Right on the heels of AMD's quiet launch of the A520 chipset, ASRock has revealed various A520 motherboards today. For this series, the motherboard vendor opted to go with smaller form factors, namely Micro=ATX and Mini-ITX.
The list of Micro-ATX motherboards include the A520M Pro4, A520M-HVS, A520M-HDV, A520M-HDVP and A520M/ac.
The A520M Pro4 is the only model to incorporate four DDR4 memory slots, meaning you can install up to 128GB of your best RAM. The remaining motherboards are limited to two DDR4 memory slots, so 64GB is the max. Regardless of the model; however, all of ASRock's A520 motherboards support memory modules up to DDR4-4733 and higher.
The A520M Pro4 is equipped with a 8-phase power delivery subsystem, while the other four motherboards sport a 6-phase design. Out of the five Micro-ATX offerings, only the A520M/ac has Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity.
Every one of ASRock's A520 Micro-ATX motherboards comes with four SATA III connectors and at least one M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 slot. In the A520M Pro4's case, the motherboard has two M.2 slots.
The motherboards provide different options for expansion, so you'll have to go through them to see which model meets your needs. For example, the A520M Pro4 only supplies two PCIe 3.0 x16 slots, while the A520M-HDVP is more generous and delivers one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot, two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots and even an old-fashioned PCI slot.
The A520M-ITX/ac should prove to be good options for SFF (small form factor) PC builders seeking the best motherboards. Don't underestimate the Mini-ITX motherboard, though, as it offers a rich feature set.
The A520M-ITX/ac employs a capable 8-phase power delivery subsystem to house the latest and future Ryzen CPUs without a sweat. Memory support is identical to the Micro=ATX motherboards, but with a shorter memory trace to the processor, the A520M-ITX/ac should be formidable in RAM overclocking.
The A520M-ITX/ac might be small, but it has multiple storage options. You still get four SATA III connectors and single M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 slot that are present on the bigger models. Like the A520M/ac, the A520M-ITX/ac also has Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2.
ASRock didn't mention the availability or pricing for the brand's A520 motherboards. We have yet to find the motherboards at an U.S. retailer, but they should be on their way.
