Gigabyte's Low-Cost Mini-ITX A620 Motherboard Supports Ryzen R9 7950X, R9 7950X3D CPUs
by Anton Shilov on June 22, 2023 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- AMD
- Gigabyte
- AM5
- Ryzen 7000
- AMD A620
- A620
Gigabyte has quietly introduced one of the industry's first inexpensive motherboards for AMD's AM5 processors in Mini-ITX form-factor. The most unexpected peculiarity of Gigabyte's A620I AX motherboard — based on AMD's low-cost A620 chipset that only supports essential features — is that it supports AMD's top-of-the-range Ryzen 9 7950X3D and Ryzen 9 7950X processors.
Despite its positioning as an entry-level motherboard for AMD's Ryzen 7000-series CPUs based on the Zen 4 microarchitecture, Gigabyte's Ultra Durable A620I-AX can handle all of AMD's AM5 CPUs released to date, including relatively inexpensive Ryzen 5 7600 with a 65W TDP as well as range-topping Ryzen 9 7950X3D with 3D V-Cache rated for 120W and Ryzen 9 7950X rated for 170W. Given that AMD's A620 platform is not meant for overclocking, the Ryzen 9 7950X cannot be overclocked on this motherboard, but even support of this CPU is unexpected.
AMD's Ryzen 7000-series CPUs are hungry for memory bandwidth and the UD A620I-AX does not disappoint here as it comes with two slots for DDR5 memory that officially support memory modules rated for up to DDR5-6400 and with EXPO profiles. High-performance DDR5 DIMMs will be beneficial not only for Ryzen 9 and Ryzen 7 CPUs aimed at demanding gamers, but will also be beneficial for cheap PCs running AMD's upcoming AM5 APUs with built-in graphics as memory bandwidth is crucial for integrated GPUs. The motherboard even has two display outputs to support iGPUs.
Speaking of gaming, the UD A620I-AX motherboard naturally lacks any kind of PCIe Gen5 support, but it does have a PCIe 4.0 x16 slot for graphics cards and an M.2-2280 slot with a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface for SSDs. For those who need additional storage space, the platform has two SATA ports.
As for overall connectivity, the UD A620I-AX motherboard features a Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth adapter, an 2.5GbE port, USB 3.2 Gen1/2 ports (including a Type-C port), and audio connectors. While this may not seem much, entry level gaming systems do not use a lot of high-performance peripherals anyway. Furthermore, AMD's A620 platform does not support USB4.
Pricing details for the UD A620I-AX are not yet available, but some early reports suggest that it will be priced below/around $100, like other A620-based offerings. Meanwhile, given support for high-end Ryzen 9 processors and Mini-ITX form-factor, it is possible that Gigabyte may charge a premium for the UD A620I-AX. Therefore, it remains to be seen how reasonably priced will this motherboard be when it hits the market.
Source: Gigabyte
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FWhitTrampoline - Friday, June 23, 2023 - link
" but will also be beneficial for cheap PCs running AMD's upcoming AM5 APUs with built-in graphics as memory bandwidth is crucial for integrated GPUs. The motherboard even has two display outputs to support iGPUs"That Display support for this AM5 MB is not for any Desktop APUs as that's just there because all Ryzen 7000 series processors support RDNA2/2CU iGPUs(I/O Die based). And where has Anandtech actually seen any AMD Investor Relations roadmap slide that explicitly shows any Ryzen 7000G Desktop SKUs for the AM5 Platform? AMD released no Ryzen 6000G desktop APUs and AMD has made no official reference to any Ryzen 7000G desktop APUs.
