Thursday, May 7th 2020
AMD B550 Chipset Detailed, It's Ready for Zen 3, Older AM4 Motherboards not Compatible
In their briefing leading up to today's Ryzen 3 3100 and 3300X review embargo, AMD disclosed that its upcoming "Zen 3" 4th generation Ryzen desktop processors will only support AMD 500-series (or later) chipsets. The next-gen processors will not work with older 400-series or 300-series chipsets. This comes as a blow to those who bought premium X470 motherboards hoping for latest CPU compatibility running into 2020. At this time only B550 is available, but we expect more news on enthusiast chipsets as the Zen 3 launch date comes closer. AMD B550 is a fascinating new mid-range chipset by AMD. Launching today as a successor to the popular B450 chipset, B550 is a low-power silicon with roughly the same 5-7 W TDP as the older 400-series chipset. Although AMD won't confirm it, it's likely that the chipset is sourced from ASMedia. It brings a lot to the table that could draw buyers away from B450, but it also takes some away.
The AMD B550 currently only supports 3rd generation Ryzen "Matisse" processors. Ryzen 3000 "Picasso" APU are not supported. What's more, older Ryzen 2000 "Pinnacle Ridge," "Raven Ridge," and first gen Ryzen 1000 "Summit Ridge" aren't supported, either. The Athlon 200 and 3000 "Zen" based chips miss out, too. AMD argues that it ran into ROM size limitations when trying to cram AGESA microcode for all the older processors. We find that hard to believe because B450 motherboards with the latest ComboAM4 AGESA support 2nd gen and 3rd gen processors, including APUs and Athlon SKUs based on the two. On the bright side, AMD assured us (within its marketing slides for the B550), that the chipset will support upcoming processors based on the "Zen 3" microarchitecture. The company also came up with a new motherboard packaging label that clarifies that the processors won't work with the 3400G and 3200G.
AMD B550 motherboards will feature partial PCI-Express gen 4.0 support. The main PCI-Express x16 slot, and one of the M.2 NVMe slots that are wired to the "Matisse" processor will be PCI-Express gen 4.0, however, all downstream PCIe lanes put out by the B550 chipset are gen 3.0. This is still a step up from 400-series "Promontory" chipsets, which are limited to gen 2.0. B550 puts out eight PCIe gen 3.0 lanes, which combine with the 20 usable processor lanes from "Matisse" to take the platform's total PCIe budget to 28 lanes (x16 gen 4.0 + x4 gen 4.0 + x8 gen 3.0). The B550 chipset itself connects to the "Matisse" processor via a PCI-Express 3.0 x4 connection.
In terms of connectivity, AMD's B550 chipset puts out up to six SATA 6 Gbps ports with AHCI and RAID capability; two each of 10 Gbps USB 3.2 gen 2 and 5 Gbps USB 3.2 gen 1 ports; and six USB 2.0 ports. PCIe, SATA, and USB connectivity from the "Matisse" processor is unchanged: four 10 Gbps USB 3.2 gen 2 ports, and up to two SATA 6 Gbps ports.
The processor includes a PCI-Express 4.0 x16 PEG connection that can be split between slots. AMD is allowing motherboard designers to have multi-GPU capability with the B550, where the x16 PEG link is split between two x16 slots (electrical x8). Previously this capability was limited to the top-tier X370 and X470 boards. The processor also puts out one PCI-Express 4.0 x4 link meant to drive one M.2 NVMe slot or U.2 NVMe port. Every B550 motherboard we've seen so far features one M.2 PCIe gen 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps) slot.
As with both its predecessors, the B350 and B450, the new B550 chipset enables full multiplier-based CPU overclocking, along with broad memory overclocking support. Motherboard designers are at liberty to kit out the B550 with the most elaborate CPU VRM solutions. Expect some of the pricier B550 boards to match their X570 counterparts in overclocking capability.
Motherboards based on the AMD B550 chipset are expected to launch on June 16, 2020. Prices start at $100, according to AMD.
The AMD B550 currently only supports 3rd generation Ryzen "Matisse" processors. Ryzen 3000 "Picasso" APU are not supported. What's more, older Ryzen 2000 "Pinnacle Ridge," "Raven Ridge," and first gen Ryzen 1000 "Summit Ridge" aren't supported, either. The Athlon 200 and 3000 "Zen" based chips miss out, too. AMD argues that it ran into ROM size limitations when trying to cram AGESA microcode for all the older processors. We find that hard to believe because B450 motherboards with the latest ComboAM4 AGESA support 2nd gen and 3rd gen processors, including APUs and Athlon SKUs based on the two. On the bright side, AMD assured us (within its marketing slides for the B550), that the chipset will support upcoming processors based on the "Zen 3" microarchitecture. The company also came up with a new motherboard packaging label that clarifies that the processors won't work with the 3400G and 3200G.
