AMD has actually created only one chipset for Zen 4, not three
MSI has been all over the place since AMD revealed the Zen 4 Ryzen 7000-series(opens in new tab) processor generation, showing off its own engineering samples, and unreleased X670 motherboards. Initial videos highlighting the insertion method of the new Intel-like LGA processors have been taken down, but undeterred MSI has now lifted the lid on the chipsets being used for AM5 motherboards.
The interesting thing to note is that the rumours suggesting dual-chip designs for the top-end AMD chipsets have now been confirmed since the Computex unveiling. But, contrary to what was originally being ground down by the rumour mill, these aren't single package chiplet designs, but two discrete chipset chips sat beneath the passive heatsinks of the X670 and X670E motherboards.
It's a smart design that apes the chiplet approach AMD championed with its Zen 2 architecture, and means it can save money on the silicon being created for its motherboard partners by creating what is effectively a single motherboard I/O chip that can be used for multiple 'chipsets'. This chip will look after things like the PCIe 4.0 controller, networking, and USB support.
Previously you had different chipset silicon for the likes of the X570 and B560 boards, with different levels of interconnect support. But, with the new AM5 motherboards, AMD has simplified things so that to separate out the feature sets of its new chipsets it can either use one of these I/O chips or double up the features by using a pair of them.
«It's not that they are two X670 chipsets, these two chips form X670.»
That's the situation on the top-end boards, with the X670 and X670E using a pair of these chips and the B650 only using a single one. «It's not that they are two X670 chipsets,
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