Wednesday, January 1st 2025

ASUS Drops Sneak Peek of Upcoming AMD AM5 Motherboards

Earlier today, ASUS uploaded a first sneak peek of several upcoming AMD AM5 motherboards—which we assume will feature the B850 and B840 chipsets—which according to the post on Facebook, will be launching within a couple of weeks. The boards will most likely be on display at CES, which kicks off on the 7th of January. The picture is obfuscated for obvious reasons, but what is clear is that there will be several different SKUs from all of ASUS' typical sub-brands such as TUF Gaming and ROG.

What we can also make out is that there will be at least one Mini-ITX board and one micro-ATX board, with the latter being the TUF Gaming branded board. We tried to clean up the picture a bit, but ASUS has managed to hide all details of possible models names and most of the text is kind of hard to make out. Nothing really sticks out in terms of features, although it's clear we'll end up seeing some higher-end B850 boards, judging by the fact that there are at least three ROG Strix SKUs coming. The question is if there's a market for these boards, considering the B850 chipset is pretty much the same as the B650E chipset, but with optional PCIe 5.0 support for the M.2 slots and no USB4, unlike its X870 counterpart.

Update Jan 1st: ASUS posted a picture of their upcoming mid-range Intel boards on Facebook as well, but as with the AMD boards, ASUS obfuscated the image, although not quite as badly this time around. For its Intel lineup, there's also a lower-end Prime board included, in addition to the TUF Gaming and ROG Strix boards. ASUS didn't reveal any launch window for the Intel boards.
Source: ASUS on Facebook
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40 Comments on ASUS Drops Sneak Peek of Upcoming AMD AM5 Motherboards

#1
freeagent
Looks like the top right will be nice and fancy compared to the others :)
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#2
Onasi
Sure looks like some motherboards. Wow. Much sexy. Amazing marketing there, Asus.

Jokes aside, the dearth of mATX options is annoying. Like, Asus has so far only a single one for AM5. This would be the second. Unfortunate.
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#3
ymdhis
I think I spot an matx board with 3x nvme slots, which is cool. Shame it doesn't have a second PCIE 4x slot.
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#4
capdauntless
I'd really like to see these companies build more matx boards. Ever since dual gpu has basically died on the consumer side the need for that second full size pcie slot is really not there for me. Im not saying kill off others, just give me more choice in the matx form factor.
Posted on Reply
#5
TheLostSwede
News Editor
ymdhisI think I spot an matx board with 3x nvme slots, which is cool. Shame it doesn't have a second PCIE 4x slot.
Most likely due to not enough PCIe lanes.

Posted on Reply
#6
freeagent
I like having that other slot, could come in handy for moar nvme :)
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#7
TheLostSwede
News Editor
capdauntlessI'd really like to see these companies build more matx boards. Ever since dual gpu has basically died on the consumer side the need for that second full size pcue slot is really not there for me. Im not saying kill off others, just give me more choice in the matx form factor.
Yeah, I would most likely have gone mATX for my current build, if there had been a decent option with a x4 PCIe slot at the bottom for my 10 Gbps network card.
Posted on Reply
#8
igormp
capdauntlessI'd really like to see these companies build more matx boards. Ever since dual gpu has basically died on the consumer side the need for that second full size pcue slot is really not there for me. Im not saying kill off others, just give me more choice in the matx form factor.
Even worse, that second slot is more often than not connected to the chipset instead of the CPU (at x4 speeds), so even for dual GPU you don't have many options.
Posted on Reply
#9
_roman_
Just to complete post #6
Do not forget A620 "chipsets" and mainboards without chipsets also exists for the AM5 platform. Regardless if these are useful or not. I consider both more on the problematic side.

Thanks for the nearly complete summary table of AM5 chipsets.

--

ASUS teases wiht a clear visible CMOS battery for the TUF mainboard.

"for those who dare" on the top left mainboard. A warning from ASUS (sarcasm)?
Posted on Reply
#10
igormp
_roman_and mainboards without chipsets also exists for the AM5 platform
Wait, really? Would you mind giving one example? I've never heard of such product.
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#11
Onasi
igormpWait, really? Would you mind giving one example? I've never heard of such product.
I assume he means the X600 platform, like the DeskMeet. There is technically no chipset there, all the I/O is handled by the CPU.
Posted on Reply
#12
_roman_
Exactly

www.asrock.com/nettop/AMD/DeskMini%20X600%20Series/index.de.asp#Specification

x300 was afaik for am4

A chipset is just an expansion of the input/output ports in my point of view.

Please feel free to correct me or give additional inputs. Mainboard makers could make mainboards without a chipset basically. I do not get the point why only asrock sell it with their products as far as i know. This could satisfy those guys who say they want 25€ mainboards. (which was the case for cheap entry am4 mainboards for a long time period)
Posted on Reply
#13
kapone32
freeagentLooks like the top right will be nice and fancy compared to the others :)
I know you what I am going to say. To make up for the mediocrity Asus need to do refresh of the B550 XE. What they don't understand is that users like us want to have a board that has no compromises. XE for the Win!!!!
Posted on Reply
#14
capdauntless
TheLostSwedeYeah, I would most likely have gone mATX for my current build, if there had been a decent option with a x4 PCIe slot at the bottom for my 10 Gbps network card.
I hear you. For my upcoming build (which is waiting for these new boards to arrive) I just want a no compromises x series matx board. But they're impossible to get. I don't need any extra pcie slots besides m.2. thats all i want.
Posted on Reply
#15
bonehead123
Ah yea, good ole AsSus....

