GIGABYTE Lists AMD B550 and Intel Z490 Motherboards

[AleksandarK]

Thanks to the findings of VideoCardz, we have information that GIGABYTE has listed its upcoming motherboards for AMD and Intel platforms. Starting with AMD's upcoming mid-range chipset, the B550 model is supposed to bring PCIe 4.0 connectivity options to lower-priced motherboard variants. So far, only high-end chipset versions like X570 had PCIe 4.0 support, while the mid-range option was lacking. GIGABYTE has prepared a total of six B550 AORUS models, along with a GAMING series which is supposed to be a tier below AORUS models. The B550 chipset will span all motherboard sizes, including ATX, Micro-ATX, and Mini-ITX.

In the EEC listing, GIGABYTE also submitted Intel's upcoming Z490 motherboards for Comet Lake-S CPUs. In the listing, we see a total of 15 motherboards listed with an unusable entry. Again the W480 chipset appears, which is meant to power workstation motherboards. This chipset will go inside a new motherboard lineup called the "VISION" series. While we don't know what this new series brings, we know that both the workstation enabled W480 chipset and regular Z490 chipset will be a part of it.


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[PanicLake]

An AM4 motherboard with PCIe 4.0 support and no chipset fan would be nice...
Let's hope.

 

[HwGeek]

How cheap can they make the B550 boards vs $140~$160 X570 boards? MB vendors kept saying that making the board PCIE Gen4 compatible is expensive, so what price point are they aiming now? and how much better the cheap $145 X570 boards gonna be then B550?

 

[notb]

B550 model is supposed to bring PCIe 4.0 connectivity options to lower-priced motherboard variants

Most leaks I've seen suggested B550 will not offer PCIe 4.0 (likely the only major difference vs X570). What's the point of this chipset otherwise?

 

[bug]

How cheap can they make the B550 boards vs $140~$160 X570 boards? MB vendors kept saying that making the board PCIE Gen4 compatible is expensive, so what price point are they aiming now? and how much better the cheap $145 X570 boards gonna be then B550?

First of all, cheap X570 mobos are pretty spartan. Second, as @notb said, PCIe4 has never been confirmed for B550. Imho, best case scenario, B550 will offer PCIe4 between the CPU and the chipset, but the chipset will only output PCIe3. But more likely, it will be PCIe3 all over.

Now, the real problem is I was just about to pull the trigger on a X470 motherboard and now B550 is supposedly close to launching again.

 

[Gmr_Chick]

First of all, cheap X570 mobos are pretty spartan. Second, as @notb said, PCIe4 has never been confirmed for B550. Imho, best case scenario, B550 will offer PCIe4 between the CPU and the chipset, but the chipset will only output PCIe3. But more likely, it will be PCIe3 all over.

Now, the real problem is I was just about to pull the trigger on a X470 motherboard and now B550 is supposedly close to launching again.

Depending how which X570 board you were originally going to pull the trigger on, price-wise, I'd say screw it and pull the trigger anyway. Then again, B550 may offer a surprise in that it does offer PCIe 4.0, but not an X or Y feature that the X570 chipset has. I figure there has to be a trade-off somewhere, right?

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

I'm even more curious in how will the B550 AORUS MASTER, B550I AORUS PRO AX & B550 AORUS PRO AC will look like. =O

 

[bug]

Depending how which X570 board you were originally going to pull the trigger on, price-wise, I'd say screw it and pull the trigger anyway. Then again, B550 may offer a surprise in that it does offer PCIe 4.0, but not an X or Y feature that the X570 chipset has. I figure there has to be a trade-off somewhere, right?

Not X570, but X470. And yes, I've been delaying this for too long, if B550 isn't like firmly confirmed by a reliable source by tomorrow, I'm gonna pull the trigger.

 

[Gmr_Chick]

Not X570, but X470. And yes, I've been delaying this for too long, if B550 isn't like firmly confirmed by a reliable source by tomorrow, I'm gonna pull the trigger.

Ah, X470 excuse me. It's late and I'm tired hehe. But yes, I'd definitely pull the trigger on a snazzy X470 board. It's ultimately YOUR call though

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

B550 likely wont offer PCIe 4, which is dumb, because x570 can EASILY be passively cooled, users across the internet have proven that already. Likely, you will be limited to PCIe 4.0 from the CPU itself, meaning only a single 4.0 M.2 drive without cutting down on PCIe slot bandwidth.

And I'm going to guess, that much like b450, the micro ATX boards will be shafter again, stuck with chep 4 phase VRMs with junk cooling while the mini itx and full atx boards get 6 or even 8 phase VRMs with proper cooling. Because those of us that want expansion in a smaller case just dont matter to mobo makers anymore.

 

[TheLostSwede]

B550 isn't likely to offer PCIe from the chipset, however, with a Ryzen 3000 series CPU, you're still going to get PCIe 4.0 for the graphics card and one M.2 slot.
I think this is more than enough for most people for the time being, no?