In terms of connectivity, AMD's B550 chipset puts out up to six SATA 6 Gbps ports with AHCI and RAID capability; two each of 10 Gbps USB 3.2 gen 2 and 5 Gbps USB 3.2 gen 1 ports; and six USB 2.0 ports. PCIe, SATA, and USB connectivity from the "Matisse" processor is unchanged: four 10 Gbps USB 3.2 gen 2 ports, and up to two SATA 6 Gbps ports.
Motherboards based on the AMD B550 chipset are expected to launch on June 16, 2020. Prices start at $100, according to AMD.
434 Comments on AMD B550 Chipset Detailed, It's Ready for Zen 3, Older AM4 Motherboards not Compatible
If they withdraw support, you'll start thinking if they are trustworthy and not worth spending money at them on you next system...
By the way, i wonder how long AMD know this, know is the wrong word, when they decided to cut support / upgrade path for older chipsets/motherboards.
Last year i waited for Zen2, but it was expensive for me at that time, so i settled for a 2600, AMD released x570 PCIe 4.0 chipset, but delayed B550 chipset, so i bought an MSI B450 Tomahawk, because there were no B550.. When bought this board, they probably had a good laugh too: next year or the year after that, if you'll want the new Zen3, you'll have to upgrade to a new MB anyway :laugh:
Even before Zen2 release AMD and MB manufactures know about the small bios size issues, they had to for months, they designed them, yet said nothing, just continued to sell those. Don't tell me they couldn't anticipate how much free bios space needed for the new cpus.
I'm not saying my current system is bad, just this leaves a bad taste in my mouth. :( But will see if MSI release some kind of Zen3 support bios.
I bought x470 on release, I'm a bit miffed, but having seen this kind of mega dramma play out I'm not at all arsed , things can change and if they don't I'll either wait for x670 or weva ,or buy a x570 when they're both needed and cheaper.
No one is forced to buy.
Go read the other posts, AM4 or not AM4 people still need to buy a new motherboard unless mobo makers will make their mobo support those CPUs. Keep climbing
People, simply go for best price to performance based setup. If you have either or, you will be stuck having to buy a new board for either new processor anyway. And we already know Intel is looking at a new socket as is.
And really, I thinks it's best to wait and see what the final outcome is. Like A320 support for Ryzen 3000 series I expect some motherboard makers will offer a bios update.
The past showed us that bios memory was an issue, with some board from MSI not being able to accept every AM4 CPU, or even some functionality like sata raid when it's supposed to be a standard. It was already a mess because it means that some brands had full am4 compatibilty, when some other had a selective compatibility.
Now AMD is saying because of that same reason (aka motherboard makers being cheapstakes) they literally can't have every single am4 motherboard be compatible with every am4 cpu. Ryzen gen 1 was scrapped from having official support for 500 chipset, but...some x570 motherboard are compatible with gen 1 ryzen :
And you can't either start to sell some b450 with a bios only compatible with zen 2 and zen 3. Some guy might still want to get a cheap zen+, another one with zen 1 might have his old board dying on him, but suddenly a few b450 dropped support for his cpu, so you gotta look wich brand, wich model can support your cpu...
Then you get that guy with his shiny new ryzen 4000 cpu, and shiny new* b450 motherboard...who won't work because it's one that use a small bios chip.
It's a mess, but not a mess where amd is the only one at fault, motherboard makers made is so that full compatibility with every AM4 motherboard isn't possible across the board, without introducing some hellish headache when you wonder if x board will work with x cpu, because of all the different bios running around.
But notwithstanding that you also sacrificed Pciex4 support, it's stand out feature.
PBO2 ,no x470 board does as well in boost terms without a static clock.
and improved memory support and some boaRD dependant features.
Soo, you wanted good enough and cheaper, and it went wrong, I too wanted support through to the end too but what with AMD exceeding my expectations of what they would improve in a year never mind two given the core increases and pciex4 ill allow a pass after 3 years of cpu support which i got two upgrades out of, personally I don't swap yearly, few do, fewer still, in reality, buy with swapping a cpu next year in mind but your probably beyond seeing that.
