Editorial AMD's A620 Chipset More Capable Than Early Motherboards Suggest

[TheLostSwede]

For whatever reason, all of the AMD A620 chipset based motherboards that were announced on Friday, are not showing off the capabilities of the chipset and are in fact making it look worse than it is. AMD has no doubt limited the A620 platform, with some limitations that seem arbitrary, but the motherboards makers clearly haven't helped, as they've made the platform look very unattractive, when in fact it could be entirely acceptable, for a budget build. As you can see from AMD's feature matrix below, the company has removed a fair share of features compared to the B650 chipset, but for example, two 10 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports can be implemented. Despite this, only Biostar and Gigabyte have implemented one such port each, with ASUS, ASRock and MSI implementing zero.

Yes, the platform is limited to 65 W CPUs—assuming you want your CPUs boost behaviour to work as intended—which is likely to cause some issues, as it might not be clear to potential buyers that are looking for a cheap motherboard for their system and it's something AMD and its board partners need to communicate a lot better. However, the A620 platform has enough PCIe lanes for two M.2 drives and enough left for all the peripheral connectivity and some PCIe slots, yet most of the boards appear to shun a second M.2 slot for no apparent reason beyond the cost of the physical interface. It looks as if AMD's board partners have decided to try and cut back as much as they can in terms of features that we've ended up with boards that no sensible person should be buying, as the boards are barely fit for purpose. Time will tell if we'll see some better boards down the road, but it would appear that AMD's board partner would rather sell its potential customers a more expensive B650 board, based on the weak line-up of boards that launched on Friday.



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[Dragokar]

To be fair the platform is not limited to 65W, the boards can be and probably will be for some models. I also believe we will see ATX version as soon the vendors get the Promontory 22 instead of the 21. For now that are sadly only low effort market segmentation boards.

 

[TheLostSwede]

To be fair the platform is not limited to 65W, the boards can be and probably will be for some models. I also believe we will see ATX version as soon the vendors get the Promontory 22 instead of the 21. For now that are sadly only low effort market segmentation boards.

Ok, changed it a bit to reflect that it's related to the boost behaviour of the CPU as mentioned in the AMD slides.
Regardless, the boards launched so far, aren't taking advantage of what the A620 platform can offer, but instead have gimped it further, which makes it uninteresting for most consumers, especially as there are finally some $125 B650 boards.

 

[JAB Creations]

Around $410 I think it was on Newegg just now for 32GB of RAM, A620 motherboard and a 7600. I think that qualifies as an affordable entry level setup. Bonus: some of the A620 motherboards don't come with the weaponized WIFI garbage though I recommend people use an EMF detector just in case.

 

[CosmicWanderer]

...we've ended up with boards that no sensible person should be buying, as the boards are barely fit for purpose.

That's a bit harsh.

The A620 boards available today are perfect for first-time PC owners. Pair them with a Ryzen 7600, Radeon 6600, 16GB of RAM, a 250GB nvme and a 1TB SATA drive, and you've got yourself a very decent 1080p gaming machine. What else do you really need/are missing out on for a build like this?

Altogether you've got yourself a capable gaming machine without having to spend much, and a higher level of futureproofing compared to going with an AM4 build.

I've got an X670E board and I've barely scratched the surface in terms of utilizing all its features. It has 4 nvme slots and I'm only using the 1 PCIe Gen 5 slot, and I've got a Gen 4 stick in it too! It's overkill only because I could afford it. So these A620 boards are not insensible.

 

[TheLostSwede]

That's a bit harsh.

The A620 boards available today are perfect for first-time PC owners. Pair them with a Ryzen 7600, Radeon 6600, and 16GB of RAM and you've got yourself a very decent 1080p gaming machine. PCIe Gen 4 is plenty fast enough for graphics and storage.

Altogether you've got yourself a capable gaming machine without having to spend much, and a higher level of futureproofing compared to going with an AM4 build.

Would you buy this?

