AMD poor choice of MicroATX

Trustdesa · 6 Oct 2020 at 13:15

Hi Guys,

I am on Intel currently, 8700k, not sure I will upgrade for gaming only as probably difference will be minimal if any (it is overclocked) however doing productivity, editing and 3D I was looking at Zen 3 but...

I was quite surprised but the total lack of MicroATX motherboard on their top line, x570, there is only a questionable Asrock but nothing from Asus or MSI.

There are a few neat MiniITX which would still fit my h400 (which currently house my asus rog z370i) however when looking at Intel there are tons and tons of options whilst with AMD except B550 there is really nothing and x570 has been out for quite a while now.

I mean time of people building huge PC have gone since the many slots useful in the late 90s are now pointless for most users...market is different, some gamers are older with different commitment and space needs or simply do not want a huge case 1/2 empty.

With Zen 3 this week do you think a better choice of MB will be available? I mean they charge an arm and a leg for AMD motherboard at least some options would be a good thing!

Armageus · 6 Oct 2020 at 13:28

What benefit do you think a X570 would offer over a B550 in Micro ATX or ITX format?

Trustdesa · 6 Oct 2020 at 13:51

Well let's start by the obvious, which to me (and probably others as we are 7b + people), look.... B550 look totally rubbish, even the ASUS TUF, they did not even bother to add a full led strip on the side but 4 miserable ones at the bottom, that's one of the best B550 and yet looks awful to me.

Less PCI4 lanes too for storage, that's more of a "matter of principle" as honestly NMVE on my current setup is even too fast to even notice any real world difference so can imagine 4.0 will be not a day and night change.

But overall as an AMD-Ignorant person I was very confused by the lack of options, it seems MB vendor just do AMD boards just because they have to, not sure if that is due of AMD supporting a socket for so long not to be an interesting partner for them.

I may still grab a mini ITX as honestly in the H400 looks good (not sure why NZXT decided to discontinue it, probably the best case owned)

Armageus · 6 Oct 2020 at 14:23

Trustdesa said:
Well let's start by the obvious, which to me (and probably others as we are 7b + people), look.... B550 look totally rubbish, even the ASUS TUF, they did not even bother to add a full led strip on the side but 4 miserable ones at the bottom, that's one of the best B550 and yet looks awful to me.

Looks and opinion are subjective - I'd personally not have any RGB on a motherboard. As a MSI B450M Mortar Max owner, the RGB software is shockingly bad anyway. If you want RGB, I personally think you are better buying a 3rd party control that isn't tied to whatever motherboard brand you want to use.

Trustdesa said:
Less PCI4 lanes too for storage, that's more of a "matter of principle" as honestly NMVE on my current setup is even too fast to even notice any real world difference so can imagine 4.0 will be not a day and night change.

Intel don't even have PCI-E 4.0 lanes for storage, so that will be part of the blame - I imagine as soon as they do, then we'll see dual pci-e 4.0 M2 slots become the norm across the both parties (on everything mid range and up).

Personally I think B550 was just a stop gap chipset - it addressed the concerns some had regarding X570 with it's chipset fan, and offered Motherboard manufacturers a new product to sell (even though B450 motherboards are more than adequate on the whole).
Hopefully when the latest generation of Ryzen launches, AMD will launch another new Chipset.

Joxeon · 6 Oct 2020 at 14:44

Trustdesa said:
Well let's start by the obvious, which to me (and probably others as we are 7b + people), look.... B550 look totally rubbish, even the ASUS TUF, they did not even bother to add a full led strip on the side but 4 miserable ones at the bottom, that's one of the best B550 and yet looks awful to me.

Less PCI4 lanes too for storage, that's more of a "matter of principle" as honestly NMVE on my current setup is even too fast to even notice any real world difference so can imagine 4.0 will be not a day and night change.

But overall as an AMD-Ignorant person I was very confused by the lack of options, it seems MB vendor just do AMD boards just because they have to, not sure if that is due of AMD supporting a socket for so long not to be an interesting partner for them.

I may still grab a mini ITX as honestly in the H400 looks good (not sure why NZXT decided to discontinue it, probably the best case owned)

You could always add pcie nvme adapter if you need more lanes for storage.

orbitalwalsh · 6 Oct 2020 at 15:27

iif you can find it

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B550M-AORUS-PRO-P-rev-10#kf

animal for itx that beats x570 counterpart

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B550I-AORUS-PRO-AX-rev-10#kf

also Master b550 is the most powerful board to b550/x570/z490 . even with triple pcie 4.0 m.2s and £100 cheaper then x570 master.

for Gigabyte at least, you take Z490 looks plus its vrm + b550 vrm line up - its easy to see how their x670 line up will be. Remember Doublers are also low in stock so twinned or direct 16 channel PWM. X670 also £££