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ASRock's B650 Motherboard Lineup Leaks Ahead of Official Reveal

TheLostSwede

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Unfortunately there's no pricing attached to this leak, unlike the earlier pricing details for MSI's B650 motherboards from B&H, but Videocardz has managed to get the specs for ASRocks upcoming B650 and B650E motherboards. Once again we're looking at a collection of seven models, four B650E and three B650 models in total. Something interesting to note that Videocardz is pointing out, is that only the cheapest board in the lineup has a six layer PCB, with most models using an eight layer PCB and the Mini-ITX board is going up to 10 layers. In other words it seems like most entry level boards are now using high-end PCBs, due to the transition to PCIe 5.0.

The base model is the B650 PG Lightning, which is a pretty feature stripped motherboard, yet all PCIe slots are said to be PCIe 4.0 and it has a pre-installed I/O shield. It comes with 2.5 Gbps Ethernet, but WiFi is optional. At least there's a rear mounted 20 Gbps USB-C port here and the board has a total of three M.2 slots, of which one is PCIe 5.0. On the same kind of level sits B650 Pro RS, which is a step down in the sense that one of the M.2 slots PCIe 3.0 x2 and it has fewer PCIe slot, but it appears to have slightly fancier cooling for the VRMs and it gains a DisplayPort output around the back.




Next we have the B650M PG Riptide WiFi, which has four expansion slots, which is something of a rarity for mATX boards these days, with both of the PCIe x1 slots being of the 3.0 variety. For whatever reason, the USB-C ports are only 10 Gbps on this board. It's ATX brethren is the B650E PG Riptide WiFi which as the name suggests is based on the B650E chipset. This means that the x16 slot is PCIe 5.0, although the secondary PCIe x16 is only PCIe 3.0. This board uses an AMD WiFi module and a Killer E3100 (Intel) 2.5 Gbps Ethernet controller. Once again, one of the M.2 slots is PCIe 3.0 x2 on this board.



This brings us to the B650E PG-ITX WiFi which of course is a Mini-ITX board and as such is fairly light on features, yet still manages to cram in two M.2 slots and of course a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot. It also has better audio than the lower-tier boards before it and it seems to have DP support over USB-C, or at least this is what the eDP display output suggests, as the board lacks an eDP header. This time around the Killer E3100 controller has been joined by a Killer AX1675 WiFi 6E controller, so support for Killer's Double Shot feature should be supported.



A step further up in the stack is the B650E Steel Legend WiFi, which is a slightly improved version of the B650E PG Riptide, as it has two PCIe 4.0 and one PCIe 5.0 M.2 slots. It loses out on the x1 expansion slot, but on the other hand, the secondary x16 slot is now PCIe 4.0, even though it's likely to only support four lanes of bandwidth. For some reason, this board only has two SATA ports, which might not be to everyone's liking.



The top of the range model from ASRock is the B650E Taichi, which has the most advanced power regulation out of the lot and the most elaborate heatsink design. This is also the only board to feature Realtek's ALC4082 USB based audio controller, as well as an ESS Sabre 9218 DAC. It also has an Intel Thunderbolt 4 chip, that also adds USB4 support, although you only get a single port around the back. It has a rather oddly placement for what should be the PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot, as it sits between the memory slots and the 24-pin ATX power connector on the board.



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Yeah, the best time for AMD, etc. to force upgrades / raise prices doing a recession... Oops... I mean... amid a macroeconomy. :shadedshu:

You just gotta wonder, who are these analysts/advisors on their payrolls, eh?
 
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Yeah, the best time for AMD, etc. to force upgrades / raise prices doing a recession... Oops... I mean... amid a macroeconomy. :shadedshu:

You just gotta wonder, who are these analysts/advisors on their payrolls, eh?

We are more in an inflation that may evolve into recession, but currently we are more in an inflation right now.

Components are more expensive, all those chipsets they don't manufacture are more expensive etc.
Now the first question would be: What margin is left for the AIBs and AMD ?

we don't have the asrock prices, hopefully there are 150-170$ options
 
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I'd like to see a (future) review in regards of this VRM madness on motherboards these days.

I get it. Since the AM3+ platform and the beloved FX it was kind of tricky to determine which board was good or which not. But since AM4 and this goes out for Intel as well motherboard vendors have bin designing such VRM's with over 20 phases now and up to 1500+ amps of continuous current.

Thats enough power to start welding things together basicly. If you look at server boards, with CPU support of over 400W, they get away with simple 4 phase designs. And i know if a VRM is build properly you really dont need 20 phase or so at that point. Having a 20 phase VRM on a AM4 platform for example is utterly useless.

