Often with reviews its not common to see more budget-friendly options shown off, but today we’re going against the grain with the confusingly cheap B550 PRO-VDH WIFI from MSI. This motherboard costs only around 90 dollars on Newegg, which is pretty insane, even for a considerably dated motherboard like this one.

Micro-ATX in form with the AM4 PGA CPU socket, this motherboard is well suited to low-budget builds. It uses the B550 chipset and utilizes 4 sticks of DDR4 RAM, up to 128GB total. The “WIFI” in the name is of course, for the WIFI connection ability. The motherboard comes with two WIFI antennae that connect to the rear I/O panel and while rather obviously most would prefer having a LAN connection instead, its very useful for more mobile setups.

As for quality, its not bad. The only issue that could really be found was that the USB ports were a bit easy to bend out of shape. Good soldering, and the reinforcements to the PCIe connectors are very nice (though, for a budget build, it doesn’t quite make sense to get a super heavy GPU). Good quality for the pricing!

The motherboard has a variety of features, like the M.2 Shield Frozr (Essentially, a heatsink for your SSDs), and a dedicated flash BIOS button that are shown in better detail by the official MSI website linked here.

There really isn’t much else to talk about with a motherboard, other than maybe the chipset. It uses the B550 chipset. Basic but it’ll get the job done for older Ryzen CPUs.

That’s pretty much all I can think of about this thing. Affordable, and not bad.

Note:  This review is part of a classroom project.

The GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS ELITE AX is a business motherboard sold by GIGABYTE on newegg for $199.99 as of 12/9/2025.  This motherboard i would say is a good middle ground motherboard because though its not specifically made for gaming or basic home use it can do both. It’ll do the job you need it to do but it probably wont be the best at it(unless your using it for proffessional business use). Im going to more into depth on both the gaming and basic home use sides of this motherboard now.

So, when it comes to gaming with the GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS ELITE AX its not the best, but it can do it. If you game with this motherboard your graphics are going to suck beings it comes with integrated Intel graphics(so it may aswell have no graphics)aswell as integrated Realtek audio and Realtek 2.5 GbE lan. If you install a graphics card you can probably game decently or good at least. It has 2 PCIe 4.0 x16 slots so you can definitley install a gaming graphics card. It also uses DDR5 RAM with a max capacity of 256GBs total and 64GB DIMM and it has 4 64GB DIMM slots and can run RAM at speeds of 7600(O.C.) /7400(O.C.) /7200(O.C.) /7000(O.C.) /6800(O.C.) /6600(O.C.) / 6400(O.C.) / 6200(O.C.) / 6000(O.C.) / 5800(O.C.) / 5600(O.C.) / 5400(O.C.) / 5200(O.C.) / 4800 / 4000.

The rear I/O ports include 1x USB 3.2 gen 2 type-C port, 2x USB 3.2 gen 2 type-A ports, 3x USB 3.2 gen 1 type-A ports, 4x USB 2.0 type-A ports, 2x SMA antenna connectors, 1xHDMI port, 1x display port, 1x RJ-45 port, 1x S/PDIF out connector, 2x audio ports. 

It has an LGA 1700 CPU socket and supports all 14th, 13th, and 12th Generation Intel Core, Pentium Gold and Celeron Processors.

It has 6 6GB/s SATA connecters and 3 4.0 M.2 connectors.

The reason i wouldnt use this motherboard for home is because it is so much more expensive compared a motherboard the would do only the things you would need it to do for home use efficiently, if you already have this motherboard then use it because it will do everything home wise you need it to do and more.

works cited

GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS ELITE AX     

https://www.newegg.com/gigabyte-z790-aorus-elite-ax-atx-motherboard-intel-z790-lga-1700/p/N82E16813145417?scrlybrkr=68b1077f                                                                                                                     

Note: this review is a school project.

The PRIME Z490-P sold by ASUS is a budget motherboard selling for $97.20 on Newegg.com as of 12/9/2025. I believe that the PRIME Z490-P is a great budget motherboard for anyone interested in a cheap yet surprisingly powerful motherboard. The PRIME Z490-P is the perfect motherboard for performance on a budget.

The PRIME Z490-P uses an LGA 1200 motherboard socket supporting 10th and 11th generation Intel Celeron, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, Core i9 and Intel Pentium Gold CPUs. The motherboard supports 4 slots of DDR4 memory at a clock speed of 4800MHz. The PRIME Z490-P  supports up to 128GB of memory which is more than decent for the average user.

Overall the PRIME Z490-P is a cheap and functional motherboard capable of delivering decent performance. The PRIME Z490-P is capable of running modern applications, games, and whatever else is thrown at it as long as the rest of the computer is up to spec. This motherboard is perfect for the every day user or anyone who wants performance on a budget.

