Newegg has a ton of listings of new AM5 B650 motherboards from Asus, MSI, Gigabyte and ASRock, including board prices. But these boards don’t come cheap. AMD’s cheapest motherboard in his B650 lineup starts at $169.99, and no board comes close to AMD’s official starting MSRP of $125. At its peak, the B650E flagship board sells for over $450.
These incredible price increases represent a major shift in purpose for AMD’s entire chipset lineup. All of AMD’s chipset models are currently competing with each other, with prices overlapping between his B650, B650E, X670 and even his X670E chipset boards. As a result, shoppers will have to pivot and start looking at motherboard model names first to find the right value. As a result, looking at the chipset name alone is almost meaningless.
This means that all motherboard models from B-series to X-series boards probably have roughly the same feature set despite the difference in chipset names. The main difference between chipset names is in connectivity and that’s it.
Starting at the low end, ASRock’s B650M PG Riptide is the cheapest B650 motherboard starting at $169.99. If you step up to mid-range boards, all of these boards fall into the $199-$300 price range. It includes models such as Asus Prime series, Asus TUF series, Gigabyte Aorus Elite board, ASRock Riptide (ATX version), MSI Mortar, Tomahawk, Edge variants and more. A full range of ATX, microATX, and mini-ITX models. To be precise, these board versions contain both the B650 and B650E chipsets.
These mid-range boards will be the best all-rounders with the best value for money on the AM5 platform. All of these boards have good USB connectivity, Wi-Fi 6E support, several M.2 slots available for users, and generally good quality power for general overclocking use. It has a feeding system.
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Above $300, it falls into the ridiculous category of B650/E motherboards. The amount of USB connectivity you get gets pretty extreme and borderline overkill for all but the most advanced power users.
The only exception is overclockers who can take advantage of the best power delivery system AMD’s AIB partners can offer. A good example is ASRock’s B650E Taichi, which offers the same 24+2+1 power delivery system as the X670E variant. So an overlocker can opt for AMD’s flagship B650E product and, unless he’s chasing world records, probably get the same overclocking experience as his flagship $1,000 X670E version. I can do it.
The X670 prices start to overlap at $250 where the X670 price starts and ends at $450 where the B650E flagship board tops out. At this $250 to $450 price point, shoppers will have to decide if they want the extra PCIe connectivity over the extra features the B650 offers. For the most part, his X670/E equivalent boards with the same brand name are priced $50-$80 more than their B650/E counterparts.
Above or below this price point, however, is where the chipset name really makes a difference, and you’ll only find B-series motherboards for under $250. Above $450, you’ll only find top-of-the-line he X670/X670E motherboards. Some reach as high as $1,000.
