ASRock Returns to its Roots with Wacky X670 Upgrade Card

[thewan]

This is why everything should be gen 5 now. Limit gpu to x8 or even x4, m2 to x2, and have expansions galore with minimal performance loss. Dear ppl of TPU. Stop saying that higher pcie gens are pointless. You all lack imagination and out of the box thinking. If we don't need all those bandwidth, then reduce the lanes to add more stuff! We all could use more m.2 storage, as in we could use MOAR TBs. MOAR fast USBs. MOAR 2.5G or even 10G ethernets. MOAR imagination pls ppl. Use your brains MOAR.

 

[ymdhis]

Reminds me of:

View attachment 279972
^not mine. Pulled off Vogons forums.
Yes, that's a PCIe HD 4850, in a PCIE-PCI bridging adapter, in an AGP-> 32-bit PCI 66Mhz adapter, in some ancient AGP mobo, w/ a K6-III...
(I consider many of these bridge chips basically "add-on Southbridges". The article's subject card, also is essentially a 'add-on Southbridge'.)

would be more impressive with a HD4650 which had a native AGP version, but iirc the voltage keying has been different on the AGP port since like the 2000s and it wouldn't natively fit on a board like that. (I actually have a super socket 7 motherboard that I've been meaning to put it together for so long, so I could check this right now)

Also, nice cpu, the K6-III was very rare.

This is why everything should be gen 5 now. Limit gpu to x8 or even x4, m2 to x2, and have expansions galore with minimal performance loss. Dear ppl of TPU. Stop saying that higher pcie gens are pointless. You all lack imagination and out of the box thinking. If we don't need all those bandwidth, then reduce the lanes to add more stuff! We all could use more m.2 storage, as in we could use MOAR TBs. MOAR fast USBs. MOAR 2.5G or even 10G ethernets. MOAR imagination pls ppl. Use your brains MOAR.

While I wish this was true, the average person simply doesn't need that many ports, and if you are a power user who needs several 10G ports, go get a threadripper.

 

[OneMoar]

this is so hilariously stupid .....

 

[Wirko]

We all could use more m.2 storage, as in we could use MOAR TBs. MOAR fast USBs. MOAR 2.5G or even 10G ethernets. MOAR imagination pls ppl. Use your brains MOAR.

More speed = more of the same. You mentioned imagimation?

 

[chrcoluk]

This is why everything should be gen 5 now. Limit gpu to x8 or even x4, m2 to x2, and have expansions galore with minimal performance loss. Dear ppl of TPU. Stop saying that higher pcie gens are pointless. You all lack imagination and out of the box thinking. If we don't need all those bandwidth, then reduce the lanes to add more stuff! We all could use more m.2 storage, as in we could use MOAR TBs. MOAR fast USBs. MOAR 2.5G or even 10G ethernets. MOAR imagination pls ppl. Use your brains MOAR.

Not completely pointless, the issue is the cost of gen5, its effectively a mb tax. So should be optional.

All of what you said is fine if you dont care about $$$.

I like the product, lets people buy into new AMD chipset at lower pricepoint, then upgrade connectivity later without ripping out board, far from pointless, kind of like starting with less ram in 2 dimms then upgrading later.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

I used to have one of Asrock's AGP/PCIe motherboards. It might still be in a box somewhere in the attic.

This card bears further investigation and followage.

 

[[XC] Oj101]

ASRock is clearly allowing the use of LSD at work for the first time in 15 years and I LOVE IT.

 

[Tek-Check]

...and here I am dreaming about slotting this into the CPU-connected Gen4.0 M.2 slot (via adapter) on my X570. Generational Hybridization

Would this ever work on AM4?

 

[Wirko]

ASRock is clearly allowing the use of LSD at work for the first time in 15 years and I LOVE IT.

Yeah, and maybe Asus contracted them to make that DDR5-to-DDR4 adapter.

Would this ever work on AM4?

With proper driver support, I see no reason it couldn't work on an Intel 775 board. Seriously. It's just PCIe.

