At the Computex 2024 last month, AMD unveiled its upcoming 800-series chipset lineup, which includes X870E, X870, B850, and B840. Out of these, the first two chipsets will be targeted at high-end builds, the B850 will be the mainstream chipset, and the B840 is for entry-level rigs.
The details about flagship X870E and X870 motherboards have been out for a while, and these are clearly enthusiast-level choices, with brands like ASRock already showing off its collection. However, we now have more information about the B850 and the B840 ahead of the Ryzen 9000 series launch on July 31st.
B850 will support CPU overclocking, but B840 won’t
As per the specs, the B840 motherboard chipset is entry-level and offers quite basic features. Unlike other motherboards in the 800 series, this one is limited to PCIe Gen 3.0. The B840 comes with 16 dedicated lanes for the graphics card, but, again, these will be slower than Gen 4.
This chipset will support USB 3.2 up to 10 Gbps, but they do not have the latest USB4 or even the USB 3.2 20 Gbps options. Plus, the overclocking is limited to memory, so users won’t be able to overclock their processor.
An upside here is that these are likely to be budget-friendly. However, in this case, users might opt for the A620 chipset, which has PCIe 4.0 support and offers slightly better features.
Meanwhile, the AMD B850 chipset will make use of PCIe Gen 4 and Gen 5, which are faster than PCIe 3. Gen 5 slots can be used for M.2 NVME SSDs, leaving Gen 4 free for components such as your graphics card. Manufacturers will have the choice to dedicate Gen 5 for the GPU – so users can pick the variant as per their preferences. The B850 also offers USB 3.2 (the 20 Gbps version), thus skipping out on the latest USB4, which is one of the only benefits of X870 when compared to last-gen.
However, unlike the B840, the B850 offers support for CPU and memory overclocking, which is a better offering for gamers and power users. In fact, users who don’t really plan on using USB4 can consider the B850 motherboard instead of the enthusiast-level X870E and X870 and possibly save some dollars.
The 800 series motherboards will not be available immediately
As mentioned, AMD’s 9000 series processors are about to launch on July 31st, which is around two weeks away. However, the new motherboards are likely to be released a few months later – possibly in September, as per current speculation. Until then, early buyers who get their hands on the upcoming 9000 series processor can use the existing AM5 motherboards based on the 600 series, which should save you some cash comparatively.
While AMD has revealed the release date and specs, prices of the upcoming CPUs haven’t been disclosed. However, some retailers are already listing the new processors, leaking price & availability in some regions. If you’re interested in being an early adapter, you can keep track of where to buy Ryzen 9000 series CPUs.
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AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D