It is only in these extreme conditions that a larger phase might actually do something in regards of a more stable voltage, but it's really within the marging.

Its just an excuse to jack up the pricing; 99% of users who buy such motherboards wont even tap into it's 50% potential.
 
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Yeah, the best time for AMD, etc. to force upgrades / raise prices doing a recession... Oops... I mean... amid a macroeconomy. :shadedshu:

You just gotta wonder, who are these analysts/advisors on their payrolls, eh?
More a problem coming from the mobo guys than AMD. Sure AMD can try force lower pricing, but still.

Besides, the main problem is that PCIe speeds keep rising but costs also do, so its inevitable.
 
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What is with mobo producers and ALC897 ? it's like they have a fetish with it. ALC1220 should be a standard on any plus 150$ board in 2022.

10 or so years ago external DACs / Amps were bulky and expensive and internal audio made a comeback and MB audio was good enough….

But now external DACs / AMPs are small and inexpensive and of extraordinary quality. So the market has shifted again and fewer people use internal audio.

Check out hifi sites for options and you will understand how little internal audio matters.

Cheers.
 
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10 or so years ago external DACs / Amps were bulky and expensive and internal audio made a comeback and MB audio was good enough….

But now external DACs / AMPs are small and inexpensive and of extraordinary quality. So the market has shifted again and fewer people use internal audio.

Check out hifi sites for options and you will understand how little internal audio matters.

Cheers.
On a recent ASUS ITX board, there wasn't even onboard audio (at least no rear panel audio), they ship an external USB DAC/AMP instead.


Though when it comes to ITX, I'm a bit mixed. If I am choosing ITX, I'm already pursuing small size as a key factor. So more onboard capabilities are preferred. Also more onboard USB ports. Then again, ITX/SFF might be a dead man walking this time around, relegated back to low power and midrange systems. Just like it was 10 years ago.
 
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"most models using an eight layer PCB and the Mini-ITX board is going up to 10 layers. In other words it seems like most entry level boards are now using high-end PCBs, due to the transition to PCIe 5.0."

There is always a cost associated with performance.
 
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Something interesting to note that Videocardz is pointing out, is that only the cheapest board in the lineup has a six layer PCB, with most models using an eight layer PCB and the Mini-ITX board is going up to 10 layers.
I guess this explains the surge in price that we saw in the last article with the MSi boards.
 
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Someone tell ASRock that there is no point to put have only 2 PCI-E slots on a motherboard if they are so close to one another. Might as well just go with 1 at that rate...

Seriously, with those designs if you have a beefy video card and also add a soundcard, and block 30% off the ventialtion...
 
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Yeah, the best time for AMD, etc. to force upgrades / raise prices doing a recession... Oops... I mean... amid a macroeconomy. :shadedshu:

You just gotta wonder, who are these analysts/advisors on their payrolls, eh?
Products like these have been in development for years. Not long ago, they couldn’t make enough chips to sell. A flailing economy is not good news to them either. This is one of the risks all of these companies run, when they make high-power-consumption hardware that requires fancy cooling and elaborate power delivery. It’s only a winning formula when people have the means. Apple seems to be the only tech company going the other way on energy consumption and overall complexity.
 
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Where is the exclusive DRAM sticker?
 
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No love for mATX fans? And why ALC 897 which is basically ALC 892 become standard now? I got ALC 1200 on my board and its sound terrible.
 
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What is with mobo producers and ALC897 ? it's like they have a fetish with it. ALC1220 should be a standard on any plus 150$ board in 2022.
Doesn't matter what they use, onboard will forever remain shit, unless you have shitty headphones and can't tell the difference.

I have AKG K601 headphones and tried the onboard on my Z590 Steel Legend vs my $250 Sound Blaster ZXR from 2013, and the difference was night and day. The onboard was flat, shallow and soulless.
 

Mack4285

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I read something about BIOS flashback being a requirement from AMD for all AM5 motherboards? But I don't see a button on all AsRock boards. Particulaly, I wonder if AsRock has learned from their B550 itx model, that was the only one on the market without bios flashback. Must have affected their sales of that board badly.
 

GenericNinja

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BIOs flashback is supported in hardware by the AM5 chipset making it far easier and cheaper to put on a board. Motherboard makers however can choose to implement it or not, it is not required however.
 
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No love for mATX fans? And why ALC 897 which is basically ALC 892 become standard now? I got ALC 1200 on my board and its sound terrible.
mATX will come this is ASRock they will make some really cheap mATX boards in the near future.

They use cheap audio chips because more and more people are just using USB sound anyways.
 
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