B550, X370, Z690, F150.
If you're shopping for a motherboard, if you're shopping for a motherboard
and you wanna make sure it has features that are a bit more substantial than the tacky heat sink
and tons of RGB, you should pay close attention to these names because they tell you
what chip set the motherboard has, which is a chip that determines which CPUs you can use,
how many ports and PCI express slots your system supports,
and whether you can overclock. Vroom vroom, you know what I mean?
But Intel and AMD each use their own cryptic series
of letters and numbers to designate what kind of chip set a board has,
kind of like they do with their CPUs. So today, let's decode what these chip set names mean
for consumer motherboards starting on the Intel side.
Intel chip set names consist of a letter followed by three numbers.
Let's start with that letter. Currently, Intel uses one of four letters
for normal desktop chip sets, H, B, Q, and Z, Habakuzu.
If you wanna overclock, make sure to get yourself a Z chip set.
These are the only ones that allow multiplier overclocking on your CPU.
Other chip sets will limit you to only adjusting the base clock, even if you buy an unlocked K series CPU.
Z chip sets also usually feature more connectivity
than cheaper options. So you get the most PCI express lanes
that Intel platforms offer, as well as more and or faster USB ports
than you do down the product stack. H, B, and Q chip sets are all different varieties
of budget or mainstream SKUs. They don't support multiplier overclocking,
but mid-range options often allow you to at least overclock your RAM, at the very least.
Q chip sets support remote management and have enhanced security for businesses,
but if you're just a home user looking to save some money, you'll probably end up with an H or B chip set,
which are virtually the same thing these days, which is why differentiating them requires us
to explain what those numbers mean. The first number tells you what generation the chip set is.
Alder Lake CPUs use 600 series chip sets, 500 series is for Rocket Lake,
and 400 series is for Comet Lake, with lower numbers corresponding to older generations.
Remember though, that a BIOS update can sometimes make a newer CPU work with an older chip set.
The third number is always a zero, but the second number is what's going to tell you
important information about the chip sets features compared to others within that generation.
If the second number is a one, you're getting the lowest end chip set in that generation,
such as the H510 or the H610. You get no RAM overclocking,
only two memory slots, fewer USB and SATA ports,
and no support for Optane or RAID.
It sucks. Higher numbers like a six or seven
mean it's a mid-range chip set with RAM overclocking, four memory slots,
extra USB and SATA ports, and Optane and RAID support.
I mean Optane, guys.
We love it. So AMD motherboards use a similar letter
followed by three numbers scheme, though the way they're named is different.
AMD only uses three letters, A, B, and X, Apex.
If you want CPU multiplier overclocking, go for a B or an X chip set,
as the cheaper A chip sets are the only ones that don't support it.
X chip sets also give you the most and the fastest USB and SATA ports,
with B giving you fewer and A the least.
If for some reason you're still using Crossfire or SLI,
A series chipsets also don't support Crossfire, and if you want SLI,
you'll need to specifically buy an X chip set. This is also a good time to mention
that if you're using the newer NVLink, you don't need a specific chip set.
Just two PCIe X16 slots, which you can find on most ATX or micro ATX motherboards.
Fortunately, AMD's numbering scheme is a bit simpler than Intel's,
but it can be a little confusing in its own way.
The only number that really matters here is the first, as this tells you which generation of processor
is compatible with the chip set. First generation Zen, so your Ryzen 1000 and 2000 chips,
used 300 and 400 series chipsets. Second gen or Ryzen 3000,
used 400 and 500 series chipsets, and Zen 3000 or Ryzen 5000 used 500 series only.
Though Zen 3 can use an older chip set too, with an appropriate BIOS update.
The other two numbers currently don't really mean anything.
A series chipsets always end in 20, B series in 50, and X series in 70.
It's almost like they just added these numbers in to make the names closer to Intel's.
Why would they do that? But with Zen 4 coming out later this year,
and a whole new CPU socket to boot, we'll do a follow up episode
if AMD decides to change its naming schemes.
So there you go. Hopefully we've demystified the alphabet soup of chipset names for you.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a sudden hankering for some Campbell's.
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