Four years after AMD's AM5 platform and 600-series motherboards debuted, Wccftech reviewed two new Gigabyte boards built on AMD's newer 800-series chipset family: the B850 AORUS Elite X3D, priced around $200, and the B850M AORUS Stealth ICE, priced around $250. Both reviews describe the same underlying AMD platform update, which adds the X870E and X870 chipsets for high-end boards and the B850 and B840 chipsets for the mainstream segment.
According to the reviews, the B850 chipset supports both PCIe Gen5 and Gen4 lanes, with Gen5 mainly intended for NVMe storage and Gen4 for graphics, though manufacturers can choose to dedicate Gen5 lanes to a discrete GPU instead. B850 boards top out at USB 3.2 (20 Gbps) rather than USB4, which is reserved for higher-end chipsets. Graphics can run in x16 (Gen4) or x8 (Gen5 or Gen4) configurations, and B850 boards support both CPU and memory overclocking. AMD positions B850 as a competitor to Intel's B760 lineup in the roughly $100-$200 price range. The chipset also supports the new PBO and Curve Optimizer algorithms introduced with Ryzen 9000 CPUs.
The reviews note that B850 boards use the same Promontory 21 die as higher-tier chipsets but without native USB4, and that Gen5 M.2 storage support is optional rather than standard. The entry-level B840 chipset, by contrast, uses the older Promontory 19 die, offering only Gen4 GPU/SSD support, memory-only overclocking, and no CPU overclocking, positioned as an affordable option against sub-$200 Intel boards. AMD's A620/A620A series continues to serve as the entry-level tier, with further price adjustments planned for ODMs and system builders.
Both articles also cover general AM5 platform details rather than specifics unique to either board. They describe the move from AM4's pin-grid-array design to AM5's land-grid-array LGA 1718 socket, which offers more pin connections for expanded platform features. AMD has committed to supporting the AM5 socket through 2029 and beyond, following a pattern from AM4 in which the company and its partners eventually extended compatibility between older CPUs and newer boards, and vice versa. Ryzen 7000/8000/9000 desktop CPUs retain the same 45x45mm square shape and IHS design as previous Ryzen chips, meaning existing AM5 coolers remain compatible.
Both Gigabyte boards were reviewed within the same overall framework covering unboxing, CPU and gaming performance testing, power consumption, and CPU/VRM temperatures, with each review concluding by describing its respective board's design as stealthy and good-looking.