Conclusion
In our second of a series, we take a look at another re-release of a socket AM4 motherboard. The MSI PRO B550M-P original was first released in 2021. Following that were a couple of MSI PRO B550M-P Gen3 boards with and without WiFi. The motherboard we reviewed today, the MicroATX MSI PRO B550M-P WiFi6E, was released in April 2026 with not one, but two M.2 slots (one being Gen4) and WiFi6E, as the title says. Despite the smaller size, this board supports socket AM4 Ryzen 3000 and 5000 CPUs, DDR4 RAM, Gen4 PCIe, and Gen4 NVME storage. The price makes you look twice; I’ll say that much……$99.99-$119.99 bucks.
Installation and use
There were no issues encountered in the use of this motherboard. Component assembly was as expected. The board is a little short on 4-pin fan headers if you use an AIO cooler, but we managed. There was plenty of space on this board, despite its smaller size. The only issue that does make a real difference is the second M.2 slot. This is positioned right below the GPU. Given that Gen3 NVME tends to be thin, not using giant heatsinks, our ADATA SX8100NP fit just fine. Temperatures could be an issue, though. We simply could not use our primary M.2 drive in the second slot for testing purposes, because it does have a giant heatsink. So with a dedicated GPU, that was a no-go.
First boot, flashing the BIOS and loading Windows 11 were no issue. The BIOS is a bit retro in appearance, but finding items and the one- click feature works just fine. Navigation and selection were crisp and quick. We had no issues running any benchmarks. Cudos to MSI….no VRM heatsinks and the board ran CinebenchR23 with no heat-related issues.
Final Points
In our second look at a refreshed AM4 motherboard in 2026……first thought, MSI is doing a very nice job keeping this older technology quite relevant. It modernizes it and brings it up to more modern technologies. MSI has added Gen4 capability and improved WiFi to this inexpensive motherboard. If you are still holding a bunch of DDR4 memory, Gen3 or Gen4 storage, or an older Ryzen processor, MSI has some very nice platforms for you that are very reasonable. This B550M-P WiFi6E is primarily aimed at business and productivity desktops. It is a solid, very stable motherboard that also has a smaller footprint. If you are looking for a smaller PC build, or your office needs a bit more compute, this is an excellent bargain all around. There’s probably some gaming in it as well. Plus it makes use of components you may have put on the shelf. This motherboard is actually quite impressive at this price, and MSI has squeezed every bit of value out of it.
Discussion (1 reply)
Join Discussion →It's wild to see this socket still coming on strong.