MSI Reveals a Single AMD A620 Chipset Based Motherboard

Unlike its competitors, MSI has only revealed a single AMD A620 chipset based motherboard today and it's extra underwhelming, even though none of the boards are exactly what we'd call appealing. The Pro A620M-E only sports a pair of DDR5 DIMM slots and it has a single PCIe 4.0 x16 slot and a...

www.techpowerup.com

or even this?

ASRock A620M Pro RS WiFi

Supports AMD Socket AM5 Ryzen™ 9000, 8000 and 7000 Series Processors; 6+2+1 Power Phase, Dr.MOS; 4 x DDR5 DIMMs, Supports Dual Channel, up to 7200+ (OC); 1 PCIe 4.0 x16; Graphics Output Options: HDMI, DisplayPort; Realtek ALC897 7.1 CH HD Audio Codec,, Nahimic Audio; 4 SATA3, 2 Hyper M.2 (PCIe...

www.asrock.com

I couldn't personally recommend these boards to anyone, I would rather go with a low-end Intel system over using these boards.
Yes, Biostar and Gigabyte have passable boards, but at what price point? Asus wants stupid money for their boards, starting at €139 in Europe.

ASUS Unveils Three AMD A620 Chipset Based Motherboards

It appears that the microATX form factor is the way to go when it comes to AMD A620 chipset based motherboards and ASUS has no less than three new models, although one is technically with or without WiFi. The new models are the TUF Gaming A620M-Plus, the TUF Gaming A620M-Plus WiFi and the Prime...

www.techpowerup.com

The whole point of this article is that the chipset isn't as bad as the motherboard makers have made it appear, as they've done a truly terrible job this time around when it comes to leveraging the available features. Keep in mind that there's no PCIe 5.0 on these boards and only a couple of PCIe 4.0 on most boards, as the board makers decided to go with PCIe 3.0 for the expansion slots, again for no apparent reason, as the chipset can deliver four PCIe 4.0 lanes and the PCIe 3.0 lanes should be used for things like Ethernet and WiFi, that doesn't need more bandwidth.

I started testing and writing about hardware on a professional level back in 2001 and before that, I had been working for various computer shops as well as Siemens-Nixdorf servicing their consumer PCs and many of the boards announced on Friday, are in my book at the same level as PC Chips, which really was the bottom of the barrel garbage back it the day and product I would never have told anyone to even consider buying.

 

[Dristun]

It's getting a bit ridiculous. In the face of falling sales and low demand almost everyone's reaction is to jack up prices across the board (for more than inflation would suggest) and go for margins. Is anyone even playing for market share instead?

 

[CosmicWanderer]

Would you buy this?

MSI Reveals a Single AMD A620 Chipset Based Motherboard

Unlike its competitors, MSI has only revealed a single AMD A620 chipset based motherboard today and it's extra underwhelming, even though none of the boards are exactly what we'd call appealing. The Pro A620M-E only sports a pair of DDR5 DIMM slots and it has a single PCIe 4.0 x16 slot and a...

www.techpowerup.com

or even this?

ASRock A620M Pro RS WiFi

Supports AMD Socket AM5 Ryzen™ 9000, 8000 and 7000 Series Processors; 6+2+1 Power Phase, Dr.MOS; 4 x DDR5 DIMMs, Supports Dual Channel, up to 7200+ (OC); 1 PCIe 4.0 x16; Graphics Output Options: HDMI, DisplayPort; Realtek ALC897 7.1 CH HD Audio Codec,, Nahimic Audio; 4 SATA3, 2 Hyper M.2 (PCIe...

www.asrock.com

I couldn't personally recommend these boards to anyone, I would rather go with a low-end Intel system over using these boards.
Yes, Biostar and Gigabyte have passable boards, but at what price point? Asus wants stupid money for their boards, starting at €139 in Europe.

