[SOLVED] Best Cheap Future Prof motherboard For Amd

[danygood]

Hello
Please tell me what is best and cheap mother board for 3400g ryzen ? my budget is limited now so 3400g have integrated graphics and no need buy gpu
So for now i want to buy 3400g but maybe for next months want to upgrade cpu so if it's possible please tell me with good motherboard with cheap price ? without bios update problem , for example maybe upgrade for 3700x or newer version ,
is there any good motherboard price under $90 ? thank you

 

[EridanusSV]

Under $90? Man. This is tough. There's the ASUS Tough X570 for ~$160. Solid VRM that will be able to support your future 3700X and even a 3950X. So if you can get extra $$$, that'd be my best suggestion for future proofing your rig.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Hello
Please tell me what is best and cheap mother board for 3400g ryzen ? my budget is limited now so 3400g have integrated graphics and no need buy gpu
So for now i want to buy 3400g but maybe for next months want to upgrade cpu so if it's possible please tell me with good motherboard with cheap price ? without bios update problem , for example maybe upgrade for 3700x or newer version ,
is there any good motherboard price under $90 ? thank you

Without a a crystal ball it's not easy to say anything is future proofed. The best way to get close to it in AM4 is with a 500 series chipset since you can have some confidence they'll all run Zen3 CPU's as well as PCIe gen 4, if that ever amounts to anything.

X570 will run a lot more gen 4 devices but good luck finding one anywhere close to $90. There are a few b550 close to $90 though. Check out HWUnboxed's reviews of low-cost b550's:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuPH9pCCK-E

 

[SteelStruck]

The a520 chipset just launched, that might be what you are looking for. Those are probably going to be pretty cheap.

 

[drea.drechsler]

The a520 chipset just launched, that might be what you are looking for. Those are probably going to be pretty cheap.

Except seeing as they don't support PCIe gen 4 with any CPU they don't sound like very good 'future proofing' to me.

 

[SteelStruck]

Except seeing as they don't support PCIe gen 4 with any CPU they don't sound like very good 'future proofing' to me.

yes, but there is a good chance they will have support for fifth-gen ryzen processors so that was my reasoning. (with a bios update)

 

[drea.drechsler]

yes, but there is a good chance they will have support for fifth-gen ryzen processors so that was my reasoning. (with a bios update)

I was thinking that too but don't find it very convincing. After all, there's always a spectrum of processor performance so let's imagine, for the sake of discussion, an 8 core zen 1.5 processor performing as well as a 6 core Zen 3. So what's the advantage if the 2700X can perform just as well on an A320 board as a (speculative) 4600 can on an A520 with neither supporting PCIe gen 4? And understandably, high core-count gen 4 processors would be a much smarter fit on B550/X570 boards since smart buyers will want to extract all the potential they bring to the desktop and that means PCIe gen 4! SI's will, of course, make crazy pairings if for no other reason than it fell off the truck.

I'm just having a real problem understanding the niche where A520 makes sense, right now, unless pricing comes in no different from A320. In which case all it is is a buffing up of the name: a 500-series to sound like it belongs in the product stack for Zen 3. In which case, no big deal!

 

[sizzling]

yes, but there is a good chance they will have support for fifth-gen ryzen processors so that was my reasoning. (with a bios update)

Everything I have seen says 4000 series is the last to use AM4 socket.

 

[logainofhades]

B550 and A520 will not be compatible with the 3400g. You need to look at B450, or x570.

 

[drea.drechsler]

B550 and A520 will not be compatible with the 3400g. You need to look at B450, or x570.

Hmm...given their positioning of B550 that makes sense and is the only solid reason I can see for A520's existence. Even though, it sounds marketing driven: the Zen 4 low-cost leader for SI's so they don't ugly-up the brand by pairing it with a 300 series chip. I have to imagine they're eager to pull support for 3400g from X570 BIOS's if they can get away with it. Can't be too many such pairings out there...maybe they will!

 

[logainofhades]

X570 has support for Zen+, and B550/A520 does/will not. The 3400g is a Zen+ chip, despite being labeled as a 3000 series CPU. The APU's tend to be on an earlier process, than the CPU's do.

 

[drea.drechsler]

... The APU's tend to be on an earlier process, than the CPU's do.

Dont just tend to be...I'm pretty sure they all are at least in the Zen arch. As I understand, the first 4000 series desktop chips coming out (Renoir) are APU's using Zen2 process. I guess they should be at home on an A520 board since PCIe gen 4 to the GPU, at least, isn't needed.

 

[logainofhades]

Dont just tend to be...I'm pretty sure they all are at least in the Zen arch. As I understand, the first 4000 series desktop chips coming out (Renoir) are APU's using Zen2 process. I guess they should be at home on an A520 board since PCIe gen 4 to the GPU, at least, isn't needed,.

The Athlon 3000g is still 14nm Zen. https://www.amd.com/en/products/apu/amd-athlon-3000g

I meant to say one gen earlier process.

 

[Zerk2012]

Except seeing as they don't support PCIe gen 4 with any CPU they don't sound like very good 'future proofing' to me.

