When AMD launched its Ryzen 7000-series processors and AM5 platform final September, it stated that over time motherboards for the brand new CPUs would get to mainstream value factors. But, almost six months after launch, AM5 motherboards have confirmed to be cussed of their excessive costs, which is likely one of the causes of the platform’s sluggish adoption by the plenty. Luckily, this week ASRock began to promote a brand new finances microATX motherboard, the B650M-HDV/M.2, which has change into first one to land on retail cabinets for $125.
Most current AM5 motherboards, together with these based mostly on the mid-range B650 chipset, are usually geared toward fans who’re searching for additional options and keen to pay for them. Because of this, there’s been a dearth of actually low-cost B650 boards available on the market. However, in the end, issues are beginning to flip round with ASRock’s B650M-HDV/M.2, which at $125 is ready to deliver some great benefits of AMD’s newest platform all the way down to a lower cost level.
On condition that this can be a $125 motherboard, it is truthful to say it is not packed to the gills with frills. However ASRock appears to have completed a great job balancing options with prices. The ensuing board provides simply 2 DDR5 DIMM slots (1 DPC) and as a non-Excessive motherboard the PCIe x16 slot is simply PCIe 4.0. However ASRock has nonetheless been capable of construct in a robust sufficient VRM system to helps all AM5 processors (together with the top-of-the-range Ryzen 9 7950X). In the meantime, I/O connectivity consists of two bodily PCIe 4.0 x16 slots (x16 and x4 electrical), a PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slot and a PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot for SSDs, a USB 3.2 Gen2 Kind-C port, 4 SATA connectors, a 2.5GbE port, an M.2-2230 slot for a Wi-Fi adapter, and a Realtek ALC897 7.1-channel audio controller.
The top result’s a comparatively low-cost AM5 board that, on paper, seems prefer it ought to nonetheless be greater than sufficient for a constructing a high-performance Ryzen 7000 system.
“When AM5 launched I stated that we’d see motherboards beginning at $125,” wrote David McAfee, CVP and GM of Ryzen channel enterprise at AMD, in a Tweet. “As HotHardware seen, my timing ‘would possibly’ have been a bit off, however I am pleased to see that ASRock is first to market with a $125 B650 board for AMD Ryzen.”
The motherboard has a fundamental 8+2+1-phase CPU VRM that isn’t meant for overclocking, however it’s adequate for working processors at inventory clocks. Because it solely has 2 DIMM slots, it solely helps 64 GB of DDR5-6400 reminiscence; although in addition to the truth that 64 GB must be sufficient for many desktop workloads, Ryzen 7000 processors take a major reminiscence frequency hit with greater than 1 DIMM per channel anyhow, making 4 DIMMs non-ideal. The platform doesn’t have a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot for graphics boards, however there are not any client graphics playing cards with such interface anyway. In any other case, it must be famous that the motherboard doesn’t have built-in Wi-Fi help, although M.2-2230 adapters aren’t costly to return by if Wi-Fi is required on a desktop pc.
For now, ASRock’s B650M-HDV/M.2 is the one $125 motherboard for AM5 processors, however we hope to see different board makers to comply with swimsuit and supply cheaper boards to permit for extra cheap Ryzen 7000 system builds. Finally AMD is predicted to introduce its A620 chipset with cut-down options that may enable motherboard makers to supply even cheaper AM5 platforms. However for now the cheap B650M-HDV/M.2for $125 at Newegg looks as if an affordable selection.
