Friday, May 31st 2024
AMD Shuffles Feature-sets of its 800-series Chipset, X870 is B650E Successor
AMD is debuting its Ryzen 9000 series "Granite Ridge" desktop processors powered by the "Zen 5" microarchitecture later this year. These chips are compatible with existing AMD 600-series chipset motherboards with a simple UEFI firmware update, but the company is also taking the opportunity to launch the AMD 800-series chipset family alongside these chips. The lineup will be led by the AMD X870E, followed by the X870. These two chipsets should launch immediately alongside the new processors, but will later be joined by the AMD B850 and B840. There's no entry-level chipset planned, the AMD A620 will continue to hold the fort for AMD here. There is an interesting new mix of product differentiation, according to a leaked GIGABYTE slide scored by VideoCardz.
If you recall, the X670E and X670 were differentiated by a lack of Gen 5 PCI-Express x16 PEG slots on the X670, which instead was limited to Gen 4 on the PEG slot. The X670 still had Gen 5 NVMe slots attached to the CPU, and had practically the same I/O features as the X670E, including the same counts of downstream PCIe Gen 4 general purpose lanes. Both the X670E and X670 are 2-chip solutions, in that the second chip is a connected to the general purpose PCIe lanes of the first chip, which in turn is connected to the processor. Things are going to change with the 800-series. The top-spec X870E will be a 2-chip solution, with PCIe Gen 4 general purpose lane counts resembling the X670E; but the X870 is a single-chip solution that more closely resembles the B650E in I/O. The X870 (non-E) now gives you Gen 5 PCI-Express x16 PEG, just like the X870E and the B650E, and at least one Gen 5 x4 NVMe slot attached to the CPU, but has fewer downstream Gen 4 general purpose PCIe lanes than the X670. Both the X870E and X870 assure USB4 connectivity, and support CPU overclocking. Things get very interesting in the mid-range.
The AMD B850 is very similar to the X870 in terms of downstream general purpose PCIe Gen 4 lanes. What's more, it even assures a Gen 5 x16 PEG slot, much like the X870. Where it differs from the X870 is its CPU-attached NVMe slots. Gen 5 is made optional here (motherboard vendors can provide Gen 5 if they want, but are perfectly free to offer Gen 4 instead). Unlike the X870E and X870, the B850 doesn't mandate USB4 connectivity, however, motherboard vendors will be free to offer discrete USB4 controllers on their boards. Much like the B650 and its predecessors dating all the way back to the B350, the B850 supports CPU overclocking.
The B840 is a new introduction with this generation, there's no real predecessor to it, although it closely resembles the A620A, which in turn resembles the B550. It completely removes all forms of Gen 5 PCIe from the platform—the x16 slots are limited to Gen 4, as are the M.2 NVMe slots attached to the CPU. This chipset also lacks CPU overclocking support. It does retain memory overclocking, and B840 motherboards should support AMD EXPO, as well as manual memory overclocking. What sets the B840 apart from the A620 is its Gen 4 PCIe connectivity both along the PEG and general purpose PCIe.
Source:
VideoCardz
If you recall, the X670E and X670 were differentiated by a lack of Gen 5 PCI-Express x16 PEG slots on the X670, which instead was limited to Gen 4 on the PEG slot. The X670 still had Gen 5 NVMe slots attached to the CPU, and had practically the same I/O features as the X670E, including the same counts of downstream PCIe Gen 4 general purpose lanes. Both the X670E and X670 are 2-chip solutions, in that the second chip is a connected to the general purpose PCIe lanes of the first chip, which in turn is connected to the processor. Things are going to change with the 800-series. The top-spec X870E will be a 2-chip solution, with PCIe Gen 4 general purpose lane counts resembling the X670E; but the X870 is a single-chip solution that more closely resembles the B650E in I/O. The X870 (non-E) now gives you Gen 5 PCI-Express x16 PEG, just like the X870E and the B650E, and at least one Gen 5 x4 NVMe slot attached to the CPU, but has fewer downstream Gen 4 general purpose PCIe lanes than the X670. Both the X870E and X870 assure USB4 connectivity, and support CPU overclocking. Things get very interesting in the mid-range.
The B840 is a new introduction with this generation, there's no real predecessor to it, although it closely resembles the A620A, which in turn resembles the B550. It completely removes all forms of Gen 5 PCIe from the platform—the x16 slots are limited to Gen 4, as are the M.2 NVMe slots attached to the CPU. This chipset also lacks CPU overclocking support. It does retain memory overclocking, and B840 motherboards should support AMD EXPO, as well as manual memory overclocking. What sets the B840 apart from the A620 is its Gen 4 PCIe connectivity both along the PEG and general purpose PCIe.
