Wednesday, February 1st 2023
AMD A620 Chipset Specs Potentially Revealed
Although we haven't been able to confirm these specs, full specifications of AMD's upcoming A620 chipset was posted on Twitter by @g01d3nm4ng0, who has proven to have solid details in the past. This is supposedly the cut-down version of the B650 chipset, due to the rumored delays of the actual A620 chipset. The A620 chipset will be identical to the B650 chipset when it comes to PCIe lane counts, but rather than PCIe 4.0 lanes, the chipset will only offer PCIe 3.0 lanes. What is unclear is if the PCIe 3.0 of the B650 chipset will remain or not, as they're not included in the leaked specs.
If not, then the A620 chipset will only have a total of eight usable PCIe lanes, but four lanes that are connected to the CPU, which will apparently also be limited to PCIe 3.0 speeds. There's also no mention of SATA port configurations. AMD has trimmed the amount of USB 3.x ports significantly, with the A620 chipset only getting two 10 Gbps and two 5 Gbps ports. USB 2.0 ports remain the same at a total of six. A620 motherboards will apparently also be limited to PCIe 4.0 for the lanes from the CPU, but this should be less of an issue for most consumers. As rumored, CPU overclocking is also said to be missing, but RAM overclocking will still be present.
Source:
@g01d3nm4ng0 (on Twitter)
If not, then the A620 chipset will only have a total of eight usable PCIe lanes, but four lanes that are connected to the CPU, which will apparently also be limited to PCIe 3.0 speeds. There's also no mention of SATA port configurations. AMD has trimmed the amount of USB 3.x ports significantly, with the A620 chipset only getting two 10 Gbps and two 5 Gbps ports. USB 2.0 ports remain the same at a total of six. A620 motherboards will apparently also be limited to PCIe 4.0 for the lanes from the CPU, but this should be less of an issue for most consumers. As rumored, CPU overclocking is also said to be missing, but RAM overclocking will still be present.
39 Comments on AMD A620 Chipset Specs Potentially Revealed
Honestly sounds reasonable. For most home users this is plenty of connectivity. CPU OC is useless for anything but epeen benches, simple TDP adjustment is all you need in the era of boost (and the 7000s frankly dont even need that unless going for lower TDP configs). Still get memory OC, still get DDR5.
Now the real question: can we get a mobo makers to make a motherboard with A620, decent to good onboard audio (ALC 1225 or such), 2.5GBe, and a good VRM with good cooling? No reason 99% of users need anything more then that.
At 125$+ well...
And B550 is now over $100. :(
And that in itself is already quite a big "if" given that AMD's promises so far have not been fulfilled. The B650 was also supposed to start at €125, but there hasn't been one like it. I know I wouldn't be affected even if I tried to put together the cheapest possible AM5 system. In the case of a hypothetical cheap AM5 system, this would mean a cost of €478 now and only €431 if the €125 A620 materializes at all. That's only an 11% difference, and that percentage drops quickly the more expensive the AM5 system you put together.
For A series boards to make sense in DIY market they have to cost half of the cheapest B series boards.
For OEM's it makes a lot more sense to use A series because if they can save 50 bucks from each board then this adds up quickly the more computers they build.
But for single PC builders the cost savings are negligible while the feature cuts are big.
This is a horrible deal, AMD seems to be abandoning the entire budget segment for Intel.
That being said, when X670E boards look like empty PCBs, what would someone expect from an A620 board? To be full of features?
Internet Advice: "If you don't plan on overclocking then you don't need to buy a higher-end B board. Just buy a cheap A board"
Reality: "But all the A boards have extremely sh*t audio chips, Wi-Fi that's been artifically crippled to half speed with 1x1 antenna despite still being wired for 2x2, DVI instead of DisplayPort on the back, etc"...
Motherboard manufacturers have been taking the p*ss in the budget sector for years.
- CPU - 28 PCIe lanes (4 reserved for chipset link), so 24 Gen4 lanes available for: x16 for GPU + two x4 for NVMe + four USB 10 Gbps, including support for USB-C through which iGPU can output DP in Alt Mode
- Chipset - Gen3 x8 lanes, two USB 10 Gbps, two USB 5 Gbps and 6 USB 2.0. Strangely, the leak does not mention SATA ports. There should be four SATA.This is complete nonsense. It's a shame to even post such an idea without thinking about it. Transition between A520 to A620 is serious, from PCIe 3.0 to PCIe 4.0 system, from DDR4 to DDR5 and to new, miles better iGPU.
