The AMD A620 chipset supports 88W max CPU power limit by default, but this will not apply to all designs
AMD A620 motherboards, Source: AMD
AMD spent no marketing effort on A620 launch which was buried alongside April Fool’s jokes. This low-key launch of the cheapest AM5 platform has been met with positive response, mainly because it finally lowered the Ryzen 7000 entry point close to $400. However, board partners didn’t have a large portfolio to showcase, often announcing 3 to 4 designs based on the new chipset at most.
The company has now shared the full press deck with some media, confirming the details that were not so obvious. Those details are crucial, considering AMD did not send any samples to the reviewers and product descriptions do not give us the full story. This especially important since the A620 series was immediately available for sale. Some gamers on a budget that pulled a trigger on A620 motherboard may now be facing some problems.
AMD A620 chipset features, Source: AMD
The A620 chipset does not support PCIe Gen5 interface, which is probably the most significant difference with the B650 series. There are also fewer usable PCIe lanes (up to 36). More importantly, the chipset does not support CPU overclocking, which is where board makers could save a couple bucks by not overengineering A620 VRM sections – it was simply not needed. The A620 does support memory overclocking, though, and it supports the DDR5 standard like all 600-series boards.
What is now confirmed is that the A620 chipset may have limited support for 65W+ TDP Ryzen 7000 CPUs. This means that not all Ryzen 7000X3D are guaranteed to be supported by default, reports Tom’s Hardware. This didn’t stop AMD from advertising one of the proposal A620 builds with Ryzen 7 7800X3D (120W) CPU, which is to come out this week:
AMD A620 gaming configurations, Source: AMD
The main difference between AMD and Intel B-series is that the latter are not designed to support peak power limit. Intel motherboard makers can make necessary adjustments to the B-series to lower the price, which often affects the ‘overclocking’ capability of the platform. AMD’s new B650 are designed to support peak power, so they are more advanced and also pricier.
The A620 chipset is more like the Intel B-series, with necessary cut-backs in place, gamers should not expect full power limit to be available with all Ryzen 7000 CPUs and A620 motherboards. The results will, of course, vary, since some 7000 SKUs have max power at 230 watts while others go as high as 162 watts (Ryzen 7950X3D/7800X3D). The boost support will also depend on the motherboard because higher-end designs should give gamers an option to increase power limits, but many will not.
AMD claims that 65W TDP CPUs are supported by default, but models with higher TDP may or may not be supported. If they are, multithreading performance may be affected, but the company expects these limitations to have ‘minimal impact on game performance’.
It is further reported that the A620 chipset supports peak power up to 88 watts by default. This will not apply to all motherboards, as this value will be higher for certain designs. To be sure the A620 motherboard supports higher TDP, always check the retailer and motherboard maker website first, some brands will conveniently show this information straight away (e.g., up to 120W CPU):
AMD A620 with different supported TDP, Source: Newegg/ASRock
We have checked most websites and the details are still lacking. Only Biostar, Gigabyte and ASUS have CPU support list confirming some A620 models support up to Ryzen 9 7950X3D with the latest BIOSes. ASRock and MSI are still to update this information.
Source: Tom’s Hardware, PCPerspective
