Motherboards

ASUS has just launched its new X870 MAX Gaming motherboards that will slot in between the TUF and PRIME series motherboards, acting as new budget-focused X870 mobos.

ASUS motherboards are usually priced higher apart from their PRIME series motherboards, which has allowed ASRock, GIGABYTE, and MSI to position themselves more competitively in the market, but that all changes with ASUS's introduction of the new MAX series motherboards.

TUF is positioned as higher-end than PRIME, while acting as lower than ROG, while offering features that are great for the price point in its mid-range market. ASUS's new MAX series motherboards will be an alternative to TUF with some compromises of course, but it'll be better featured than the PRIME series.

ASUS held a ROG event in China over the weekend, unveiling a slew of new products including the flagship ROG Crosshair X870E Extreme motherboard, check it out:

The new ASUS ROG Crosshair X870E Extreme motherboard features an E-ATX design, with a slick all-black theme with a few accents in silver. ASUS is using high-end power delivery with multiple VRMs in the form of a 20+2+2 phase (110A) power design, powered by dual 8-pin EPS power connectors.

We have 4 x DDR5 DIMM slots that support up to 256GB of memory, with up to DDR5-8200 speeds supported, as well as a ROG Q-DIMM.2 slot next to the memory DIMMs, which can support an AIC (add-in card) with dual M.2 SSD slots for additional SSD storage. The ROG Crosshair X870E Extreme motherboard features dual PCIe 5.0 x16 and M.2 slots with at least 5 slots (3 physical + 2 x Q-DIMM).

AMD's new Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D processors are nearly here, with COLORFUL introducing its new "X3D Gaming Mode" following motherboard makers providing optimizations for X3D processors.

COLORFUL's new X3D Gaming Mode can be used for non-X3D processors as well, but it will help X3D processors massively as the second CCD is disabled, latency is reduced, so that the single CCD with the additional 3D V-Cache can enjoy higher performance.

In a new post on Weibo, COLORFUL showed off its new X3D Gaming Mode inside of its updated BIOS and that when enabled, it turns off the SMT (Simultaneous Multi-Threading) on the Ryzen CPU. Additionally, if you're running an AMD Ryzen CPU with one or two CCDs (higher-end Ryzen processors have two CCDs) then it will disable one of them and transfer the gaming workloads to a single CCD for optimal performance.

In news that AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D owners were experiencing CPU failures, with ASRock motherboard users finding it more common, ASRock is out and ahead of the issue releasing new BIOS updates for their fleet of AM5 motherboards.

In an email sent to us here at TweakTown, ASRock explained it had "observed reports on Reddit from users experiencing unexpected boot issues and error codes when using ASRock AM5 motherboards paired with minority proportion of AMD Ryzen™ 9000 series processors. To enhance user experience, ASRock promptly released the latest 3.20 Beta BIOS for its AM5 series motherboards, further improving AMD Ryzen™ 9000 series processors boot issues".

"Users can download and install the BIOS from the official ASRock website or use the BIOS Flashback function on their motherboard for a quick update. ASRock also promises to continue enhancing the compatibility of its products".

ASRock is ready for the world of AMD Ryzen X3D processors with its new B650M Pro X3D and B650M Pro X3D Wi-Fi motherboards, optimized for AM5-based X3D CPUs.

The new ASRock B650M Pro X3D and B650M Pro X3D Wi-Fi motherboards is a rebranding of their B860M PRO RS (RS = Race Sport) mobos, with pricing expected to be less than the $148 that the B850 Pro RS sells for on Newegg. The new ASRock B650M Pro X3D motherboard features an 8+1+1 power stage design, rocks 4 x DDR5 DIMMs with support for 8000 MT/s+ RAM when overclocked, and more.

We've also got the full PCIe 5.0 x16 interface for new graphics cards, but no super-fast Gen5 SSD support (Gen4 SSDs are fast enough) but there's also enthusiast-grade 2.5GbE wired ethernet here, while the B650M Pro X3D Wi-Fi comes with Wi-Fi (duh) with the Wi-Fi 6E standard with Bluetooth.

MSI will soon release its fleet of new AMD B850-based motherboards, focusing on the budget gaming PC side of the market, but the new mobos will be tuned for Ryzen X3D processors and feature the latest I/O connectivity.