GreenReaper - Friday, June 23, 2023 - link
I find it hard to believe that they wouldn't leave open the option to use AM5 APUs with those. Sure, we haven't seen any yet, but I imagine some OEMs will want them even if AMD is reluctant. They're just not high-margin, cutting-edge parts and they don't want to cut into sales of their new GPUs.StevoLincolnite - Saturday, June 24, 2023 - link
All Ryzen 7000 processors are an APU.FWhitTrampoline - Saturday, June 24, 2023 - link
All Ryzen 7000 series processors are not marketed as APUs and that RDNA2/2CU graphics is simply not enough in an InWin Chopin form factor for any higher end iGPU gaming or in an ASRock Desk Mini(STX MB Based) that's even smaller form factor. Try and fit any dGPU into the InWin Chopin and regardless of that Mini-ITX MB having a PCIe x16 slot there's simply not sufficient room there in the Chopin to fit a dGPU without some serious case modding.AMD's not been good at updating it's G series Desktop Socket based APUs since it released Ryzen 4000G and promptly made that OEM only for nearly 2 years until Ryzen 5000G was released . And AMD's intentionally favoring OEMs there over DIY as even Ryzen 5000G, for the first 3 months of its release, was OEM Only.
There are 2 system here, The InWin Chopin and the ASRock Desk Mini, that are intended for the most part for APU/SOCs with powerful iGPUs and that are socket packaged for the DIY market. And the ASRock Desk Mini even has a 3rd party fanless case that's meant to take the ASRock Desk Mini X300's STX motherboard and use that inside that aftermarket case for a fanless system.
These systems and their aftermarket ecosystems require socket packaged processors for DIY builds with either AMD APUs or Intel SOCs with powerful iGPUs but neither AMD or Intel have focused on socket packaged processors for ultra small form factor DIY systems as both AMD and Intel want to move more towards BGA and no upgrade path there without buying a new system from an OEM.
Currently on the AMD side for Socket based DIY systems that's still Ryzen 5000G and a Vega 8CU iGPU and that's for the AM4 platform and Intel's still on the 96EU iGPU there at the high end for any InWin Chopin or ASRock Desk Mini systems and the iGPUs there based on 2 generations old IP.
StevoLincolnite - Sunday, June 25, 2023 - link
No one cares what marketing says it is/isn't.It's still an APU.
The RDNA2/2CU IGP is still more capable than the E2-3200 APU's based on Llano.
Or do we stop calling old APU's, APU's based on performance alone relative to what is currently available?
GreenReaper - Sunday, June 25, 2023 - link
"AMD APUs have CPU modules, cache, and a discrete-class graphics processor, all on the same die using the same bus." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_APU#APU_or_Radeo...Because current 7000-series desktop CPUs do not integrate the graphics processing cores into the CCDs but rather place them on the IO die, they are not deemed to be APUs. One could argue that the functionality in the IO die is required for the CPU to be complete, but I think it is a reasonable distinction.
For the mobile arena I agree that the distinction is far more dubious as it appears that both CPU cores and GPU are integrated onto a single die: https://hothardware.com/news/amd-7840hs-laptop-cin...
Ryan Smith - Monday, June 26, 2023 - link
Note that AMD themselves are no longer using the APU designation in consumer parts. Ryzen 7000 desktop and mobile processors are both referred to first and foremost as "processors", and if you push AMD on it, they'll go with "CPUs".While it's still a useful designation for differentiating CPUs that do or do not have integrated graphics, it's no longer current terminology as far as AMD is concerned. The only place AMD still uses the term is for the MI300A, which they explicitly call an APU.
nandnandnand - Friday, June 23, 2023 - link
"Given that AMD's A620 platform is not meant for overclocking, the Ryzen 9 7950X cannot be overclocked on this motherboard, but even support of this CPU is unexpected."All AM5 CPUs should be supported on A620 motherboards, even if it has to be TDP-limited or whatever. If that isn't the case, it's another scandal IMO.
Dimensionexpo - Monday, July 10, 2023 - link
es, Gigabyte has quietly introduced the B650M Aorus Pro AX, one of the industry's first inexpensive motherboards for AMD's AM5 processors in Mini-ITX form-factor