MSI Announces X670 & X670E Motherboards for AMD Zen 4 Ryzen 7000

[TheLostSwede]

As Computex 2022 is largely an online event, MSI announced its upcoming AMD X670 and X670E boards shortly after AMD's keynote earlier today. Although the official press release didn't go into too many details, VideoCardz got their hands on more detailed information from MSI, which also brings some additional clarity to the platform as a whole. The most interesting slide is the one that lists the AM5 CPU's as having 28 PCIe 5.0 lanes, rather than the 24 PCIe lanes AMD mentioned in its presentation. This makes sense based on the fact that some X670/E boards have multiple PCIe 5.0 M.2 slots for NVMe drives. MSI's X670E Godlike and X670E Ace even feature three PCIe 5.0 x16 slots, although it's likely that this is in a x8/x8/x4 configuration, as these boards only have a single PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot. The same slide also mentions that all Raphael based CPUs will have support for HDMI 2.1 as well as DisplayPort 2.0, which will also work over USB Type-C Alt Mode. Interestingly it seems like not all AM5 CPUs will support DisplayPort 2.0, based on a footnote from MSI.

Other interesting titbits include a minimum CMOS chip size of 32 MB, which hopefully means we won't be seeing a repeat of the issue that the AM4 platform had, where AMD ran out of space for the AGESA, which led to multiple UEFI versions depending on the CPU used with the board. As far as MSI specific features goes, at least the high-end models will be getting eight to 10 layer PCBs and MSI will offer up to 24+2 power phases with improved heatsinks. MSI is also promising 60 W USB PD support for the front USB-C header. Just like ASUS, MSI will also offer an add-in card for more M.2 NVMe drives and MSI calls it the Xpander-Z Gen5 Dual. A common feature among all four boards is that they'll feature AMD's RZ616 WiFi 6E module, which is technically a MediaTek solution.




Looking a bit closer at the four boards, both of the MEG models will come with three PCIe 5.0 x16 slots as mentioned above, but only one onboard PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot, alongside three PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots. Both boards will ship with Xpander-Z, which handles a further two PCIe 5.0 M.2 drives. Both of these boards will also have a 10 Gbps Marvell AQC113 Ethernet controller. The X670E Godlike will apparently not have any display interfaces, despite having three USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) USB-C ports and a further eight USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, of which one is USB-C. The MEG X670 ACE on the other hand offers DP 2.0 through a USB-C port and it gains one USB 3.2 Gen 2 port over the Godlike.



The X670E Carbon WiFi looks like the more sensible choice on offer, as it gets a pair of PCIe 5.0 x16 slots, one PCIe x4 x16 slot and a total of four M.2 slots, two PCIe 5.0 and two PCIe 4.0. It's a shame MSI only went with one USB 3.2 2x2 (20 Gbps) port, but there are at least two more USB-C ports on the board, albeit slower at 10 Gbps. The Carbon has an HDMI 2.1, a DP 1.4 display output, as well as support for DP 2.0 via a USB-C port. Finally the Pro X670-P gets zero PCIe 5.0 x16 slots and has to make do with three PCIe 4.0 x16 slots and it even has a PCIe 3.0 x1 slot. The Pro does at least get one PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot, as well as three PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots. It has the same display output configuration as the Carbon.



MSI's press release

MSI announced today that the new MEG X670E GODLIKE, MEG X670E ACE, MPG X670E CARBON WIFI and PRO X670-P WIFI to the brand-new AMD X670 Motherboard product lineup. These new X670 motherboards come with support for the upcoming AMD Ryzen 7000 Series processors. We always make sure our goal is to bring every new product as exciting as possible, especially with the new AMD processors and platform. As a world-leading motherboard brand, MSI wants to offer nothing but excitement. Integrated with the newest technologies and packed full of features, MSI is ready to move into the next generation. Let us introduce you to our brand new X670 motherboards.

