AMD AM5 Motherboards Finally Reach $125 Mark with ASRock’s mATX B650M-HDV/M.2
When AMD announced its Ryzen 7000 series processors and AM5 platform last September, it said motherboards for the new CPUs would eventually hit mainstream price points. However, about six months after launch, the AM5 motherboards proved to be a stubbornly high price point. This is one reason why the platform has been slow to gain mass adoption. Luckily, this week ASRock started selling his new budget microATX motherboard, his B650M-HDV/M.2.
Most existing AM5 motherboards, including those based on the mid-range B650 chipset, are typically aimed at enthusiasts looking for additional features and willing to pay for them. increase. As a result, there is a shortage of truly cheap B650 boards on the market.But finally, ASRock’s B650M-HDV/M.2,Which $125 Get the benefits of AMD’s latest platforms at an affordable price.
Considering this is a $125 motherboard, it’s fair to say it doesn’t have a lot of frills. But ASRock seems to strike a good balance between features and cost. The resulting board only offers 2 DDR5 DIMM slots (1 DPC) and as a non-Extreme motherboard the PCIe x16 slot is PCIe 4.0 only. But ASRock managed to build a VRM system powerful enough to support all AM5 processors (including the top-of-the-line Ryzen 9 7950X3D). Meanwhile, the I/O connectivity includes two physical PCIe 4.0 x16 slots (x16 and x4 electrical), PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slot and PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot for SSD, USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port, Four SATA connectors, a 2.5GbE port, an M.2-2230 slot for Wi-Fi adapters, and a Realtek ALC897 7.1-channel audio controller.
The end result is a relatively inexpensive AM5 board that, on paper, looks more than adequate to build a high-performance Ryzen 7000 system.
“When AM5 launched, I said motherboards would start at $125,” wrote David McAfee, CVP and general manager of Ryzen channel business at AMD. Tweet.” as hot hardware As you can see, my timing may have been a bit off, but I’m happy to say that ASRock is the first to market with the $125 B650 board for AMD Ryzen. ”
The motherboard has a basic 8+2+1 phase CPU VRM which is not intended for overclocking, but is sufficient to run the processor at stock clocks. It only supports 64 GB of DDR5-6400 memory as it only has 2 DIMM slots. However, besides the fact that 64GB is sufficient for most desktop workloads, Ryzen 7000 processors experience a significant drop in memory frequency with more than 1 DIMM per channel, so 4 DIMMs is ideal. not targeted. The platform does not have PCIe 5.0 x16 slots for graphics boards, but there are no consumer graphics cards with such an interface anyway. Otherwise, if you want Wi-Fi on your desktop computer, M.2-2230 adapters are not expensive, but keep in mind that the motherboard doesn’t have built-in Wi-Fi support.
For now, ASRock’s B650M-HDV/M.2 is the only $125 motherboard for AM5 processors, but other board makers have followed suit, offering cheaper boards that can be used in cheaper Ryzen 7000 systems. I’m hoping that it will allow me to build. Ultimately, AMD is set to introduce his A620 chipset with cut-down features that will allow motherboard makers to offer an even cheaper AM5 platform. But for now, the cheap B650M-HDV/M.2for $125 at New Egg seems like a reasonable choice.
