Thursday, August 22nd 2024
Launch of AMD B850 and B840 Chipsets Pushed to Q1-2025
AMD has reportedly pushed the launch of mid-tier models from its AMD 800-series chipset to early 2025, reports ComputerBase.de. With the Ryzen 9000-series "Zen 5" processors already launched earlier this month, and compatible with existing AMD 600-series chipset motherboards with a BIOS update, motherboard vendors are leisurely announcing their motherboards based on the AMD X870E and AMD X870 chipsets. Motherboards based on both offer drop-in compatibility with Ryzen 9000-series processors, and introduce new connectivity features such as 40 Gbps USB4 and Wi-Fi 7.
The company probably wants the two to have some time in the Sun before they're joined by the more affordable B850, which gamers could be drawn to. The AMD B850 has mostly identical platform I/O to the AMD X870, except Gen 5 support for the PCI-Express x16 slot is optional (motherboard vendors can choose to wire this out as Gen 4). The 40 Gbps USB4 is also optional here. You still get CPU overclocking support. The B840 is an entry-level chipset that's being launched to probably phase out the A620 and A620A, since it features similar I/O features to the A620A, but will probably come with drop-in compatibility for 65 W Socket AM5 processors. A deferred launch of the mid-tier chipset isn't too off character for AMD. It launched its popular B450 and B550 chipsets several months after the X470 and X570, respectively.
Source:
ComputerBase.de
The company probably wants the two to have some time in the Sun before they're joined by the more affordable B850, which gamers could be drawn to. The AMD B850 has mostly identical platform I/O to the AMD X870, except Gen 5 support for the PCI-Express x16 slot is optional (motherboard vendors can choose to wire this out as Gen 4). The 40 Gbps USB4 is also optional here. You still get CPU overclocking support. The B840 is an entry-level chipset that's being launched to probably phase out the A620 and A620A, since it features similar I/O features to the A620A, but will probably come with drop-in compatibility for 65 W Socket AM5 processors. A deferred launch of the mid-tier chipset isn't too off character for AMD. It launched its popular B450 and B550 chipsets several months after the X470 and X570, respectively.
28 Comments on Launch of AMD B850 and B840 Chipsets Pushed to Q1-2025
Not sure why they didn't just add an 'X' (or some other things) series tier of motherboards to the 600 series instead of the 800 rebrand... If 'E' had more PCIE5 support, etc., then 'X' could have been ones that carried the mandated changes for USB4 support, etc., all on an X670X or B650X, etc...
B550 might have been late but it offered PCIe Gen 4.0 for both graphics and NVMe. (B450 offered PCIe Gen 3.0 only.)
B850 should have been B820.
B870 should have been B850.
B870(E) should have been B870.
There's no point in waiting for B850 when there's already much superior B650E.
Also, if you don't mind lack of USB 4.0 support, you can get B650E instead of X870.
www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/amd-x870e-vs-x870-vs-x670e-vs-x670-vs-b650e-vs-b650/
"We can't have 600 series models in the market and the competitor offer 800 series models".
They do have time to rename them to 900 series so it aligns better with 9000 series Ryzens.Marketing reasons, no money for new chipsets.
Plus having 2xGen5 NVME slots ain't really needed for gaming or normal use so 1xGen5 and 1xGen4 if not 3 will be fine.
Because for most people a B850 as a ITX with Gen5 NVME and PCI-E 5.0 will be cheaper for most people.
If USB 4.0 is that important I am sure we will see B850 and properly B840 chipset board with USB4.0 properly by Asmedia or Realtek if it's really needed.
The best that you can get is a Steinberg URC model with USB 3.0 5Gbps.
I fear that pcie 5.0 will soon be needed with upcoming budget x8 PCIe GPUs
I don't really care for x4 PCIe 5.0 NVME. Not even 4.0
To the shock of nobody, AMD is going to get their pound of flesh via early adopter tax.
Most devices use USB 2.0. They also have a noticeable amount of lag when recording.
Its cost, its always cost.
A810...Hmm, too much for this PCIe 3.0 board. A805, or A800?
Even at PCM 192khz 24/32-bit you'd get several stereo streams over USB2 (although the bus would be pretty saturated and latency probably all over the place).
PCIe 5.0 is futureproof. I'm not buying old technology for upcoming years. In 2-3 years I bet we'll see the reason for PCIe 4.0 for graphics.
PCIe Gen 5.0 x16 can be split to x8/x8, which is useful for workstation motherboard, e.g. ASUS ProArt. That second x8 slot can be transformed into M.2 NVMe array provided there is a need.
A compact board with dual NVME, g4x8 and g4x16 (in that order) would be the most insane SFF loadout ever made. Every compact build made for the next decade would be a loss.
It might not be just 2024. The mediocre Ryzen 9000 X3D (that also seems like last generation rebrand) launch is allegedly postponed to 2025.
AMD Ryzen 9000X3D with 3D V-Cache now expected to launch in January
It was so bad one of my biggest clients had like 4 or 5 new thunderbolt 4 docks just in their storage to make sure when a thunderbolt 4 acted up and we could troubleshoot on the laptop and just get it swapped under warranty and move on this was how bad it was specify from firmware in the laptops ThinkPad T and P models even some Legion laptops had issues.
I sold a setup 2 years ago with a 5meter usb-c cable for a conference room connected to a usb-c docking and it's been solid since day 1.
As to the chipset themselves, they hardly bring anything new to the table anyway, when the core southbridge chip is the very same, and USB4 is external to that chip. Buying a new motherboard right now would miss out on very little if anything in real term, and precisely nothing if you'd rather a third M.2 slot without eating into PEG lanes over 40Gbps USB4.