PCI-E 4 really has nothing to do with anything. PCI-E 2.0 came out like 13 years ago and the bandwidth has just now been saturated recently. PCI-E 3.0 has close to double the bandwidth.

Future Proofing is not really possible with any PC part. For the compatibility of next generation processors I believe AM4 gets one more but AMD has been trying to fudge on their promise that AM4 boards will support all of them.

EDIT buying a 3400G would still allow decent upgrade options on any motherboard that supports it you might not get the latest and greatest but would still allow for a upgrade fairly cheap buying a used processor in the future if/when needed.

From this it looks like they have dropped a lot of processors from the AM4 list.

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/PRIME-A520M-K/HelpDesk_CPU/

 

[drea.drechsler]

PCI-E 4 really has nothing to do with anything. ...

Beg to differ...the bandwidth truly is much better even than PCIe gen 3 and it's very real. That devices/applications/protocols/whatever don't really take advantage of it is another matter. Although, there ARE devices and use cases that do take advantage of that bandwidth.

But when considering motherboard design options it makes available, one of the great benefits is the ability to use 2 lanes of PCIe gen 4 to an NVME and get equal performance to 4 lanes Gen 3. Now it's easy squeeze in more than one Gen 3 equiv. NVME's even on 'low-end' B550 boards. And just think how many super-speed USB 3.2 ports you could pack into one!

And it also matters if for no other reason than it lies directly in the future growth path of the PC industry...along with DDR5 and a whole host of other innovative technologies. We live in a market-driven world of planned...forced if need be...obsolescence so if the future is Gen 4 then you have to embrace it. Or die

 

[logainofhades]

People with an A520 budget, aren't going to be taking advantage of Gen 4 PCI-E. At most they will be running something like an R3 3300x, or R5 3600, and a low to midrange GPU. By the time most people need PCI-E gen 4 speeds, Gen 5 will probably be out. I have a 4.0 capable board, Gigabyte x570 ITX, yet I don't use it. My system is just a gaming rig, and games don't take advantage of such speeds. In reality, my Intel 660p is faster than games really need. I bought it, because it was cheaper than an M.2 Sata 1tb drive.

 

[drea.drechsler]

People with an A520 budget, aren't going to be taking advantage of Gen 4 PCI-E. ...

People with an A520 budget shouldn't be asking about future proofing either, but they do.

 

[logainofhades]

While the term future proof is a term I despise, you still have future upgrade potential, with A520, with regards to 4th gen Ryzen. Only super high end users are ever going to see a need for PCI-E 4.0. No current GPU saturates the 3.0 bus, as it is, and I highly doubt any next gen card, save maybe the top end RTX 3000 series card will either. Yes 4.0 is the future, but the speeds it offers, 99.99% of people will not be needing, any time soon.

 

[drea.drechsler]

While the term future proof is a term I despise....

I have to agree: it's very rightly despiseable if for no other reason than it can mean so many things. To my mind, offering an upgrade path to newer technology is what it should mean. Although moving up to Zen 3/Gen 4 can be construed that, it's a story yet to be written. So how well that will work with the meager power delivery cheap A520 boards offer is very much a question. Specifically, it may work, but with low-end variants that won't constitute a performance upgrade worth considering. But at least you'll get to say you got Zen 3 in your computer, which is pretty much the same as it is with PCIe Gen 4 right now.

PCIe gen 4, no matter how you spin it, IS a technology future state. And as I've pointed out: done right, it offers board designers a lot of options to utilize the bandwidth without needing high-performance, and high-priced, peripherals. As it is, A520 is locked out of even those options though so IMO it's not really a consideration for board designers...and therefore anybody interested enough in 'future proofing' to put it in the lead-in thread title. UNLESS you're willing to toss the dice on a processor and process node's as-yet unknown performance/power requirements.

 

[logainofhades]

AMD has already stated the A520 and B550 are intended for 4th gen support, so that is a known factor. Being a refresh of Zen 2, I don't expect much change, with regards to power needs. If anything, they should be more efficient, given Ryzen's history. Given AMD's support of AM4 till 2020, statements, back when Ryzen originally launched, and DDR5 on the horizon, 5th gen will most likely be a new socket, with DDR5 support.

I do not expect that all A520's will be as terrible as A320 was, based on some early board viewings. Asrock's ITX board, and A520m Pro4 look to be promising, on the power delivery, compared to any A320 board, and even a fair number of B450 boards.

Other than losing OC support, A520 is superior to B450, as you get PCI-E 3.0 lanes, on the chipset, vs 2.0. For the vast majority of Ryzen 3k owners, A520 is enough. PBO makes overclocking basically pointless, with 3rd gen. I doubt 4th gen will be any different, in this regard.

 

[drea.drechsler]

... For the vast majority of Ryzen 3k owners, A520 is enough...

I suppose the vast majority of Ryzen 3K owners aren't exactly enthusiasts either, then. Not being as terrible as A320...faint praise indeed...but still just as much the teasy door-opener into the Ryzen world of computing for one who IS a budding enthusiast, IMO.