AMD Launches the A520 Chipset for Socket AM4
The New Low-Cost Platform Without PCIe Gen4
AMD has officially launched their A520 chipset for socket AM4 processors, which the company says provides “a streamlined, trusted platform with numerous options for connectivity and bandwidth to satisfy demanding home and office PC users”.
This represents the entry-level chipset for 3rd-gen Ryzen desktop CPUs, though AMD states it will support future products, as “the AMD A520 chipset offers customers a path for future upgrades, with planned support for future Ryzen Desktop Processors based on the ‘Zen 3’ architecture”.
A520 is positioned as a replacement to the A320 chipset, supplementing the B550 chipset for current-gen products. Compared to A320, general purpose PCI Express lanes move up to PCIe 3.0 from the A320’s PCIe 2.0, but there is no PCI Express 4.0 support for CPU lanes, as this will be a PCIe 3.0 connection for both GPU and storage.
On the surface A520 appears to be a refreshed A320 chipset with 3rd Gen Ryzen (Zen 2) support, with the only other notable difference on AMD’s slide being the above-mentioned move to PCIe 3.0 for general purpose (chipset) lanes.
A number of new motherboards have been announced from the usual vendors, and we will have to look through the lineups to determine if there are any more platform improvements over A320.
