AMD Reportedly Launching B550 Motherboards Come June 16th

[Raevenlord]

AMD is reportedly looking to launch their B550 mainstream motherboards this coming June 16th, with an announcement being pegged for May 21st. WCCFTech, quoting industry sources, says these motherboards will now finally be released to the public, nearly a year after the launch of AMD's Ryzen 3000 series and accompanying X570-based motherboards. This will mark the first time PCIe 4.0 will be available in a mainstream-geared platform and chipset; until now, users looking for more cost-effective builds to support their Ryzen CPUs had to make do without PCIe 4.0 support with a motherboard from previous generations, since the feature was only available on the (more expensive) X570 motherboards.

The B550 chipset should thus become the new choice for users looking to build new systems on a budget; and part of the reason for AMD delaying the launch of this chipset as much as it has could certainly be an effort to increase revenues due to the X570's higher ASP. It's expected that B550 motherboards will be had for higher pricing than AMD's previous mainstream B450 motherboards, though, due to increased costs with improved I/O and the additional requirements for PCIe 4.0 wiring. Considering AMD's X570-based motherboards can be had from the $150 barrier upwards, it's likely (via an educated guess only) that B550 will occupy the $90-$150 range.



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[GoldenX]

As late as RDNA replacing GCN or Intel launching anything post Skylake, oh that last one didn't happen yet.

 

[TheLostSwede]

This is incorrect, based on what I know. It should be April 21st for the announcement. Availability is June though, but might be a bit earlier.

 

[evernessince]

As late as RDNA replacing GCN or Intel launching anything post Skylake, oh that last one didn't happen yet.

On the upside these boards will support 4000 series CPUs with a BIOS update so it's really not that big of a deal

 

[GoldenX]

On the upside these boards will support 4000 series CPUs with a BIOS update so it's really not that big of a deal

I would have hold them off to offer support on release, they are already stupidly late anyway.

 

[ARF]

On the upside these boards will support 4000 series CPUs with a BIOS update so it's really not that big of a deal

It is a bit of inconvenience, though. These new mobos must be shipping with 4000-series-ready BIOS.

 

[dj-electric]

This is incorrect, based on what I know. It should be April 21st for the announcement. Availability is June though, but might be a bit earlier.

May 21st is still a date to put on calendar. Stuff can happen... possibly, might or not, at this date too.

 

[Turmania]

looking forward to see a good mini itx options for this chipset.

 

[Mussels]

It is a bit of inconvenience, though. These new mobos must be shipping with 4000-series-ready BIOS.

that would be smart, even if its an imperfect AGESA, having 4000 series boot support would be amazing at launch

They should make USB BIOS flashing mandatory on new chipsets/new sockets to avoid this in the future,

 

[Ruru]

Great, now I have a reason to upgrade from this crappy B450 board. I just don't see any reasons to get a better B450 board; might as well upgrade to something better and newer.

 

[GoldenX]

And I just ordered a B450 to get more "VRAM" options that I need for debugging.

 

[Space Lynx]

So B550 is confirmed to support PCI 4.0?

 

[TheLostSwede]

So B550 is confirmed to support PCI 4.0?

No.

 

[Space Lynx]

No.

OP has this as last sentence of first paragraph "his will mark the first time PCIe 4.0 will be available in a mainstream-geared platform and chipset; until now, users looking for more cost-effective builds to support their Ryzen CPUs had to make do without PCIe 4.0 support with a motherboard from previous generations, since the feature was only available on the (more expensive) X570 motherboards."

doesn't that mean it's confirmed PCI 4.0 is on B550?

 

[Calmmo]

Not sure about 4.0, maybe CPU lane only to keep down the cost.

 

[TheLostSwede]

OP has this as last sentence of first paragraph "his will mark the first time PCIe 4.0 will be available in a mainstream-geared platform and chipset; until now, users looking for more cost-effective builds to support their Ryzen CPUs had to make do without PCIe 4.0 support with a motherboard from previous generations, since the feature was only available on the (more expensive) X570 motherboards."

doesn't that mean it's confirmed PCI 4.0 is on B550?

I don't know what the OP knows, but so far, there have not been any confirmation that I have seen anywhere, nor have any of the people I know in the industry mentioned that B550 will have PCIe 4.0 support.
As mentioned above, it's highly likely we'll see the CPU lanes to the GPU and one M.2 slot being PCIe 4.0. However, all of this is up to AMD, but they'd be silly not to go with at least some PCIe 4.0 lanes, if for no other reason than to one up Intel.
It's important to keep the chipset lanes and CPU lanes separate due to how AMD's platform works. Considering that it was technically feasible to do PCIe 4.0 on X470 via the CPU lanes, the same applies to B550.

