The AMD X570 Motherboard Overview: Over 35+ Motherboards Analyzed
by Gavin Bonshor on July 9, 2019 8:00 AM ESTMSI X570-A Pro
Moving along to the last of MSI's seven deep X570 product stack is the entry-level MSI X570-A Pro. For users not looking to spend the $200 + for gaming branded boards and looking for more office-based and professional use, the MSI X570-A Pro includes a decent core feature set which includes the same 8+2 power delivery as the MPG X570 Gaming Plus ($169), but with basic design. Also included is a Gigabit NIC, DDR4-4400 support, and one PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot.
On the MSI X570-A Pro is two full-length PCIe 4.0 which operate at x16, and x8/x4, and three PCIe 4.0 x1 slots. Also featured is one PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot, but this slot doesn't come included with a heatsink; a total of six SATA ports make up the rest of the board's storage options. This model is very resemblant of the X570 Gaming Plus, but with a more professional look with its all-black theme, but without RGB or red accented heatsinks. On the X570 chipset heatsink is a cooling fan, and the X570-A Pro also has four memory slots with support for DDR4-4400 and up to a maximum of 128 GB. It also shares the same 8+2 power delivery as the X570 Gaming Edge WIFI and X570 Gaming Plus models, and also includes an 8-pin and 4-pin pair of 12 V ATX CPU power inputs.
MSI's X570-A Pro includes one USB 3.1 G2 Type-A, one USB 3.1 G2 Type-C, two USB 3.1 G1 Type-A, and two USB 2.0 ports on its rear panel. A clear CMOS switch is present, along with an HDMI video output, and a PS/2 combo port. The single Ethernet port is controlled by a Realtek RTL8111H Gigabit NIC, while the five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output are powered by a premium Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec.
The MSI X570-A Pro as it stands is the cheapest model from its X570 product stack with an MSRP of $159. It's solid and uniformed all-black look is very simplistic, and users not looking for NVIDIA SLI support and more than two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots will find this as an attractive model. This no-frills and inexpensive (compared to some others) makes this one of the cheaper entry points onto the X570 chipset for users looking to benefit from X570's features such as PCIe 4.0.
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abufrejoval - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
It's amazing how quickly you run out of PCIe lanes, when you don't have switches to multiplex and translate between PCIe revisions and lanes (e.g. PCIe v4 x2 <-> PCIe v2 x8).I find myself using USB 3.x NBase-T NICs and NVMe adapters, simply because they *do* switch.
Bensam123 - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
Maybe a bit more depth on the power delivery page. I have absolutely no idea how to go about parsing what's there. More chokes is better? What denotes a power phase?A5 - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
+1. Some analysis of that information would be helpful.MrSpadge - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
+1bunkle - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
The controller column includes the total number of phases supported split between CPU cores and SoC e.g. (6+1) = 6 CPU phase and 1 SoC phase. More is *usually* better but has diminishing returns regarding tighter and tighter voltage regulation. Some controllers are better than others (can operate at high frequency e.g. 500KHz v 1000KHz, include other features to improve performance) mitigating the need for more phases.Each phase is a buck converter comprised of a low/high side MOSFET (can be integrated in a single package) and choke. Some controllers can support doubling up the PWM signal to driver more MOSFETs. Doublers can also be added as discrete components if not built into the controller.
Current rating of the MOSFET (e.g. Sic639=40A IR3555=60A) indicates the total power deliverable. MOSFETs are not 100% efficient and vary in efficiency. The more current they provide the hotter they get and the less efficient they become, with better MOSFETs producing less heat for a given current. Thus using doubles can improve temperatures and efficiency without the benefits of the tighter voltage tolerance that *real* phases provide.
Hope that’s helpful!
bunkle - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
A lot more detailed explanation: https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/voltage_regulator_mod...bug77 - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
The description for AsRock X570(M) Pro4 says "5 jack + 1 SPDIF". Unfortunately, those boards lack SPDIF and only come with 3 jacks ;)Smell This - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
I'm thinking the *ASRock Thunderbolt AIC* ...https://thunderbolttechnology.net/product/asrock-t...
would cover all your TBT peripheral needs, including optical.
DanNeely - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
Do X570 boards still need an extra chip per USB port to support USB-C reversibility?The additional expense and needed PCB space were cited as among the reasons why earlier generation boards (IIRC both Intel and AMD) almost never had more than 1 C port; but it was never clear to me if that was an inherent implementation penalty for the C port or an artifact of Intel's tech stack being stalled out and AMD outsourcing to ASMedia which built the chipsets on an ancient (55nm) platform.
DigitalFreak - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
Gavin - X370 and X470 only supported PCIe 2.0. The connection between the CPU and chipset was 3.0, but all the ports on the chipset were 2.0.