Two GIGABYTE Socket AM4 Motherboards Pictured

[btarunr]

Ahead of their launch later this year, to cater to the 7th generation AMD A-series "Bristol Ridge" APUs, with support for next-generation "ZEN" processors due in 2017, two GIGABYTE socket AM4 motherboards smiled for the camera. The two appear to be based on either AMD's entry-level A320 or mid-range B350 chipsets. Since the AM4 chips are true-blue SoCs with complete integration of chipsets, including what you'd normally call a southbridge or FCH; the "chipsets" in the AM4 platform are merely chips that add to the PCIe lane budget of the platform, and provide additional SATA and USB connectivity.

The first of the two GIGABYTE AM4 boards is built in the narrow micro-ATX form-factor; featuring a single PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot, two DDR4 DIMM slots, four SATA 6 Gb/s ports, and basic connectivity that includes 6-channel HD audio, one gigabit Ethernet connection, and 4-6 USB 3.0 ports. The second board is better endowed, and is likely a variation of the socket AM4 board that was earlier pictured this September. It features two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 ports (the second one could be electrical x4); and comes with two additional SATA 6 Gb/s and USB 3.0 ports compared to the other board.



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[buzzi]

glad to see the same cooler retention system

 

[Ubersonic]

Not a fan of companies replacing PCI-E slots with the M.2 slot this boards basically useless for anyone who want's to use multiple slots.

Why didn't they just put another PCI-E slot there and include a PCI-E to M.2 adapter? :S

 

[costeakai]

is there an hdmi 2.0 output ? please ?
i can see http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/amd-gigabyte-am4-x370-and-b350m-d2-motherboard-photos-surface.html there's an hdmi output , but is it 2.0 ?

 

[slozomby]

Not a fan of companies replacing PCI-E slots with the M.2 slot this boards basically useless for anyone who want's to use multiple slots.

Why didn't they just put another PCI-E slot there and include a PCI-E to M.2 adapter? :S

that slot will be covered in most systems by a double wide video card so its the most efficient use of space. which is at a premium on an matx board.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Sad to see that, once again, the non premium AMD boards have 0 VRM cooling, while the intel ones have heatsinks on them. Hopefully somebody takes mobo design seriously this time around. The FM2/FM2+ selection was pitiful.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Sad to see that, once again, the non premium AMD boards have 0 VRM cooling, while the intel ones have heatsinks on them. Hopefully somebody takes mobo design seriously this time around. The FM2/FM2+ selection was pitiful.

At least they leaved the heatisnk mounting holes in the place. So there will be a proper option too.

 

[Chaitanya]

At least they leaved the heatisnk mounting holes in the place. So there will be a proper option too.

Also considering this is preproduction model, those mounting holes must be kept in place for final release. Many of the current UD3 micro atx boards for Intel platform from gigabyte do have heatsink for VRM so maybe this wont be any different after all.

 

[cdawall]

Not a fan of companies replacing PCI-E slots with the M.2 slot this boards basically useless for anyone who want's to use multiple slots.

Why didn't they just put another PCI-E slot there and include a PCI-E to M.2 adapter? :S

You aren't going to find very many people who agree with you there. Very few people would use that second slot especially when it is a 16x, mind finding me a single slot GPU that supports multi GPU?

 

[Ubersonic]

Not a fan of companies replacing PCI-E slots with the M.2 slot this boards basically useless for anyone who want's to use multiple slots.

that slot will be covered in most systems by a double wide video card so its the most efficient use of space. which is at a premium on an matx board.

Yeah but in some systems that slot will house the GPU and the SSD or sound card will be placed above it. All this does is restrict options.

 

[Octavean]

Not a fan of companies replacing PCI-E slots with the M.2 slot this boards basically useless for anyone who want's to use multiple slots.

Why didn't they just put another PCI-E slot there and include a PCI-E to M.2 adapter? :S

To be sure there are some really nice micro-ATX boards out there but generally speaking one shouldn't expect too much from them. Usually some compromises must be made on such small boards.

 

[cdawall]

Yeah but in some systems that slot will house the GPU and the SSD or sound card will be placed above it. All this does is restrict options.

That is a rather rare setup. Most MATX setups are x16, x4(x1), x16, x4(x1) because there are not very many matx based cases that support a dual slot card in the 4th slot. The way GB has this setup makes sense on a board that isn't targeted at a multi-GPU audience. Dual slot GPU in the top, M.2 SSD, wifi/sound card, and a spare x16 (which if you look is only an x4 slot electronically) for a raid card etc.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Sad to see that, once again, the non premium AMD boards have 0 VRM cooling, while the intel ones have heatsinks on them. Hopefully somebody takes mobo design seriously this time around. The FM2/FM2+ selection was pitiful.

The first board looks like it doesn't have the final cooling solution on it. This is often the case with early boards, as the cooling is one of the last things to be added, so I wouldn't expect the shipping product to look quite the same.

 

[Jism]

Sad to see that, once again, the non premium AMD boards have 0 VRM cooling, while the intel ones have heatsinks on them. Hopefully somebody takes mobo design seriously this time around. The FM2/FM2+ selection was pitiful.

It's proberly designed for a power enveloppe from 35w up to 65 or even 95w. These boards are typical used for office and light-weight computers. Not high-end. If you would OC on these type of boards, your asking for it.

A heatsink on a vrm does'nt mean jack shit. As far as we know those VRM's deliver more then 95W.

 

[Melvis]

Gimme a ITX Board and a 4/8core ZEN APU and im there!

 

[prtskg]

Gimme a ITX Board and a 4/8core ZEN APU and im there!

I expect zen apu will be released 1 year after BR.

 

[lorraine walsh]

Dual Socket is not like Crossfire/SLi. Windows uses it as if it was one Cpu. So it supported in every application/game like every other Cpu.

 

[Melvis]

I expect zen apu will be released 1 year after BR.

I actually thought they where going to release them before ZEN desktop CPU's?