AMD's board partners have officially introduced their B650E & B650 motherboards which are now available for pre-order, starting at $159.99 US.
AMD B650E & B650 Motherboards Launched With Starting Prices Of $159.99 US But Where Are The $125 US Boards?
We are aware of the premium prices that the AMD X670E & X670 motherboards are currently being priced at. Most motherboards are starting at over $300 US and the only options that were listed for under that amount are either sold out or not available yet. It is clear that AMD wants to focus on its high-end customers first before moving into the mainstream family. But as we get close to the Intel 13th Gen launch, AMD will finally open to doors to its B650E & B650 series motherboards. The new motherboards are designed for mainstream and budget consumers and AMD had officially stated a starting price of $125 US for the boards.
AMD B650E & B650 Series Platform
The B650E & B650 chipsets will be aimed as a mainstream motherboard solution with the Extreme series featuring both PCIe Gen 5.0 and M.2 while the non-E boards will adopt only the PCIe 5.0 slot designs.
The B650 motherboards will be the successor to the B550 motherboards and come in a similar price range. Compared to the X670/E offerings, the B650 chipset will come in a single PCH design. The motherboards will carry support for RDNA 2 iGPU too which will be featured on Ryzen 7000 'Raphael' CPUs and offer both HDMI / DP outputs.
However, today is the launch day and major retailers have started listing down the first B650E & B650 motherboards but the prices start at $159.99 US or $35 US higher than the $125 starting prices that AMD had promised. Over at Newegg, one can find several AMD B650E & B650 boards. Following are the products that are listed:
B650E & B650 ATX Motherboards:
- ASRock B650E Taichi - $449.99 US
- Gigabyte B650E AORUS Master - $349.99 US
- ASUS ROG STRIX B650E-E Gaming WIFI - $349.99 US
- MSI MPG B650 Carbon WIFI - $329.99 US
- ASUS ROG STRIX B650E-F Gaming WIFI - $299.99 US
- ASRock B650E PG-ITX WIFI - $289.99 US
- MSI MPG B650 EDGE WIFI - $289.99 US
- ASUS ROG STRIX B650-A Gaming WIFI - $279.99 US
- Gigabyte B650 AERO G - $269.99 US
- ASRock B650 Steel Legend WIFI - $269.99 US
- MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk WIFI - $259.99 US
- Gigabyte B650 AORUS PRO AX - $259.99 US
- ASRock B650E PG Riptide WIFI - $239.99 US
- ASUS TUF Gaming B650-PLUS WIFI - $239.99 US
- Gigabyte B650 AORUS ELITE AX - $229.99 US
- MSI PRO B650-P WIFI - $219.99 US
- ASRock PRO B650 PRO RS - $219.99 US
- ASRock B650 PG Lighting - $199.99 US
- ASUS PRIME B650-PLUS - $199.99 US
B650E & B650 mATX Motherboards:
- MSI MAG B650M Mortar WIFI - $239.99 US
- ASUS TUF Gaming B650M-PLUS WIFI - $229.99 US
- Gigabyte B650M AORUS Elite AX - $199.99 US
- MSI PRO B650M-A WIFI - $199.99 US
- ASRock B650M PG Riptide WIFI - $189.99 US
- ASRock B650M PG Riptide - $169.99 US
- Gigabyte B650M DS3H - $159.99 US
B650E & B650 ITX Motherboards:
- Gigabyte B650I AORUS Ultra - $269.99 US
- MSI MPG B650I EGE WIFI - $239.99 US
- ASUS PRIME B650M-A AX - $199.99 US
As you can see, none of the motherboards start at the promised $125 US MSRP and we are even seeing $449.99 US prices for motherboards based on the B650E chipset. The X670E Taich costs $499.99 US so there's a $50 US difference between the X670E and B650E offerings at the high-end product stack. Only one motherboard from Gigabyte is currently listed for $159.99 US and that's as low as the line gets.
You really gotta wonder how AMD plans to sell any 7600Xs with motherboard prices like this. pic.twitter.com/2dJh82qY11
— Buildzoid (@Buildzoid1) October 10, 2022
The B650 series motherboards will definitely be a major addition to the AM5 lineup and we might even see people upgrading to Ryzen 8000 or Ryzen 9000 CPUs on the same boards years from now as we saw with the AM4 generation. However, it will be rather difficult to make people pay $150 US and more for buying a motherboard when they paid less than $100 US to secure an AM4 board.
