On the Gigabyte’s front, we have our first glimpse of a B850 motherboard, AMD’s famous entry-level and mid-range models. Pictured here is a B850 Aorus Elite Ice.
Gigabyte B850 Aorus Elite Ice: the first board pictured!
The programme features a micro-ATX motherboard with an all-white design. The board also features a total of four DDR5 memory slots. All that remains is to find out the characteristics of the memory supported and its maximum capacity.
In terms of connectivity, there is a first PCIe x16 slot, though this will run in Gen 4.0 and x16. The second slot, at the very bottom, will also be Gen 4.0, but will operate in x4 despite a physical x16 connector. In addition, the first connector is reinforced and incorporates a lever system for easy disconnection of the graphics card.
The storage section features a total of four SATA III connectors. However, between the two PCIe slots, there are two M.2 2280 slots. One of these will operate in x4 Gen5.0, while the second will operate in Gen 4.0 x4.
Finally, the B850 chipset is simply a renamed B650. PCIe 5.0 on the first slot is optional, as is USB4. However, we should have at least a Gen5 M.2. That’s why we don’t have PCIe 5.0 on this model for graphics cards.
Finally, there’s an I/O shield panel equipped with 20 Gbps USB 3.2 connectors, some USB-C and others in 10 and 5 Gbps. For the moment, we have no idea what the network will be like, but it’s a safe bet that 2.5 GbE Ethernet will be present, as well as WiFi 6E.
It’s worth noting that these cards will accompany the launch of the 65W TDP Ryzen 9000 in early 2025.