AMD Ryzen 7000 Series processors are the first to use the 5 nm FinFET process from TSMC as well as introducing a brand-new platform and socket from AMD. AMD Ryzen 7000 Series processors bring new features like PCIe 5.0, DDR5 Memory support and much more! The X670 chipset is divided into two segments - X670 Extreme and X670. X670E supports PCIe 5.0 through both the PCIe slot and M.2 slot whereas X670 motherboards support PCIe 5.0 through the M.2 slot exclusively. In addition to PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 support, all MSI X670E & X670 motherboards specification have been upgraded including rear USB Type-C will now support up to DisplayPort 2.0 output. Even more, MEG motherboards' frmont USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C will support 60 W Power Delivery. The VRM design has also been upgraded with up to 24+2 Power Phases with 105 A Smart Power Stage.

Adopted the brand-new ID concept, both Gaming and PRO series motherboards represent its identity. To synchronize the aesthetic look and perfectly match with the different product lines, especially with DIY components, the Product Identity is ready on the X670 motherboard. X670E Gaming motherboard comes with neat feature designs that further ease your way to enhance your motherboard. MSI have the exclusive M-Vision Dashboard that allows amazing customization with a touch of a finger to see more detail visual aspect of your motherboard status. A few new features that come along with our X670E Motherboards are screw-less M.2 Shield Frozr as well as MSI's patent pending M.2 Shield Frozr with magnetic design to help upgrade or installing M.2 SSD with ease. As well as a smart button in the rear I/O panel for even more customization from entering safe boot, turn on/off all RGB LEDs or activate Turbo Fan. All MSI X670 motherboards will support ARGB Gen2 devices, RGB fanatics will have more options to make their brand-new PC shine even brighter.


Our MEG Series have more features than ever on our MEG X670E GODLIKE and MEG X670E ACE motherboards. The MEG Series adopt E-ATX PCB size and have up to 24+2 VRM phases with 105 A Smart Power Stage. They are cooled by a Stacked fin array design heatsink as a well as a heat-pipe to dissipate heat effectively while maintaining at peak performance. There is also a MOSFET baseplate for more heat dissipation for the VRM while the Metal backplate is there to help protect the PCB as well as keeping the rigidity of the board. The MEG Series motherboards are equipped with up to 4 onboard M.2 slots including 1 M.2 PCIe 5.0 x4 slot and a M.2 XPANDER-Z GEN5 DUAL add-on card inside the box for 2 additional PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slots for ultimate experience.


The MPG Series enjoys extraordinary upgrades for the new AMD platform. With the use of carbon black color scheme, MPG X670E CARBON WIFI is steadier than before. This motherboard features 2 PCIe 5.0 x16 slots and 4 M.2 slots that are split into 2 M.2 PCIe 5.0 x4 and 2 PCIe 5.0 x4. It comes with 18+2 VRM power phases with 90 A and cooled by Extended heatsink design. Featured the latest specifications, you will definitely be satisfied with a unique aesthetic finish from the Chipset Heatsink to the VRM Heatsink on the MPG X670E CARBON WIFI.


The PRO Series might be the best in popularity for enterprises and creators. With the 14+2 Phases Duet Rail Power System and dual 8-pin CPU power connectors, the PRO X670-P WIFI will tackle any task with ease. The PRO Series does come equipped with 1 M.2 PCIe 5.0 x4 slot, 2.5G LAN and Wi-Fi 6E solution, which can speed through your work with breeze. The linear design matches your office or studio in every possible way for a more unified look.

Would you want to see more? MSI will launch X670E and X670 motherboards soon in Fall 2022. Stay tuned for more information on msi.com.



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[ADB1979]

The one thing that I really hate about many modern motherboards is not being able to use a GPU with a beefy cooler AND be able to use another card AND not obstruct airflow for the GPU. This is going to become very apparent for many people when GPU's turn up with 4.5 slot coolers and they want to add a 10G Ethernet card (or whatever).