Putting out a slimy, wimpy PR without any info on the products....

I reckon they believe that's gonna give 'em (more) excuses for the aSs-puckering prices & lack of features, go figure :(
Posted on Reply
#16
Wirko
_roman_Exactly

www.asrock.com/nettop/AMD/DeskMini%20X600%20Series/index.de.asp#Specification

x300 was afaik for am4

A chipset is just an expansion of the input/output ports in my point of view.

Please feel free to correct me or give additional inputs. Mainboard makers could make mainboards without a chipset basically. I do not get the point why only asrock sell it with their products as far as i know. This could satisfy those guys who say they want 25€ mainboards. (which was the case for cheap entry am4 mainboards for a long time period)
Yes. This is more or less all that's publicly known about AMD's AM4 chipset-less chipsets:

www.igorslab.de/en/a-ryzen-without-one-chip-set-operates-without-whats-behind-the-knoll-activator/

On AM5 it's probably a very similar situation. AMD even lists the PRO 600 on their chipset info page. TPU covered an Asrock motherboard here. It's probably not coming to retail, ever.
Posted on Reply
#17
ymdhis
TheLostSwedeMost likely due to not enough PCIe lanes.

There are B650 boards with extra x4 slot and 3x NVMe slots. There are some speed restrictions, yes, but it is possible (the board I'm thinking of has a 5x4, 4x4, 4x2 NVMe slot, plus a PCIE 4.0 16x slot and a PCIE 3.0 x4 slot).
The main problem isn't the speed restriction but the lack of available ports however.
Posted on Reply
#18
lexluthermiester
OnasiSure looks like some motherboards. Wow. Much sexy. Amazing marketing there, Asus.

Jokes aside, the dearth of mATX options is annoying. Like, Asus has so far only a single one for AM5. This would be the second. Unfortunate.
So buy an AsRock board.
Posted on Reply
#19
_roman_
ymdhisThere are B650 boards with extra x4 slot and 3x NVMe slots. There are some speed restrictions, yes, but it is possible (the board I'm thinking of has a 5x4, 4x4, 4x2 NVMe slot, plus a PCIE 4.0 16x slot and a PCIE 3.0 x4 slot).
Note: Mechanical Lanes are just there so an Expansion Card physically fits. If there are no electrical lanes, which is most likely, some stuff may not work in that slot.

I was also fooled for a long time by those three extra 16 mechanical lanes pcie slots. Later I saw those are only pcie 3.0 with two lanes for example.

Only the mainboard manual will give you the details. I dislike those 800 amd chipsets. They come back with those slow PCIE 3.0 lanes in the expansion slots or m2 nvme slots.

Some x670 board have 2x Pcie 4x4 slots and 1x pcie 16x4 slot. And an useless shared pcie 3.0x1 slot with the sata ports.
Posted on Reply
#20
Wirko
_roman_Note: Mechanical Lanes are just there so an Expansion Card physically fits. If there are no electrical lanes, which is most likely, some stuff may not work in that slot.
If there are zero electrical lanes then yeah, sure. But otherwise? PCIe hardware has always had excellent compatibility between generations and differing lane counts.
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#21
Nelly
ASUS the company that doesn't give a crap about peoples warranty for their over priced products, well same goes for MSI. Maybe they are all crap?
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#22
Anoniem
Meh, not impressed. I'll be keeping my X670E GENE :/ Was hoping that something would replace that board, ASUS just made a few for the US market and then just disappeared. Here in the EU it looked like there was some more stock but not that much.
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#23
Carlyle2020hs
Those pictures are awefull!
Halve decent keylight but no backlight?

I simply can´t se anthing appealing due to crappy camerawork.
Posted on Reply
#24
Chaitanya
NellyASUS the company that doesn't give a crap about peoples warranty for their over priced products, well same goes for MSI. Maybe they are all crap?
With big - 3 its similar story pick your poison and prey you dont have to visit the service center.
Posted on Reply
#25
TheLostSwede
News Editor
Carlyle2020hsThose pictures are awefull!
Halve decent keylight but no backlight?

I simply can´t se anthing appealing due to crappy camerawork.
That's why it's a sneak peek, they don't want to share too much before the official announcement. I tried to clean it up a bit in the second pic, but it's not possible to make out any real details.
ChaitanyaWith big - 3 its similar story pick your poison and prey you dont have to visit the service center.
Asus have pretty ok service centres in Taiwan, as long as you don't take a monitor there...
Ended up with failed internal power board, which they swapped, but the engineer was sloppy and introduced dust behind the display panel, so they had to swap that out and the new panel failed again within the warranty period, so they swapped it again, only for the new panel to develop a similar ghosting issue that the panel started to have after a year...
The router that failed got swapped for a new one sealed in the box, if only they hadn't EOL:ed it less than a year later, despite being a recent AX model...
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