Recently, AMD unveiled their upcoming AM4 B550 chipsets in the AMD Ryzen™ Spring 2020 Desktop Update, and enthusiasts have more than one thing to be eager about. Not only does the B550 chipset support the yet to be announced AMD Ryzen 4000 CPUs, but it also promises noteworthy features that set it apart from the previous AMD B450 motherboards.
Price:
If there’s one thing entry-level builders have in common, it’s budget. Fortunately, AMD’s B550 motherboards debut from as low as $100. This makes them $50 cheaper than the previous B450 motherboards. If you are a budget-conscious consumer, the B550 motherboard is certainly worth the investment. Not only this, but the B550 motherboard is actually $70 cheaper than AMD’s X570 motherboard. Economically, the B550 motherboards are rather remarkable!
Features:
One of the features that provide the B550 chipset with an edge over the B450 chipset is its support for the new PCIe 4.0 slots. If you’re considering to future-pace your computer, the B550’s support for PCIe 4.0 and Dual-GPU is the way to go.
Apart from this, the B550 motherboard has support for USB 3.2 Generation 2. With speeds up to 10 Gbps, it has an advantage over the B450 motherboard – which supports USB 3.1 Generation 1. AMD’s B550 motherboard seems enticing at the price of, say, $90.
Compatibility:
When it comes to compatibility with AMD Ryzen CPUs, the AM4 B550 chipset provides frictionless functionality with the AMD Ryzen 3rd Generation CPUs. Not only does the B550 chipset support ‘Zen 2’-based CPUs, its chipset is built to support the upcoming AMD Ryzen 4th Generation CPUs as well. While it doesn’t support the AMD Ryzen 5 3400G and Ryzen 3 3200G, it’s still a more future-paced option than the B450 chipset – which does not support the upcoming ‘Zen 3’-based CPUs.
Apart from the CPUs, the PCIe 4.0 slots are compatible with 4th Generation storage devices, including the NVMe M.2 SSDs.
It seems that AMD wants to provide all the premium features while keeping the price as low as possible. I’m not going to lie, the AM4 B550 chipset is intriguing! If you’re on a budget and want to invest in something worthwhile, the B550 motherboard would be the way to go. AMD Ryzen 4000 CPUs are just around the corner and for a price of $100, you can avail cutting-edge features.