AMD's B650E Chipset Confirmed in Leaked List of ASRock AM5 Motherboards

[TheLostSwede]

Although AMD has not as yet announced its B650E chipset, rumour about such a chipset started before Computex. To date, no specific motherboard models have been mentioned by model name, but courtesy of Videocardz, we now have a list of several upcoming models from ASRock. The company has already announced its X670E range of motherboards, which consists of five models, of which four can already be seen on the ASRock website. ASRock appears to be planning five B650E boards, plus another six B650 SKU's. The company also appears to be the OEM for NZXT's second AMD motherboard, which appears to be called the N7-B65XT, which might also be a B650E based board.

Unfortunately we don't know any of the technical details about the upcoming B650/B650E boards from ASRock, but the model names give away that two of the five B650E boards will be Mini-ITX boards. It doesn't look like ASRock will be offering a high-end B650E model, but at least there will be an upper mid-range Steel Legend board. ASRock will also have a couple of mATX B650 boards, one should be a more gaming focused mid-range model, with the other being what appears to be a fairly basic model. One peculiar addition is a B650 SKU with the prefix LiveMixer, which is a new series from ASRock as far as we're aware. ASRock doesn't appear to be offering any X670 motherboards at all, at least not based on the current information.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

I'm guessing that NZXT board is a commission for an upcomming NZXT system?

 

[TheLostSwede]

I'm guessing that NZXT board is a commission for an upcomming NZXT system?

No, they have been selling motherboards for a few years now.

 

[Octopuss]

What does the E specify?

 

[TheLostSwede]

What does the E specify?

The E SKUs of the chipset mandate PCIe 5.0 for the CPU and the first M.2 NVMe slot, whereas the none E SKUs only mandate it for the first M.2 NVMe slot.

 

[ModEl4]

So if I understand, it will probably be PCI-express 5.0 8X for the VGA?
Is this preferable somehow?
If Ada/RDNA3 is PCI-express 4.0 based it will provide half the bandwidth, so a disadvantage and also it will offer no advantage in relation with PCI-express 4.0 16X for next-next gen (PCI-express 5.0) VGAs.
Unless we are talking for future entry level VGAs that are PCI-express 5.0 4X based that usually go with entry or mid tier motherboards...
Long live RX 7400? (First PCI-express 5.0 model possibly?)jk

 

[TheLostSwede]

So if I understand, it will probably be PCI-express 5.0 8X for the VGA?
Is this preferable somehow?
If Ada/RDNA3 is PCI-express 4.0 based it will provide half the bandwidth, so a disadvantage and also it will offer no advantage in relation with PCI-express 4.0 16X for next-next gen (PCI-express 5.0) VGAs.
Unless we are talking for future entry level VGAs that are PCI-express 5.0 4X based that usually go with entry or mid tier motherboards...
Long live RX 7400? (First PCI-express 5.0 model possibly?)jk

No, full 16 lanes, this isn't an Intel platform.

 

[Chrispy_]

The E SKUs of the chipset mandate PCIe 5.0 for the CPU and the first M.2 NVMe slot, whereas the none E SKUs only mandate it for the first M.2 NVMe slot.

Ah okay, so irrelevant for the next few years because even a PCIe 5.0 SSD using the theoretical max bandwidth will only have half the bandwidth of a PCIe 4.0 x16 GPU.

...and that's assuming that DirectStorage ever actually happens. Microsoft and Nvidia were both touting it as the must-have feature for the upcoming Windows 11, upcoming Ampere GPUs, and upcoming PCIe 4.0 SSDs. We've had 2+ years of PCIe 4.0 SSDs, almost 2 years of Ampere GPUs, and the final non-beta version of W11 rolled out to Windows Insiders a little over a year ago.

 

[ZetZet]

X670E/X670 two chipsets, E with all PCIe 5.
B650E/B650 one chipset, E with gpu and ssd PCIe 5. Probably.

 

[TheLostSwede]

X670E/X670 two chipsets, E with all PCIe 5.
B650E/B650 one chipset, E with gpu and ssd PCIe 5. Probably.

Not quite.

Please see link below for a PCIe lane explanation. E has to be PCIe 5.0 for the x16 slot and for one M.2 NVMe slot. The CPU have 28 PCIe 5.0 lanes, the chipsets zero.
https://www.techpowerup.com/295394/amd-zen-4-socket-am5-explained-pcie-lanes-chipsets-connectivity

 

[trsttte]

and that's assuming that DirectStorage ever actually happens.

Consoles make extensive use of it so it will definitely happen... eventually

 

[ModEl4]

No, full 16 lanes, this isn't an Intel platform.