Our friends at Wccftech got their hands on an upcoming MSI AM5 B850 roadmap, with 5 new motherboards based on the B850 chipset arriving in Q2 2025. We can expect a new MPG-branded B850 motherboard, with a Mini-ITX design, and a full-sized ATX motherboard in the upcoming B850 Gaming PLUS Wi-Fi PZ. These motherboards will include:

Outside of the new MPG B850I Edge Wi-Fi and B850 Gaming PLUS Wi-Fi PZ motherboards, the rest of MSI's upcoming B850 motherboards are found in the PRO series. MSI's new B850 series motherboards will feature the latest I/O connectivity, including support for Wi-Fi 7, Gen5 PCIe and M.2 SSD slots, CPU and RAM overclocking, a bunch of EZ DIY features, and enthusiast-grade 5GbE ethernet.

AMD's new Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D processors are still in the ovens at TSMC, but ASRock has just updated its website adding support for the new CPU compatibility lists for its AM5 motherboards and the new 9950X3D and 9900X3D chips.

ASRock's updated website includes support for the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D, Ryzen 9 9900X3D, and Ryzen 7 9800X3D (which is already on the market and kicking asS) and is the first motherboard maker to do so. ASUS, GIGABYTE, and MSI haven't updated their websites adding CPU compatibility for AMD's fresh X3D processors.

Better yet, ASRock's updated CPU compatibility listing includes the entire stack of 600-series and 800-series processors, right down to the budget A620 motherboard. AMD has previously confirmed that its new X3D processors will work on all AM5 chipsets, and with the flagship Ryzen 9 9950X3D processor having a 170W TDP, it'll be interesting to see the flagship X3D chip on a lower-end A620 motherboard.

ASRock had a suite of its new mid-range motherboards on show at CES 2025, and we got to check them all out: new AMD B850 and Intel B860 chipsets galore.

The new ASRock B850 Steel Legend Wi-Fi motherboard and its AM5 socket has a 14+2+1 phase power design with 80A Dr. MOS and 4 x DDR5 DIMMs that are good for DDR5-8000+ and faster memory. There's a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot and PCIe 4.0 x16 slot on this mobo, with 1 x Blazing M.2 (Gen5 SSD) and 3 x Hyper M.2 (Gen4 SSD).

USB wise we've got 4 x USB 3.2 Gen2 (2 x rear, 2 x rear USB-C), 7 x USB 3.2 Gen1 ports (3 on the rear, 4 on the front) and 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C port on the front header. There's also 2.5GbE wired ethernet, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth connectivity on the new ASRock B850 Steel Legend Wi-Fi motherboard.

The first AMD B850-powered motherboard has been spotted, with the budget-focused mid-range chipset ready for AMD's new Ryzen 9000 series "Zen 5" processors.

In some new photos of GIGABYTE's upcoming B850M AORUS ELITE WIFI6E ICE motherboard from VideoCardz, we can expect a huge flood of B850 motherboards in the near future... probably at CES 2025 in January. We don't have much to go on with the photo, but it does show the B850M chipset, an all-white design, and AORUS branding on the VRMs.

AMD's new B850 chipset is a mid-range affair, featuring Gen5 and Gen 4 support -- which is fantastic to see, the mid-range B850 supporting Gen5 SSDs -- with motherboard makers to make the decision to have dedicated Gen5 lanes for discrete graphics cards if they want. B850 motherboards will support both memory and CPU overclocking, which will make them just that much more enticing against Intel's mid-range counterparts.

ASUS has confirmed that its new X870-based BTF motherboards will be on-show at CES 2025 early next year, launching alongside AMD's new flagship Ryzen 9 9000X3D series processors.

In a new post from our friends at UnikosHardware, a post from Bilibili was spotted with the ASUS China General Manager confirming ASUS X870 BTF motherboards will be released soon. The GM didn't specify when the X870 BTF motherboards would be unleashed by the company, but he did confirm the new boards will launch alongside Ryzen 9000X3D processors at CES 2025.

AMD has released its new Ryzen 7 9800X3D, but it has its higher-end Ryzen 9 9900X3D and Ryzen 9 9950X3D processors waiting in the wings for CES 2025. The Bilibili post has the ASUS China GM asked "when will AMD's back-plug motherboard be released?" to which he replied: "everyone knows that the recent 9800X3D is really the strongest on Earth. There may be a more powerful CPU at CES later, by then you will see the new X870 back-plug motherboard".