AMD Allegedly Prepares an Even Cheaper A620 Chipset, Set to Deliver $125 Motherboards

[AleksandarK]

According to HKEPC, AMD is set to introduce two versions of the A620 chipset for its lower-end motherboards, providing a lower barrier of AM5 entry for users on a smaller budget. As the new source notes, AMD is going to use its Promontory 21 (PROM21) module for A620 motherboards, the same one used on B650 and X670 models. However, for the first time, we are hearing about Promontory 22 (PROM22), a module that will allow A620-based motherboards to start at 125 US dollars—a promise made by AMD in its marketing slides (which you can see below). Two A620 chipsets will enable users to choose basic functionality or some additional features on a reasonable budget.

With PROM21 going inside all chipset SKUs, it carries silicon functionality disabled by AMD to create different categories. However, the PROM22 is a new silicon that doesn't need bells and whistles of the high-end boards inside a feature-deprived chipset like A620. This drives down AMD's costs, making it easier for vendors to adjust pricing. We have to wait for the launch and see how much of this will be fulfilled, so stay tuned for further updates.



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[TumbleGeorge]

This is very interesting, how much more functionality has been cut since the "fuller" version of the "A" chipset has almost nothing left? Why do they even keep putting a chipset in the most budget segment of motherboards, when the CPU I/O chip has almost everything you need?

PS. I hope Mb's with this more cuted version of A600 chipset to be far below of $125.

 

[Kohl Baas]

This is very interesting, how much more functionality has been cut since the "fuller" version of the "A" chipset has almost nothing left? Why do they even keep putting a chipset in the most budget segment of motherboards, when the CPU I/O chip has almost everything you need?

PS. I hope Mb's with this more cuted version of A600 chipset to be far below of $125.

That is a good question.

About a year ago I suffered the sudden death of the USB-controller on the board. How delighted I wasfinding out that 4 of the ports are still working since those have their controller in the CPU itself.

 

[Crackong]

nah I just want to know when will Zen4 X3D be available , Feb or March ?

 

[GeorgeMan]

Well, I wouldn't mind the most cut down version. I wouldn't need more than one pci-e 4.0 SSD, one pci-e 4.0 GPU and a couple of USB/Sata ports. If I wanted faster usb 3 gen2+, I'd add later with a pci-e card. And there is not much overclockability left on today's CPUs anyway.
As long as they are compatible with the full list of AM5 cpus, including all upcoming 3DVcache chips, I'm ok. They'll eventually drop prices and fit into the sub 100€ category...

When it's time to get full advantage of pci-e 5.0 we'll have next platform available anyway.

 

[Nostras]

Very curious about what's being left out. I'd wager that any more than Gen 4 is overkill for the vast majority for both the GPU and SSD, primarily the former.

 

[Kohl Baas]

Well, I wouldn't mind the most cut down version. I wouldn't need more than one pci-e 4.0 SSD, one pci-e 4.0 GPU and a couple of USB/Sata ports. If I wanted faster usb 3 gen2+, I'd add later with a pci-e card. And there is not much overclockability left on today's CPUs anyway.
As long as they are compatible with the full list of AM5 cpus, including all upcoming 3DVcache chips, I'm ok. They'll eventually drop prices and fit into the sub 100€ category...

When it's time to get full advantage of pci-e 5.0 we'll have next platform available anyway.

I wonder if you cut the SATA and rely 100% on the CPU itself, how thinn you could go with ITX? Because AFAIK the biggest problem with ITX boards is you need to much layers to fit everything inside. If not that, mATX would be far enough even with a SATA controller.

 

[Wirko]

This is very interesting, how much more functionality has been cut since the "fuller" version of the "A" chipset has almost nothing left? Why do they even keep putting a chipset in the most budget segment of motherboards, when the CPU I/O chip has almost everything you need?

PS. I hope Mb's with this more cuted version of A600 chipset to be far below of $125.

That PROM22 might be something similar to the A300 and X300, which were only seen in rare OEM small boxes. Not a chipset, just a so-called activator chip, whose only role seems to be to tell the CPU, "licence fee paid, you may run now". It would be nice if such a variant comes to retail.

 

[TumbleGeorge]

activator chip, whose only role seems to be to tell the CPU, ...

What is this activator chip? There is BIOS chip which role is more complex than to initialise and start up CPU only.

 

[Lord Romulus]

In Brazil, regardless of how much resources have been removed from a motherboard to make it a low-cost product, local commerce never passes this on to the country's consumer. Entry-level motherboards like those made to cost 125 Dollars are sold there as if they cost "250" Dollars abroad. I don't know of other places in the world where the consumer suffers so much, but Brazil is always a classic case. So, all the effort that the international industry makes to create an interesting low-cost product for very limited income markets, in Brazil specifically becomes just a guarantee of abusive profit on the part of retailers. And it is not a question of import tax, as many times there is even an exemption to stimulate consumption.