Ideally, I would like to see the top PCIe slot be a 16x, the second slot be a 16x for the GPU and the the 7th slot position be a 16x, 4x or 1x. The space between can of course be used for NVMe drives and chipsets and heatsinks.

Addendum, ALL of the currently revealed motherboards only use the bottom 6 PCIe slot positions instead of the traditional 7-slot positions, IMHO this is a real part of the problem. There are clearance reasons why the top PCIe slot is now essentially defunct on anything but ITX motherboards, but as it can and is routinely used on ITX motherboards, it is entirely possible to do so on all motherboards, which would eliminate this issue and return us to PCIe slot options.

 

[TheLostSwede]

The one thing that I really hate about many modern motherboards is not being able to use a GPU with a beefy cooler AND be able to use another card AND not obstruct airflow for the GPU. This is going to become very apparent for many people when GPU's turn up with 4.5 slot coolers and they want to add a 10G Ethernet card (or whatever).

Ideally, I would like to see the top PCIe slot be a 16x, the second slot be a 16x for the GPU and the the 7th slot position be a 16x, 4x or 1x. The space between can of course be used for NVMe drives and chipsets and heatsinks.

Addendum, ALL of the currently revealed motherboards only use the bottom 6 PCIe slot positions instead of the traditional 7-slot positions, IMHO this is a real part of the problem. There are clearance reasons why the top PCIe slot is now essentially defunct on anything but ITX motherboards, but as it can and is routinely used on ITX motherboards, it is entirely possible to do so on all motherboards, which would eliminate this issue and return us to PCIe slot options.

There's a very simple reason for this, PCB trace length. This started with PCIe 4.0 and is getting worse with PCIe 5.0. As such, the slot placement will use as short trance lengths as possible to avoid having to use PCIe signal redrivers, which add extra cost for no benefit or possibly even a chance of signal degradation.
The ATX form factor is in dire need of a complete overhaul, but unless the industry can agree on such a change, nothing is going to happen we're going to have to suffer all the downsides there are to using a modified standard from 1995 in 2022.

 

[ppn]

I don't need many 16x slots at all, just 2x m.2 on the backside of mitx X770 single chip board, RX 7700 XT and Ryzen 7 7700X.

As for the spacing there is a 3 slot area below every 16x, so it looks very even distributed, no other way. the first slot is usually very hot because of the GPU and Cpu VRM so I don't even dare to insert the NVme there.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I don't need many 16x slots at all, just 2x m.2 on the backside of mitx X770 single chip board, RX 7700 XT and Ryzen 7 7700X.

B650E you mean?

 

[ADB1979]

There's a very simple reason for this, PCB trace length. This started with PCIe 4.0 and is getting worse with PCIe 5.0. As such, the slot placement will use as short trance lengths as possible to avoid having to use PCIe signal redrivers, which add extra cost for no benefit or possibly even a chance of signal degradation.
The ATX form factor is in dire need of a complete overhaul, but unless the industry can agree on such a change, nothing is going to happen we're going to have to suffer all the downsides there are to using a modified standard from 1995 in 2022.

I have done some basic design concepts for a complete overhaul, essentially a totally new layout standard for these /\ exact reasons, but of course I would have zero impact, realisticly it needs to either be Intel, or a consortium of at least one case manufacturer, one Motherboard manufacturer and either AMD or Intel to make it happen.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I have done some basic design concepts for a complete overhaul, essentially a totally new layout standard for these /\ exact reasons, but of course I would have zero impact, realisticly it needs to either be Intel, or a consortium of at least one case manufacturer, one Motherboard manufacturer and either AMD or Intel to make it happen.

