AM4 motherboard recommendations for harsh environment

[Luigix]

I currently live in the Caribbean near the coast with a dirt track near my house so there's a lot of dust and a lot of salt in the air. Its also always hot and I don't use an air conditioner. I need a motherboard that can hold up in this environment for at least 2-3 years.

So far I have a Ryzen 3 2200g and plan to upgrade to the Ryzen 5 3600 as well as the mid tier navi gpu when the time comes. So I'm looking for a really durable motherboard which should be able to handle a salty,dusty environment with above average temperatures and be easy to update the bios as well as troubleshoot problems.

Some that I'm considering are:
MSI B450 Tomahawk: Recommended as the best value b450 motherboard by several sources along with the b450m Mortar. Has EZ Led debugging and bios flashback feature.
Asus Prime B450-Plus: I've seen fairly mixed reviews about this, but Asus claims it has 5x protection which seems really attractive for my specific use case.
Asus TUF B450-Plus: Claims a lot of things, haven't seen any reviews supporting the durability though.
Gigabyte B450 Auros Pro Wifi: Cool features but reviews claim the vrm temperatures are terrible, not planning to overclock too much, but still a bit skeptical.

Budget for motherboard is $120.

Build(bolded parts will be ones i already bought):
PSU: EVGA G3 550W
CPU: Ryzen 3 2200g (placeholder cpu/gpu)
Case: NZXT H500 (good reviews, fully painted and has 3 dust filters)
RAM: 16gb 2666mhz + Ram
SSD: 500gb 860 EVO

PC will mostly be used for programming and ui designing, so the 2200g is enough for the time being since the only game i play is LoL.

 

[CountMike]

Get a case with intake dust filters, new MBs are not nearly as rugged as old ones.

 

[drea.drechsler]

I currently live in the Caribbean near the coast with a dirt track near my house so there's a lot of dust and a lot of salt in the air. Its also always hot and I don't use an air conditioner. I need a motherboard that can hold up in this environment for at least 2-3 years.

So far I have a Ryzen 3 2200g and plan to upgrade to the Ryzen 5 3600 as well as the mid tier navi gpu when the time comes. So I'm looking for a really durable motherboard which should be able to handle a salty,dusty environment with above average temperatures and be easy to update the bios as well as troubleshoot problems.

Some that I'm considering are:
MSI B450 Tomahawk: Recommended as the best value b450 motherboard by several sources along with the b450m Mortar. Has EZ Led debugging and bios flashback feature.
Asus Prime B450-Plus: I've seen fairly mixed reviews about this, but Asus claims it has 5x protection which seems really attractive for my specific use case.
Asus TUF B450-Plus: Claims a lot of things, haven't seen any reviews supporting the durability though.
Gigabyte B450 Auros Pro Wifi: Cool features but reviews claim the vrm temperatures are terrible, not planning to overclock too much, but still a bit skeptical.

Budget for motherboard is $120.

Build(bolded parts will be ones i already bought):
PSU: EVGA G3 550W
CPU: Ryzen 3 2200g (placeholder cpu/gpu)
Case: NZXT H500 (good reviews, fully painted and has 3 dust filters)
RAM: 16gb 2666mhz + Ram
SSD: 500gb 860 EVO

PC will mostly be used for programming and ui designing, so the 2200g is enough for the time being since the only game i play is LoL.

For the Ryzen 2200g either of those motherboards should perform very close so I'd look at other features to determine which i like best. For a 2600 the Tomahawk would be nice for it's cool running VRM, a big benefit in all-core workloads. But as for the '3600'... nobody knows what it will be like so nobody can say which would more helpful when that time comes.

As for features to look at: MSI's BIOS flash back is nice, but not essential IMO, look at numbers and types of USB ports, especially usb3.1 gen2 ports, and also look at a second M.2 socket for a second NVME. If you're one to put in AIC's to improve on LAN, WiFi, sound or whatever look at how PCIe lanes are assigned as you do that.

That claim of '5x durability' sounds to me like marketing drivel that means nothing in itself. If you are really concerned about your dusty evironment you may want to consider setting up your case and cooling to be a 'positive pressure' case. That entails arranging fans to blow air into the case, through a filter, that are slightly more powerful than the fans that are exhausting the warm air. When set up right you'll be able to feel air blowing out of seams and cracks between covers which keeps unfiltered air from entering through the cracks and seams. I don't think this will do much for the salty air though.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Oh yeah...i'd also suggest go looking for industrial motherboards as they are usually heavily de-rated for harsh environments but I don't think there are any yet for AM4 socket.