 

[Kohl Baas]

In Brazil, regardless of how much resources have been removed from a motherboard to make it a low-cost product, local commerce never passes this on to the country's consumer. Entry-level motherboards like those made to cost 125 Dollars are sold there as if they cost "250" Dollars abroad. I don't know of other places in the world where the consumer suffers so much, but Brazil is always a classic case. So, all the effort that the international industry makes to create an interesting low-cost product for very limited income markets, in Brazil specifically becomes just a guarantee of abusive profit on the part of retailers. And it is not a question of import tax, as many times there is even an exemption to stimulate consumption.

Buy from shops with international shipping.

 

[P4-630]

And pair it with a 170W zen4 or a x3d...... Good choice cheaping out on motherboard...

 

[Dristun]

That's still double the price of cheapest A520 at launch, isn't it?

 

[Bomby569]

125USD for a A*** mobo is cheap?

PC hardware has become a rich people hobbie

 

[P4-630]

Times have changed...

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

125USD for a A*** mobo is cheap?

PC hardware has become a rich people hobbie

If $125 is too expensive, then go AM4

 

[Lord Romulus]

Buy from shops with international shipping.

There are many people who buy that way. The risk pays off at the fairest price, true. The problem is that if the product breaks even within the warranty period, the postage cost nullifies the advantage obtained initially in the purchase. But it's still worth the risk, it's a gamble.

 

[Nuke Dukem]

After several years of $50 A320 boards this "optimistic" $125 price tag feels a bit like taking a knife to the chest.

 

[Durvelle27]

If $125 is too expensive, then go AM4

For a bottom tier motherboard yes it is too expensive. These grade boards should be around $60-$80

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Times have changed...

Back.

Times have changed back, to the 486dx2 days where you couldn't actually buy much for reasonable price and everything was expensive.

They do have cheaper options with Am4 so I don't feel butt hurt that they want to make more money on their latest kit, I'm not buying though, so it's easier when you're sat on the fence.

 

[Kohl Baas]

There are many people who buy that way. The risk pays off at the fairest price, true. The problem is that if the product breaks even within the warranty period, the postage cost nullifies the advantage obtained initially in the purchase. But it's still worth the risk, it's a gamble.

If I buy that way, I usually take broken stuff to repairmen, micro-eletricians who repair notebooks and do BGA reballing on a daily basis. In my country, the warranty is usually repair first anyway if you don't have some premium stuff. You can be without your stuff for as long as 1-2 months and no replacements.

 

[Dirt Chip]

Yep, certainly not enough mobo sku's already. As we shouldn't neglected the lower end, lets add moar so they can also have the opportunity to get confused.

 

[dj-electric]

Celebrating what could potentially be barebone naked 125 USD motherboards is on the more grim side of hardware history.
Sad.

 

[trsttte]

PS. I hope Mb's with this more cuted version of A600 chipset to be far below of $125.

Absolutely, even the current A620 should allow for cheaper boards. It's getting kinda ridiculous with super expensive boards with zero expansion. You could easily get great B450 boards for bellow 100$, B550 came and bumped that to around 150$ and now B650 I don't even know but I'd guess anything passable is at 200$

Granted, the B650 chipset has about the same IO as a full featured X570, but discounting pci5.0 where's the generational and cost improvements? The X670 daisy chain feels like a nice piece of bs that sidelined true mid tier boards, B650 is pretty close to X570 and X670 is just a tier above.

In Brazil, regardless of how much resources have been removed from a motherboard to make it a low-cost product, local commerce never passes this on to the country's consumer. Entry-level motherboards like those made to cost 125 Dollars are sold there as if they cost "250" Dollars abroad. I don't know of other places in the world where the consumer suffers so much, but Brazil is always a classic case. So, all the effort that the international industry makes to create an interesting low-cost product for very limited income markets, in Brazil specifically becomes just a guarantee of abusive profit on the part of retailers. And it is not a question of import tax, as many times there is even an exemption to stimulate consumption.

Brazil has insane tariffs on tech products. The idea was to help bring manufacturing to the country but the plan completely failed and only makes most products outright unaffordable to the average consumer. There's no good way around it, even buying abroad you risk customs unless you travel and bring stuff with you

 

[john_]

Considering the cost on supporting high wattage CPUs and also providing long term support (over 3 years), I wouldn't be surprised if AMD is forced to risk becoming a target for press and consumers by choosing the cheaper version to NOT support anything over 65W and have NO warranty of supporting future Zen processors (no Zen 5 support for example). If the cheapest boards are build for supporting only Zen 4 at 65W, their cost will drop significantly. And while we could call them crap and blame AMD for not keeping their word, those cheap boards might be really what the platform needs for office PCs and HTPCs.