In our series of motherboard buyers guides, here’s the latest update to our list of recommended AMD motherboards. All numbers in the text are updated …
In our series of motherboard buyers guides, here’s the latest update to our list of recommended AMD motherboards. All numbers in the text are updated to reflect pricing at the time of writing. This month has been another hot one for AMD, with the announcement that its latest Zen 3 processors (Ryzen 5000) which will be available from November 5th. In anticipation of this release, numerous motherboard vendors have come forward such as ASUS to announce that Ryzen 5000 will be supported across the majority of its mainstream chipsets including X570 and B550, with X470 and B450 support coming in Q1 next year. With this launch likely to dominate much of furor over the next couple of months, here are our AMD motherboard picks for October 2020 which focuses specifically on 500-series models. Looking at another highly competitive Q3 2020 and going into Q4 2020 for AMD, we highlight our best motherboard choices for October 2020 based on AMD models currently available. Both B550 and X570 dominate the selections with support for PCIe 4.0. Looking for our best Intel motherboard choices? Head on over to our Intel Motherboard Buyers Guide instead! Our recommendations for motherboards are based entirely on my personal and professional opinion. There are notably a large number of different motherboards across the AMD chipsets including B450, X570 and more recently, B550, so I selected my top four picks based on the four market segments. Much of our attention is on consumer desktop boards (socket AM4), though we are well aware of the benefits of TRX40 and Threadripper. We may look to include a HEDT based segment going forward in future guides if there is interest from our readership to include it. As Coronavirus restrictions begin to lift in certain regions, the pandemic is still causing an effect within the industry. The impact that the Coronavirus has had on pricing has been considered in the guide as well, with some fluctuation on hardware pricing already taking hold. Some boards from our previous picks (September 2020) have had stock issues, so we’ve adjusted our guide slightly to accommodate for this. It’s also worth noting that B550 is generally considered the budget AM4 platform, but the pricing has been a little topsy-turvy with some boards reaching (and even surpassing) the prices of low-end X570 boards. AMD has also recently announced its entry-level A520 chipset, with some very price conscientious models to select from. All of these points have been taken into consideration in our October 2020 guide for the AMD selections. We also recently announced AMD’s next-generation Zen 3 processors, the Ryzen 5000 series, which our resident CPU guru, Dr. Ian Cutress, has extrapolated and outlined here: AMD Ryzen 5000 and Zen 3 on Nov 5th: +19% IPC, Claims Best Gaming CPU. On paper, the new Zen 3 desktop processors look to pack a punch with higher turbo frequencies (4.9 GHz on the Ryzen 9 5950X), but a firmware update will be required on older models such as B450 and X470. Users that purchase one of the new Ryzen 5000 CPUs on November 5th and beyond can use the Processor Loan Boot Kit programme which AMD is running if they obtain a board without the required firmware. For users looking for other options, we’ve also gone over multiple chipset families as well in the links below. In our Best Sweet Spot, we’ve opted for a board with plenty of functionality and features, while also benefiting from PCIe 4.0. Boards based on the B550 chipset offer partial PCIe 4.0 support, with Ryzen CPUs driving both a single full-length PCIe x16 slot as well as a PCIe x4 M.2 slot at PCIe 4.0 speeds. One of the best B550 boards we’ve seen which we have reviewed to date is the ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming WIFI, a higher-end B550 board that received our Recommended by AnandTech award. You can read our full review here: The ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi Motherboard Review: Premium Value What makes it our pick over the other 500-series is its solid level of quality and performance offered at a very competitive price point. It includes two PCIe M.2 slots, with the top slot operating at PCIe 4.0 x4, and the second slot at PCIe 3.0 x4. It uses a full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot which is driven from the CPU at the top of the PCIe area, while the bottom full-length PCIe slot is electronically locked down to PCIe 3.0 x4, with three PCIe 3.0 x1 slots also controlled by the chipset. The ASUS model also benefits from a stacked rear panel with two USB 3.