Works Cited

“https://www.newegg.com/asus-prime-z490-p-atx-intel-motherboard-intel-z490-lga-1200/p/N82E16813119272?utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=afc-ran-com-_-Cashback+on+Bing+for+Edge+browser&utm_source=afc-Cashback+on+Bing+for+Edge+browser&AFFID=3829940&AFFNAME=Cashback+on+Bing+for+Edge+browser&ACRID=1&ASUBID=9dde908a-4cc4-4421-a00c-66bd9a0419f0&ASID=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2F&ranMID=44583&ranEAID=3829940&ranSiteID=_jZHTpnCvx8-LPPvE0Zly80iobVRgeX8rA&scrlybrkr=248e8b0c”

Note:  This review is part of a classroom project.

The MEG Z890 Unify-X is a motherboard that is sold by MSI. It’s currently (as of 12/9/25) listed for $899.99 on Newegg. The motherboard itself has a plethora of things that you could add to it, along with great processors that go with the motherboard itself, and is a fairly decent motherboard for a gaming PC.

The socket itself is a LGA 1851, and supports a list of Intel Core Processors from series 2, a few select processors that can be used include and are not limited to the Intel Core Ultra 9 Processor 288V, the Intel Core Processor Ultra 9 Processor 285T, and the Intel Core Ultra 9 Processor 285K. The rear I/O port consists of eight USB 3.2 slots, four USB-C ports, Flash BIOS, clear CMOS, and smart button buttons, keyboard and mouse plugins, a network port as well as Wi-Fi, analog audio and S/PDIF audio.

The motherboard is a little lacking on terms of ram slots, only having two slots for DDR5 with a memory cap of 128GB. The memory slots support non-ECC and unbuffered memory, and it also supports dual-controller and dual-channel  mode. However, to make up for the lack of ram slots, the motherboard has six M.2 slots underneath a heat sync, and six SATA ports. The motherboard has four expansion slots, three PCIe x16 slots and one PCIe x1 slot.

Generally, this is a decent motherboard to have for a gaming PC with powerful and efficient processors that you can buy to go with it, a plethora of M.2 slots, and six SATA ports. Expansion slots are slightly limited, but with what’s on the motherboard there is a decent amount of things you can add to it, and the rear I/O port has lots of things that you can use to hook other things to the PC itself.

References:

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MEG-Z890-UNIFY-X/Specification

https://www.newegg.com/msi-meg-z890-unify-x-atx-motherboard-intel-z890-lga-1851/p/N82E16813144683?srsltid=AfmBOoprzyfeuV7GGk-DkjY8zQ2ffKK55b4licer8NkkzlWZies9oFZm

Note: This review is part of a classroom project. 

The X870 Steel Legend WiFi is a gaming motherboard sold by Asrock for $199.99 on Newegg as of 12/9/2025. I think this is a great budget motherboard for anyone who likes gaming and saving money. This motherboard is perfect as a cheaper upgrade from older motherboards that have power, durability, and aesthetics.

The X870 Steel Legend WiFi supports AM5 Ryzen, 9000, 8000, and 7000 processors. This motherboard also has 256 GB of system memory, which is very good for a motherboard at this price. It also supports DDR5 ECC/non-ECC, un-buffered memory up to 8000+ overclock. This is very good because it supports the newest generation of RAM, and it can also support ECC (Error Correcting Code), which is good for servers and stability, and non-ECC, which is normal RAM for consumers. With the overclock being at 8000+, this means that you can prioritize performance for crazy speeds, but this also depends on the CPU being used.

Overall, the X870 Steel Legend WiFi is a great choice for anyone who wants a powerful and affordable gaming motherboard. It has a lot of features you usually see on more expensive boards, like support for the newest Ryzen processors, tons of memory, and DDR5 RAM that can overclock to crazy speeds. This motherboard is perfect for people who want strong performance, reliability, and good value all in one.

work cited

“ASRock X870 STEEL LEGEND WIFI AM5 AMD X870 ATX Motherboard” https://www.newegg.com/asrock-x870-steel-legend-wifi-atx  motherboardamdx870am5/p/N82E16813162165srsltid=AfmBOooy_qOoV1LiEC3iBLIrXZq7TOu7RxnVpXYDfpoQl8v5bnuqYQ8

“X870 Steel Legend WiFi”                                                                                                                                           https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X870%20Steel%20Legend%20WiFi/index.asp#Specification

Note: This review is part of a classroom project

In my experience with gigabytes home pc (the GIGABYTE B550M K AM4 AMD B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard) it worked very well after fully installing it and using it I have come to express how I feel about it. Its not the fastest pc in the world however it doesn’t need to be! It serves its purpose as a home pc more than perfectly and if you really wanted to you could use it for small games and videos with no problem. I had zero issues doing my basic computing with this pc.

Now would I recommend this pc? Well being a lower end pc its not for gamers for sure however if you just need a pc for your house then yes. This pc will fill every need it has to in your household and it can keep up pretty well. It has served me greatly and I will continue to use it!

I’m glad to have been able to have this experience with this pc and I absolutely recommend it for anyone looking to have a pc for there home. It’s good speeds and it being able to keep up with anything you need it to within reason especially for its low price! This pc is purchasable at Newegg for 84.99 which is a deal for anyone looking for a pc like this!

Works cited

https://www.newegg.com/gigabyte-b550m-k-micro-atx-motherboard-amd-b550-am4/p/N82E16813145434

This is part of a classroom assignment *