Intel unveiled 700-series chipsets for Raptor Lake - increased number of PCIe 4.0 lanes

Along with the official announcement of the 13th generation Core processors, codenamed Raptor Lake, Intel today also unveiled a new 700-series chipset to be used by motherboards designed for the new chips.
Source image: Intel said that 700-series chipset has increased from four to eight DMI 4.0 lanes, which enable connectivity between chipset and processor, what should speed up processor's access to peripherals, expansion cards, network adapters, etc., as compared to its predecessor 600-series chipset.
Also new chipset series has got eight more PCIe 4.0 lanes comparing to previous generation chipsets.
This gives a total of 20 lanes, combined with the PCIe 3.0 lanes, for a total of 28 PCIe lanes for expansion cards and SSDs.
The number of supported USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20Gbps) interfaces is also increased from four to five on the new chipset.
The 13th Gen Intel Core CPUs themselves support 16 PCIe 5.0 lanes and four PCIe 4.0 lanes for SSDs.
Another feature of Raptor Lake CPUs is their compatibility with Intel's 600 series motherboards, which will surely make owners of current motherboards interested in upgrading their Alder Lake chips with the latest solutions.
Motherboards based on the new Z790 chipset, which Intel is positioning as a solution for the older models of Raptor Lake processors, will go on sale from October 20.

Ryzen 7000 motherboards on B650 and B650E chipsets will be shown en masse on October 4

AMD will hold another Meet the Experts web conference on October 4.
Motherboard vendor partners are invited to the event.
They will be demonstrating their solutions based on new AMD B650 and B650E (Extreme) chipsets for Ryzen 7000 CPUs.
Among the invited guests are ASUS, ASRock, MSI, Gigabyte and Biostar, who will briefly share the information about their products for 60 minutes.Image source: VideoCardzA similar event AMD held in early August.
Then the company's partners showed motherboards on the X670 and X670E chipsets.
At the event in October, expect the participation of AMD Product Marketing Manager, Don Waligroski.Ryzen 7000 processors will go on sale September 27.
The same day we will begin selling X670E and X670 chipset based motherboards.
The models based on B650 and B650E chipsets will not be available until October.
The key difference between Extreme boards is the support for PCIe 5.0 interface for graphics cards and NVMe SSDs.
On X670 and B650 chipsets, the availability of PCIe 5.0 support is optional and will depend on the implementation of a particular board model.

AMD introduced four chipsets for Ryzen 7000 - new motherboards will cost from $125

During presentation of Ryzen 7000 processors AMD reminded that back in May this year it introduced chipsets 600-series (X670E, X670 and B650) for motherboards, which will be used by new processors.
Along with this, manufacturer has announced another system logic - AMD B650E.Image source: AMDThe presentation, speaking at the corporate vice president and general manager of AMD customer business, David McAfee recalled the key features of Socket AM5 platform.
These are support for DDR5 RAM and PCIe 5.0 interface.
However, the most important feature of the new platform is the new CPU socket, actually, Socket AM5.
This is a socket LGA-format, which is characterized by the presence of 1718 pins and the ability to transmit up to 230 W of power to the processor.
At the same time the new socket is compatible to the cooling systems that were designed for Socket AM4.AMD B650E chipset in its turn belongs to the \"Extreme\" series.
It will offer all the key features of usual B650 chipset, as well as additional features.
Particularly, this chipset will support PCIe 5.0 interface for at least one M.2 slot for NVMe SSD.
Also, chipset based motherboards will be able to offer PCIe 5.0 support for graphic gas pedals, which will be unavailable with B650 based motherboards.
It will either be PCIe 5.0 for SSDs or for graphics, but not both.
The decision to make cards based on the B650E chipset support PCIe 5.0 will be up to manufacturers.
They will be able to use more expensive components to make the PCIe 5.0 interface operational, thus increasing its potential for future updates, or they can use a more modest set of controllers to support PCIe 4.0, which will reduce the final cost of the board itself, making it more attractive to the consumer.
However, at the same time, this would limit its potential for future upgrades.
The company said that AMD X670E and X670 chipset based motherboards will go on sale September 27th together with Ryzen 7000 CPUs.
B650E and B650 chipset-based boards are expected to go on sale in October.
Prices for motherboards with AMD 600-series chipsets will start at $125.AMD also reminded that the Socket AM4 platform has produced over 125 processors, based on five different architectures, and more than 500 different motherboard models were on the market.
For the new Socket AM5 platform, AMD promises support until at least 2025.

