There aren't many $125 AM5 motherboards on the market right now, but there's one more than there used to be. Gigabyte has prepared the B650M K to rival ASRock's B650M-HDV/M.2 at the same price point. While the motherboard officially launches on March 31, the Gigabyte B650M K is available for preorder at Newegg at $124.99.
The B650M K and B650M-HDV/M.2 adhere to the micro-ATX form factor and utilize AMD's B650 chipset. Unlike the premium X670 or X670E chipset, the B650 chipset caters to mainstream consumers. Nonetheless, B650 motherboards are as capable as high-end AM5 motherboards in processor support. The two B650M K and B650M-HDV/M.2 may sport a modest 8+2+1-phase design for the power delivery subsystem. However, they have no problem housing Zen 4 chips, spanning from the Ryzen 5 7600X to the latest Ryzen 9 7950X3D.
Although both motherboards sell for $125, their feature set varies slightly. For example, the B650M K has four DDR5 memory slots to support up to 128GB of memory, whereas the B650M-HDV/M.2 only allows for 64GB. As a result, they can take advantage of the best RAM up to DDR5-6400 and beyond, but it'll ultimately, the Ryzen 7000 processor's IMC has the last say as to whether it's possible or not. DDR5-6000 is the sweet spot for Zen 4, so memory kits, such as G.Skill's Trident Z5 Neo RGB DDR5-6000 C30, will excel on the B650 platform.
One of the B650M-HDV/M.2's selling points is PCIe 5.0 support on the M.2 slot, a feature that's hard to find on a budget motherboard. The B650M-HDV/M.2 provides at least one PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slot to leverage the best SSDs. Conversely, Gigabyte opted to keep both M.2 slots on the B650M K to PCIe 4.0 x4 speeds. The two motherboards offer four standard SATA III ports. RAID 0, 1, and 10 support is available on M.2 and SATA III interfaces.
The B650M-HDV/M.2 delivers more and faster expansion options. ASRock equipped the motherboard with two PCIe 4.0 x16 slots (one at x16 and the other at x4) and one PCIe 4.0 slot. On the other hand, Gigabyte went with a combination of a single PCIe 4.0 x16 and PCIe 3.0 x1 slot. So the scales lean in ASRock's favor if you use more expansion cards.
For those consumers who won't be building a gaming PC, the B650M K and B650M-HDV/M.2 supply one DisplayPort 1.4 output and one HDMI 2.1 port for connecting your displays. A Realtek audio codec is responsible for the audio on the two motherboards. The ASRock motherboard uses the Realtek ALC897 codec. Still, Gigabyte didn't specify which Realtek codec is on the B650M K. Three standard 3.5 mm audio jacks are available, but neither motherboard has a S/PDIF out port.
The B650M K and B650M-HDV/M.2 both embrace a 2.5G Ethernet connection. ASRock picked the Dragon RTL8125BG controller, a rebrand of the Realtek controller of the same name but with the Dragon software. Gigabyte also used a 2.5GbE controller from Realtek. The manufacturer didn't specify the model, but we suspect it's likely the same RTL8125BG controller. Unfortunately, you won't find wireless connectivity at this price point. However, the B650M-HDV/M.2 does supply an M.2 Key E socket and the corresponding antenna holes on the rear panel for consumers to add an M.2 2230 WiFi/BT module. The rival motherboards offer a similar number of USB ports. However, the B650M K comes with slightly faster USB ports.
During the Ryzen 7000 announcement, AMD said consumers could expect AM5 motherboards starting at $125. Thus far, only Gigabyte and ASRock have made good on AMD's promise. We hope other motherboard vendors follow suit. With so many premium AM5 motherboards, the market can use some good $125 alternatives.