 

[kapone32]

B550 may indeed be like X470 more so than X570. My thought process is that we will see 2 NVME slots on some boards and some will have an extra x16 slot wired as x4.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

B550 isn't likely to offer PCIe from the chipset, however, with a Ryzen 3000 series CPU, you're still going to get PCIe 4.0 for the graphics card and one M.2 slot.
I think this is more than enough for most people for the time being, no?

You're not wrong, but like many b450 boards, OEMs will wire b550 to suck lanes from the x16 slot to feed the second m.2 drive instead of using 3.0 lanes from the chipset itself.

 

[notb]

B550 isn't likely to offer PCIe from the chipset, however, with a Ryzen 3000 series CPU, you're still going to get PCIe 4.0 for the graphics card and one M.2 slot.
I think this is more than enough for most people for the time being, no?

PCIe 4.0 for GPU is fairly pointless for GPU and will remain such for a while.
If a single M.2 is covered - great.

I mean: both are nice additions if provided without any drawbacks.
But this platform needs a cheap, basic chipset to run mainstream, small form factor and business desktops.
People who buy expensive CPUs (3700X and above) will likely go for an X570 anyway.

 

[bug]

B550 likely wont offer PCIe 4, which is dumb, because x570 can EASILY be passively cooled, users across the internet have proven that already.

It's not dumb, PCIe4's biggest problem isn't the cooler. It's the cost and the fact that there's not much to do with all that bandwidth right now.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

PCIe 4.0 for GPU is fairly pointless for GPU and will remain such for a while.
If a single M.2 is covered - great.

I mean: both are nice additions if provided without any drawbacks.
But this platform needs a cheap, basic chipset to run mainstream, small form factor and business desktops.
People who buy expensive CPUs (3700X and above) will likely go for an X570 anyway.

Tell that to AMD. their lower VRAM GPUs lose tons of performance on PCIe 3.0. Besides, why cant a cheap basic chipset offer newer features? There is no reason to not use the 4.0 lanes the CPU offers, which is what b550 allows. If your argument is that price is all that matters, and the platform need a cheap chipset, we already have that. Its called a320 and b450. So may as well never release another midrange chipset with that logic.

 

[bug]

Tell that to AMD. their lower VRAM GPUs lose tons of performance on PCIe 3.0.

He said it's fairly pointless, not totally pointless. There's a difference.

Besides, why cant a cheap basic chipset offer newer features?

Because PCIe3 needs an expensive PCB to hold signal integrity, that's why.

AMD tried so hard to make it like they "upgraded" chipsets (when they only needed better VRM for newer CPUs), they now have a hard time differentiating among the myriad of options they have on the market.

 

[EarthDog]

Tell that to AMD. their lower VRAM GPUs lose tons of performance on PCIe 3.0.

You do realize this is because they made a poor design choice, right? The ONE card which shows that type of increase (anything more than negligible) is wired as an x8 card. Between the meager 4GB vRAM and the neutered (for the card) interface, that card shot itself in the foot.

AMD could have played this off as getting optimal performance by going X570... but missed an opportunity, IMO.

 

[Dammeron]

I hope for a good B550 mATX board... What we got with X570 (or rather didn't get) is a sad joke...

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

I hope for a good B550 mATX board... What we got with X570 (or rather didn't get) is a sad joke...

It really is sad that AMD mATX gets ignored. Look at z390 mATX boards, they may not be great, but they do get 4 phase VRMs with proper doublers that can handle the power draw of a OCed 9700k.

Thats all we want. A 4 phase doubler that can handle OCed 3950x CPUs. It sbeen dont in the past, we used to get full proper 8 phase VRMs on mATX boards, but for some reason the wholemATX community is withering, the good VRMs are either on mITX boards or full ATX boards. When a mITX board has better VRMs then the same brand's mATX boards, you know womething is up.

Like, the b450 pro4 motherboard is perfectly acceptable, just put a 4 phase with doubler, or 6 phase with doubler VRM on it! There is plenty of room! colorful seems to have made a proper x570 micro ATX board, but I just cant find any good teardowns or reviews of it, and at $269, thats too much $$$ to try it myself.

 

[Tigerfox]

So many comments without a clue.

B550 will offer PCIe4.0, but only from CPU, meaning for x16 and one M.2/x4-Slot, like X470 did for PCIe3.0. That is because PCIe-Gen from CPU is dependent on board and has nothing to do with the chipset. Many X470/B450-Boards could support Gen4 but AMD blocked ist via AGESA, allegedly because it was not stable.
Information on Chipset vary from X470 with Gen3 to X470 +4xPCIe3.0, so far less than X570 and still less than Z390/Z490, but still more than X470/B450. Most important will be Gen4 from CPU, though.

