Wednesday, October 16th 2019

ASRock AMD B550AM Gaming Motherboard Spied

Here is the first picture of a motherboard based on AMD's upcoming mid-range desktop motherboard chipset, the AMD "B550A," the ASRock B550AM Gaming. The board was spied inside a pre-built desktop at a Best Buy store. This is the first time we've seen the mid-range chipset being referenced as "B550A" and not "B550." The "A" may not be part of the motherboard's model name as the "M" denotes Micro-ATX and usually succeeds the chipset model in ASRock's nomenclature. The B550(A) will be an important chipset for AMD as it will enable motherboards priced under the $150 mark that support AMD's 3rd generation Ryzen processor's I/O natively.

While the X570 is an in-house development by AMD, the B550 is sourced from ASMedia, and is expected to be a new version of the "Promontory-LP" silicon. The only thing that sets this chip apart from the 400-series "Promontory-LP" is PCI-Express gen 3.0 certification. The chipset talks to the AM4 SoC over a PCI-Express 3.0 x4 link, and puts out up to 8 PCI-Express gen 3.0 downstream lanes. A 3rd gen Ryzen processor on a B550 motherboard still puts out PCI-Express gen 4.0 connectivity, which means you get one PCI-Express 4.0 x16 slot, and one M.2 slot with PCI-Express 4.0 x4 wiring. The rest of the chipset's I/O will be similar to the 400-series, which includes six SATA 6 Gbps ports, up to two 10 Gbps USB 3.1 ports, up to four 5 Gbps USB 3.1 ports, and eight USB 2.0/1.1 ports. If the AM4 SoC installed is a 3rd gen Ryzen, then you'll get a couple more 10 Gbps USB 3.1 ports. AMD partners could use the opportunity to launch some of the more upscale B550 motherboards with the latest 2.5 GbE wired LAN, and 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6.

Update (16/10): We learn later down in the referenced Reddit thread, including from comments by AMD's Robert Hallock, that the B550A is a rebranded B450 targeted at OEMs. The B550 (non-A) is what is the upcoming chipset detailed in this article.
Source: the_excalibruh (Reddit)
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14 Comments on ASRock AMD B550AM Gaming Motherboard Spied

#1
Kaotik
No no no no no no. This is B550A, not B550, there's a difference. B550A is exactly the same Promontory-LP which was used in B450/X470. It's meant only for OEM-customers who want new numbers even when there's nothing new.
This has been confirmed by Robert Hallock from this exact picture.
edit: looks like the embedding doesn't show the right comment so I'll just add the quote too
No, it has a B550A motherboard. This is a version of the PCIe Gen 3 "Promontory-LP" (e.g. X470, B450) chipset specifically for use in pre-built systems (e.g. OEM customers).
edit2: Seriously @btarunr your source is the exact same Reddit thread, but you just chose to ignore Robert mentioning what it is?

Amd/comments/dghxdi/_/f3de36u
Posted on Reply
#2
JohnWal
KaotikNo no no no no no. This is B550A, not B550, there's a difference. B550A is exactly the same Promontory-LP which was used in B450/X470. It's meant only for OEM-customers who want new numbers even when there's nothing new.
This has been confirmed by Robert Hallock from this exact picture.
edit: looks like the embedding doesn't show the right comment so I'll just add the quote too


edit2: Seriously @btarunr your source is the exact same Reddit thread, but you just chose to ignore Robert mentioning what it is?

Amd/comments/dghxdi/_/f3de36u
To be fair who is going to supply wccftech with their exclusive insider news that they can wrap in some fancy graphics, add some regurgitated paragraphs from prior Ryzen articles and a useless user poll. Step back and then watch the user comments explode in gibberish and just take in all the page clicks....
Posted on Reply
#3
Stead65
I have the B550AM Gaming motherboard and it does have one PCI-Express 4.0 x16 slot, and one M.2 slot with PCI-Express 4.0 x4 wiring.
Posted on Reply
#4
kapone32
Stead65I have the B550AM Gaming motherboard and it does have one PCI-Express 4.0 x16 slot, and one M.2 slot with PCI-Express 4.0 x4 wiring.
Does it come with any other M2 slots?
Posted on Reply
#5
Stead65
kapone32Does it come with any other M2 slots?
No. I don't fully understand this so I will post picture.
Stead65No. I don't fully understand this so I will post picture.
Posted on Reply
#6
kapone32
Stead65No. I don't fully understand this so I will post picture.


