ASUS Drops Sneak Peek of Upcoming AMD AM5 Motherboards

[TheLostSwede]

Earlier today, ASUS uploaded a first sneak peek of several upcoming AMD AM5 motherboards—which we assume will feature the B850 and B840 chipsets—which according to the post on Facebook, will be launching within a couple of weeks. The boards will most likely be on display at CES, which kicks off on the 7th of January. The picture is obfuscated for obvious reasons, but what is clear is that there will be several different SKUs from all of ASUS' typical sub-brands such as TUF Gaming and ROG.

What we can also make out is that there will be at least one Mini-ITX board and one micro-ATX board, with the latter being the TUF Gaming branded board. We tried to clean up the picture a bit, but ASUS has managed to hide all details of possible models names and most of the text is kind of hard to make out. Nothing really sticks out in terms of features, although it's clear we'll end up seeing some higher-end B850 boards, judging by the fact that there are at least three ROG Strix SKUs coming. The question is if there's a market for these boards, considering the B850 chipset is pretty much the same as the B650E chipset, but with optional PCIe 5.0 support for the M.2 slots and no USB4, unlike its X870 counterpart.

Update Jan 1st: ASUS posted a picture of their upcoming mid-range Intel boards on Facebook as well, but as with the AMD boards, ASUS obfuscated the image, although not quite as badly this time around. For its Intel lineup, there's also a lower-end Prime board included, in addition to the TUF Gaming and ROG Strix boards. ASUS didn't reveal any launch window for the Intel boards.



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[freeagent]

Looks like the top right will be nice and fancy compared to the others

 

[Onasi]

Sure looks like some motherboards. Wow. Much sexy. Amazing marketing there, Asus.

Jokes aside, the dearth of mATX options is annoying. Like, Asus has so far only a single one for AM5. This would be the second. Unfortunate.

 

[ymdhis]

I think I spot an matx board with 3x nvme slots, which is cool. Shame it doesn't have a second PCIE 4x slot.

 

[capdauntless]

I'd really like to see these companies build more matx boards. Ever since dual gpu has basically died on the consumer side the need for that second full size pcie slot is really not there for me. Im not saying kill off others, just give me more choice in the matx form factor.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I think I spot an matx board with 3x nvme slots, which is cool. Shame it doesn't have a second PCIE 4x slot.

Most likely due to not enough PCIe lanes.

 

[freeagent]

I like having that other slot, could come in handy for moar nvme

 

[TheLostSwede]

I'd really like to see these companies build more matx boards. Ever since dual gpu has basically died on the consumer side the need for that second full size pcue slot is really not there for me. Im not saying kill off others, just give me more choice in the matx form factor.

Yeah, I would most likely have gone mATX for my current build, if there had been a decent option with a x4 PCIe slot at the bottom for my 10 Gbps network card.

 

[igormp]

I'd really like to see these companies build more matx boards. Ever since dual gpu has basically died on the consumer side the need for that second full size pcue slot is really not there for me. Im not saying kill off others, just give me more choice in the matx form factor.

Even worse, that second slot is more often than not connected to the chipset instead of the CPU (at x4 speeds), so even for dual GPU you don't have many options.

 

[_roman_]

Just to complete post #6
Do not forget A620 "chipsets" and mainboards without chipsets also exists for the AM5 platform. Regardless if these are useful or not. I consider both more on the problematic side.

Thanks for the nearly complete summary table of AM5 chipsets.

--

ASUS teases wiht a clear visible CMOS battery for the TUF mainboard.

"for those who dare" on the top left mainboard. A warning from ASUS (sarcasm)?

 

[igormp]

and mainboards without chipsets also exists for the AM5 platform

Wait, really? Would you mind giving one example? I've never heard of such product.

 

[Onasi]

Wait, really? Would you mind giving one example? I've never heard of such product.

I assume he means the X600 platform, like the DeskMeet. There is technically no chipset there, all the I/O is handled by the CPU.

 

[_roman_]

Exactly

ASRock DeskMini X600 Series

Unterstützt AMD Socket AM5 Ryzen™ 9000/8000/7000 Series Processors, bis zu 65W<br />Dual DDR5 6400+(OC)MHz Speicher, maximal 96GB<br />Unterstützt CPU-Kühler mit maximaler Höhe ≦ 47mm<br />Multi Video Outputs：HDMI, DisplayPort, D-Sub<br />2.5G LAN<br />1 x Blazing M.2 (PCIe Gen5 x4) Slot<br />1...

www.asrock.com

x300 was afaik for am4

A chipset is just an expansion of the input/output ports in my point of view.

Please feel free to correct me or give additional inputs. Mainboard makers could make mainboards without a chipset basically. I do not get the point why only asrock sell it with their products as far as i know. This could satisfy those guys who say they want 25€ mainboards. (which was the case for cheap entry am4 mainboards for a long time period)

 

[Kapone33]

Looks like the top right will be nice and fancy compared to the others

I know you what I am going to say. To make up for the mediocrity Asus need to do refresh of the B550 XE. What they don't understand is that users like us want to have a board that has no compromises. XE for the Win!!!!

