Thursday, February 13th 2020
ASRock B550AM Gaming Motherboard Pictured Up Close
Here are some of the first close-ups of the ASRock B550AM Gaming motherboard, which made its first appearance back in October 2019. The B550A is a rebadged B450 low-power "Promontory" chipset. Boards based on the chipset are guaranteed to support all 3rd generation Ryzen desktop processors out of the box. The B550AM Gaming draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors, conditioning it for the AM4 SoC with an 8+2 phase VRM.
The AM4 socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots supporting dual-channel DDR4 memory; the board's sole PCI-Express 4.0 x16, and an M.2-22110 slot that has PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA 6 Gbps wiring. The only other expansion slot is a PCI-Express x4 wired to the B550A chipset, which is likely gen 2.0. Other storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gbps ports. USB connectivity includes two USB 3.2 gen 2 ports (from which one is type-C), and six USB 3.2 gen 1 ports (from which two are by headers). Network connectivity includes WLAN (likely 802.11ac), and a 1 GbE wired interface. The 6-channel HD audio appears to be driven by a premium Realtek ALC1220-class CODEC. There are two 4-pin RGB and one 3-pin ARGB headers. The company didn't reveal pricing, or whether this board is even available in the retail channel, given that back in October we heard that the B550A was an OEM exclusive.
Source:
Komachi Ensaka (Twitter)
The AM4 socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots supporting dual-channel DDR4 memory; the board's sole PCI-Express 4.0 x16, and an M.2-22110 slot that has PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA 6 Gbps wiring. The only other expansion slot is a PCI-Express x4 wired to the B550A chipset, which is likely gen 2.0. Other storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gbps ports. USB connectivity includes two USB 3.2 gen 2 ports (from which one is type-C), and six USB 3.2 gen 1 ports (from which two are by headers). Network connectivity includes WLAN (likely 802.11ac), and a 1 GbE wired interface. The 6-channel HD audio appears to be driven by a premium Realtek ALC1220-class CODEC. There are two 4-pin RGB and one 3-pin ARGB headers. The company didn't reveal pricing, or whether this board is even available in the retail channel, given that back in October we heard that the B550A was an OEM exclusive.
24 Comments on ASRock B550AM Gaming Motherboard Pictured Up Close
Typo!
Putting aside a few basic A320 motherboards, this AFAIK this will be their only mATX model with just 2 PCIe slots.
I understand it's a bit crowded, but why isn't one of the M.2 put on the other side of PCB?I don't understand why PCIe4.0 is available with Summit Ridge according to this information (whatever it is). In fact: isn't Summit Ridge incompatible with X570?
I compared Asrock B450 PCB's also, this a totally new design. For example this one at last has more advanced(Voltage or temperature or both) controlled crystal near the CPU socket. None of B450 for asrock had that, X470 was first. The CPU VRM changed also. It has the base of the most recent X570 design they have.
Basically calling a total rebadge ain't right. You get a new product.
Second, I think you don't know AsRock that well. They are the staple of motherboard re-badging (in some cases quite literally), and design recycling. Also, they are the poster-child for two-slot board, so it looks like we are talking about different AsRock.These are CPU lanes. x16 for GPU, x4 for single NVME, and x4 for chipset downlink. It is simply maxed out.
The only mobos with 2 slots I could find are some cheap A320.
Is this mobo placed so low in the lineup? Seriously? :)Chipset may be for OEMs, but this is a standard mATX mobo that AsRock likely intends to sell.
OEMs make their own motherboards.But another PCIe slot could be connected to the chipset. I mean... that is this B550A doing anyway?
I understand your pain, but it really ain't crucial for most of the market. Yes a good point, but on the paper it's wasted resource and not needed. Most people won't populate all slots.
What I am saying: these clients (as small as this group may be) will instantly reject this product, because basically every alternative has 3 slots (unless future B550A boards also won't...).
What if this was something more material to you. For example: if it turns out this board doesn't support CPUs over 8 cores?
The group of clients who would use this with 3900X or 3950X is also small. But I'm sure this would seem more significant - being a serious upgrade limitation. :)
Link to manual
Shame it's OEM only.
Steve at GN went as far as saying sub-$80, but that's an overstatement.Second slot IS connected to the hub. Don't forget that it's technically a B450 chipset with only six PCIe lanes (one of which is occupied by LAN, another one is eaten by bundled WiFi/BT card, and four routed to the bottom slot). They didn't add another PCIe or the second M.2, cause let's be honest - shared lanes suck and no one wants to explain why their second SSD does not work with capture card installed (especially in a prebuilt). Plus, it's cheap. Another thing to note, is that the bottom slot should be 4xPCIe gen 2.0.
As for OEMs making their own motherboards - sure, the big ones like Dell or HP or those with motherboard design teams like Asus. The rest have them made by other companies.Again: OEM only. This board is only going into pre-built systems where the OEM picks the parts. <99% of these will never be upgraded or have any add-in-cards installed beyond factory issue. OEMs know this and thus don't give a damn about the number of PCIe slots. They just want a new chipset name and PCIe 4.0 for their marketing materials.
B) of course it does. GPUs are PCIe devices, they work in anything with a PCIe slot as long as the operating system has drivers available. In other words, any GPU works in any motherboard, barring some major mess-up.