Section by Gavin Bonshor

X570 Motherboards: PCIe 4.0 For Everybody

One of the biggest additions to AMD's AM4 socket is the introduction of the PCIe 4.0 interface. The new generation of X570 motherboards marks the first consumer motherboard chipset to feature PCIe 4.0 natively, which looks to offer users looking for even faster storage, and potentially better bandwidth for next-generation graphics cards over previous iterations of the current GPU architecture. We know that the Zen 2 processors have implemented the new TSMC 7nm manufacturing process with double the L3 cache compared with Zen 1. This new centrally focused IO chiplet is there regardless of the core count and uses the Infinity Fabric interconnect; the AMD X570 chipset uses four PCIe 4.0 lanes to uplink and downlink to the CPU IO die.

Looking at a direct comparison between AMD's AM4 X series chipsets, the X570 chipset adds PCIe 4.0 lanes over the previous X470 and X370's reliance on PCIe 3.0. A big plus point to the new X570 chipset is more support for USB 3.1 Gen2 with AMD allowing motherboard manufacturers to play with 12 flexible PCIe 4.0 lanes and implement features how they wish. This includes 8 x PCIe 4.0 lanes, with two blocks of PCIe 4.0 x4 to play with which vendors can add SATA, PCIe 4.0 x1 slots, and even support for 3 x PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 slots.

AMD X570, X470 and X370 Chipset Comparison
Feature X570 X470 X370
PCIe Interface (to peripherals) 4.0 2.0 2.0
Max PCH PCIe Lanes 24 24 24
USB 3.1 Gen2 8 2 2
Max USB 3.1 (Gen2/Gen1) 8/4 2/6 2/6
DDR4 Support 3200 2933 2667
Max SATA Ports 8 8 8
PCIe GPU Config x16
x8/x8
x8/x8/x8*
x16
x8/x8
x8/x8/x4
x16
x8/x8
x8/x8/x4
Memory Channels (Dual) 2/2 2/2 2/2
Integrated 802.11ac WiFi MAC N N N
Chipset TDP 11W 4.8W 6.8W
Overclocking Support Y Y Y
XFR2/PB2 Support Y Y N

One of the biggest changes in the chipset is within its architecture. The X570 chipset is the first Ryzen chipset to be manufactured and designed in-house by AMD, with some helping ASMedia IP blocks, whereas previously with the X470 and X370 chipsets, ASMedia directly developed and produced it using a 55nm process. While going from X370 at 6.8 W TDP at maximum load, X470 was improved upon in terms of power consumption to a lower TDP of 4.8 W. For X570, this has increased massively to an 11 W TDP which causes most vendors to now require small active cooling of the new chip.

Another major change due to the increased power consumption of the X570 chipset when compared to X470 and X370 is the cooling required. All but one of the launched product stack features an actively cooled chipset heatsink which is needed due to the increased power draw when using PCIe 4.0 due to the more complex implementation requirements over PCIe 3.0. While it is expected AMD will work on improving the TDP on future generations when using PCIe 4.0, it's forced manufacturers to implement more premium and more effective ways of keeping componentry on X570 cooler.

This also stretches to the power delivery, as AMD announced that a 16-core desktop Ryzen 3950X processor is set to launch later on in the year, meaning motherboard manufacturers needed to implement the new power deliveries on the new X570 boards with requirements of the high-end chip in mind, with better heatsinks capable of keeping the 105 W TDP processors efficient.

Memory support has also been improved with a seemingly better IMC on the Ryzen 3000 line-up when compared against the Ryzen 2000 and 1000 series of processors. Some motherboard vendors are advertising speeds of up to DDR4-4400 which until X570, was unheard of. X570 also marks a jump up to DDR4-3200 up from DDR4-2933 on X470, and DDR4-2667 on X370. As we investigated in our Ryzen 7 Memory Scaling piece back in 2017, we found out that the Infinity Fabric Interconnect scales well with frequency, and it is something that we will be analyzing once we get the launch of X570 out of the way, and potentially allow motherboard vendors to work on their infant firmware for AMD's new 7nm silicon.

