As reported last week in anticipation of the event, AMD just held a partner showcase for its new AM5 motherboard lineup. These next-generation high-end motherboards are geared toward enthusiasts and come with most features you’d expect. Since this was a partner showcase, AMD wasn’t alone in presenting these motherboards. ASRock, Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, and Biostar each had representatives to discuss the respective products.
AMD outlined what users can expect from the next-generation AM5 motherboards. Firstly, these AMD motherboards utilize the X670 and X670E chipsets. Standard X670 supports overclocking, while the X670E supports extreme overclocking, PCIe 5.0 slots for up to two graphics cards, and an M.2 slot for an PCIe 5.0 SSD.
AM5 motherboards also support a TDP of up to 170W, dual-channel DDR5 memory support, up to four HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.0 ports, and up to 14 USB 3.2 and Type-C ports on some models. A few motherboards also come with Wi-Fi 6E support as well. As usual, the exact features will vary from model to model.
A slew of AMD AM5 motherboards
Let’s kick things off with Asus’s offering of AM5 motherboards for the next-generation AMD CPUs. There are two motherboards offer here: the Crosshair X670E Extreme and the Crosshair X670E Hero. Both of these come with the same sort of configuration. The Extreme is technically the more advanced of the two thanks to its extra 10G Ethernet port, plus it has more RGB. The X670E Extreme also has 20+2 power stages, in comparison to the Hero’s 18+2.
ASRock plans to debut five X670E motherboards in total for AMD’s AM5 platform. These include the X670E Taichi Carrara, X670E Taichi, X670E Steel Legend, X670E Pro RS, and X670E PG Lightning.
In contrast, Biostar only has one motherboard entering the market with the X670E Valkyrie. This features four M.2 storage slots, a 2.5G ethernet port, nine USB 3.2 ports, and two display outputs including HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4.
Gigabyte has four motherboards for the AMD AM5 platform, including two X670 models, which we haven’t seen any of yet. This lineup includes the X670E Aorus Xtreme, X670E Aorus Master, X670 Aorus Pro AX, and the X670 Aorus Elite AX. The best of these from a specification perspective is the Xtreme, which features an 18+2+2 power delivery, while the others have 16+2+2.
MSI also has four boards entering the market, with the MEG X670E Godlike, MEG X670E ACE, MPG X670E Carbon, and the PRO X670-P. Unsurprisingly, the Godlike is MSI’s flagship motherboard and comes with 24+2 power delivery and an M-Vision dashboard.
Not much longer now
While AMD did not launch its Zen 4 CPUs at the event, we don’t have much longer to wait. Thanks to VideoCardz, which spotted some leaked slides from MSI, we know AM5 X670E motherboards launch on September 15. This coincides with other rumors that both the AMD X670(E) motherboards and Ryzen 7000 Series will launch on that day.
This is an exciting generational leap for AMD Ryzen that will finally include support for DDR5 memory, PCIe 5.0, and Wi-Fi 6E. At the moment, there are at least 16 motherboards launching with the Ryzen 7000 Series, so there’s plenty of choice when it comes to that. When everything’s finally been released, we can start delving into more specifics regarding which motherboards may or may not be the best fit for certain configurations. For now though, we’re still eagerly anticipating the late August reveal of AMD’s Ryzen 7000 CPU lineup.
(Image credit: MSI).
