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Exciting news for geek heads! The Zen 4-based Ryzen 7000 processors are now available for purchase. These improved chips come with highly improved single-core and multi-core performance levels that provide for a solid upgrade over the last-gen Ryzen 5000 series processors.
However, AMD has recently slowed down the production of these new chips as the current generation has experienced low demand. One of the major reasons for the sloppy sales of the Ryzen 7000 chips is the high prices of the new AM5 motherboards that support the current-gen processors.
The cheapest AM5 motherboards fare for around $200 these days. In comparison, the competition has several quality motherboards for around $100. The Intel Alder Lake lineup has a lot of choices that make the chips appealing to both budget and high-end gamers alike.
Thus, choosing a cost-effective and quality motherboard is extremely crucial if users want to opt for the latest and most effective offerings in the Ryzen 7000 lineup. Else, builders might find themselves spending thousands of dollars for their gaming PC build.
A guide to selecting the best motherboards for Ryzen 7000 processors
Before choosing the best motherboards for the Ryzen 7000 processors, users should identify which features they want from their PC. AMD has introduced four chipsets to date, including the X670 and X670 Extreme lineups at the high-end. On a budget, the company offers B650 and B650 Extreme motherboards.
Motherboard manufacturers have introduced their products based on these chips within a wide price range. This allows users to opt for a product based on their budget.
However, it is worth noting that the higher users choose to go, they may be faced with diminishing returns. Unless builders want to attempt extreme overclocking on their systems, some of the most expensive X670 motherboards are a waste of money unless the cool factor these offerings come with is what someone is willing to pay for.
B650 Extreme and X670 Extreme: Should you pay the premium?
AMD introduced the Extreme motherboards alongside their standard offerings for the first time in AMD history. Extreme motherboards do not offer any improved specs in terms of USB lanes or maximum SATA ports.
Instead, the Extreme lineup has been separated to designate PCIe Gen 5 support. The X670 Extreme motherboards pack one x16 PCIe Gen 5 slot and 1 x4 PCIe Gen 5 lane that will support the upcoming NVMe SSDs. The chipset can also support up to four PCIe GPP lanes, making up a total of 44 PCIe lanes, of which 22 are PCIe Gen 5.
While the X670 chipset can also support up to 44 PCIe lanes, only four of these lanes are PCIe Gen 5. This has been distributed between one x16 slot and two x8 slots. PCIe Gen 5 NVMe SSD support remains the same.
A similar story continues with B650 Extreme motherboards. The chipset can support up to 36 PCIe lanes, of which up to 20 can be PCIe 5.0 lanes. The B650 motherboards, on the flip side, have zero usable PCIe Gen 5 lanes. The lowest-tier boards utilize PCIe Gen 4 technology.
However, it is worth noting that PCIe Gen 5 adds zero value to the motherboards today. No graphics card supporting the next generation of PCIe connectivity has been released yet. NVMe SSDs supporting Gen 5 speeds are expected to launch shortly, but we do not have any official updates from storage device manufacturers yet.
Thus, users who are looking to save some money can opt for the B650 and X670 motherboards and save a decent amount of money.
Conclusion
Zeroing down on the motherboard chipset choice is a vital choice before proceeding. However, after one has chosen the best chipset according to their needs, they can opt for any motherboard that best suits their budget. Motherboard manufacturers have released very limited SKUs to date, mostly sticking to their high-end and budget offerings.
Most of these offerings are more than capable of handling the budget Ryzen 5 7600X and the performance-focused Ryzen 7 7700X chips. However, the Ryzen 9 7900X and 7950X require a top-of-the-line B650 or any mainstream X670 motherboard for a seamless experience.