Well, Intel tried it with BTX, but the Intel CPUs were so hot at the time, that they needed a 1KG+ air cooler, which didn't go down well with the large OEM's, or even some smaller ones.
Shuttle made one of their tiny boxes based on the BTX form factor and cooler and found out they had to ship fewer units by air at the time, as they weighed too much.
It was a bit of a wasteful form factor in terms of the use of PCB space and it wouldn't have resolved any of the issues we're seeing now for that matter.

 

[ppn]

The top slot is now defunct in order to fit a reasonably big air cooler, and be able to press the unlocking mechanism of the slot. I was not even been able to do it on a second slot GPU. ideally the first and second slot should be free. just empty. and on the third 5 slot gpu with 2.5cm deshroud fans. all the other slots should be reversed on the back side, as well as the CPU. Actually everything must be on the front and all 16x slots and depending on the cpu be routed as 1-16x or offline. and the GPU on the backside with angled 90 degree slot so that it sits vertically, not perpendicular to the motherboard as it is now. CPU and GPU must be like two sides of a coin.

 

[ADB1979]

The top slot is now defunct in order to fit a reasonably big air cooler, and be able to press the unlocking mechanism of the slot. I was not even been able to do it on a second slot GPU. ideally the first and second slot should be free. just empty. and on the third 5 slot gpu with 2.5cm deshroud fans. all the other slots should be reversed on the back side, as well as the CPU. Actually everything must be on the front and all 16x slots and depending on the cpu be routed as 1-16x or offline. and the GPU on the backside with angled 90 degree slot so that it sits vertically, not perpendicular to the motherboard as it is now. CPU and GPU must be like two sides of a coin.

Some of your design ideas are the same as or similar to mine, much as many ITX cases / systems now have the GPU behind the motherboard via a very expensive cable.!

Having the PCIe slot for the GPU on the back of the motherboard, but raised away from the motherboard for airflow is a primary design concept of mine, likewise half of the power components. There are many ways to skin a cat, and there are many designs that could easily be created that tick all boxes. ATX wasn't ever good design IMHO, all it did was allow for a better design for modern components and power delivery for the new components of the day and the upcoming planned ones, but along with the newfangled PCI slots screwed up badly on the airflow point, with the hot components being on the top of ISA slots, which is sensible, to being on the bottom of PCI slots which is stupid.!

As far as I know this was done so the card would fit into a slot and could be screwed into the case regardless of whether the card was an ISA or PCI card as they shared the same slot very typically (showing my age here). All ATX cases for airflow purposes with modern hot components are much better suited to being upside down, desktop style or with the PCIe slots vertical. There are soooo many ways that the ATX standard could be replaced with something much better, looks to the future and doesn't have any of the problems that we have seen since the advent of the ATX standard, and for that matter "Tower" cases bing upside down. I can only hope that people with the power to create something new are listening, I am clearly not alone here in recognising the inherent problems and wanting a solution.

 

[mechtech]

Be nice if they could slap a 6xx chipset on an AM4 mobo.

edit - hmmm no sata?, but I see 10Gb Ethernet, wifi 6e, navi 2 DP2.0, nice, I wonder how much these motherboards are going to cost though?

 

[kapone32]

The most thing I am excited about today's keynote was AMD Direct Storage. I don't plan on getting AM5 on the first iteration. The reason I am keen for Direct Storage (an ode to my Dad) is that I like to have the compelling PC parts so all of my storage is NAND Flash, including some RAID 0 3.0 and 4.0 NVME. I really hope that Direct Storage will be a driver based solution that is a part of AMD software like how crossfire was on Polaris. The other thing that has my interest piqued is RDNA2 based APUs. The 6500XT has me convinced that AMD will make the budget Graphics solutions very accessible for the Next Generation of PC enthusiasts with their APUs. The problem is that AMD has to face a torrent of negative Propaganda on social media (User Benchmark) and the sentiment that we should feel sorry for Nvidia and AMD is the Evil Empire. As far as 15% improvement goes I do believe that AMD is sandbagging us as 5NM at 5.5 GHZ is an absolute crazy hint at we are going to see. Isn't competition great!!!!!