ASUS Unveils Three AMD A620 Chipset Based Motherboards

It appears that the microATX form factor is the way to go when it comes to AMD A620 chipset based motherboards and ASUS has no less than three new models, although one is technically with or without WiFi. The new models are the TUF Gaming A620M-Plus, the TUF Gaming A620M-Plus WiFi and the Prime...

www.techpowerup.com

The whole point of this article is that the chipset isn't as bad as the motherboard makers have made it appear, as they've done a truly terrible job this time around when it comes to leveraging the available features. Keep in mind that there's no PCIe 5.0 on these boards and only a couple of PCIe 4.0 on most boards, as the board makers decided to go with PCIe 3.0 for the expansion slots, again for no apparent reason, as the chipset can deliver four PCIe 4.0 lanes and the PCIe 3.0 lanes should be used for things like Ethernet and WiFi, that doesn't need more bandwidth.

Absolutely, I would buy those boards. They have everything a first-time PC builder would need.

• Ryzen 7600 (doesn't support overclocking, neither does A620)
• Radeon 6600 (PCIe Gen 4)
• 16GB DDR5 (2 x 8 GB, so two RAM slots are enough)
• 250GB PCIe Gen4 NVMe
• 1TB SATA SSD
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Enough USB ports for a keyboard, mouse, game controller, and even headphones.

These A620 boards satisfy those requirements, and will perform very well at 1080p gaming. They are more than enough for this kind of build. What else do you need?

Now, if the prices in Europe are insane, that's a Europe problem.

 

[Gmr_Chick]

Absolutely, I would buy those boards. They have everything a first-time PC builder would need.

• Ryzen 7600 (doesn't support overclocking, neither does A620)
• Radeon 6600 (PCIe Gen 4)
• 16GB DDR5 (2 x 8 GB, so two RAM slots are enough)
• 250GB PCIe Gen4 NVMe
• 1TB SATA SSD
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Enough USB ports for a keyboard, mouse, game controller, and even headphones.

These A620 boards satisfy those requirements, and will perform very well at 1080p gaming. They are more than enough for this kind of build. What else do you need?

Now, if the prices in Europe are insane, that's a Europe problem.

I game at 1080p and....yeah, I honestly wouldn't feel comfy with any of those boards, sans the TUF one that costs stupid money for such a "basic" chipset.

 

[MrDweezil]

Seems like the point of the A620 is to bring down the price of entry to the zen4 platform. Isn't crazy that manufactures focused on that above all else.

 

[CosmicWanderer]

I game at 1080p and....yeah, I honestly wouldn't feel comfy with any of those boards, sans the TUF one that costs stupid money for such a "basic" chipset.

The article is about the existing boards, not the chipset.

If you're referring to the chipset, A620 and A-series chipsets before it are not chipsets for "comfy". They're chipsets for "bare minimum" or "basic" like you said. If you want more, there's B650. You want even more, there's X670. AMD wouldn't invest in developing and releasing a third-generation A-series chipset if there wasn't a market for it.

 

[RedBear]

Ryzen 7600 (doesn't support overclocking, neither does A620)

This is plainly wrong, 7600 does support overclock, just like its X brethren. It's the A620 platform that doesn't support overclock. AMD still hasn't fallen so low in becoming Intel-under-another-name to block overclocking for its non-X CPUs.

 

[Icon Charlie]

Well still a hard pass for me. However the AMD tax is still enforced. Driving prices up and the result is what you see. Gimped up components to make segmented sales in the customer base.

And that is a sad thing to say.

 

[ymdhis]

Would you buy this?

MSI Reveals a Single AMD A620 Chipset Based Motherboard

Unlike its competitors, MSI has only revealed a single AMD A620 chipset based motherboard today and it's extra underwhelming, even though none of the boards are exactly what we'd call appealing. The Pro A620M-E only sports a pair of DDR5 DIMM slots and it has a single PCIe 4.0 x16 slot and a...

www.techpowerup.com

or even this?