 

[capdauntless]

Yeah, I would most likely have gone mATX for my current build, if there had been a decent option with a x4 PCIe slot at the bottom for my 10 Gbps network card.

I hear you. For my upcoming build (which is waiting for these new boards to arrive) I just want a no compromises x series matx board. But they're impossible to get. I don't need any extra pcie slots besides m.2. thats all i want.

 

[bonehead123]

Ah yea, good ole AsSus....

Putting out a slimy, wimpy PR without any info on the products....

I reckon they believe that's gonna give 'em (more) excuses for the aSs-puckering prices & lack of features, go figure

 

[Wirko]

Exactly

ASRock DeskMini X600 Series

Unterstützt AMD Socket AM5 Ryzen™ 9000/8000/7000 Series Processors, bis zu 65W<br />Dual DDR5 6400+(OC)MHz Speicher, maximal 96GB<br />Unterstützt CPU-Kühler mit maximaler Höhe ≦ 47mm<br />Multi Video Outputs：HDMI, DisplayPort, D-Sub<br />2.5G LAN<br />1 x Blazing M.2 (PCIe Gen5 x4) Slot<br />1...

www.asrock.com

x300 was afaik for am4

A chipset is just an expansion of the input/output ports in my point of view.

Please feel free to correct me or give additional inputs. Mainboard makers could make mainboards without a chipset basically. I do not get the point why only asrock sell it with their products as far as i know. This could satisfy those guys who say they want 25€ mainboards. (which was the case for cheap entry am4 mainboards for a long time period)

Yes. This is more or less all that's publicly known about AMD's AM4 chipset-less chipsets:

Run a current Ryzen without an AMD chipset? That would work too! What’s behind the Knoll Activator | igor´sLAB

Does that sound very lurid? Not at all. The whole thing isn’t that absurd, because such a Ryzen is actually a complete SoC (System-on-Chip). But you would have to bring such a processor to life first.

www.igorslab.de

On AM5 it's probably a very similar situation. AMD even lists the PRO 600 on their chipset info page. TPU covered an Asrock motherboard here. It's probably not coming to retail, ever.

 

[ymdhis]

Most likely due to not enough PCIe lanes.

View attachment 377910

There are B650 boards with extra x4 slot and 3x NVMe slots. There are some speed restrictions, yes, but it is possible (the board I'm thinking of has a 5x4, 4x4, 4x2 NVMe slot, plus a PCIE 4.0 16x slot and a PCIE 3.0 x4 slot).
The main problem isn't the speed restriction but the lack of available ports however.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Sure looks like some motherboards. Wow. Much sexy. Amazing marketing there, Asus.

Jokes aside, the dearth of mATX options is annoying. Like, Asus has so far only a single one for AM5. This would be the second. Unfortunate.

So buy an AsRock board.

 

[_roman_]

There are B650 boards with extra x4 slot and 3x NVMe slots. There are some speed restrictions, yes, but it is possible (the board I'm thinking of has a 5x4, 4x4, 4x2 NVMe slot, plus a PCIE 4.0 16x slot and a PCIE 3.0 x4 slot).

Note: Mechanical Lanes are just there so an Expansion Card physically fits. If there are no electrical lanes, which is most likely, some stuff may not work in that slot.

I was also fooled for a long time by those three extra 16 mechanical lanes pcie slots. Later I saw those are only pcie 3.0 with two lanes for example.

Only the mainboard manual will give you the details. I dislike those 800 amd chipsets. They come back with those slow PCIE 3.0 lanes in the expansion slots or m2 nvme slots.

Some x670 board have 2x Pcie 4x4 slots and 1x pcie 16x4 slot. And an useless shared pcie 3.0x1 slot with the sata ports.

 

[Wirko]

Note: Mechanical Lanes are just there so an Expansion Card physically fits. If there are no electrical lanes, which is most likely, some stuff may not work in that slot.

If there are zero electrical lanes then yeah, sure. But otherwise? PCIe hardware has always had excellent compatibility between generations and differing lane counts.

 

[Nelly]

ASUS the company that doesn't give a crap about peoples warranty for their over priced products, well same goes for MSI. Maybe they are all crap?

 

[Anoniem]

Meh, not impressed. I'll be keeping my X670E GENE :/ Was hoping that something would replace that board, ASUS just made a few for the US market and then just disappeared. Here in the EU it looked like there was some more stock but not that much.

 

[Carlyle2020hs]

Those pictures are awefull!
Halve decent keylight but no backlight?

I simply can´t se anthing appealing due to crappy camerawork.

 

[Chaitanya]

ASUS the company that doesn't give a crap about peoples warranty for their over priced products, well same goes for MSI. Maybe they are all crap?

With big - 3 its similar story pick your poison and prey you dont have to visit the service center.