 

[Oasis]

No mini-itx?

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Be nice if they could slap a 6xx chipset on an AM4 mobo.

edit - hmmm no sata?, but I see 10Gb Ethernet, wifi 6e, navi 2 DP2.0, nice, I wonder how much these motherboards are going to cost though?

At least as much as Z690 but probably more.

 

[trsttte]

Addendum, ALL of the currently revealed motherboards only use the bottom 6 PCIe slot positions instead of the traditional 7-slot positions, IMHO this is a real part of the problem. There are clearance reasons why the top PCIe slot is now essentially defunct on anything but ITX motherboards, but as it can and is routinely used on ITX motherboards, it is entirely possible to do so on all motherboards, which would eliminate this issue and return us to PCIe slot options.

I hate that to be the case, such a waste of space discarding the 1st pcie slot. One thing I love about my board is that it still makes use of it, I also have an nvme above it, Noctua big chunker D15 (non S, the regular one) and have no clearance issue. I can only get to pci release button with a screwdriver (I usually use the one that came with the noctua cooler) but would still be the case if I had an extra wasted slot in between.

There's a very simple reason for this, PCB trace length. This started with PCIe 4.0 and is getting worse with PCIe 5.0. As such, the slot placement will use as short trance lengths as possible to avoid having to use PCIe signal redrivers, which add extra cost for no benefit or possibly even a chance of signal degradation.
The ATX form factor is in dire need of a complete overhaul, but unless the industry can agree on such a change, nothing is going to happen we're going to have to suffer all the downsides there are to using a modified standard from 1995 in 2022.

We're talking small differences but using the 2nd position for the slot instead of the 1st makes this problems 1 centimeter worse.

edit - hmmm no sata?, but I see 10Gb Ethernet, wifi 6e, navi 2 DP2.0, nice, I wonder how much these motherboards are going to cost though?

No sata coming from the CPU

60W power delivery on the front USB-C connector, because who never wanted to charge their laptop while they use their desktop (it's kinda cool even if it's pretty silly)

 

[LabRat 891]

Loving the buzzword marketing wordplay:
"Neutral Carbon Black"
Not an inaccurate description of the color/theme, just amusingly 'choice' words to grab attention.

...
No sata coming from the CPU

60W power delivery on the front USB-C connector, because who never wanted to charge their laptop while they use their desktop (it's kinda cool even if it's pretty silly)

No SATA off the SoC is a 'big' move in regards to industry-trends. Clearly, they expect most to use NVMe primarily, and SATA off the chipset for 'bulk' storage.

The USB-C w/ PD-support kinda concerns me. While the 'controller' nearest the port should take the brunt of any accidents or catastrophic failures; I can see laptops and other high-draw devices malfunctioning and killing the CPU or a portion of the SoC. High-Frequency interference or especially high-voltage fault current could 'skin' or 'arc' over/through the shorted-out controller.

 

[TheLostSwede]

No mini-itx?

We're a few months away from the launch, but there will be a B650E chipset for mini-ITX boards.

At least as much as Z690 but probably more.

Why would they cost more?

Loving the buzzword marketing wordplay:
"Neutral Carbon Black"
Not an inaccurate description of the color/theme, just amusingly 'choice' words to grab attention.


No SATA off the SoC is a 'big' move in regards to industry-trends. Clearly, they expect most to use NVMe primarily, and SATA off the chipset for 'bulk' storage.

The USB-C w/ PD-support kinda concerns me. While the 'controller' nearest the port should take the brunt of any accidents or catastrophic failures; I can see laptops and other high-draw devices malfunctioning and killing the CPU or a portion of the SoC. High-Frequency interference or especially high-voltage fault current could 'skin' or 'arc' over/through the shorted-out controller.

That's why all modern motherboards have fused USB ports.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Why would they cost more?

They'll probably be the same.... But definitely not cheaper.