ASRock A620M Pro RS WiFi

Supports AMD Socket AM5 Ryzen™ 9000, 8000 and 7000 Series Processors; 6+2+1 Power Phase, Dr.MOS; 4 x DDR5 DIMMs, Supports Dual Channel, up to 7200+ (OC); 1 PCIe 4.0 x16; Graphics Output Options: HDMI, DisplayPort; Realtek ALC897 7.1 CH HD Audio Codec,, Nahimic Audio; 4 SATA3, 2 Hyper M.2 (PCIe...

www.asrock.com

I couldn't personally recommend these boards to anyone, I would rather go with a low-end Intel system over using these boards.
Yes, Biostar and Gigabyte have passable boards, but at what price point? Asus wants stupid money for their boards, starting at €139 in Europe.

ASUS Unveils Three AMD A620 Chipset Based Motherboards

It appears that the microATX form factor is the way to go when it comes to AMD A620 chipset based motherboards and ASUS has no less than three new models, although one is technically with or without WiFi. The new models are the TUF Gaming A620M-Plus, the TUF Gaming A620M-Plus WiFi and the Prime...

www.techpowerup.com

The whole point of this article is that the chipset isn't as bad as the motherboard makers have made it appear, as they've done a truly terrible job this time around when it comes to leveraging the available features. Keep in mind that there's no PCIe 5.0 on these boards and only a couple of PCIe 4.0 on most boards, as the board makers decided to go with PCIe 3.0 for the expansion slots, again for no apparent reason, as the chipset can deliver four PCIe 4.0 lanes and the PCIe 3.0 lanes should be used for things like Ethernet and WiFi, that doesn't need more bandwidth.

The PC market is lot bigger than gamer rigs and youtube influencer recommended setups. Unless those boards have something silly like virtualization disabled, they are great for generic office PCs (although nowadays I usually see mini-pcs used for the same purpose due to their size; not sure how they'd compare at cost), or even something you'd buy for kids (if they want something better, they can start doing summer jobs). PCIe 4.0 vs 5.0 makes zero difference, most peripherals (that aren't GPUs) are barely using PCIe 3.0. The one thing I'd wish for is that they'd drop 1GbE Ethernet forever in favor of 2.5GbE, but that's only a personal preference.

I don't know what Intel has at the same price range though, but it's well known that AM5 is in the bullshit expensive category - however many people go for AMD on principle or for the better CPU, plus once the APUs land they'll also have the best onboard graphics, so there's that.

I started testing and writing about hardware on a professional level back in 2001 and before that, I had been working for various computer shops as well as Siemens-Nixdorf servicing their consumer PCs

In my experience the people who try to make their point by bringing up how long they've been doing something, are usually the ones most unfit for the job they are doing. I've met a lot of such people in real life.

 

[Darksword]

Well...you asked for budget boards, they're giving you budget boards. Not sure what the fuss is about.

 

[trsttte]

weaponized WIFI garbage though I recommend people use an EMF detector just in case.

What the hell are you talking about!?

Seems like the point of the A620 is to bring down the price of entry to the zen4 platform. Isn't crazy that manufactures focused on that above all else.

Where are the lower prices then!? Where are the 60$ or 70$ entry level boards? AMD slide mentions 85$, how many options even start at that price point?

 

[RegaeRevaeb]

Arguably, AIBs offered A520 boards with more features/chipset than these. That was on a mature socket architecture where 400-series boards could also be had. Perhaps manufacturers are trying to offer the lowest fruit with their A620 products because they can this time is given AM5 is new. It helps make buying a more capable chipset board more palatable... accidentally on purpose.

I also agree with the article writer, et al. who argue these boards on offer right now aren't a good value proposition. In comparison, one fella who argued he'd be happy building an entry level machine off one of the currently released A620 boards. While it may be defensible for something this very moment, there's no way those specs will age, I say, even in the medium term. One M.2 is nuts, and frankly, so is gigabit ethernet, along with manufacturers offering a single x1 slot beyond the x16 one. Nvme costs are low enough the SATA SSD argument doesn't hold water, 2.5 GbE costs pennies more, and a x4 slot should be had on micro-ATX boards.