 

[Ruru]

Oh hell yeah I remember when Asrock was more innovative than other manufacturers combined. AGP/PCIe boards, expansion slots for CPU upgrade cards and all kinds of crazy stuff.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

This is why everything should be gen 5 now. Limit gpu to x8 or even x4, m2 to x2, and have expansions galore with minimal performance loss. Dear ppl of TPU. Stop saying that higher pcie gens are pointless. You all lack imagination and out of the box thinking. If we don't need all those bandwidth, then reduce the lanes to add more stuff! We all could use more m.2 storage, as in we could use MOAR TBs. MOAR fast USBs. MOAR 2.5G or even 10G ethernets. MOAR imagination pls ppl. Use your brains MOAR.

You can add that all with the PCIe busses these motherboards already have.

Dear thewan, maybe learn how computers work kthnx.

 

[Assimilator]

Would this ever work on AM4?

No.

With proper driver support, I see no reason it couldn't work on an Intel 775 board. Seriously. It's just PCIe.

Did you completely fail to see the connector jutting out from the card that very evidently need to be joined to a specific connector on the board? A connector that your Intel LGA775 board absolutely won't have?

 

[Zareek]

No.


Did you completely fail to see the connector jutting out from the card that very evidently need to be joined to a specific connector on the board? A connector that your Intel LGA775 board absolutely won't have?

I agree, very doubtful that SPI/I2C connector is part of the magic in making this thing work. It probably also requires specific UEFI support you'll only get on motherboards that support it.

Still, very cool idea! So cool, I'm wondering it that card works with a less ugly motherboard. I might just buy one of these and a compatible motherboard to support the idea and innovation. I don't care if it costs more than an comparable X670 board. We need more of this sort of innovation!

 

[DeeJay1001]

If the price is right I kind of like this as a solution to segment their products in the market. They can focus on affordable B series motherboards that fit the needs of most customers at a great price. For users that need more expansion and functionality they can simply buy the add-on board.

 

[Aleksandar_038]

Actually, ASRock might have right idea with this...

AMD AM5 is crazy expensive - and when we disregard MB manufacturers greed, lack of competition, useless flashy thingies, still we have high complexity of the boards that indeed drives prices up.

So, we could have basic board with one M2 port, one PCIe port for graphics, two SATA ports for cheap... than with add-on card you get another set of ports, etc, etc... Instead we have expensive B650 and completely useless A620 and no-man land between.

We only have problem with ATX being so obsolete that it is painful to watch...

 

[TheLostSwede]

I agree, very doubtful that SPI/I2C connector is part of the magic in making this thing work. It probably also requires specific UEFI support you'll only get on motherboards that support it.

Still, very cool idea! So cool, I'm wondering it that card works with a less ugly motherboard. I might just buy one of these and a compatible motherboard to support the idea and innovation. I don't care if it costs more than an comparable X670 board. We need more of this sort of innovation!

Without the additional connectivity, how do you expect the rest of the system are going to be able to send things like sync signals for timing transmissions from one chipset to the other?

If you haven't noticed, all of the Thunderbolt add-in cards require something similar as well and although no board maker, nor Intel has shared exactly what interfaces are used, SPI, I2C, LPC, etc. are said to be possible options, as they're commonly used for this type of signalling.

But yes, UEFI support is obviously also required.

 

[Assimilator]

Without the additional connectivity, how do you expect the rest of the system are going to be able to send things like sync signals for timing transmissions from one chipset to the other?

If you haven't noticed, all of the Thunderbolt add-in cards require something similar as well and although no board maker, nor Intel has shared exactly what interfaces are used, SPI, I2C, LPC, etc. are said to be possible options, as they're commonly used for this type of signalling.

But yes, UEFI support is obviously also required.

I strongly doubt that Intel would allow their darling, premium Thunderbolt to use something so common as an industry-standard protocol. Most likely they've written something proprietary in all the worst ways, then wrapped it up in some sort of encryption scheme.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I strongly doubt that Intel would allow their darling, premium Thunderbolt to use something so common as an industry-standard protocol. Most likely they've written something proprietary in all the worst ways, then wrapped it up in some sort of encryption scheme.

I guess that's possible as well, but the point was that the Thunderbolt add-in cards have that extra cable for some kind of "low-speed" interface.

