NZXT N7 B550 Review: Is it worth buying?

NZXT N7 B550 REVIEW. Today is a large day for those who are fans of both NZXT and AMD. Now the clean and builder-friendly style of NZXT motherboards can be experienced by those using AMD processors. In the past, it was an Intel-only social club, simply at present NZXT's range of motherboards has expanded to include "Team Cerise," whose CPUs accept been growing in popularity always since Ryzen launched back in 2017. While it'southward corking to see NZXT supporting AMD, the company all-time known for its coolers and cases nonetheless has other boxes to bank check if its N7 B550 motherboard is to win the day. This is the GameRevolution review.

Made for AMD

NZXT N7 B550 Review

Having built and reviewed the N7 Z490 motherboard, I knew to expect the premium packaging experience. The larger-than-virtually box contains a tightly-secured motherboard, user manual, four SATA cables, wireless antennas, and 2 Thousand.ii screws for the two slots. Whether you go black or white, the motherboard is immediately impressive with its fashionable cover. If going by aesthetics solitary, this is the all-time-looking B550 motherboard that I've ever come beyond, specially for the toll.

The cosmetic combination of an N7 motherboard with one of NZXT H cases and an NZXT CPU cooler is tough to beat without going custom. Information technology's clean and timeless, so it's fantastic that AMD users at present get to bask that.

Of course, a motherboard'due south appearance doesn't actually matter if it doesn't perform well. Thankfully, the NZXT N7 B550 proves to be capable, matching the performance of my work/streaming PC's ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3 in terms of CPU and RAM overclocking. The BIOS itself is also similar, and I was able to chop-chop navigate to key settings to manage fan speeds and other options.

The similarities to my ASRock lath are no coincidence, as NZXT is one time again collaborating with ASRock to evangelize the N7 B550. This was outset seen with the N7 Z490 and information technology has been a wise move.

Building with the board is unsurprisingly like shooting fish in a barrel. NZXT emphasizes that its N7 range is put together with builders in mind, and it shows with the component layout.

More to dearest

NZXT N7 B550 Review

The main downside to using the N7 Z490 when compared to competing products was the pocket-size number of rear USB ports. For someone like me who chop-chop fills up USB ports with peripherals, external drives, hubs, and other doodads, a generous number of USB ports is e'er appreciated. In a large move, NZXT has listened to feedback and worked to increase the number of total-size rear USB by 4, with nine in total. That's two extra USB 3.two Gen 2 and 2 extra USB 3.2 Gen 1.

The corporeality of SATA vi GB/s ports has also seen a bump up, with 6 in total. Notwithstanding, it'southward worth noting that bandwidth is shared with the 2d Chiliad.2 slot, and then those with a lot of drives will want to consider the setup carefully. With that said, it'south dandy to accept the flexibility and more than ports is always a bonus!

Though we don't yet have any PCIe 4.0 devices on hand to test with, the N7 B550 does support PCIe iv.0. Other new tech includes Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.ii connectivity. Equally a B550 board, users can expect guaranteed support for Ryzen 3000, 4000, and 5000 Serial processors.

The N7 B550 boasts memory overclocking speeds of up to 4733 MHz and XMP. As mentioned earlier, our XMP profile for our 3733 MHz RAM worked without result when paired with our Ryzen 3700X.

CAM is here

NZXT N7 B550 Review

Another big plus of the N7 B550 is the vast support for fans and RGB. Maxing out this board volition take some attempt, merely those who fill each available slot volition have themselves a very cool and brightly-lit build.

To help with managing these addons, NZXT is once again leaning on its CAM software. Every bit mentioned in previous NZXT product reviews, this software has come a long way. It will always have its naysayers, every bit all hardware-supporting apps tend to do, but I've had a consistently pleasant and unobtrusive experience with CAM over the past couple of years.

CAM tin can be used to manage fan controllers and create lighting profiles with support for RGB accessories across all manufacturers. It also lets you monitor system specs, games, audio, and other features. While I just use it to manage fans and lighting, I appreciate NZXT making CAM a single destination for users to enjoy basic monitoring of most of their arrangement components and resources. I imagine this volition be of most interest to new PC users or buyers of pre-built NZXT systems.

Of course, if you lot're here for how the N7 B550 looks and basic operation, then CAM tin can safely be ignored.

NZXT N7 B550 Review | The Final Verdict

NZXT N7 B550 Review

Man, it is good to see NZXT embracing AMD'southward success in the CPU space. Now Ryzen users tin can take advantage of the supreme style of N7 motherboards and expect great functioning from a arrangement that looks damn good. What's more, the MSRP of $229.99 is competitive, especially in the current market, and that 3-year warranty is great to run into.

With the N7 B550, NZXT has introduced support for AMD processors while also rectifying the lack of rear USB and SATA ports institute on the Z490 variant. Not only has the company proven that it'due south here for AMD users, but information technology's also shown that information technology'south listening to feedback and apace acting upon information technology.

AMD back up is finally hither, meaning those who love the look of NZXT'southward N7 motherboards will no longer have to choose betwixt going Intel or missing out.

N7 B550 review unit was provided by NZXT.