Monday, January 9th 2017

ASRock Socket AM4 Motherboard Lineup Detailed

At the 2017 International CES, ASRock showed off some of its first socket AM4 motherboards for AMD Ryzen processors and 7th generation A-Series "Bristol Ridge" APUs. Leading the pack is the X370 Taichi. Built in the ATX form-factor, the board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors. It uses a 16-phase CPU VRM with high-capacity Super Alloy chokes. The AM4 socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, and two PCI-Expres 3.0 x16 slot (x8/x8 when both are populated). The third x16 slot is electrical x4 and wired to the chipset. Two other x1 slots make for the rest of its expansion area.

Connectivity on the X370 Taichi include two USB 3.1 ports (one type-A and one type-C), ten USB 3.0 ports, 8-channel PureSound 4 onboard audio solution (of the same grade the company is deploying on its high-end Intel Z270 motherboards), gigabit Ethernet with an Intel-made controller, and 802.11ac WLAN. Storage options include one 32 Gb/s M.2 slot, one 16 Gb/s M.2 slot, and eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Next up, is the X370 Professional Gaming. This board is practically identical to the X370 Taichi. The two boards share a common PCB, and differ only with the red+black color scheme on the X370 Professional Gaming, as opposed to white+black on the X370 Taichi.
Moving on, there's the AB350 Pro4. This board, based on the mid-range B350 chipset, offers a 9-phase CPU VRM, four DDR4 DIMM slots, one PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot, a second x16 slot that's electrical x4, and connectivity that includes 6-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, and eight USB 3.0 ports (of which one is type-C), and storage options that include one 32 Gb/s M.2 slot, a 16 Gb/s M.2 slot, and six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. The AB350 Gaming K4 is identical to the AB350 Pro4, the two boards share the same PCB, and only differ with color scheme.
Lastly, there are the A320M Pro4 and the AB350M Pro4. The two boards are based on the same PCB design, but differ with the chipset - A320 and B350. The two boards even feature the same connectivity. All that you get when you opt for the AB350M Pro4 over its sibling is support for CPU overclocking. The micro-ATX board features 9-phase CPU VRM, one PCI-Express 3.0 x16, one x16 (electrical x4) slot, and one x1, making up the expansion area; storage features that include one 32 Gb/s M.2, one 16 Gb/s M.2, and four SATA 6 Gb/s ports. 7 USB 3.0 ports (including a type-C port), 6-channel HD audio, and gigabit Ethernet make for the rest of it.
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38 Comments on ASRock Socket AM4 Motherboard Lineup Detailed

#26
bpgt64
I am totally fine with them using an intel NIC, realtek is crap.
Posted on Reply
#27
cdawall
where the hell are my stars
bpgt64I am totally fine with them using an intel NIC, realtek is crap.
Everything should use Intel nic. It is literally atrocious that someone would release a wired nic that has substantial packet loss issues.
Posted on Reply
#28
bug
TheLaughingManYeah, that is what I said. Chip as in CPU. Those how chipset is something seperate in that statement feeding off of the last 4 PCIe lanes.
Ah, ok then. Still, the count seems rather low (it's still 4 more lanes than Intel, so there's that). With PCIe SSDs becoming more common, soon we'll need more.
Posted on Reply
#29
cdawall
where the hell are my stars
bugAh, ok then. Still, the count seems rather low (it's still 4 more lanes than Intel, so there's that). With PCIe SSDs becoming more common, soon we'll need more.
This isn't a HEDT platform it is mainstream. If and when AMD releases something to compete with 2011v3 it will have the additional lanes you speak of. As it sits now however this is to compete with 115x and as you said it has more lanes than the Intel it competes against.

It is also enough lanes for a single pci-e SSD and two video cards. What more are you wanting?
Posted on Reply
#30
bug
cdawallIt is also enough lanes for a single pci-e SSD and two video cards. What more are you wanting?
The ability to add a M2 SSD without losing two SATA ports. And going forward, motherboards with 6+ M2 slots and no SATA.
Posted on Reply
#31
cdawall
where the hell are my stars
bugThe ability to add a M2 SSD without losing two SATA ports. And going forward, motherboards with 6+ M2 slots and no SATA.
M.2 NVMe doesn't affect SATA, M.2 SATA will always kill SATA ports, unless they wire in less physical ports. These boards shouldn't touch the SATA ports they aren't the old style x2 10GB/s ports that use the chipset. These are independent lanes.
Posted on Reply
#32
YautjaLord
Couldn't for a life of me find if 3000MHz, let alone 4000MHz (overkill, i know :)) DDR4 RAM is supported, 2x16GB DDR4 modules come only in 2400 & 3000MHz flavors in 2 PC stores in my area. 4x4GB Corsair Dominator comes in 2666MHz plus it won't match the borad's colors: X370 Prof. Gaming is the one i eye-balling, as ASUS ROG AM4/X370 alternative in case & there won't be such thing as ROG X370 mobo in nature. lol
Posted on Reply
#33
bug
YautjaLordCouldn't for a life of me find if 3000MHz, let alone 4000MHz (overkill, i know :)) DDR4 RAM is supported, 2x16GB DDR4 modules come only in 2400 & 3000MHz flavors in 2 PC stores in my area. 4x4GB Corsair Dominator comes in 2666MHz plus it won't match the borad's colors: X370 Prof. Gaming is the one i eye-balling, as ASUS ROG AM4/X370 alternative in case & there won't be such thing as ROG X370 mobo in nature. lol
Of course you can't find that piece of info. The memory controller in in the CPU and the CPUs aren't available just yet ;)
Posted on Reply
#34
TheGuruStud
I wish it had 10Gb ethernet :(

Guess I'll go optical like another member did.
Posted on Reply
#35
TheLaughingMan
YautjaLordCouldn't for a life of me find if 3000MHz, let alone 4000MHz (overkill, i know :)) DDR4 RAM is supported, 2x16GB DDR4 modules come only in 2400 & 3000MHz flavors in 2 PC stores in my area. 4x4GB Corsair Dominator comes in 2666MHz plus it won't match the borad's colors: X370 Prof. Gaming is the one i eye-balling, as ASUS ROG AM4/X370 alternative in case & there won't be such thing as ROG X370 mobo in nature. lol
Right now, Ryzen officially supports speeds up to 3200 MHz. There was some stability issues with the memory controller at first. That has since been worked out, but no word from AMD if they were able to get the "official" supported speeds up any higher. Rumors claim outside testers getting up to 3800 MHz.
Posted on Reply
#36
YautjaLord
TheLaughingManRight now, Ryzen officially supports speeds up to 3200 MHz. There was some stability issues with the memory controller at first. That has since been worked out, but no word from AMD if they were able to get the "official" supported speeds up any higher. Rumors claim outside testers getting up to 3800 MHz.
Probably under LN2, God that's tiring how slow paced that info gets in. :) Like i said til these hit store shelves, i'd have enough for case, x370 mobo & that 8c/16t beast. Probably can squeeze abit more moneyz for 3000MHz 2x16GB led rgb RAM as well.
Posted on Reply
#37
basco
9 is a lot of phases for a small mb.
i hope this does not indicate the need for such a beefy VRM?
Posted on Reply
#38
Aquinus
Resident Wat-man
basco9 is a lot of phases for a small mb.
i hope this does not indicate the need for such a beefy VRM?
They can shrink the die and reduce voltage all day long but, if consumption remains the same (current increases,) you'll be wanting those extra phases when overclocking. Current is what makes electronics get hot.
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