Is the B450 Tomahawk Max 2 a gaming motherboard?

When it comes to building your next gaming PC, there are plenty of options when it comes to choosing your motherboard. You could go with one of the most expensive models and get all the bells and whistles, or you could pick up one of the budget models and stretch your dollar as far as possible. But if you’re looking for the best of both worlds, then Asus’ new B450 Tomahawk Max 2 motherboard might be exactly what you need.

What is a Gaming Motherboard

When people refer to a gaming or graphics card, what they're usually talking about is an extra piece of hardware (an add-in card) that gives your PC more graphics memory. These cards can be used for all sorts of things, but one common use is for gaming—usually for running video games with high graphic-intensive requirements, like action or first-person shooter games. If you play these kinds of games on your PC, you'll probably want to upgrade your video card; otherwise, there's really no reason to get one. If you don't play any sort of computer game that requires heavy graphics processing, it's not worth investing in one.

The Testing Process

The Gigabyte B450 Tomahawk Max 2 is marketed as a budget option, which may suggest that it’s not quite as powerful as its high-end brethren. But there’s no shortage of options in the mid-range segment of motherboards, and competition is fierce. We’ve had experience with both brands and can vouch for them as reliable boards to build on—but what about their relative merits? The only way to know for sure is to test both against each other. So we did just that: Testing two different configurations based on these two identical motherboards gives us an accurate picture of their performance differences.

In-Game Benchmarks

You’ll want to know how your PC performs in games, and that’s where in-game benchmarks come into play. But these aren’t just any old benchmarks—there are dozens of companies that create custom, proprietary tests geared toward testing specific hardware setups. This allows them to pinpoint bottlenecks, highlight performance issues and ensure that their hardware is being put through its paces. You can download these tests for free from their respective websites (they look like .exe files) and run them directly within a game—don’t worry, they won’t do anything funky to your setup.

Final Thoughts

The MSI B450 Tomahawk Max 2 is one of those in-between motherboards. With most of its features being geared towards the everyday PC user, it’s less performance-oriented than other boards on our list. That said, it has enough eye candy and gamer flair to be enticing to enthusiasts and anyone that wants something that stands out from your typical gaming rig. If you want serious overclocking chops with RGB lighting then look elsewhere – especially since MSI already makes some killer affordable X470 boards. For AMD Ryzen 2600 and 2600X owners however, if you are looking for something flashy, but also reliable and not too expensive – go for it!