 

[Luigix]

I currently live in the Caribbean near the coast with a dirt track near my house so there's a lot of dust and a lot of salt in the air. Its also always hot and I don't use an air conditioner. I need a motherboard that can hold up in this environment for at least 2-3 years.

So far I have a Ryzen 3 2200g and plan to upgrade to the Ryzen 5 3600 as well as the mid tier navi gpu when the time comes. So I'm looking for a really durable motherboard which should be able to handle a salty,dusty environment with above average temperatures and be easy to update the bios as well as troubleshoot problems.

Some that I'm considering are:
MSI B450 Tomahawk: Recommended as the best value b450 motherboard by several sources along with the b450m Mortar. Has EZ Led debugging and bios flashback feature.
Asus Prime B450-Plus: I've seen fairly mixed reviews about this, but Asus claims it has 5x protection which seems really attractive for my specific use case.
Asus TUF B450-Plus: Claims a lot of things, haven't seen any reviews supporting the durability though.
Gigabyte B450 Auros Pro Wifi: Cool features but reviews claim the vrm temperatures are terrible, not planning to overclock too much, but still a bit skeptical.

Budget for motherboard is $120.

Build(bolded parts will be ones i already bought):
PSU: EVGA G3 550W
CPU: Ryzen 3 2200g (placeholder cpu/gpu)
Case: NZXT H500 (good reviews, fully painted and has 3 dust filters)
RAM: 16gb 2666mhz + Ram
SSD: 500gb 860 EVO

PC will mostly be used for programming and ui designing, so the 2200g is enough for the time being since the only game i play is LoL.

For the Ryzen 2200g either of those motherboards should perform very close so I'd look at other features to determine which i like best. For a 2600 the Tomahawk would be nice for it's cool running VRM, a big benefit in all-core workloads. But as for the '3600'... nobody knows what it will be like so nobody can say which would more helpful when that time comes.

As for features to look at: MSI's BIOS flash back is nice, but not essential IMO, look at numbers and types of USB ports, especially usb3.1 gen2 ports, and also look at a second M.2 socket for a second NVME. If you're one to put in AIC's to improve on LAN, WiFi, sound or whatever look at how PCIe lanes are assigned as you do that.

That claim of '5x durability' sounds to me like marketing drivel that means nothing in itself. If you are really concerned about your dusty evironment you may want to consider setting up your case and cooling to be a 'positive pressure' case. That entails arranging fans to blow air into the case, through a filter, that are slightly more powerful than the fans that are exhausting the warm air. When set up right you'll be able to feel air blowing out of seams and cracks between covers which keeps unfiltered air from entering through the cracks and seams. I don't think this will do much for the salty air though.

Oh yeah...i'd also suggest go looking for industrial motherboards as they are usually heavily de-rated for harsh environments but I don't think there are any yet for AM4 socket.

I'll go with the b450 tomahawk or b450 gaming pro carbon if I have extra and take your advice on the case and fan setup. Also, should I use static air pressure or high airflow fans? I'm gonna buy the H500 which comes with 2x120mm fans configured as exhaust, and it has room for up to 2x 140mm on the front.

 

[drea.drechsler]

I'll go with the b450 tomahawk or b450 gaming pro carbon if I have extra and take your advice on the case and fan setup. Also, should I use static air pressure or high airflow fans? I'm gonna buy the H500 which comes with 2x120mm fans configured as exhaust, and it has room for up to 2x 140mm on the front.

I've never set up a positive pressure case but I'd think the best fans would be static air pressure fans front, air flow in back. The arrangement would be the radiator front mounted with the static air pressure fans pulling cool air through both radiator and filter(s) to keep the cpu cool and pressurize the case. You'd probably want these running at close to max RPM constantly, to keep the pressure pretty high and maintain airflow. Then adjust the rear/top fans' speed down so it doesn't exhaust at to high a rate. I'd use a smoke bulb around the seams and cracks to gauge how effective the pressure build up is.

You'll have to use high-quality fans in front to be sure as they'll be running near max all the time so it's always filtering the air. This could be a relatively noisy set-up, not denying that. Most times I've seen it used is for servers and other high-availability systems in environments, like factory floors or server rooms, where noise output was immaterial to function. Regular filter maintenance is also a must.