AMD

ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR VIII DARK HERO – itndaily

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The PCB of the specified motherboard contains elements that you often will not find on more affordable devices (even in the ROG line). ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero is based on the AMD X570 chipset, so the owner of this base can count on all the fastest and most modern technologies / connectors of today (including PCI-E 4.0 interfaces).

The ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero form factor is classic (ATX), but the developers have managed to place an impressive number of all kinds of connectors, bulbs and switches on the PCB. We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the most curious of them in detail.

Read more @ itndaily (Russian)

ASRock B550 Extreme4 – iXBT

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For its value, the functionality of the ASRock B550 Extreme4 is very good. It has 15 USB ports of different types (including 3 USB3 Gen2), 2 PCIe x16 slots (of which the first receives 16 PCIe lanes from the processor) with the ability to create AMD CrossFire, 2 PCIe x1 slots for expansion cards, 2 M.2 slots, 6 SATA ports. The board offers 7 connectors for fans and pumps; all drives in M.2 slots are equipped with heatsinks. Perhaps there is only one wired network controller, but it is high-speed, 2.5 Gigabit.

Read more @ iXBT (Russian)

ASRock X570 PG Velocita – GinjFo

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ASRock offers with its X570 PG Velocita a solid AMD platform. It offers muscular equipment to meet the expectations of players and fans of optimizations. We particularly appreciated its network capabilities with wired 2.5 Gps and Wi-Fi.

Available around € 315, we are on a mid-range X570 solution but aimed at demanding users. The benefits are there, accompanied by a racy look, aRGB and a mechanical conclusive on many points. It does not have to be ashamed of more expensive references like the ROG Crosshair VIII Formula. Its power supply scheme ensures overclocking and its various radiators improve heat dissipation. We also have eight SATA ports.

Read more @ GinjFo (French)

MSI Drops AGESA COMBO PI V2 1.2.0.1 Beta BIOS’ for AMD 500 Series Motherboards

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[Taipei, Taiwan] MSI, a world-leading motherboard manufacturer, announces the release of AGESA COMBO PI V2 1.2.0.1 beta BIOS for its AMD 500 series motherboards to add SMART ACCESS MEMORY support to AMD RYZEN 3000 desktop processors. Now both RYZEN 5000 and RYZEN 3000* desktop processors support SMART ACCESS MEMORY. AGESA COMBO PI V2 1.2.0.1 BIOS also improves L3 Cache bandwidth in AIDA64 for RYZEN 5000 desktop processors.

SMART ACCESS MEMORY is an innovative feature that allows the system to access the full capacity of the VRAM on the graphics card. Compare to the current solution which has a 256MB access limitation, this feature will provide the users a better gaming experience.

This feature requires pairing the AMD Radeon RX 6000 series graphics card with AMD RYZEN 5000/3000* series desktop processors. Also, don’t forget to update the graphics card driver to the latest version. After taking these steps, this feature will be online and ready to boost your gaming performance.

AGESA COMBO PI V2 1.2.0.1 also fixes the RYZEN 5000 series processor L3 Cache bandwidth issue in AIDA64. With the new AGESA, the L3 Cache bandwidth has a dramatic improvement.

For more details, head over to MSI Global.

ASRock B550 Taichi Razer Edition – FunkyKit

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Appearance-wise, the ASRock B550 Taichi Razer Edition looks identical to its bigger brother the X570 Taichi Razer Edition, which we also reviewed earlier this year, all except of course the chipset on the motherboard. With that said, the B550 is a very capable chipset with only the difference being the amount of PCIe 4.0 lanes available (X570 has 24 lanes vs B550 with 20 lanes). Both chipset offer PCIe 4.0 support for both GPU and NVMe storage, but for general purpose lanes, the B550 chipset can only support up to PCIe 3.0.  

Read more @ FunkyKit

Possible Fixes for AMD Ryzen USB Issues?