You guys are putting so much emotion into this, it’s crazy. They only care about you’re money. They don’t actually care about you, other than if you want to spend more money.
Be like me, don’t buy anything until they make something that’s worth you’re money.
Fuck cinibench too lol.
I only say that because my hardware is old.
F### I love pins, I have got hundreds of pounds of CPU ,for little a fair few times and only lost once on a Xeon ironically v5 ,can i find a board for it cheap, won't work in my b250.
I once got a 2700X with 60 pins flat to the base ,it lived the cheap shit ,my cousin loves it, took Time though.
I'm looking for a reasonably priced one.
browser.geekbench.com/processors/768
browser.geekbench.com/processors/725
browser.geekbench.com/ios_devices/55
Everything else is a betrayal from AMD.
They don't even offer a normal full-sized Ryzen 3000 lineup.
They should start ditching the old quad cores as low-end entry level offerings, and instead move the entire lineup up to the 8-core for Renoir. Only the things above Renoir should be chiplets.
No O.T. but lucky we still have a job cranking out parts. We are considered an essential worker because of the parts we make and who we make them for. So for that I am thankful, because I know others who have lost their incomes.
Also has anyone thought about the fact that next chipset generation, which is supposed to be 600 is going to get launched only for ryzen series 4000? Since after that they drop the support for AM4.
Many people dislike X570, anyways.
Kinda laughable bios support is always a joke no matter the board you get.
That's my experience a year maybe two.
You realise I own an x470!
Whereas you don't, odd.
And again with the making shit up ,do show something to back that nonesense up.
its your kind of miss information that causes this , well you and Intel's comedy pr team.:p
if AMD had a comedy pr team it would be an improvement.
I'm not making anything up, the only thing going on here is you trying to defend your boyos at all costs, and i don't give a steaming sh** about intel, they could close down tomorrow and i wouldn't even be blinking, not everyone is fan of PC components companies like yourself, i don't honestly give a damn about who i'm buying from, the only thing i give a damn about is my wallet and my experience with what i buy.
I sware you read half, if not less of anything I replied to you, have been quite insulting, and completely oblivious to the fact I both understand your main point, I agree if I had just bought a board (x470) I'd be unhappy, the only part we disagree on, is who is to blame and the evidence of this, and the degree of offence, so a bit then but not everything.
Point is your calling me a fan boy for looking into a thread about future support for my type of board while you have no coin in the game yet are still here, tut.
It can't be that last year most manufacturers released BIOS with support for 3000 series on their X370 and B350 boards, but this year they can't, because they will lose sales and the testing costs time and money. Didn't they think last year, that an update of X370 will cost them the sale of an X570 board? They did, so why did they released it? Because customer loyalty, that's why. The move made so many owners happy that their investment will get them through another generation without additional cost, or that they will get more money when they sell a board that supports the latest gen CPUs. I can't remember anyone bashing AMD or the manufacturers for doing that. It was all praise. Naturally, when they do the exact opposite now, they will get flack. And all it takes is one manufacturer to say eff it, we are releasing our own BIOS (if AMD are not complete d's about it and hard block based on chipset). Then everyone will know, this one manufacturer is consumer friendly, and will flock to them. And the others will have no choice but to follow.
As for the 600 chipset, the ryzen 4000 are going to be the last cpu's with support for DDR4, I don't know the details about those chipset, but I doubt that it's going to be a loss for Ryzen 3000 owner, The next big changes are going to be after the switch to ddr 5 (usb4, pci-e 5). If the feature set is the same, you might as well just get a cheaper 500 motherboard if you plan to get a cheaper ryzen 3000 anyways.
Now that I think about it, people where far less angry when they announced that Threadripper zen2/TR40 would basically be a new platform without backward compatibilty. a few ranted for 3 pages then quickly moved on. Here it's 10 pages and counting :laugh: .The Max refresh only went from 16mb to 32mb:
www.techpowerup.com/264674/msi-expands-its-b450-max-series-with-gaming-pro-carbon-max-wifi-and-bazooka-max-wifi
My point is 600 chipset mobo will be useless after that, since AMD will be dropping AM4 (not complaining about this, after 4 years i guess it's time) sounds like what intel has been doing and that's also why i don't really like that, mobo maker will want to sell series 600 mobos, and if they make ryzen 4000 work on older mobos they would lose sales, and that's why they might not make it, but anyway, we'll see.
My bad, I'm not familiar with the Bits measurement.