Review: NZXT N7 B550

Conclusion

The PC motherboard market is dominated by four players. Decades-long history and a copious number of models means that, inevitably, enthusiasts choose one of Asus, ASRock, Gigabyte or MSI.

Chassis specialist NZXT knows it can't rival the quartet on engineering but may be able to tempt enough users if it can blend style and substance. Partnering with ASRock and using the aesthetic first established on the N7 Z370, the company answers the AMD call with the B550-based N7 B550. Pretty as they come from a minimalist viewpoint, this board is the style antithesis of the garish RGB overkill we oftentimes see in the mid-range space.

This ASRock foundation mated with an NZXT style makeover works well. Performance is a little off a decent X570, mostly due to running with lower power on our Ryzen 9 5950X, and overclocking not quite as robust.

We'd recommend NZXT find a better way of cooling the M.2 drive in the primary slot, sprinkle some fast(er) USB on the back, but that's about it. At around £200 you are buying this board more for looks than sheer features and performance. To that end, replicating what we saw with the Z490 iteration, this one certainly ought to be on your shortlist for that sleek, cool-looking AMD build ideally located within an NZXT chassis.

NZXT N7 B550

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TBC.

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