AMD B550 Chipset Motherboards Start Selling

[btarunr]

AMD formally launched its B550 socket AM4 desktop chipset, with the promise of bring PCI-Express gen 4 connectivity to the masses. Motherboards based on the B550 support 3rd gen Ryzen desktop processors based on the "Matisse" silicon, and "Zen 2" microarchitecture. The chipset will, in the future, support Ryzen 4000G "Renoir" and "Zen 3" based "Vermeer" desktop processors. Based on an ASMedia-made design, the chipset lets you have PCI-Express gen 4.0 on the main x16 slot from the processor, and at least one M.2 NVMe slots (which is CPU-attached). The chipset itself puts out up to 8 general purpose PCI-Express gen 3.0 lanes, besides up to six SATA 6 Gbps ports, and USB 3.2 connectivity. Motherboards based on the B550 start at $99 MSRP (although $114 on Newegg), and some of the pricier models go all the way up to $300.



Do read the TechPowerUp reviews for GIGABYTE B550 AORUS Pro | GIGABYTE B550I AORUS Pro AX | ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[bonehead123]

y/a/w/n////

somebody please wake me up when we get total pcie gen 4 everywhere, across the entire board

 

[Durvelle27]

Man they aren't cheaper either. Some just as high as X570

 

[Cranky5150]

Not a surprise here really......

 

[Assimilator]

Man they aren't cheaper either. Some just as high as X570

COVID tax + newness tax + unnecessarily overbuilt VRM tax add up.

 

[ironwolf]

So no 3200G/3400G support? (ie no Zen+ support) Guess I'll be staying with B450 on those then.

 

[Metroid]

Want a real motherboard? buy the MSI x570 tomahawk, you wil get either pcie 4.0 on gpu and ssd. B550 will give you only pcie 4.0 on gpu, not worth the money they are charging, expect the prices of b550 to drop to b450 levels in the coming weeks.

 

[Dredi]

y/a/w/n////

somebody please wake me up when we get total pcie gen 4 everywhere, across the entire board

X570 or trx40 boards?

 

[ymbaja]

Want a real motherboard? buy the MSI x570 tomahawk, you wil get either pcie 4.0 on gpu and ssd. B550 will give you only pcie 4.0 on gpu, not worth the money they are charging, expect the prices of b550 to drop to b450 levels in the coming weeks.

I hope you are right... B550 Prices are double that of the B450 boards and B450s are now sold out everywhere. I’m an AMD fan, but really AMD double?? I bought my X470 2 years ago for less than a bottom end B550.

 

[HD64G]

y/a/w/n////

somebody please wake me up when we get total pcie gen 4 everywhere, across the entire board

X570 does that me thinks and TR40 has even more. Why do you ask for something that exists?

 

[Durvelle27]

I hope you are right... B550 Prices are double that of the B450 boards and B450s are now sold out everywhere. I’m an AMD fan, but really AMD double?? I bought my X470 2 years ago for less than a bottom end B550.

AMD didn't set the prices Vendors did

I'll wait until Zen 3 actually drops. Prices should be better by than

 

[bonehead123]

X570 does that me thinks and TR40 has even more. Why do you ask for something that exists?

My point exactly, why bother making such a half-assed rehash of the REAL gen 4 solutrons...

 

[Dredi]

My point exactly, why bother making such a half-assed rehash of the REAL gen 4 solutrons...

It’s cheaper to manufacture. Not everyone has limitless budget or needs pcie4.

 

[Octavean]

AMD didn't set the prices Vendors did

I'll wait until Zen 3 actually drops. Prices should be better by than

That is actually a very good point.

Vendors are going to have a range of products which range in price. However, given the robustness of the platform and the growing interest in the platform, vendors are going to try to add more features and target a higher price point. PCIe 4.0 support may add to the complexity and cost too as well as other factors.

It is what it is.

Personally I'm glad I bought an ASRock X570 Taichi motherboard with a RyZen 9 3950X. It's wicked powerful. Maybe when a RyZen 9 4950X is released I'll feel some small twinge of of envy but for now I'm good.

This thing puts my Dell PowerEdge R720XD with dual Xeon E5-2630L processors (6 core 12 thread for a total of 24 threads) server to shame.

 

[ironwolf]

I hope you are right... B550 Prices are double that of the B450 boards and B450s are now sold out everywhere. I’m an AMD fan, but really AMD double?? I bought my X470 2 years ago for less than a bottom end B550.

2x the price?

(Newegg)
ASRock B450 PRO4: $99.99
ASRock B550 PRO4: $134.99 (not even close to 2x)

ASRock B450 Steel Legend: $114.99
ASRock B550 Steel Legend: $179.99 (again, not even close to 2x)

ASRock B450M-HDV R4: $79.99
ASRock B550M-HDV: $79.99 (same price!)

ASRock B450M PRO4: $89.99
ASRock B550M PRO4: $114.99 (again, not even close to 2x)

ASRock B450M Steel Legend: $99.99
ASRock B550M Steel Legend: $154.99 (guess?)

 

[TheLostSwede]

Someone in Korea already put together a nice spreadsheet with the specs of the B550 boards.

B550 VRM DB sheet

docs.google.com

 

[ymbaja]

2x the price?

