AMD’s Ryzen 7000 Series CPUs are now available at prices similar to the previous gen. Unfortunately, that comes with a catch. This powerful CPU lineup requires the new AM5 socket to power up, and the cheapest X670 boards available at this time begin around $299, while premium X670E lines easily exceed $500. On top of this, pricey DDR5 is the only memory spec supported for Ryzen 7000, and you’ll want a high-end cooler in order to keep things cool. With these things in mind, it’s obvious many consumers are ready for AMD to reveal its supposedly affordable B650 and B650E chipsets and the associated families of motherboards.
AMD has a Meet the Experts webinar scheduled for October 4 at 11 AM ET to introduce B650 and B650E options. Fortunately, VideoCardz managed to grab some early product photos from the major motherboard manufacturers. A few more of the photos come from Benchlife, making that a total of 16 models for preview. We’ve included a view pictures here, but you can see the full gallery in the original post from VideoCardz.
Budget boards never looked better
The board designs are a mix of small form factor ITX and full-size ATX and all look great with modern styling to complement other flashy new components. These are designs from the usual manufacturers including MSI, Gigabyte, and ASRock. Familiar gaming lines such as ASRock’s Steel Legend, Phantom Gaming, Riptide, and Taichi boards are all set to go. MSI’s Mortar, Carbon, Tomahawk, and Pro families can also be seen. As for Gigabyte, there will be the usual Aorus Master, Elite, Ultra, and Aero models. ASUS managed to keep things under wraps for this one, but we’ll likely see its TUF and ROG designs officially revealed in short order.
(Image credit: VideoCardz).
AMD’s B650 and premium B650E lineup should be solid options in terms of specs. We still don’t have the exact details of all the specs, but AMD has hinted there will be PCIe 5.0 support for graphics cards on B650E boards, along with enough PCIe 5.0 and 4.0 storage support for most gamers’ needs. Standard B650 will offer PCIe 4.0 support for graphics cards, and PCIe 4.0 support for storage. If you’re unsure of what these differences mean for you, we have a write-up on PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 5.0 as it applies to gaming. If these boards fall within attractive price ranges above $125, it will make Ryzen 7000 CPUs like the 7600X far more practical to buy.
Otherwise, gamers might as well stick with getting a Ryzen 5000 Series CPU if they already have a compatible AM4 board and decent DDR4. Likewise, Intel has some great budget options for Alder Lake and soon Raptor Lake CPUs as well that will work well with DDR4. We’ll find out soon at AMD’s upcoming event for B650 and B650E motherboards.
Please note all prices are in USD.Â
(Image credit: VideoCardz).