 

[ARF]

So B550 is confirmed to support PCI 4.0?

Pretty much is a must, otherwise the point of its release becomes completely unknown.
If it's just a rebranded B450, what's the point?

 

[Turmania]

Would be nice to have at least one x4 for m.2 slot. Not bothered for gpu as there is no advantage they take from it maybe I'm wrong about that though.

 

[BSim500]

Pretty much is a must, otherwise the point of its release becomes completely unknown. If it's just a rebranded B450, what's the point?

Fixing the prevalent "cr*p VRM", auto over-volting problems, and overly finicky memory compatibility problems that still plague many boards? For non premium B boards, personally I rather hope they do stick to PCIE 3.0 if it meant a passively cooled chipset, lower prices and most importantly that they simply spend a whole generation actually getting the basics right with "VRM's done properly" and BIOS bug-fixing.

Likewise, hopefully they also won't keep crippling basic features, eg, B450 ITX = "For the sake of saving $0.50, we crippled Wi-Fi speeds from what should be 866Mbps (given the 2x2 antenna) down to 433Mbps (1x1) even though 5 year old Skylake boards like the ASUS PRO GAMING B150I Wi-FI had 2x2 866Mbps as standard"...

 

[ARF]

Fixing the prevalent "cr*p VRM", auto over-volting problems, and overly finicky memory compatibility problems that still plague many boards?

No, definitely no. These are OEM-related issues and purely because of their engineering "decisions". Ask them to make new revisions.

AMD must release B550 with PCIe 4 support..

 

[holyprof]

If PCI-E 4.0 support is good (even if only from CPU to first x16 slot and the first M.2 slot) and the VRMs are good, motherboards based on that chipset will totally kill sales of B450 / X470 / X570 motherboards.

 

[TheLostSwede]

If PCI-E 4.0 support is good (even if only from CPU to first x16 slot and the first M.2 slot) and the VRMs are good, motherboards based on that chipset will totally kill sales of B450 / X470 / X570 motherboards.

I don't see it killing the sales of X570 boards, in as much as B450 and B350 boards didn't kill the sales of X470 or X370 boards. It's guaranteed to be a feature limited solution beyond PCIe 4.0, if AMD decides to go ahead with it.

 

[TechLurker]

Wasn't the B550 series late due to ASMedia not getting their own PCIe 4.0 chips ready in time? I recall an earlier report mentioning such, which is why X570 got a far longer run than the previous X470 and X370.

It feels so weirdly late, what with the impending X670 and Zen 3 (4000-series) that were mentioned for a Q4 2020 release. It's come to the point that I'm wondering if it'd just be better to skip B550 altogether and jump to B650 just months after the X670 releases, given that the AMD ecosystem hasn't collapsed this far along into Zen 2 and X570-only mobos.

 

[ARF]

Wasn't the B550 series late due to ASMedia not getting their own PCIe 4.0 chips ready in time? I recall an earlier report mentioning such, which is why X570 got a far longer run than the previous X470 and X370.

It feels so weirdly late, what with the impending X670 and Zen 3 (4000-series) that were mentioned for a Q4 2020 release. It's come to the point that I'm wondering if it'd just be better to skip B550 altogether and jump to B650 just months after the X670 releases, given that the AMD ecosystem hasn't collapsed this far along into Zen 2 and X570-only mobos.

AMD is a mess these days. Fortunately for them, the architecture just works on the latest TSMC process.

So many conflicting reports. Well, but X570 is the top premium chipset and will remain so till X670's launch. It doesn't get a longer run than X470 or X370. The same.

Well, there are B550A OEM boards with PCIe 3.

Normally, the IO from the CPU itself should be enough for lower end boards like the rumoured B550 for DIY.

If B550 DIY PCIe 3 or PCIe 4 indeed gets launched in June, it doesn't make any sense to launch B650 three months later in September.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Wasn't the B550 series late due to ASMedia not getting their own PCIe 4.0 chips ready in time? I recall an earlier report mentioning such, which is why X570 got a far longer run than the previous X470 and X370.

It feels so weirdly late, what with the impending X670 and Zen 3 (4000-series) that were mentioned for a Q4 2020 release. It's come to the point that I'm wondering if it'd just be better to skip B550 altogether and jump to B650 just months after the X670 releases, given that the AMD ecosystem hasn't collapsed this far along into Zen 2 and X570-only mobos.

There is no X670...
Why are people making assumptions that there will be a new set of chipsets for the 4000-series? There's zero proof of this.
The B550 is likely going to be the last AM4 chipset.