9900k or 9700k
9900k or 9700k
Additionally, I favor Asus since I’m comfortable with their applications, and I appreciate the Fan Control App.
That's not a reasonable cost for a b550. The Aorus Pro, Tomahawk, Mortar, Steel Legend, and Strix F all seem solid options. If you're restricted to these two, the Aorus Master is superior but the E uses 14s at around 63k in pairs, making it fairly decent. It's often seen as a bit overpriced overall. The Strix F offers better value and is usually more affordable.
Aorus seems to offer a more appealing alternative compared to Asus.
Since the Aorus master shares the same VRM as the Aorus Extreme (a $500 board), which features 14 70A smart power stages, while the E uses 14 Si639s acting as 50A DMSOs, the Aorus master performs significantly better. However, every board I mentioned is still solid.