Memory Hierarchy Changes: Double L3, Faster Memory Benchmarking Setup: Windows 1903
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  • Korguz - Monday, July 22, 2019 - link

    Maxiking, and HOW LONG till intel gets the SAME treatment?? saying a processor uses x watts, but in reality uses 50 to 100 watts MORE isnt FRAUD ??? hell you confine intels cpus to the watts they state, and their performance goes DOWN THE TOILET !!!. again .. you KEEP saying AMD is a fraud, but you STILL refuse to admit, that intel is a fraud as well..

    does this guy even acknowlege the issue with intel and the amount of power they " say " their cpus use, and how much power they REALLY use ??
  • Korguz - Monday, July 22, 2019 - link

    further.. intel doesnt do any marketing, cause they DON'T want the general average user to know the cpu they bought, uses MORE power then has been stated, THAT also is false advertising, come on maxiking, go after intel as well, the same same things you are accusing amd of...
  • Maxiking - Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - link

    You are uneducated, TDP doesn't mean power consumption but the amount of heat dissipated, it informs you how much of heat the cooler must be able to dissipate in order to keep the cpu cool enough to run.

    Get it? 1700x TDP was 95W yet there were tasks it managed to consume 120 or even 140w on stock settings. Like do you even watch reviews? It was the same with 2700w.

    but mimimimimimi AMD good mimimimimi Intel bad
  • Korguz - Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - link

    sorry dude.. but YOU are uneducated, amd stays A LOT closer to its stated TDP then intel does, AT even did a review on it. power dissipated, also relates to power used. but it also doesnt help, that amd and intel both use the term TDP differently. either way.. intel uses more power then amd does.
    https://www.anandtech.com/show/13544/why-intel-pro...
  • Maxiking - Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - link

    Again, TDP is not power consumption and it refers to a cooler.

    You are uneducated and fabricating because you are an amd fanboy. No one really cares about what is more accurate or not, because it does not say anything about power consumption of the chip.

    So keep living in your nice little bubble. It is not my fault that you and other sites have been thinking that TDP -> power consumption. I will share something new to you again.. Ever heard about that Frankenstein novel? Frankenstein in not the monster but the doctor, his surname..Shocking I KNOW!!!

    mimimimimimi AMD good mimimimimi Intel bad
  • Korguz - Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - link

    again.. TDP, or Thermal Design Power, does relate to power consumption and how much is needed to keep something cool. You are uneducated and fabricating because you are an intel fanboy. i also notice you like to throw personal insults around when someone disagrees with you, or to try to make your opinion valid. so you keep living in your nice little bubble as well, not my fault you dont understand TDP relates to how much power something uses, as the more power a product uses, the more heat it creates, and then, needs to be removed.

    mimimimimimi intel good mimimimimi amd bad
  • Maxiking - Thursday, July 25, 2019 - link

    What you just did it is just sad. it shows you are little kid.

    TDP is not power consumption, if TDP - 100% power consumption, it would mean that 100% of the electrical energy is converted into thermal energy so yeah which is impossible it would mean perpetuum mobile you twat, actually the cpu would be net positive, it would convert 100% of electrical energy into thermal whilst managing to perform another task at no energy cost.

    Breaking the laws of physics just because of your AMD fanboyism
  • Korguz - Thursday, July 25, 2019 - link

    i said it RELATES to power consumption, what, you cant read ?? cant see passed your intel bias ?? the more power something uses, the more heat it generates, and there for, the more needs to be dissipated, and i also never said anything about 100% power consumption, pulling words and making things up to try to make your self sound right ? And you are calling me names on top of that, who's the kid here ???
  • Maxiking - Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - link

    You are uneducated, TDP doesn't mean power consumption but the amount of heat dissipated, it informs you how much of heat the cooler must be able to dissipate in order to keep the cpu cool enough to run.

    Get it? 1700x TDP was 95W yet there were tasks it managed to consume 120 or even 140w on stock settings. Like do you even watch reviews? It was the same with 2700w.

    but mimimimimimi AMD good mimimimimi Intel bad
  • Qasar - Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - link

    hmmm doest really say amd is being fraudulent, just doesnt like the idea the chips might not boost, or run at what AMD says, but didnt mention fraud...

    and Korguz has a point.. WHY arent you commenting about the power intels cpus use, vs what intel says they use ?

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