Mar 28, 2024 | Updated: 11:35 AM EDT

AMD Ushers In A New Era of Motherboards; Different Ryzen Types Offer Different Designs & Nifty User Benefits

Mar 05, 2017 05:58 AM EST

A new era of Ryzen processors has been launched. While there are currently a lot of good motherboards in the market, there are some differences that a buyer should take into consideration before making that decision. With this, selecting the correct motherboard has become simpler and more crucial than ever.

PC Gamer reports that the launch of these new Ryzen processors marks AMD's return to the enthusiast market. Its next generation processor architecture has built up some hype until its final release. As of the moment, there are already early indications that Ryzen is the real deal. More will be revealed in the days to come. For those who plan to build an entire system around Ryzen, the top three processors are already available for pre-order.

PC World reports that what is good about this is that AMD will be doing away with a hodgepodge of motherboard platforms so that they could unite around the AM4 socket with Ryzen CPUs, Bristol Ridge APUs and other chips that are to be released. There is a wide variety of chipsets available for AM4 motherboards and each of them can unlock different capabilities in a computer. With this, one has to examine what each AM4 chipset offers to come up with the right decision for a motherboard for a Ryzen processor.

Ryzen, as well as AMD's Bristol Ridge APUs, actually resemble a system-on-a-chip layout more than a traditional CPU. AMD's processors have built-in support for many interfaces on the chip which include USB, PCI-E, SATA and NVMe. These differences build additional capabilities on top of all those that can be supported.

The first and the most basic from this line up would be the A320 motherboard -- the basic and no frills AM4 model intended for budget systems and maybe from big-box PCs, like those coming from Dell and HP. These types from the Ryzen line support a single 10 Gbps USB 3.1 gen. 2 port, two 5 Gbps USB 3.1 gen 1 ports and up to six USB 2.0 connections.

There are more specialized options that Ryzen offers for PC users with different needs. The B350 motherboards would be more suitable for PC gamers who would want to stick to single GPU setups. There are also the X370 motherboards which add four more 5 Gbps USB gen 1 ports and twice as many SATA connections.

More: AMD, AMD Ryzen
Real Time Analytics