(Newegg)
ASRock B450 PRO4: $99.99
ASRock B550 PRO4: $134.99 (not even close to 2x)

ASRock B450 Steel Legend: $114.99
ASRock B550 Steel Legend: $179.99 (again, not even close to 2x)

ASRock B450M-HDV R4: $79.99
ASRock B550M-HDV: $79.99 (same price!)

ASRock B450M PRO4: $89.99
ASRock B550M PRO4: $114.99 (again, not even close to 2x)

ASRock B450M Steel Legend: $99.99
ASRock B550M Steel Legend: $154.99 (guess?)

So I‘ll admit I was looking what microcenter had listed and their lowest priced board is a $150 Asus 550m prime. That said the ASRock 450pro has averaged $79 for ages with prices ranging 60-90 over the past 2 years. While you are right 134 is not double at current prices, it’s not too far off.

AMD didn't set the prices Vendors did

I'll wait until Zen 3 actually drops. Prices should be better by than

I feel like amd (and Intel) have some sway over mb vendor pricing and requirements. I would even go so far as to guess they get a percentage of sales or some type of licensing fee but am only guessing here.

 

[Minus Infinity]

Moral of the story wait for Zen3 and X6xx MB's and by waiting you get to see what the RDNA2 and Amperes GPU's offer.

 

[EatingDirt]

So I‘ll admit I was looking what microcenter had listed and their lowest priced board is a $150 Asus 550m prime. That said the ASRock 450pro has averaged $79 for ages with prices ranging 60-90 over the past 2 years. While you are right 134 is not double at current prices, it’s not too far off.


I feel like amd (and Intel) have some sway over mb vendor pricing and requirements. I would even go so far as to guess they get a percentage of sales or some type of licensing fee but am only guessing here.

When you compare prices, comparing 2 totally different boards from two different manufacturers between themselves is the wrong way to do it. If we compare prices X570 & X470 like you compare B550 & B450, we can compare an Asrock X570 Aqua to an Asus Prime X570-P. One is $1000+ and one is $120, 9x the price.

Realistically, the majority of the B550 boards have better VRM's than the majority of the B450, along with PCIe wiring, I'm sure this increases the price of the actual boards themselves, which is why you see a jump in price of 20-30% or so. I imagine we'll even find that many B550 boards will have better VRM's than the lowest tier X570 boards.

 

[Caring1]

So no 3200G/3400G support? (ie no Zen+ support) Guess I'll be staying with B450 on those then.

X570 has that, and some support 2 series also.

 

[watzupken]

I feel the general availability of AMD based motherboard is still quite poor. The more popular boards are sold out very quickly.

 

[1d10t]

Jacked up prices everywhere , Gigabyte B550i AX even priced dangerly close to its X570 counterparts

 

[lukart]

2x the price?

(Newegg)
ASRock B450 PRO4: $99.99
ASRock B550 PRO4: $134.99 (not even close to 2x)

ASRock B450 Steel Legend: $114.99
ASRock B550 Steel Legend: $179.99 (again, not even close to 2x)

ASRock B450M-HDV R4: $79.99
ASRock B550M-HDV: $79.99 (same price!)

ASRock B450M PRO4: $89.99
ASRock B550M PRO4: $114.99 (again, not even close to 2x)

ASRock B450M Steel Legend: $99.99
ASRock B550M Steel Legend: $154.99 (guess?)

But they are way better in specs and design, I think if one wants a really good board and dont over pay for the X570, I would get a B550 premium under 199$.
I'm contemplating getting the B550 Extreme4 for 180$.

 

[1d10t]

Someone in Korea already put together a nice spreadsheet with the specs of the B550 boards.

B550 VRM DB sheet

docs.google.com

ASRock B550M Steel Legends using Realtek ALC 1200 for sound chip.

 

[TheLostSwede]

ASRock B550M Steel Legends using Realtek ALC 1200 for sound chip.

Not my spreadsheet.

Moral of the story wait for Zen3 and X6xx MB's and by waiting you get to see what the RDNA2 and Amperes GPU's offer.

There's no X670 chipset. There might be lower-end 600-series chipsets, but X570 is going to be used for the 4000-series CPUs.

When you compare prices, comparing 2 totally different boards from two different manufacturers between themselves is the wrong way to do it. If we compare prices X570 & X470 like you compare B550 & B450, we can compare an Asrock X570 Aqua to an Asus Prime X570-P. One is $1000+ and one is $120, 9x the price.

Realistically, the majority of the B550 boards have better VRM's than the majority of the B450, along with PCIe wiring, I'm sure this increases the price of the actual boards themselves, which is why you see a jump in price of 20-30% or so. I imagine we'll even find that many B550 boards will have better VRM's than the lowest tier X570 boards.

Not just "wiring" but the board makers have to use different PCB materials for PCIe 4.0 which increases the PCB costs by at least 10-20%. This is also part of the reason why pre X570 boards couldn't pass the PCIe 4.0 certification.
Add to that, more expensive signal re-drivers for PCIe and the improved VRM designs you pointed out and we're looking at $20-30 at a minimum as extra costs for the board makers. Then you have all the people in-between them and the end user that wants their margins as well and we end up with a lot more expensive boards...