My work place does not let me view pics from the web but I will definitely check it out when I get home. What meant though was some B450 boards came with 2 M2 slots. The top one tied to the CPU and another one tied to the chipset.
Posted on Reply
#7
Stead65
Think this is probably tied to the CPU. Let me know your thoughts.
Posted on Reply
#8
Kaotik
Stead65I have the B550AM Gaming motherboard and it does have one PCI-Express 4.0 x16 slot, and one M.2 slot with PCI-Express 4.0 x4 wiring.
That has nothing to do with the chipset, they come from the CPU. AMD had it enabled in earlier beta BIOSes for select 300- and 400-series motherboards, but after Ryzen 3000 launch they decided not to allow PCIe4 on older motherboards (it was motherboard by motherboard basis depending on wether the wiring on the mobo was sufficient for PCIe4 or not)
Posted on Reply
#9
bug
Hmm, does this mean we'll have to wait till 2020 for the real B550? :confused:
Posted on Reply
#10
1d10t
Stead65No. I don't fully understand this so I will post picture.


From your provided picture, I could guess only one M.2 , which is PCIe Gen 4, and 2 USB 3.2 Gen 2, 2 USB 3.1 Gen 1 back and 2 in the front, Realtek ALC 1200 audio codec, Realtek Gigabit ethernet, generic 8 phases (4 phases with doublers, low side and high side, so its actually 4+2 ), single 8 pin EPS, 4 DIMM support up to 128GB RAM :)
Posted on Reply
#11
jwolfe4280
Recently bought;
New! CyberPowerPC - Gaming Desktop - AMD Ryzen 7 3700X - 16GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super - 2TB Hard Drive + 240GB SSD - White
Model:SLC7000BST SKU:6362429 from Best Buy
Searching your site, this model is not recognized.
It has a ASrock B550AM GAMING mb. I cannot find a manual for this MB.
Searching this on ASrock website says it doesn't exist!
P1.10 bios.

I have yet to see a manual on it, Cyberpower PC can't seem to get their hands on one either!
Good old ASrock support page is no help either. If it does'nt recognise the MB, you get no where!

It is a kick butt machine. Anyone that has a lead on the manual, please drop me a line at jwolfe4280@gmail.com

Thx
Posted on Reply
#12
Jkirby
jwolfe4280Recently bought;
New! CyberPowerPC - Gaming Desktop - AMD Ryzen 7 3700X - 16GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super - 2TB Hard Drive + 240GB SSD - White
Model:SLC7000BST SKU:6362429 from Best Buy
Searching your site, this model is not recognized.
It has a ASrock B550AM GAMING mb. I cannot find a manual for this MB.
Searching this on ASrock website says it doesn't exist!
P1.10 bios.

I have yet to see a manual on it, Cyberpower PC can't seem to get their hands on one either!
Good old ASrock support page is no help either. If it does'nt recognise the MB, you get no where!

It is a kick butt machine. Anyone that has a lead on the manual, please drop me a line at jwolfe4280@gmail.com

Thx
--> www.cyberpowerinc.com/drivers/?dir=Motherboards/MB-478-101%20B550AM%20GAMING/
Posted on Reply
#13
disposablegoon
Anyone who got the SLC7200BST cyberpower with this MOBO - In bios, for some reason my "chassis fan 3" speed is not detected. Is this the same for anyone else? I'm not sure if something isn't plugged in right.
Posted on Reply
#14
Jkirby
disposablegoonAnyone who got the SLC7200BST cyberpower with this MOBO - In bios, for some reason my "chassis fan 3" speed is not detected. Is this the same for anyone else? I'm not sure if something isn't plugged in right.
I haven't had a chance to really dig in and see for myself, but I read other reviews of this system and I noticed the same thing about fan 3. It looks like the AIO is all wired up/daisy chained on fan 1 and the two front fans are on fan 2.
Posted on Reply
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