New Report Pins ASMedia B550 and A520 Chipset Production to begin Only in Q1 2020

[Raevenlord]

While many users were likely expecting AMD to launch their lower-tier alternatives B550 and A520 chipset solutions for their Ryzen 2 CPUs shortly after their release to the market last year, users who want to pair a more inexpensive motherboard have had to wait in the rain until now. At the time, industry sources pointed towards fabrication of ASMedia's B550 and A520 chipsets for the AM4 platform to begin shipping to motherboard manufacturers in Q4 2019.

Now, new reports say that production of these chipsets (simpler in features, and thus, in price, whilst also not requiring active cooling) will only begin in Q1 2020, which means likely retail availability (at least in significant volumes) in Q2 at the earliest. It seems that users will, for the time being, have to make do with the usually top-of-the-line chipset option for the AMD platform - which is, coincidentally, the one with bigger margins for AMD.



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[mainlate]

Asmedia is too slow for AMD. If Zen 4 comes with PCIe 5.0 AMD must make accompanying chipset inhouse again.

 

[lexluthermiester]

It seems that users will, for the time being, have to make do with the usually top-of-the-line chipset option for the AMD platform

Or people can do what has already been done, use previous gen chipset boards with an updated BIOS. That is the real reason no one is rushing these chipsets to market, last gen chipsets are working well.

 

[phanbuey]

so wait, are these going to be PCIE 4.0? Because if so then wouldnt they be even more desirable than the current high end as they don't require active cooling?

 

[lexluthermiester]

so wait, are these going to be PCIE 4.0?

That's the rumor, and it makes sense.

Because if so then wouldnt they be even more desirable than the current high end as they don't require active cooling?

Not really. Beyond storage devices, which currently have limited benefit from PCIe4, there is nothing that can come close to saturating PCIe3, let alone PCIe4.

 

[moob]

Or people can do what has already been done, use previous gen chipset boards with an updated BIOS. That is the real reason no one is rushing these chipsets to market, last gen chipsets are working well.

Yep. No complaints with my B450. I don't really feel like I'm missing anything.

 

[phanbuey]

That's the rumor, and it makes sense.

Not really. Beyond storage devices, which currently have limited benefit from PCIe4, there is nothing that can come close to saturating PCIe3, let alone PCIe4.

Right I get that, my point was why would anyone want a x570 with a chipset fan, over a b550 without one?

 

[lexluthermiester]

Right I get that, my point was why would anyone want a x570 with a chipset fan, over a b550 without one?

No worries, I understood you. And you're right.

 

[silentbogo]

Or people can do what has already been done, use previous gen chipset boards with an updated BIOS.

Even simpler - almost all brand-new sAM4 boards come with "Ryzen 3000 ready" label, already updated from the factory: even the cheapest of the cheap A320 & B350(which recently caused me a little hiccup at work, since I needed a board w/ older BIOS).

so wait, are these going to be PCIE 4.0? Because if so then wouldnt they be even more desirable than the current high end as they don't require active cooling?

That's the rumor, and it makes sense.

AFAIK, all current rumors converge on no PCIe Gen.4, but there will be a lot more I/O compared to B350/450 (e.g. more gen2/3 lanes, wider interlink and more SATA/USB). There's just one hope, that AMD will allow PCIe Gen 4 x16 from CPU to functon properly, which will be perfect for 99.9% of users. Kept the old BIOS for my X470 AORUS ULTRA just in case, after Gen4 support got removed w/ AGESA update last year.

 

[lexluthermiester]

There's just one hope, that AMD will allow PCIe Gen 4 x16 from CPU to functon properly, which will be perfect for 99.9% of users.

I'm that's actually what I meant. Because the PCIe to CPU bridge is hosted CPU side, that will very likely be enabled at PCIe4 speeds. The chipset lanes are anyone's guess. AMD has not definitively stated one way or the other AFAIK.

 

[silentbogo]

I'm that's actually what I meant. Because the PCIe to CPU bridge is hosted CPU side

That's still just a glimpse of hope. It's technically possible to have PCIe gen4 on 400-series or even 300-series boards, but it got disabled anyway, just to avoid any possible signaling/compatibility problems. So, AMD might do the same even for 500-series, since Gen4 early adoption barely started and no one even expects to have Gen4 on B550/A520, especially with platform EoL coming this year.
Gen4 is desirable, but if it won't happen for mainstream in 2020 - it's understandable and I can live with that.
Honestly, even if the rest of 500-series won't happen at all, I can still live with that ))))

BTW, found a nice last year's video on topic of Gen4 on 400-series:

 

[lexluthermiester]

It's technically possible to have PCIe gen4 on 400-series or even 300-series boards, but it got disabled anyway, just to avoid any possible signaling/compatibility problems.