Yes you're probably right, makes more sense if it's 16X. (certainly an advantage - more futureproof vs Intel if true)
But then the appeal lessens imo for X670 (without PCI-express 5.0 16X, otherwise why not call it X670E?) if you compare it with B650E (for most users)
Also interesting would be the cost difference vs B650, because Robert Hallock made it like 5.0 was a big deal regarding cost in order to justify the existence of the two X670 models.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Yes you're probably right, makes more sense if it's 16X. (certainly an advantage - more futureproof vs Intel if true)
But then the appeal lessens imo for X670 (without PCI-express 5.0 16X, otherwise why not call it X670E?) if you compare it with B650E (for most users)
Also interesting would be the cost difference vs B650, because Robert Hallock made it like 5.0 was a big deal regarding cost in order to justify the existence of the two X670 models.

The chipset isn't the limitation, all the PCIe 5.0 lanes are from the CPU.
The non E boards are for reduced cost, as PCIe 5.0 boards cost more to make than PCIe 4.0 boards.

 

[ModEl4]

The chipset isn't the limitation, all the PCIe 5.0 lanes are from the CPU.
The non E boards are for reduced cost, as PCIe 5.0 boards cost more to make than PCIe 4.0 boards.

Yes I know that it's from CPU (it has 24 PCI-express 5.0 lanes free for the user)
My point was cost and product positioning related.
Maybe some motherboard vendors will further differentiate X670/B650E by offering two PCI-express 5.0 M.2 slots for some X670 models and only one for B650E?

 

[TheLostSwede]

Yes I know that it's from CPU (it has 24 PCI-express 5.0 lanes free for the user)
My point was cost and product positioning related.
Maybe some motherboard vendors will further differentiate X670/B650E by offering two PCI-express 5.0 M.2 slots for some X670 models and only one for B650E?

Anything is possible I guess.
We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[ModEl4]

Not quite.

Please see link below for a PCIe lane explanation. E has to be PCIe 5.0 for the x16 slot and for one M.2 NVMe slot. The CPUs only have 20 PCIe 5.0 lanes, the chipsets zero.
https://www.techpowerup.com/295394/amd-zen-4-socket-am5-explained-pcie-lanes-chipsets-connectivity

There can only be a single PCIe 5.0 NVMe slot.

I think you should read my article on the platform linked above.

Maybe I'm confused.
Can you please explain to me if the CPUs has only 20 PCI-express 5.0 lanes as you say how is it possible to have two M.2 PCI-express 5.0?

«With 28 Gen 5 lanes from the CPU, 16 PEG lanes, and 4 chipset lanes, 8 lanes are left. Is it possible for motherboards to have two M.2 slots wired to the processor?
Yes, that is a possibility.»

 

[TheLostSwede]

Maybe I'm confused.
Can you please explain to me if the CPUs has only 20 PCI-express 5.0 lanes as you say how is it possible to have two M.2 PCI-express 5.0?

«With 28 Gen 5 lanes from the CPU, 16 PEG lanes, and 4 chipset lanes, 8 lanes are left. Is it possible for motherboards to have two M.2 slots wired to the processor?
Yes, that is a possibility.»

No, that was me being tired, hence why I removed that and changed my reply. Fixed the one above as well.
It's 28 in total, 24 usable.

 

[Chrispy_]

Consoles make extensive use of it so it will definitely happen... eventually

Yeah, little did we realise that "eventually" would be too late for the generation of hardware that was made for it. It was a feature we were sold by Nvidia, and to a lesser extent AMD for this generation of products.

It's akin to buying a Tesla model S in 2010 for the promise of a "coming soon" full autopilot that will let you do other things whilst the car takes you from A to B. 12 years later, those customers have moved on and probably bought something else, having never been delivered the full autopilot as advertised at purchase.

 

[DrCR]

12 years later, those customers have moved on and probably bought something else, having never been delivered the full autopilot as advertised at purchase.

Don't underestimate the loyalty of that cult. They are more local than this era's Apple fanbois.

 

[ZetZet]

Not quite.

Please see link below for a PCIe lane explanation. E has to be PCIe 5.0 for the x16 slot and for one M.2 NVMe slot. The CPU have 28 PCIe 5.0 lanes, the chipsets zero.
https://www.techpowerup.com/295394/amd-zen-4-socket-am5-explained-pcie-lanes-chipsets-connectivity

I didn't say that chipset has anything to do with it, just wondered about the naming. AMD suggested that X would be two chipsets and B would be one. E letter seems to be only about PCIe 5.0.

 

[Chrispy_]

I didn't say that chipset has anything to do with it, just wondered about the naming. AMD suggested that X would be two chipsets and B would be one. E letter seems to be only about PCIe 5.0.

B and X are prefixes denoting mainstream (single chipset) and high-end (dual chipset)
E is a suffix, not mutually-exclusive to the prefix.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I didn't say that chipset has anything to do with it, just wondered about the naming. AMD suggested that X would be two chipsets and B would be one. E letter seems to be only about PCIe 5.0.

That's a fair assumption, yes. The E is more about board design that the physical chipset/CPU though.