It looks like AMD is preparing to launch the next wave of motherboards, as evidenced by Videocardz’s report with an image of a GIGABYTE motherboard, specifically the B850M AORUS ELITE WIFI6E ICE in Micro-ATX form factor.
AMD B850 Motherboards Incoming
According to Videocardz, the photos were sent to them with no mention of the country of origin, though it looks like the user has obtained the motherboard directly from retail channels – meaning someone has put this up on sale before a potential embargo date. Based on the images, we can infer that the motherboard will support Wi-Fi 6E, two PCIe slots, and likely two SSD slots tucked in between.
During the original introduction of 800 series motherboards (as part of the Ryzen 9000 series launch), AMD has provided an overview of the feature set each segment will offer. The X870/X870E will serve the high-end, while the mid-range is designated B850 series (with B840 serving the budget line). B850 also supersedes both B650 and B650E, the latter of which has very little market share as models that feature this specific chipset is few and far in between to begin with.
The baseline specs as outlined by the slides mandates any B850 motherboard to feature PCIe 5.0 SSD slots, but GPU slots max out at PCIe 4.0 (PCIe 5.0 is optional, however); it’s also required to support USB 3.2 20Gbps connections at minimum. In terms of overclocking features, they maintain full support just like before, so it’s up to the motherboard makers to determine how overclocking-friendly their motherboard designs will be.
In any case, we may be able to see these motherboards to launch as soon as CES 2025, which happens in the upcoming January – so expect more details and launches to happen by then.
Pokdepinion: Let’s see what new upgrades AMD is bringing to the table this time around.