AMD to release another chipset for Ryzen 7000 - advanced midrange AMD B650E

AMD company besides previously announced X670, X670E and B650 chipsets is also going to present B650E chipset for next generation motherboards, designed for upcoming Ryzen 7000 processors.
The B650E will feature simultaneous support for PCIe 5.0 for both graphics cards and SSDs.
The senior X670E chipset has the same feature.
On the other hand, common X670 and B650 chipsets will be able to support PCIe 5.0 for SSD or graphics card.
Unlike the AMD X670E chipset, which consists of two chipsets, the B650E chipset will only include one base chip.
This means the number of available PCIe lanes will be lower.
Note that AMD has not previously reported on B650E preparations - it was only known from leaks.On the night of August 29 to 30 AMD is going to officially unveil Ryzen 7000 processors and possibly a new Socket AM5 platform.
If we believe the rumors, in September boards on the junior chipset AMD B650 are not expected to go on sale.
They are expected to appear later.

MSI showed the AMD X670 dual chip chipset live for the first time

MSI in its online broadcast MSI Insider showed the AMD X670 chipset live on one of its motherboards without a cooler installed for the first time.
It really consists of two chipsets.
Earlier on AMD itself confirmed that its high-end chipset is a bundle of two AMD B650 chips, but the company did not show them live.Image source: MSII earlier confirmed that Ryzen 7000 systems will receive AMD EXPO technology to overclock DDR5 RAM, and also published a video instruction to install Ryzen 7000 in the new socket AM5.
AMD itself doesn't seem to like that its partner is so straightforward in disclosing this information.
Apparently, at Computex 2022 AMD only wanted to share some fresh details about its next-generation desktop processors, as well as the platform in which they will be used.
No full-fledged announcement, at least now, was out of the question.
It is expected this fall.
After all, under AMD pressure MSI had to remove some previously published information.
However, the manufacturer did not give up any fresh leaks, and the last one was live, where MSI was showing different products which are about to be released.
The new AMD platform uses Socket AM5 (LGA 1718) processor socket and will support chips with a peak power consumption of 170W.
First generation of Socket AM5 processors will be based on Zen 4 architecture, and will have support for DDR5 memory and PCIe 5.0 interface.
Motherboards for new processors will be equipped with AMD X670E, X670 and B650 chipsets.
The first and second are logical sets, consisting of two B650 chipsets.
They will support up to 24 lanes of PCIe 5.0 for graphics and memory subsystems.
X670E and X670 chipsets have 7 W heat pack per chip, and X670 boards with two chips moved away from each other are quite able to get by with passive cooling, which would be hard to achieve if all these chipsets possibilities were realized in one chip.

NVIDIA is ready with NVLink to integrate several chips on one substrate and not necessarily its own

