B650 Chipset and Micro-ATX Form-factor Dominate Socket AM5 Motherboard Sales: Research

[btarunr]

A market research of AMD Socket AM5 motherboards sold in South Korea by Danawa, provide some interesting insights on how gamers approach the platform. This research is confined to Korea, but can be extrapolated to other similar markets. The research studies the chipset model, and form-factor of Socket AM5 motherboards sold in the market. The most interesting finding of the research is that the AMD B650 is by far the most popular chipset for the platform, dwarfing even the entry-level A620 chipset by a factor of 8. A staggering 80% of the Socket AM5 motherboards being sold are based on the B650.

It's important to note here, that this figure does not include the B650E, which is separately shown making up just 2% of the volumes. The B650 (non-E) has nearly all platform features, with motherboards based on the chipset providing at least one Gen 5 M.2 NVMe slot that doesn't eat into the lanes of the x16 PEG slot; and with the current generation of GPUs not featuring the PCIe Gen 5 host interface, customers seem more than happy with the Gen 4 x16 PEG slot provided by B650 motherboards. What's more, you get CPU overclocking and memory overclocking on this mid-range chipset, so it appeals to a very wide demographic. The B650E, on the other hand, provides a Gen 5 x16 PEG slot, and motherboards based on this chipset tend to offer premium I/O features, such as a high-end onboard audio solution, premium wireless networking, among others.



It's interesting to note here that the top-spec X670E chipset has a respectable 5.6% of the volume, which is higher than both the B650E, and the X670 (non-E). This is because the chipset targets the high-end market, with customers who want the best possible platform to go with their Ryzen 9 or Ryzen 7 X3D processors. The X670 loses out on this market because motherboards based on this chipset don't tend to be as premium as the ones based on the X670E, and customers are instead drawn to the B650.

The A620 is unsurprisingly, the second most popular chipset, since it covers the entry-level market. It should ideally be more popular than the B650, but is heavily compromised in terms of I/O (such as Gen 3 PEG), and those shopping for DIY PCs continue to be drawn to a combination of Intel Core i3 and H610 chipset.

The most popular B650 motherboard form-factor is Micro-ATX, which holds a staggering 88% of the volumes. The 240 mm x 240 mm PCB size has everything buyers of the platform would want, since there aren't too many add-on cards to use these days besides a graphics card. The standard ATX (or larger) demographic is 11%. Mini-ITX remains a novelty, and it only has 1% of the market.

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[Quicks]

Maybe because they are cheaper.

AM5 AMD MB prices has gone full retard. Way overpriced that's why people did not move on from AM4 not worth the price.

 

[Assimilator]

This research is confined to Korea, but can be extrapolated to other similar markets.

No it can't, because there is no such thing as a "similar" market, because human beings aren't a monoculture. This market research is pertinent to the South Korean market alone.

 

[olymind1]

AM5 AMD MB prices has gone full retard. Way overpriced that's why people did not move on from AM4 not worth the price.

I agree, my MSI B450 Tomahawk was around 100€, Asrock's B450 Pro4 was even cheaper, now the cheapest ATX Asrock B650 board is the ASRock B650 PG Lightning and is 170€. MSI B650 Gaming Plus WIFI 165€.

Even though Ryzen 5 7600 and X are below 200€, 32gb DDR5 is still much more expensive (from 120€) than DDR4 (from 60€).

Platform longevity goes out the window and gets negated when you/we/i can only buy into the platform lately and expensively.

Though i admit going from 7600 to 7800x3d is probably a pretty major (and expensive) jump.

​

 

[tommo1982]

I considered buying AM5 motherboard and B650 not E would be my choice as well. Unfortunately manufacturers add WiFi to the better ones increasing the price. I'd like one like Asrock B450M Steel Legend, but the B650 version is way to expensive.

 

[Timbaloo]

B650 dominating sales should not be a surprise, but µATX market share is crazy

 

[taka]

For me the B650 makes sense also but the lowest price for a board with SPDIF-out 144 Euro + VAT is ASRock B650 LiveMixer. And i dont like the colors , but the next one is 200. I consider getting one and spray it black.

 

[AusWolf]

Who would have thought... X670 is too expensive for what it is, and you don't need to go full ATX with B650's connectivity options, while decent m-ITX AMD boards barely even exist for some reason. 1+1=2.

 

[Onasi]

I have said that many times - for both CPU vendors, the “enthusiast” X/Z chipsets don’t really make sense anymore. You pay significantly more of a premium for… what, exactly? Most consumers run one GPU, one or at max two NVME drives and don’t OC. There is nothing that they would get by buying into a more expensive chipset. And some benefits are dubious anyway, even on the 650E - more or less nobody needs a Gen5 M.2 slot considering how overall stupid and useless Gen5 drives are.

 

[Knight47]

Not surprised that, I can buy three Asrock B650m-hdv/m.2 for the price of one X670E Steel Legend.

 

[JWNoctis]

I have said that many times - for both CPU vendors, the “enthusiast” X/Z chipsets don’t really make sense anymore. You pay significantly more of a premium for… what, exactly? Most consumers run one GPU, one or at max two NVME drives and don’t OC. There is nothing that they would get by buying into a more expensive chipset. And some benefits are dubious anyway, even on the 650E - more or less nobody needs a Gen5 M.2 slot considering how overall stupid and useless Gen5 drives are.

Precisely.

Most full-sized B650 boards have some 3 M.2 slots, at least 2 of which CPU-derived, breaks out most of the 4 10Gbps USB slots of the CPU SoC and that 20Gbps slot from the chipset, adds half a dozen more 5Gbps USB with hub chips, often at minimum the customary WiFi 6(E) and the 2.5Gb Ethernet, and at least a couple more PCIe slots for those who still need them. The only thing apparently less common is USB-C DP connectivity. All but the cheapest also have sufficiently good VRM for anything on default wattage, as well as non-extreme OC. Memory OC support is also universal.