 

[S-Domain]

I'm amazed at how many people are defending aibs cutting down the a620 platform by 50% or more. I completely agree with the author on this one. There should be $85 motherboards with the full a620 chipset USB and PCI Express Lanes integrated. We used to get b550s for $85 now people are fine with getting a severely cut down a620 for $85. We should demand more for our hard earned money.

 

[Minus Infinity]

No surprise from MSI in having garbage USB port support. This is why I have never bought one of their MB's always the fewest number of ports no matter how expensive the MB.

This seems deliberate from the scumbag MB makers in making the lower margin A620 unpalatable enough they force you into a B650.

 

[ymdhis]

I'm amazed at how many people are defending aibs cutting down the a620 platform by 50% or more. I completely agree with the author on this one. There should be $85 motherboards with the full a620 chipset USB and PCI Express Lanes integrated. We used to get b550s for $85 now people are fine with getting a severely cut down a620 for $85. We should demand more for our hard earned money.

I'm not defending them for cutting down things, I'm just saying that these boards give you a working computer, while the articles author suggests that they are unusable.

Nvme costs are low enough the SATA SSD argument doesn't hold water, 2.5 GbE costs pennies more, and a x4 slot should be had on micro-ATX boards.

A520 boards did not have x4 slots either, or at least it wasn't common - I was looking for one a year ago but couldn't find any. Older B450 boards were very cheap though, so it wasn't a big deal.
I think that's the real reason these boards have no competition. For AM4, users could use their old B450 boards after a month of waiting for firmware updates. There was a huge ecosystem of existing B450, even B350 boards to use. So A520 boards had to have more features. This is not the case for the A620, if you want to use the newest chips, these will be your cheapest choices and nothing else. Once we get cheap CPUs (and I don't mean $230 "cheap") and sales pick up, I suspect more boards will be released with better features.... even if those boards will be using, say, A720 chipsets instead.

 

[catulitechup]

Chiset ????????

or maybe Shitset for the price

 

[Chaitanya]

Chiset ????????

or maybe Shitset for the price

More like castration fetish spreading across other manufacturers.

 

[CosmicWanderer]

This is plainly wrong, 7600 does support overclock, just like its X brethren. It's the A620 platform that doesn't support overclock. AMD still hasn't fallen so low in becoming Intel-under-another-name to block overclocking for its non-X CPUs.

I stand corrected. Nonetheless, it makes sense that the A-series chipsets don't support overclocking given their VRM setups and their target audience.

 

[Bwaze]

I see it as a reaction of various grocery stores to pricewatch - instead of jacking up prices of the products you started getting less and less product for the same money - see, no price increase?

 

[Metroid]

Absolutely, I would buy those boards. They have everything a first-time PC builder would need.

• Ryzen 7600 (doesn't support overclocking, neither does A620)
• Radeon 6600 (PCIe Gen 4)
• 16GB DDR5 (2 x 8 GB, so two RAM slots are enough)
• 250GB PCIe Gen4 NVMe
• 1TB SATA SSD
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Enough USB ports for a keyboard, mouse, game controller, and even headphones.

These A620 boards satisfy those requirements, and will perform very well at 1080p gaming. They are more than enough for this kind of build. What else do you need?

Now, if the prices in Europe are insane, that's a Europe problem.

I guess his point is that you are giving in to the mafia/system. Motherboard makers could have created a much much better board with a much better price and they decided not to because they fear people would buy this instead of their b650 $250 boards. So they gimped A620 too much to a point is not even worth considering it. So if you decide to buy these gimped a620 showed so far then you are giving better money margin than if you were buying a b650 $200. So meaning, either way, they/mafia are winning and consumers are losing. A620 is supposed to give people a better cost benefit than b650 and these a620 boards so far are not giving a better cost benefit value than a b650 which is disgusting. I think all the motherboards/gpus manufactures have become a huge mafia in Asia, they all know each other, gpu makers have been trying to normalize a huge price increase, motherboard makers want to do the same.