We are awaiting AMD’s reaction to these “wild” activations of functions reserved for high-end AM5 motherboards.
Announced quite discreetly by the firm, the A620 chipset is the first price of the AM5 platform. Logically, it is deprived of some of the most advanced functions of the X670 and B650… but several motherboard manufacturers have obviously not had the instruction.
ASRock and PCI Express Gen 5
Surprisingly, the site Wccftech relayed by Hardware & Co noticed that PCIe Gen 5 was indeed active on the ASRock A620M PRO RS motherboard, which was to be limited to only PCIe Gen 4.
The test of our colleagues is however final. They got hold of a CFD Gaming SSD, in a 2 TB version. Distributed in Japan, this is one of the few PCIe Gen 5 models available to the public. Plugged into said motherboard, the unit was indeed recognized as a PCIe Gen 5 device.
To get to the bottom of it, Wccftech assessed the flows. The 10 GB/s were reached while a PCIe Gen 4 SSD is limited to 7-8 GB/s. Given the price of PCIe Gen 4 SSDs, it’s not a big deal: who would spend 400 euros on an SSD to turn to a motherboard at 100 euros?
ASUS Precision Boost Overdrive
The other “oddness” noted by Hardware & Co is for ASUS PRIME A620M-A motherboard. Again, this is a model that should be deprived of certain features, even if ASUS charges its A620 models 30 to 40 euros more expensive than ASRock.
© MyDrivers
On this PRIME card, MyDrivers noted that the PBO (for Precision Boost Overdrive) is indeed active. It is thus possible to overclock the Ryzen 7000, and this was carried out on a Ryzen 9 7900 which was thus able to deliver up to 9% more performance on Cinebench R23.
Problem, this feature is reserved for more expensive motherboards. By enabling PBO, ASUS makes B650-based cards less attractive. Not sure AMD appreciates the joke, and it’s possible that future updates will put an end to these “extravaganzas”.
Sources: MyDrivers, Wccftech
6