Wonder whether that mATX share would fully translate across markets, though. Are smaller form factor builds popular there? Or is this just a result of them tending to be slightly cheaper than the equivalent full-sized boards, unlike ITX boards?

 

[Onasi]

Wonder whether that mATX share would fully translate across markets, though. Are smaller form factor builds popular there? Or is this just a result of them tending to be slightly cheaper than the equivalent full-sized boards, unlike ITX boards?

While there are some absolutely bangers in the mATX case space, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head - it’s just that mATX is cheaper. I doubt most of these buyers are going full Jonsbo D31 route or anything.

Another thing that just popped into my head - these are stats from Korea. The land of PC Bangs. Those places buy a ton of hardware and often try for the affordable stuff, as well as space efficient. I would not be surprised if the statistics are skewed by them buying a ton of inexpensive mATX B650 boards to shove into basic mini-towers. Just to drive home what @Assimilator said with his “different cultures” point.

 

[Ruru]

No wonder why AMD is still keeping AM4 alive. Zen4 platform would be nice, but the price of upgrading isn't worth the cost in most cases if you're on a budget.

 

[mosawo]

This is an interesting survey result for me. I'm still using a full AMD PC with AM4. If they released a Mobo like the one in the picture, I would switch to AM5 right away. I hope some manufacturer will make one. (^o^)/

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

Maybe because they are cheaper.

AM5 AMD MB prices has gone full retard. Way overpriced that's why people did not move on from AM4 not worth the price.

Let's not forget that EVERYTHING has gotten more expensive *cough* corporate price gouging *cough* and that AMD is no longer considered "second tier" like it was in the B450 days...that ended with the release of the Zen2/Ryzen 3000 chips.

I just checked on Newegg and there are fifteen B650 motherboards for $150 or less, that's not too bad in my opinion.

 

[Chrispy_]

Makes sense to me.

Typical machines use onboard everything so the only slot required is the graphics card, typically.

mITX as a form factor for a dGPU build stopped making sense when GPUs became dual-slot, and now they're often triple-slot. mITX case manufacturers adapted by moving the GPU away from the motherboard using riser cables but they introduced plenty of problems with the change from PCIe 3.0 to 4.0 and the rumour mill suggests that PCIe 5.0 riser cables are going to be an expensive and potentially very fussy set of headaches.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Really not surprising. ATX is an obsolete format today. Micro ATX is cheaper then ITX and has more room for drives and power delivery. It only makes sense.

RETVRN TO BTX already!

 

[jpvalverde85]

Well i must be Korean in heart, there is a bucketload of years since i go for M-Atx boards and midrange chipsets. When jumped ship on AM4 i did with an ASROCK B450M Pro4, now I'm on an MSI B550M PRO VDH WIFI, although i got this because the B550M Pro4 didn't seem so straightforward and to the business, the VRM on this MSI seemed to be competent and i took it. On the flip side, I'm still puzzled in the mess that MSI BIOS is, Asrock's bare text BIOS had let me stretch my legs better on the knowledge and tweaking of settings, on the MSI a lot of times i took for granted settings that apparently i adjusted just to find on the OS that i didn't.

 

[Nater]

I went Intel Z790 and still bought a $500 board. The X670 Pro-Art was $700+ when I upgraded. Retarded all around. (I refused to buy a new board w/o 10Gbe onboard)

 

[tommo1982]

Really not surprising. ATX is an obsolete format today. Micro ATX is cheaper then ITX and has more room for drives and power delivery. It only makes sense.

RETVRN TO BTX already!

ATX is not obsolete. It moved away from regular user. Who needs a Full Tower at their home? It takes up space and there's not much use for the extra slots on the mainboard. I tried to fill extra PCI slots on old Athlon board and there wasn't anything interesting to populate them. It is the same case with contemporary hardware. Unless you need extra everything for professional use, mATX is the best format.

 

[Chrispy_]

ATX is not obsolete. It moved away from regular user. Who needs a Full Tower at their home? It takes up space and there's not much use for the extra slots on the mainboard. I tried to fill extra PCI slots on old Athlon board and there wasn't anything interesting to populate them. It is the same case with contemporary hardware. Unless you need extra everything for professional use, mATX is the best format.

At this point with mATX boards having WiFi, Bluetooth, USB4/Thunderbolt, and sometimes even dual ethernet, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th PCIe slots in mATX just get in the way of valuable M.2 slots.

Yes, I know you can buy PCIe M.2 risers, but your average joe just wants to add a second or third M.2 drive without extra fuss, and without blocking the air intake of his GPU fans.

 

[danc]

With Asrock new Steel Legend B650, there is no need to make a choice.

 

[ir_cow]

That unfortunate A620 is even on the list. Such poor performing MBs. People like Sub $100, and they get a sub $100 product lol.

 

[colossusrageblack]

Would love to get an ITX B650 board, but the prices are dumb. Instead I found a full ATX B650 ASUS Prime Plus for $110 used on Amazon. It was basically brand new, I couldn't even tell anyone had opened it.

 

[trsttte]

The problem with mATX was that usually only cheap crappy boards used it, it was the low tier solution. It has enough space for about the same io most ATX boards have, manufacturers just didn't use the format that way.

I don't really understand the trend they're trying to identify here looking at a small market and one very different than American and European markets, looking at AM5 ATX boards are missing the same IO mATX generally do, half boards also come with a single slot and maybe a second slot cut down to x4, difference being mostly 1 or 2 extra m.2 in favour of the ATX.