A620 systems will definitely be much better and faster than A520, let alone A320..., and even better than B550 in several ways:
1. more Gen4 lanes on the CPU - 24 lanes for GPU and two NVMe drives
2. DDR5 memory
3. new iGPU with RDN2 graphics with support for up to four monitors, including up to three DP outputs via USB-C ports from CPU
A620 chipset only has two Gen3 lanes less than B550, which is compensated by more and twice as fast PCIe lanes on the CPU. If you don't believe my words, simple diagrams can show you the superiority of A620 in relation to B550.
Transition from A320 to A520 increased PCIe from 2.0 to 3.0 and they added another two lanes. In order to show progress from A520 to A620, AMD must add something meaningful, such as one USB 10 Gbps, two PCIe Gen3 lanes and another two SATA ports. This is really bare minimum they could possibly add and still keep it below B650 chipset capability.We will find out soon. We know that VRMs on B650/X670 systems are mostly complete overkill these days, so VRM on A620 should be quite ok even for 7900.
Audio-wise, if a motherboard has HDMI port, which most will have, you can output onboard audio via HDMI to a modern soundbar.
In terms of price the difference between the cheapest A320 and B550 is only 25€ (50€ vs 75€).
Between A520 and B550 it's even less at 15€ (60€ vs 75€).
Mark my words: the A620 will end up more expensive than the promised 125€ and thus the price difference to the cheapest B650 will be less than 50€ and thus very similar to what i described above.
DDR5 with EXPO support and more PCIe lanes on 7000 CPUs require more robust traces on PCB, plus longer traces for additional PCIe 4.0 for the second NVMe drive or PCIe slot x4. More robust VRM will be needed too, to support CPUs beyond 105W, unlike on B550. I/O will vary. Asrock may easily install HDMI 2.1 FRL port for iGPU and this chip is more expensive than older HDMI 2.0b; etc. etc. All these features, more advanced mosfets, capacitors, chips, longer traces, connectors and electrical wiring on their own add to cost. As always, motherboard vendors will make here different choices resulting in price range.
Therefore, the price range for A620 boards will be between B550 and B650, which is not suprising. This range could be wide, anything between €99 for bare bones, all the way up to €200. We all know that boards with different chipsets overlap in price due to different features. Some X670 boards are worse than high-end B650. My B550 Pro Art board has more advanced features that many X570 boards do not have, such as double Thunderbolt 4 port, each at 40 Gbps. I paid for it more than some X570 boards cost.
What matters here is that for a few years we have not had two major AMD platforms being sold concurrently. We cannot ignore this as Zen3 systems are still really good and sell around the world. This will be the case for several years for both platforms. Besides, we are waiting for lower SKUs on Zen4, such as lower R5 7500 for A620 systems. AMD does not need to release lower SKUs as they have good AM4 systems still selling.
I can see ITX A620 board for €99 this spring or summer. €125 is just a goal for entry ATX boards. There will be both cheaper and more expensive boards than this.
And there goes any advantage A620 may have had. The end result is that the cheapest A620 vs cheapest B650 will end up in the 15-25€ range making the A620 pointless for DIY builders where going with A620 would save only single digit percentage from overall build cost.
The bottom line is that the more choice there is in different price points, the better. Diversity of motherboards cannot be bad, ever. Intel will have four chipsets on 7000 platform. Why AMD would not have three? The cheapest ITX A620 could be a perfect HTPC system in small factor for someone. I'd buy one if I needed it. Buyers don't need to pay even single €1 more for such system and spend saved €25-30 on other components.
When you enter a well-stocked shoe shop with a wide range of shoes on offer, you will find anything between a few dozen of euros all the way to over €1,000. You, as s PC user, should always defend the right of buyers to choose diverse products, no matter how absurd given product appears to your linking. There is really nothing more to say about this.
A crappy case, exploding PSU or perhaps one of those DRAM less cheap SSD's?
That is why i say that A series needs to HALF of B series cost to start making sense.
Unfortunately i cant find any solid stats of specific chipset sales but i doubt A series would represent a major portion as it always comes out last and with big compromises.