Since Gigabyte will atleast offer an B550 Aorus Master, which ist upper midrange, B550 will not only a cheap Alternative like B450, but still no highend solution.

As for Z490, I'm curious to see what vision D and vision G is about.

 

[bug]

So many comments without a clue.

B550 will offer PCIe4.0, but only from CPU, meaning for x16 and one M.2/x4-Slot, like X470 did for PCIe3.0. That is because PCIe-Gen from CPU is dependent on board and has nothing to do with the chipset. Many X470/B450-Boards could support Gen4 but AMD blocked ist via AGESA, allegedly because it was not stable.
Information on Chipset vary from X470 with Gen3 to X470 +4xPCIe3.0, so far less than X570 and still less than Z390/Z490, but still more than X470/B450. Most important will be Gen4 from CPU, though.

Since Gigabyte will atleast offer an B550 Aorus Master, which ist upper midrange, B550 will not only a cheap Alternative like B450, but still no highend solution.

As for Z490, I'm curious to see what vision D and vision G is about.

Somehow, you end up as the clueless one, because nobody was questioning PCIe4 from the CPU (in part because that has nothing to do with the chipset, but rather with the motherboard wiring). We were talking about whether or not the chipset will get the same treatment. And that seems doubtful both because of cost and because it would make the chipset indistinguishable from X570.

 

[TheLostSwede]

So many comments without a clue.

B550 will offer PCIe4.0, but only from CPU, meaning for x16 and one M.2/x4-Slot, like X470 did for PCIe3.0. That is because PCIe-Gen from CPU is dependent on board and has nothing to do with the chipset. Many X470/B450-Boards could support Gen4 but AMD blocked ist via AGESA, allegedly because it was not stable.
Information on Chipset vary from X470 with Gen3 to X470 +4xPCIe3.0, so far less than X570 and still less than Z390/Z490, but still more than X470/B450. Most important will be Gen4 from CPU, though.

Since Gigabyte will atleast offer an B550 Aorus Master, which ist upper midrange, B550 will not only a cheap Alternative like B450, but still no highend solution.

As for Z490, I'm curious to see what vision D and vision G is about.

Do you have proof of this? Maybe you work for AMD? Right now, I can tell you this much, AMD has not decided if B550 will support PCIe 4.0 or not as of today.
We're all making assumptions here, but the matter of fact is, this is up to AMD. Maybe they decide last minute that they want to differentiate their platforms differently than what we're expecting.
The boards are being designed to support PCIe 4.0, but right now, there is no AGESA/UEFI support on B550 for PCIe 4.0. I was quite surprised when I was told this was the case. And my source is rock solid in this case.

Edit: For clarification, PCIe 4.0 lanes would only be form the CPU, not the chipset.

PCIe 4.0 for GPU is fairly pointless for GPU and will remain such for a while.
If a single M.2 is covered - great.

I mean: both are nice additions if provided without any drawbacks.
But this platform needs a cheap, basic chipset to run mainstream, small form factor and business desktops.
People who buy expensive CPUs (3700X and above) will likely go for an X570 anyway.

Most likely, yes, but plenty people also save money by going with a cheaper board, as they don't "need" all the extras. It goes both ways.

 

[notb]

You do realize this is because they made a poor design choice, right? The ONE card which shows that type of increase (anything more than negligible) is wired as an x8 card. Between the meager 4GB vRAM and the neutered (for the card) interface, that card shot itself in the foot.

I don't think it's poor. I think it's intentional.

AMD could have easily made this card work fine on PCIe 3.0. They gave it less RAM than a lower model and went for weird wiring implementation.
They ended up with a card that benefits from being paired with a modern AMD platform.

B550 likely wont offer PCIe 4, which is dumb, because x570 can EASILY be passively cooled, users across the internet have proven that already.

The fact that some DIY users managed to run X570 chipsets without a fan proves absolutely nothing.

A chipset should work without a fan also in cramped, poorly vented cases. It's a must if AMD wants to sell it to OEMs.

With enough airflow in a case you can "passively" cool pretty much anything - high-performance rack units being a perfect example.

There is no reason to not use the 4.0 lanes the CPU offers, which is what b550 allows.

Besides actual cost of manufacturing, there's also the simple idea of creating a diverse offer.

 

[bug]

Do you have proof of this? Maybe you work for AMD? Right now, I can tell you this much, AMD has not decided if B550 will support PCIe 4.0 or not as of today.
We're all making assumptions here, but the matter of fact is, this is up to AMD. Maybe they decide last minute that they want to differentiate their platforms differently than what we're expecting.
The boards are being designed to support PCIe 4.0, but right now, there is no AGESA/UEFI support on B550 for PCIe 4.0. I was quite surprised when I was told this was the case. And my source is rock solid in this case.

Sounds pretty nasty then. Motherboards wired for PCIe4 (i.e. expensive), but without PCIe4 support.