys!

Final words and conclusion about MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC

The MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC is one of the best ITX motherboards currently offered by the market. Its 6 phases of power, moderate design, cooling for the chipset & VRM and its overclocking capacity is highly recommended.

This time we have mounted an NVIDIA GTX 1080 Ti graphics card and an AMD Ryzen 5 2600X processor to get the most out of it. The result is great, since we can play epic in Full HD and more than 60 FPS in 4K.

The price of the MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC is 125 euros and will soon be available for sale. We believe that it is a very good option, but that it has certain improvements, if the Wifi section or the dissipation of the M.2 NVMe is not a problem for you. It is a highly recommended purchase for your new Ultra Compact PC.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
- GOOD COMPONENTS	- ONLY ONE NVME AND WITHOUT DISSIPATION
- A QUALITY BASE PLATE TO HAVE AN ITX FORMAT	- VERY BETTER WIFI, ONLY 802.11 AC WITH 1 X 1
- GOOD CHIPSET AND VRM REFRIGERATION
- BIOS
- ALLOWS OVERCLOCK