Also in Geizhals.de i can see that the amount of A series boards even being sold is low compared to B series where B450 almost overtakes A320/A520 combined and B550 nearly doubles it:
A320:15
A520:22
B450:33
B550:83
And it's possible see the number of reviews:
A320 has 84 reviews from buyers.
A520 has 25 reviews from buyers.
B450 has 1154 reviews from buyers.
B550 has 4631 reviews from buyers.
So. A320 has only ~7.2% of reviews compared to B450.
It's even more lopsided when comparing A520 to B550 where A520 only has miniscule ~0,53% of reviews.
In total A series boards have only ~1,8% of reviews compared to B series.
Clearly very few people actually bought the A series boards. Especially when it comes to 500 series chipsets.
And im betting a large factor in that is the small price difference to B series.
I have already addressed the price range and price overlap between chipsets. You chose to ignore it. There does not need to be any artificial "half" of cost between the two for A boards to make sense. It's only in your head that it does not make sense.
Geizhals.de? You are giving one example, from one retailer, from one country that happens to be one of the richest in the world. Are you for serious? All that skewed data to try to defend your initial argument? Why would many Germans buy A boards in the first place when it's easy for them to afford higher tier boards? Bring me some motherboard data from Nigeria, Indonesia, Egypt or India and then we can talk.
Almost 2% of reviews from one retailer in a rich country sounds small, but it's not. Global motherboard market is roughly $13 billion and roughtly 100 million units sold annually, which gives a mean price per board $130. Mean cost is closer to budget boards, which is telling when you consider global sales.
In this context, if we take the same number of 2% and extrapolate globally roughly 40-60 between AMD and Intel entry boards, A series market would be worth ~$100 million for almost million boards sold worldwide; quite serius number and money. There are certainly more of those sold in less rich and poorer countries and therefore percentage will be higher. If you were one of Taiwanese motherboard makers, I don't think you would ever waste an opportunity to earn over hundred million dollars by selling A boards in markets of developing countries where majority of people, most often than not, cannot afford to spend more on it.
If someone is already committed to spending 500 on CPU+MOBO+RAM upgrade then the possibility of saving 25 from that and paying 475 is irrelevant. Even in a poor country. Im betting that in those countries very few people even buy new stuff. Rather the used market is way cheaper. And those that can afford do buy new dont care about such miniscule price difference there.
Also you bring up example less rich countries. The sales volume in those countries is also less that in rich countries. So in the grand scheme of things A series is <10% regardless if how you look at it.
Even 5% of global sale would be good enough to warrant a release of an entry board, as it translates into hundreds of millions of dollars, considering the global market being $13 billion.
Therefore, as said, A620 will certainly be more expensive than entry B550, bacause A620 is more superior platform (diagrams posted above), and it will be cheaper than most B650 boards. You can expect prices ranging from €99-€150, as this is the market where it belongs to. We will get there, little by little. Motherboard companies would not be releasing such product if there was no space for it in the market.
Yet you expect me to somehow come up with detailed statistics from a number of countries.
And even if i did you would likely say that those are the "wrong" countries again because you dont like the data.In those countries i very much doubt a person will be buying new anyway. And 500+ new at that. If they are then 475 vs 500 IS a small difference. And if someone needs to postpone for one month because they're 25 short then they are clearly out of they're league and should set more realistic targets like buying used etc.
Your only "crime" is that you wish to read too much into such partial data to support your reasoning. That's all to it. Essentially, one of your claims is that past sales data have a predictive validity. Maybe, maybe not. We will not know until we know.
Predictive validity is a methodological concept that is very sensitive to accurate and representative data points. The more global claim or prediction we wish to make, the more data points need to be the part of calculation input. That's why I mentioned Nigeria and other countries. I do not expect you to search for such data. I gave it as an example of why your predictions need to be humble and local, subdued.
As @TumbleGeorge said in the comment #21, €25 saving is a good pizza in Germany and almost no one would ever care, but in India an average monthly salary is €400 and the same saving will make a huge difference for thousands upon thousands of people who wish to put together a PC. DRAM-less cheap SSD is great for them, and it's not cheap for them. Many tech enthusiasts over there would be saving for months to buy cheapest PC system and such system based on A620 or H710 platform would be precious to them. Buy it once and use for 6-7 years.
You really need to accept this simple idea that our world is vastly diverse place with equally diverse economic conditions in which people live. Cheapest boards would be good enough for millions of people around the world and that's why we need entry chipsets, both from Intel and AMD.