AM5 B850 boards

Rob_B said:
There really isn't too much on them from the usual places. Looks like its B650 but with PCIe 5.0 ?
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Yeah, is very similar to B650E. I think PCI-E 5.0 graphics is officially optional (the PCI-E 5.0 M.2 slot is not), but almost all seem to have it anyway.

B840 is close to A620.
 
I’ve bought the Asrock B850 riptide, was going to initially buy the X870 version but didn’t really see the use for USB4 for my primarily gaming desktop for another £50, laptop would be different. Compared boards and they are very similar bar a few extra ports. VRM the same, PCI 5 and Gen 5 M2. Top audio codec, basically it’s the X870 without usb 4. Will updated once I’ve built the pc with my 9800x3d Motherboard comparisons
 
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I'm thinking of the Asrock B850 Pro RS, ticks all the boxes for me with pcie 5 for the GPU and at least one M.2 and 2.5Gbe.
 
Am considering a B850 Steel Legend. Budget is around 300EUR. Came from a B650E-E Asus Gaming Wif, but not sure I am seeing much difference here in B850.
 
stfn said:
Am considering a B850 Steel Legend. Budget is around 300EUR. Came from a B650E-E Asus Gaming Wif, but not sure I am seeing much difference here in B850.
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When you say came from b650 e does that mean you already have this board ?

If yes doesn't make sense buying a new board.
 
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mickyflinn said:
When you say came from b650 e does that mean you already have this board ?

If yes doesn't make sense buying a new board.
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I did, but I had to return it because it had bent pins. So now I have an opportunity to buy a different one, but I just don't know if I should get the same one or if I can get something better in the 250-300EUR range.
I received it early Nov, but now with X870E/B850 etc out there, just wondering if I can get else instead. Not really sure.
 
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stfn said:
I did, but I had to return it because it had bent pins. So now I have an opportunity to buy a different one, but I just don't know if I should get the same one or if I can get something better in the 250-300EUR range.
I received it early Nov, but now with X870E/B850 etc out there, just wondering if I can get else instead. Not really sure.
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The b650 steel legend is a nice board offers a lot for the money and so does the Asrock b650 Riptide

Lots of options
 
There might be an improvement in memory support with B850 motherboards but that’s a maybe and it doesn’t help when the IMC of the CPU is almost always junk with AM5.

There might be one or two other tweaks that could be nice but I don’t know.
 
Looks they start from £115, seems crazy when the B650s are more expensive.
For GPU PCIE 5.0 is 1-4% difference vs PCIE 3.0 with a 5090, vs 4.0 its barely even negligible (!)




Direct Processor PCIe® Lanes
GRAPHICSNVMe (PLUS PCIe™ GPP, UP TO)USABLE PCIe® LANES TOTAL/PCIe® 5.0(UP TO)RYZEN PROCESSOR OVERCLOCKING ENABLEDDDR5 MEMORY OVERCLOCKING ENABLED (Supports AMD EXPO™)SUPERSPEED USB 5Gbps (UP TO)SUPERSPEED USB 10Gbps (UP TO)SUPERSPEED USB 20Gbps (UP TO)MAXIMUM SATA PORTS (OR PCIe® 3.0, UP TO)USB 4.0
B8501x16 or 2x8
PCIe® 4.0		1x4 PCIe® 5.036/4YesYes1614Optional
B8401x16
PCIe® 4.0		1x4 PCIe® 4.034/0NoYes22-4Optional
B6501x16 or 2x8
PCIe® 4.0		1x4 PCIe® 4.0 (PCIe® 5.0 Optional)36/0YesYes1614Optional
A620 / A620A1x16
PCIe® 4.0		1x4 PCIe® 4.032/0NoYes22-4Optional
​
 
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This is currently the cheapest on OCUK:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £118.99 (includes delivery: £3.99)​

Super basic, should be fine for gaming loads.

According to the OCUK website it's PCI-E 4.0 for everything, ergo the "UP TO" bit in brackets. Not that I give a toss about PCI-E 5.0, there's barely any difference between PCI-E 3.0 and 5.0 on a 5090, the only time it's going to be beneficial is if you transfer huge files regularly on a top tier NvME drive.
 
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2 Dimms is fine with me, its more stable anyway :)

But yeah its a very basic board, would still choose the HDV M2 over it. It IS 5.0 though at least:

- 1 x Blazing M.2 Socket (M2_1, Key M), supports type 2280 PCIe Gen5x4 (128 Gb/s) mode*
 
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Rob_B said:
2 Dimms is fine with me, its more stable anyway :)

But yeah its a very basic board, would still choose the HDV M2 over it. It IS 5.0 though at least:

- 1 x Blazing M.2 Socket (M2_1, Key M), supports type 2280 PCIe Gen5x4 (128 Gb/s) mode*
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Aye, I'd not bother running 4 dimms in the current climate, whatever happened to the tri and quad channel days on consumer orientated hardware?

I'd be happy enough with a mobo like that for a gaming rig personally.
 
Tetras said:
I'm 99.9% sure B850 PCI-E 5.0 graphics is considered optional by AMD (the M.2 slot is not optional). The majority of boards do have it, but some of the cheaper ones don't.
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It's "optional" much as it is for the entre line, it only needs (AFAIK) to support gen5 in one respect.

I'm not sure why anyone cares however, there is something like a 3% difference on a 5090 between gen3 and 5 PCI-E. We're not even close to saturating Gen 4 PCI-E, the only reason anyone should care is if they're into transferring huge files over top tier NvME drives.
 
Whether it's 0.5% difference or 5% difference it's still a difference. There are GPU's out there which only have 8 lanes on the GPU so if it's 4.0 then it's the equivalent of PCI3.0 x16 for example. I've even heard of some with only 4 lanes on them.

Given it's a budget chipset it's likely that some people will encounter this.

So I guess the answer is you don't know, but I've pre-ordered one from OCUK and will be able to confirm once it's shipped.
 
B850 isn't budget, the B650 wasn't. B840/A620 are the budget range.

Definitely interested in more views on the 850, I've seen barely anything talking about them which I suspect is because they're not that interesting.
 
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