Manufacturers are scrambling to announce their A320 chipset motherboards while the chipset--and the Ryzen processors it supports--are still fresh. Gigabyte announced one, MSI announced five, and now Biostar has refreshed its Pro Series motherboards with AMD's new base-level chipset.
Those boards are the A320MH Pro and A320MD Pro. The boards are nearly identical: They both have a Micro-ATX form factor, support up to 32GB of DDR4-2667 memory, and offer four SATA-III connections. The only difference lies with their video output--the A320MH uses HDMI, whereas the A320MD uses DVI-D. Biostar said in a press release that both will cost $59, but it didn't offer any details about when they'll be available, or from whom.
These new Pro Series boards differentiate themselves from their predecessors with a new heatsink. "New Pro Series motherboard uses Nano carbon coating heatsink with better cooling effect compared to the aluminum-extruded heatsink," Biostar said. "Mesoporous carbon material enlarges the heat dissipation area to increase heat conductivity efficiently and saves your cost wisely." The difference is shown in this image:
Biostar's new Pro Series motherboards come the closest we've seen to hitting the $50 goal for A320 boards AMD set in a blog post about the chipset. These boards are supposed to offer an entry-level option for people excited by the new Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 processors who don't want to spring for more expensive B350 or X370 boards. (You can learn more about the differences between all of the AM4 chipsets here.)
There's definitely a rush to announce new A320 boards while the chipset's launch is still fresh. Gigabyte's announcement offered little information about its new AM4 boards, MSI announced its new motherboards with a tweet, Biostar's press release was one paragraph long, and all three companies have been slow to update their websites with these products. We expect more manufacturers to make their own announcements soon.
Product | Biostar A320MH Pro | Biostar A320MD Pro |
---|---|---|
Socket | AM4 | AM4 |
Chipset | A320 | A320 |
Form Factor | Micro-ATX | Micro-ATX |
Memory Support | 2 x DDR4-2667 | 2 x DDR4-2667 |
Onboard Graphics | 1 x HDMI Connector, resolution up to 4096 x 2160 @24Hz or 3840 x 2160 @30Hz1 x VGA Port, resolution up to 1920 x 1200 @60Hz | 1 x DVI-D Connector, resolution up to 1920 x 1200 @60Hz1 x VGA Port, resolution up to 1920 x 1200 @60Hz |
Audio | Realtek ALC887 8-Channel HD Audio | Realtek ALC887 8-Channel HD Audio |
LAN | Realtek RTL8111H - 10/100/1000 Controller | Realtek RTL8111H - 10/100/1000 Controller |
Storage | 4 x SATA-III- Supports RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 10 | 4 x SATA-III- Supports RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 10 |
USB | 2 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Port1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Header2 x USB 2.0 Port2 x USB 2.0 Header | 2 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Port1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Header2 x USB 2.0 Port2 x USB 2.0 Header |