That's a good point. It's possible. However I think AMD would be more likely to be pushing PCIe4 on it's entire platform. But again it's anyone's guess until they formally announce it.

Gen4 is desirable, but if it won't happen for mainstream in 2020 - it's understandable and I can live with that.

Agreed. The thing with BUS saturation is that while Gen4 is a great step forward, it's a hole waiting to be filled as Gen3 isn't being fully saturated yet. So you're right in the fact that if PCIe4 doesn't hit mainstream this year it's just not going to be a problem.

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

only time will tell when more things starts adopting PCIe gen4. Till then, it's optional.

 

[darkbreeze]

for their Ryzen 2 CPUs

Zen 2 CPUs, not "Ryzen 2 CPUs".

Either Zen 2 or Ryzen 3000 series. Ryzen 2 would technically be the 2000 series.

 

[bug]

Or people can do what has already been done, use previous gen chipset boards with an updated BIOS. That is the real reason no one is rushing these chipsets to market, last gen chipsets are working well.

The thing is, these chipsets only support two Ryzen generations (e.g. X570 does not have official support for first-gen Ryzen: https://www.amd.com/en/chipsets/x570

So if you're buying an older chipset, you'll probably be left out in the cold when the next generation is released. On top of that, not only do you not get PCIe4 (not that useful atm), but you're also stuck with a PCIe2 link between the CPU and the chipset.

This news piece makes me sad I bought that 3600

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

@bug There's nothing wrong with the 3600. It's still a decent processor.

 

[bug]

@bug There's nothing wrong with the 3600. It's still a decent processor.

Yes, but so far I'd have to pay 2.5x the price of the CPU to get a X570 motherboard
And don't get me started on "cheap" X570 boards, they're crap.

 

[Assimilator]

I seriously doubt there will be PCIe 4.0 on these chipsets. The extra cost isn't justified in that market segment.

 

[R0H1T]

Zen 2 CPUs, not "Ryzen 2 CPUs".

Either Zen 2 or Ryzen 3000 series. Ryzen 2 would technically be the 2000 series.

Or Zen 4xxx APU.

 

[bug]

I seriously doubt there will be PCIe 4.0 on these chipsets. The extra cost isn't justified in that market segment.

There certainly won't be (and neither will active southbridge cooling). But at least you'll get PCIe3 between the CPU and the chipset.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Thing is folks, AMD has not diffinitively anounced it one way or the other. It is possible that it will have PCIe4, there's also a chance it won't. We don't have anything to go on except rumors.

but you're also stuck with a PCIe2 link between the CPU and the chipset.

Considering that most devices connecting through the chipset are lower bandwidth devices, that is not much of a limiting factor.

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

@bug IKR. == guess we all have to wait on the official announcements. I'm ok if there's no PCIe gen4 for B550. A $210+ X570 board will be my last resort if I ever want to go there for the sake of PCIe gen4. Hopefully those boards have some price reduction, maybe then they can be considered as an upgrade?? I dunno.

 

[T1beriu]

for the time being, have to make do with the usually top-of-the-line chipset option for the AMD platform

Have you heard of B450 and B350 and A320?

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

B450 is a great chipset if you're going for affordability while not skimping out on quality too much. B350 is a little old IMO. A320? just enough for the Athlon 3000G for a small, low-power HTPC or media server.

 

[bug]

Thing is folks, AMD has not diffinitively anounced it one way or the other. It is possible that it will have PCIe4, there's also a chance it won't. We don't have anything to go on except rumors.

True, but looking at how similar X570 is to previous gen chipsets, it will be really hard to differentiate if B550 includes PCIe4.

Considering that most devices connecting through the chipset are lower bandwidth devices, that is not much of a limiting factor.

Again, correct, but the chipset has to handle all those devices at the same time. And some of them are NVMe SSDs.
PCIe2 is not much of a limiting factor today, but I'd feel a bit better knowing I can rely on PCIe3 instead (PCIe4 would be even better, but I do not want active cooling).