GIGABYTE B650M AORUS ELITE AX vs MSI B850 GAMING PLUS WIFI PZ

Researched, not hands-on tested.How we review ›

all judged against motherboards at a similar price

The MSI B850 GAMING PLUS WIFI PZ scores 6.6/10 overall, ahead of the GIGABYTE B650M AORUS ELITE AX at 6.2/10.

The MSI B850 GAMING PLUS WIFI PZ leads on power delivery.

They score the same on platform and features, connectivity, BIOS and support and value.

GIGABYTE B650M AORUS ELITE AX

6.2/10verdict: good, not the best

The GIGABYTE B650M AORUS ELITE AX is a micro ATX AM5 board for compact builds on Ryzen 7000, 8000 or 9000 processors. It suits buyers who want one PCIe 5.0 NVMe drive, 2.5GbE and built-in Wi-Fi. It fits a general-purpose desktop, a small workstation or a light homelab box that needs four SATA ports.

Typically about £144.99 in the UK when we researched itCheck price at Amazon UK

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MSI B850 GAMING PLUS WIFI PZ

6.6/10verdict: good, not the best

The MSI B850 GAMING PLUS WIFI PZ is an ATX AM5 board for people building a mid-range Ryzen 7000, 8000 or 9000 system. It suits buyers who want Wi-Fi 7, 5Gbps wired networking and a 12-phase VRM without moving up the range. It fits best alongside a discrete graphics card that connects over DisplayPort.

Typically about £219.94 in the UK when we researched itCheck price at Amazon UK

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Scores, criterion by criterion

Criterion	Weight	GIGABYTE B650M AORUS ELITE AX	MSI B850 GAMING PLUS WIFI PZ
Platform and features	25%	6/10	6/10
Connectivity	25%	7/10	7/10
Power delivery	20%	5/10	7/10
BIOS and support	15%	7/10	7/10
Value	15%	6/10	6/10
Overall		6.2/10	6.6/10

Specifications

Spec	GIGABYTE B650M AORUS ELITE AX	MSI B850 GAMING PLUS WIFI PZ
Socket	AM5 (Ryzen 7000, 8000 and 9000 series)	AM5; supports AMD Ryzen 9000, 8000 and 7000 series desktop processors
Chipset	AMD B650	AMD B850
Form factor	Micro ATX, 24.4 x 24.4 cm	ATX, 243.84 x 304.8 mm
Memory	DDR5, 4 DIMM slots, up to 256 GB (64 GB per DIMM), dual channel; base speeds 5200/4800/4400 MT/s with OC profiles up to 8000 MT/s; EXPO and XMP supported	DDR5, 4 DIMM slots, up to 256 GB maximum
M.2 slots	2 x M.2 slots, both CPU-connected: M2A_CPU PCIe 5.0 x4/x2 and M2B_CPU PCIe 4.0 x4/x2 (Ryzen 7000/9000)	Three M.2 Key M slots: M.2_1 from CPU up to PCIe 5.0 x4 (2260/2280); M.2_2 from CPU up to PCIe 4.0 x4 (22110/2280); M.2_3 from chipset up to PCIe 4.0 x2 (2260/2280). Taken from the non-PZ sibling's MSI spec page and user guide; the PZ page confirms one PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot.
PCIe slots	1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 from CPU (PCIEX16); 1 x PCIe 4.0 x4 from chipset (PCIEX4)	One PCIe x16 slot, described as PCIe 5.0 on MSI's PZ page; MSI's regional spec page shows PCIe 5.0 x16 with Ryzen 9000/7000 and a UK review describes the non-PZ sibling as PCIe 4.0 x16, so the generation is disputed
Networking	Realtek 2.5GbE LAN; Wi-Fi 6E (Realtek RTL8852CE on rev 1.2/1.3); Bluetooth 5.2 or 5.3; no Wi-Fi 7 listed	Wi-Fi 7 and 5G LAN (Realtek 8126VB 5 Gbps wired, per MSI's spec page for the non-PZ sibling)
Rear USB	Rear: 1 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gb/s, from CPU), 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 5 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 4 x USB 2.0; no rear USB4 or 20 Gb/s port listed	Rear: one USB-C 10 Gb/s port per a PZ review (MSI's sibling spec lists two); front USB 5Gbps Type-C header

Strengths and weaknesses

GIGABYTE B650M AORUS ELITE AX

+ PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot plus a second CPU-connected M.2
+ Q-Flash Plus updates BIOS with no CPU, RAM or GPU
+ Front 20Gb/s USB-C header and 2.5GbE onboard
− No Wi-Fi 7; Wi-Fi 6E only
− No rear USB4 or 20Gb/s port
− Graphics slot is PCIe 4.0 x16

Skip it if:

Buyers who want Wi-Fi 7 built into the board
Anyone needing rear USB4 or 20Gb/s ports for fast external storage
Builders planning several add-in cards, given the two expansion slots

Read the full GIGABYTE B650M AORUS ELITE AX review ›

MSI B850 GAMING PLUS WIFI PZ

+ Wi-Fi 7 and 5Gbps wired LAN
+ 12+2+1 power design with two 8-pin connectors
+ Flash BIOS button works without CPU or memory
− No HDMI output reported; DisplayPort 1.2 only
− Only one M.2 slot runs at PCIe 5.0
− Third M.2 slot is limited to PCIe 4.0 x2

Skip it if:

Buyers who need HDMI output from the board itself
Builders who want two PCIe 5.0 M.2 slots
Builders who need more than four SATA ports for bulk storage

Read the full MSI B850 GAMING PLUS WIFI PZ review ›

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