THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE ODD
Analyzing exactly what’s going on with AMD’s AM4 chipsets
THE GOOD
From the get-go, it would seem that AMD is already on the back foot when it comes to chipset connectivity. Lacking PCIe 3.0 lanes on the chipset, and with limited SATA and USB support (regardless of its USB 3.1 additions), it doesn’t look particularly fabulous for team red.
But then you have to ask, when has anyone ever used the full complement of motherboard connectivity? When you break it down, those looking to take advantage of 10 or more SATA hard drives, multiple M.2 PCIe SSDs, and so on are already looking at the higher-end platforms in the form of the X99 series and server-grade solutions. For the vast majority of consumers and anyone on a budget, a single M.2 PCIe SSD and four SATA 6Gb/s ports are more than enough for the lifetime of any system, even including any potential future upgrades and expansions. It’s why we quite often recommend the ITX form factor over ATX, purely because you simply don’t need that level of excess.
The true beauty of the AM4 platform stems once more from the processor itself. Although it’s not the first time we’ve seen a full complement of I/O directly on the chip, as opposed to the chipset, it’s the first time we’ve seen it available at such a low price point, with each and every Ryzen 7, 5, and 3 series featuring 20 PCIe 3.0 lanes. Sixteen of those are dedicated to graphics, similar to Intel’s current design, and an additional four are isolated purely for NVMe or SATA devices, reducing latency between the device and the chip.
THE BAD
That said, even including the dedicated PCIe lanes on the chip, AMD is still lacking when it comes to general connectivity. With X99 retaining its heady title, purely through sheer force of will, and its vast arsenal of PCIe lanes and USB/SATA support, it’s still a major selling point for any 3D professional or artist. It’s likely that over the next year or two, we’ll see PCIe M.2 SSDs plummet in price, making a 500GB M.2 relatively close to good value for money. Running two PCIe SSDs in a single system represents an upgrade path that just isn’t available with the current generation of X370 motherboards, unless, of course, X399 drops sometime soon, or until we see the next generation of Ryzen chips: Ryzen 2.
In its own way, this lack of I/O support for the chipset is particularly interesting, because AMD has explicitly stated that it intends to keep that “upgrade the chip not the mobo” motto, retaining the AM4 socket for the entire lifetime of the architecture, until either DDR5 or PCIe 4.0 launches. This would suggest that, as connectivity standards have dramatically increased over the last few years, with no sign of stopping, it’s likely that with each new generation of AMD Zen core, we’ll see an update of all the associated chipsets, with either more I/O baked into the chipsets, or even more leveraged on to the processors.
That said, if you’re after the best of the best, you’re still stuck with Intel’s X99 platform, unless AMD’s X399 chipset platform becomes a reality.
THE ODD
The AM4 socket and Ryzen represent the pinnacle of what AMD has managed to achieve with Zen. But there are two huge anomalies when it comes to the general platform: LGA and PGA. LGA stands for Land Grid Array—in short, the pins are located in the motherboard’s socket, not the processor. With PGA, Pin Grid Array, it’s the other way round.
Generally speaking, Intel has always been a solid advocate of the LGA solution. The biggest advantage of this comes down to the fact that it’s quite difficult to damage the processor, or for it to be trashed through shipping. With an LGA solution, the AIB partners, such as Asus, EVGA, MSI, and others, will likely RMA more motherboards, as the sockets get damaged in transit or through user error. In AMD’s case with PGA, the scenario is reversed. With the chip holding the pins, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll damage the motherboard, but more likely that the chip can be damaged, leading to more processors being sent back to AMD, and savings provided directly to the partners.
The thing is, these standards aren’t owned by either company. And, in fact, with Ryzen, AMD is using both PGA and LGA for its processors—PGA for the 7 series and below, and LGA for its Naples SoC (System on Chip) server parts. There has been no official statement about why this is, but it’s a curious change nonetheless, something that may allude to a paradigm shift in AMD’s future processor lineup, way after Ryzen’s heyday.