74 Comments on AMD Shuffles Feature-sets of its 800-series Chipset, X870 is B650E Successor
What did you expect then? :)
Personally I don't really think there is any hard pressure to choose the 800 series over the 600 series.
Nothing new aside the USB4 and the Wifi7.
Does the IF 2400 speed apply if you put a Zen 5 chip in a 600 series board?
Please read this before making uneducated comments.
www.techpowerup.com/review/usb4-guide-info-technology-details/
USB4 = 40 Gbps
Thunderbolt 3/4 = 32 Gbps.It's a cost thing and it was a time to market thing. It's also a hardware development time/cost thing as well.
Considering it's ASMedia that makes the chipset for them and they have exactly zero PCIe 5.0 devices today, it would be a from scratch project for them in some ways.
I wouldn't expect that to happen until AMD decides to make a new chipset from scratch.You can already get 600-series boards with USB4 and WiFi 7.
www.techpowerup.com/322958/gigabyte-announces-the-b650e-aorus-pro-x-with-usb4Unknown at the moment, but it might also be one of those things AMD tried to pull in the past, so only the new boards can support it due to reasons...
However, there should be no reason why it shouldn't work.Not any more.
With E = 2x Prom 21
Without E = 1x Prom 21
I guess once I understand the fuzz about all these different options and why they have to be there in the first place, I can easily write a thesis on quantum mechanics...
www.techpowerup.com/322958/gigabyte-announces-the-b650e-aorus-pro-x-with-usb4
ASM4242 USB4 chip supports much faster PCIe data transfer than Thunderbolt 4. ASM4242 supports PCIe 4.0 and TB4 PCIe 3.0. Speeds on ASM4242 reach 40 Gbps for PCIe data whereas on TB4 it's ~27 Gbps, after overhead.Nobody needs one now. Even Thunderbolt 5 does not support PCIe Gen5.We are so sorry to have not met your expectations. Please receive sincere apologies from entire planet. Yours sincerely, human race.He needs knowledge of the chip's spec in the first palce, and some humility, so that the post does not come across as ignorant arogance.Indeed, mostly from Asrock and Asus.Even double Thunderbolt 4 ports, such as on Asus B550 ProArt.This also works as USB4NET or USB4 P2P on USB4. In Windows 11, a network driver is automatically assigned when two PCs are connected and the file transfer speed is the same as on TB, so 10 Gbps in each direction. Not sure about Windows 10 though.
learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/component-guidelines/usb4-interdomain-connectionsGen5 chipset link will be expensive. And such chipset does not even exist at the moment.- faster memory and faster EXPO profile for those who need it
- faster video ports from onboard graphics, as Gigabyte's leak shows that iGPU on 9000 CPUs supports DP 2.1 at its full speed 80 Gbps.
- more boards will feature internal HDMI/DP port for another display attached to PC case
- we might finally get the first board featuring front USB4 port with 40 Gbps as ASM4242 chip supports two USB-C ports.
I agree there is no pressure. Improvements are simply incremental as the platform has matured now.Each 600 board would need to roll out a seperate BIOS update for this to appear as an option.If a board has both Gen5 NVMe drive and USB4, it is X870 board. There is no "opt-in". It's segmented by default.
and
AMD *just* released new XT AM4 CPUs...
I think I'd eat my hat if there were any AM4 PROM21 (X840/X640/B845/(E)/?) boards planned, though.
ASrock used to do cool stuff like that, TBF
www.techpowerup.com/104795/asrock-innovates-socket-939-motherboard-with-amd-785g-chipset
"Integrated Graphics Processor with AMD Radeon™ Graphics support:
- 1 x HDMI port, supporting a maximum resolution of 7680x4320@60 Hz
* Support for HDMI 2.1 version, HDCP 2.3, and HDR.
** Support native HDMI 2.1 TMDS compatible ports."
TMDS signal (HDMI 2.0b) only support 18 Gbps, but Gigabyte says 8K/60Hz. These two things are mutually incompatible.
www.hdmi.org/spec/hdmi2_1
www.hdmi.org/spec21sub/eightk60_fourk120
HDMI 2.1 uses a new "FRL" signal scheme, *but* maintains compatibility with TMDS. So...
Their use of terms is both oddly specific and sorely lacking, leaving it kinda murky as to accuracy/capability.
At least that is the commonly available speed for JEDEC ram.
www.techpowerup.com/321808/jedec-updates-ddr5-specification-for-increased-security-against-rowhammer-attacks-new-ddr5-8800-reference-speedThat's true though.
Please read:
www.techpowerup.com/review/usb4-guide-info-technology-details/There are quite a few with much slower RAM than that, but maybe not with their Ryzen 7000-series CPUs.
Remember that not everyone on here has the latest or even last gen hardware.
USB4 Connection Manager Guide Ver. 2.0 .pdf, page 60