With the release of Summit Ridge Series (pending ZEN) processors we already learned that AMD is moving towards socket AM4, but to be able to put such a processors in that socket, you probably want a chipset to support it. New slides now show a bit more detail AMD X370, B350 and A320 chipsets.
Socket AM4 mainly will bring ZEN processors support for course, but also will evolve the PC infrastructure towards DDR4, NVMe M2 and USB 3.1 Gen 2 and sure, PCI Express 3.0 platform support. As stated you will mainly see three series chipsets as spotted on slides from planet3dnow:
AMD X370 Chipset (High-End)
So the most high-end chipset will be the X370 with that X for Extreme. This chipset will support Multi-GPU rendering (Crossfire and SLI) with two full x16 PCI Express slots (Gen 3.0). The chipset will support overclocking. Basically this is the chipset series you and yours truly will be after once Zen releases and yes you can expect a dandy overclocking software suite.
AMD B350 Chipset (Mainstream)
If it has a B in the naming schema, you should think mainstream and that B for Business. A more generalized chipset that offers full performance, yet less tweaking options and often less PCI-Express lanes available, the mainstream series. For B350 some specs already have leaked, next tot the 8x Gen 3 PCI-Express lanes, it’ll add/hook another 6 Gen 2 lanes through the chipset and will offer a wide varyity of USB connectivity. This motherboard series will offer 2 channel DDR4 memory we assume up-to 2400 MHz.
AMD A320 Chipset (SSF/Budget)
Then there is the A320 and A300 series. These are intended for value, budget and small form factor products. This chipset will offer 4 PCI-e Gen 2 lanes with 1+2+6 (USB 3.1 Gen2, USB 3.1 Gen1, USB 2.0) support. A300 should be the chipset for SSF computers (like tiny home theater builds etc).
And with this round of chipsets AMD is to offer a complete range and line from top to bottom in the desktop PC segment, they are ready for ZEN alright.
Have a peek at the new slides, click the thumbnails below.