 

[OneMoar]

Without the additional connectivity, how do you expect the rest of the system are going to be able to send things like sync signals for timing transmissions from one chipset to the other?

If you haven't noticed, all of the Thunderbolt add-in cards require something similar as well and although no board maker, nor Intel has shared exactly what interfaces are used, SPI, I2C, LPC, etc. are said to be possible options, as they're commonly used for this type of signalling.

But yes, UEFI support is obviously also required.

attention you are being charged with being WRONG on the internet
how do you plea:

the thunderbolt 3 spec is open and has been publicly avaiable since 2017
the 'thunderbolt certification' is whats closed also usb4 pretty much cross covers both

this is stupid this entire product is assinine because you don't just add a south bridge over pci-e and magicly add more connections to the cpu
which is what you need for this to matter

 

[sLowEnd]

Wow, it's been years since I last saw Asrock do something weird like this. lol

Their DDR2+DDR3 boards and the boards with both AGP and PCI-e back in the day were neat.

Edit: Or this board with both S478 and LGA775 lol

ASRock > P4 Combo

Socket 478/LGA 775 combo design for Intel P4 processor; Intel 848P chipset; Socket478 and LGA 775 combo design- EZ CPU upgrade; Supports FSB1066/800/533MHz Prescott/Northwood processor, Intel EM64T-enabled processors and H-T Technology; Intel 04B/04A processors compatible; Supports DDR400 high...

www.asrock.com

 

[trsttte]

attention you are being charged with being WRONG on the internet
how do you plea:

the thunderbolt 3 spec is open and has been publicly avaiable since 2017
the 'thunderbolt certification' is whats closed also usb4 pretty much cross covers both

Cool story but that has nothing to do with what he said. The thunderbolt 3 spec is open, the add-in board implementation with the extra aux control header not so much with different implementations and some people even being able to run thunderbolt cards with no header at all.

 

[ypsylon]

Like Wendell said: This should be for any board.

Even HEDT-segment ones. 101% agree with this. Its brilliant idea.

Can you imagine (sadly now dead-end) TRX40 boards with two x8 cards like those? Extra 8 M.2s, 2 10Gb NICs, stacks of USB, 8 SATA ports.

 

[Mussels]

I miss old asrock with PCI-E and AGP on the same board with DDR2 and DDR3
The CPU makers shut that down mostly as things moved more into the CPU, but they had some cool stuff



I just... i just want this as an x4 expansion card for everyone. That'd be sick.

 

[OneMoar]

I don't understand why people are impressed with this
we stopped doing this 30 years ago because daughterboards are stupid
btw you can get all of this on a pci-e card no need for a seperate chipset

just slap a Usb4 Controler on a card add a 10g ethernet nic from realtek And a Pci-e PLX to drive the nvme bays



there is litterally zero need to have a seperate chipset on .... whatever this abomination is

 

[TheLostSwede]

attention you are being charged with being WRONG on the internet
how do you plea:

Huh?

the thunderbolt 3 spec is open and has been publicly avaiable since 2017
the 'thunderbolt certification' is whats closed also usb4 pretty much cross covers both

Well, maybe you can dig up the specs that describe what other interfaces are used then instead of talking smack?

this is stupid this entire product is assinine because you don't just add a south bridge over pci-e and magicly add more connections to the cpu
which is what you need for this to matter

You're aware that the only difference between a B650 and an X670 motherboard is another identical chipset, which is connected to the primary chipset over a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface, right? How would this then not be exactly the same, just via an add-in card?

Maybe learn how things work before making daft comments?

I don't understand why people are impressed with this
we stopped doing this 30 years ago because daughterboards are stupid
btw you can get all of this on a pci-e card no need for a seperate chipset

Not all chipsets support proper bifurcation, so...

just slap a Usb4 Controler on a card add a 10g ethernet nic from realtek And a Pci-e PLX to drive the nvme bays

PLX chips cost more than AMD/ASMedia's chipset. Plus this incorporates native support for more interfaces whereas the PLX chips are just PCIe bridges/splitters.
Realtek doesn't make 10 Gbps PHY's as yet.

there is litterally zero need to have a seperate chipset on .... whatever this abomination is

I guess you'll never get an X670 board either then?