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Per a user post on Reddit, AMD has been giving out some advice on how to tackle the current USB issues with Ryzen 3/5000 series chips on the 4/500 motherboards. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the advice mimics much of what individual uses have reported doing to address the issue via C-States in the BIOS, as well as manual configuration of PCIE 3. Here’s AMD’s advice:

Based on user feedback we have received; the suggestions below could improve or resolve general USB device stuttering issues.

  1. Verify that your motherboard is updated to the latest BIOS version and configured using optimized/factory default settings. Check your motherboard manufacturer’s website for BIOS update and download instructions.
  2. Check if your Windows 10 is on the latest build and fully up to date. For information on updating Windows 10, please refer to Microsoft article: Update Windows 10
  3. Ensure that the Ryzen chipset driver from AMD is installed and up to date. Latest Ryzen chipset driver version is 2.13.27.501 and can be download here.

If you continue to experience USB connectivity problems after following the suggestions above, you may consider using either of the following workaround:

  1. Set PCIe mode from Gen4/Auto to Gen 3 in the BIOS
  2. Disable Global C-State in the BIOS.

These settings are found in the BIOS. Please refer to the motherboard user manual if more information is needed.

MSI MEG B550 UNIFY – GreenTech Reviews

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We are talking about the quality of the power subsystem, about its cooling systems, slot layout and much more. It is noteworthy that many manufacturers have presented quite expensive solutions based on AMD B550. But MSI was able to really surprise with the MEG B550 UNIFY and MEG B550 UNIFY-X motherboards. The second is distinguished by the presence of only two slots for memory modules, which, in theory, allows to achieve higher performance of the memory.But in this article we will study the classic version with four memory slots, four PCIe slots, four M.2 slots, four connectors for RGB tapes and … And something else interesting

Read more @ GreenTech Reviews (Russian)

ASUS Announces ProART B550-CREATOR w/Thunderbolt 4

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Designed for professionals and creatives who need ultra-fast USB and Thunderbolt connectivity alongside stable and reliable operation. The B550-Creator is a great choice for those building a Ryzen based system with Ryzen 3000 series or Ryzen 5000 series CPUs. The board Features out-of-the-box UEFI support for both series of processors. The B550 Creator is the first AM4 motherboard with Thunderbolt 4 onboard! In addition, you have dual 2.5Gbps LAN, dual M.2 slots alongside dual heatsinks. It also incorporates the latest ASUS M.2 Q-Latch design for simple and tool-free M.2 drive installation. For the latest generation of chassis, you also have front USB 3.0 connectivity as well as USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type Internal connectivity.

Read more @ Reddit

ASUS ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING II – TechPowerUp

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While AMD has done a great job of maintaining motherboard compatibility with new generation processors, none of the previous-generation AM4 motherboards featured official PCIe 4.0 support, not even for the storage and PCIe controlled by PCIe 4.0 compatible CPUs. Enter B550, the more value-oriented little brother of X570. While the B550 chipset is PCIe 3.0 only, B550 motherboards support PCIe 4.0 from the CPU to the primary PCIe slot as well as the primary M.2 slot (dependent on a PCIe 4.0 ready CPU). With PCIe 4.0 support also came increased cost. PCIe 4.0 devices are still rare in 2021, so for those on a budget, the tried and true B450 chipset is the way to go. What B450 lacks in cutting-edge features it makes up for in value.

Read more @ TechPowerUp

Coming Soon: AMD AGESA 1.2.0.1 BIOS Updates

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AMD has confirmed that the AGESA 1.2.0.1 BIOS’ are coming, with several fixes. What fixes are we looking at? Well, here’s the list from AMD’s post:

1) Fix: False SMART errors on Hynix NVMe
2) Fix: Intermittent SSD detection for M.2 SATA devices
3) Improve L3$ bandwidth in AIDA64
4) Improve stability if user disables cores on 5600X/5800X with AMD Ryzen Master

If you’ve been hitting any of these issues, keep and eye out for a BIOS update for your motherboard.