Following the relevant revelations at the opening of Computex 2022, NVIDIA representatives continued to explain the relevance of the proprietary NVLink interface at the quarterly reporting conference.
According to the head of the company, the interface offers great opportunities for the integration of heterogeneous components not only at the system level, but also at the level of packaging.Image source: NVIDIAAs emphasized by the founder and CEO of NVIDIA Jensen Huang (Jensen Huang), the company has long offered customers semi-custom solutions, and an example is the cooperation with Nintendo to develop chips for game consoles this Japanese brand.
In the future, NVIDIA is ready to offer semi-custom solutions, which integrate heterogeneous crystals in one package, allowing them to exchange data over the interface NVLink.Partners of the company can openly use this interface, as emphasized by the head of the company.
If necessary, NVLink will allow crystals produced by any company to be combined with NVIDIA's own crystals.
This will allow for multi-module packages and systems with multiple packages inside.
\"There are many different ways to do system integration,\" Jensen Huang summarized.
In his view, NVLink allows the company to combine chips, crystals, packages and systems in different types of configurations.
In the future, as he promised, NVIDIA will offer even more types of configurations.
Such statements of the head of NVIDIA allow us to expect more flexible configurations of computing solutions of the company, designed to meet the needs of specific large customers.
Finally, we can not write off the possibility of appearance of graphics processors consisting of several chipsets - the more so, as NVIDIA developers theoretically talked about this layout option a few years ago.

Features of the chipsets for the Ryzen 7000 revealed: the older X670 is made from two average B650s

The day before yesterday at the opening of Computex 2022, AMD unveiled the Ryzen 7000 family of desktop CPUs and the 600-series chipsets for them.
As it turns out, these chipsets are being developed by ASMedia, and their design uses a modularity similar to the chipset approach to processor design.AMD has announced the existence of three chipsets for future Ryzen 7000 series desktop CPUs: the ultimative X670E, the flagship X670 and the mass-produced B650.
The first two chipsets on this list are the same solution with purely marketing differences.
Boards based on X670E will be richer and allow the installation of two graphics cards simultaneously, and in the X670-motherboard AMD will prohibit bifurcation bus PCIe x16 for graphics gas pedals, and allow not to implement PCIe 5.0 support.Angstronomics website shared the details of what features will be inherent in chipsets for Socket AM5 platform.
The source reports that this time AMD has completely shifted the burden of chipset creation, and X670 together with B650 was developed by ASMedia.
This allowed them to implement an interesting scheme: both chipsets use the same chip with code name Prom21, but X670 uses two such chips at once.
In fact it means that X670 has twice as many ports and lanes of PCIe than B650.
B650 chipset consists of one basic chip Prom21, it supports PCIe 4.0 x4 bus for connection to CPU and eight PCIe 4.0 lanes for peripherals and expansion slots.
It also comes with four PCIe 3.0 lanes, reconfigurable SATA ports, six USB 3.2 Gen2 ports (pairable to USB 3.2 Gen2×2 with bandwidth up to 20Gbps) and six USB 2.0 ports.
The X670 chipset combines two of these chips, which are connected to the processor and to each other in series with the PCIe 4.0 x4 bus.
This means that a \"swag\" of two Prom21 chips will be able to offer 12 PCIe 4.0 lanes, 8 PCIe 3.0 lanes (some of which are converted into SATA ports), 12 USB 3.2 Gen2 ports and 12 USB 2.0 ports.
Added to this functionality in both cases are the SoC capabilities of the Ryzen 7000 processors themselves.
In addition to 20 PCIe 5.0 lines for graphics and storage they support PCIe 4.0 x4 interface for chipset, PCIe 4.0 x4 interface for external USB 4.0 controller, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports and two USB 2.0 ports.
As the source notes, using modularity to build chipsets solves several problems.
Firstly, it unifies and flattens their design, which facilitates development and reduces the cost of production.
Secondly, motherboard manufacturers are able to reduce the length of signal lines, which can be a critical factor in the implementation of high-speed ports.
Thirdly, the problem of heat dissipation is solved.
The thermal package of one Prom21 chip is 7 Watts and X670 boards with two chips set away from each other can easily do with passive cooling which would be difficult to achieve if all options of this logic set were realized in one chip.
It will be released a few months after the first representatives of the Ryzen 7000 series and will be based on the same Prom21 chip.
But it is supposed to have reduced number of PCIe 4.0 lanes to 4.
Expect to see Ryzen 7000 processors on Zen 4 architecture and motherboards with Socket AM5 processor socket and DDR5 memory support coming to market this fall.