This is an overview of chipsets sold under the AMD brand, manufactured before May 2004 by the company itself, before the adoption of open platform approach as well as chipsets manufactured by ATI Technologies after October 2006 as the completion of the ATI acquisition.
North- and Southbridges
AMD Chipset logo, in use from around 2000 till 2011
AGP 2×, SDRAM Irongate chipset family; early steppings had issues with AGP 2×; drivers often limited support to AGP 1×; later fixed with "super bypass" memory access adjustment.[1]
AGP 4×, Hardware RNG Most initial boards shipped without USB headers due to a fault with the integrated USB controller. Manufacturers included PCI USB cards to cover this shortcoming. A later refresh of the chipset had the USB problem remedied.[2]
Up to four PCIe 2.0 x16 Support for AMD Quad FX platform (FASN8), Dual socket enthusiast platform with NUMA, optional single socket variant, 720-pin 1.1 VFC-BGA
1 Parallel ATA, also known as Enhanced IDE supports up to 2 devices per channel.
Fusion controller hubs (FCH)
For AMD APU models from 2011 until 2016. AMD marketed their chipsets as Fusion Controller Hubs (FCH), implementing it across their product range in 2017 alongside the release of the Zen architecture. Before then, only APUs used FCHs, while their other CPUs still used a northbridge and southbridge. The Fusion Controller Hubs are similar in function to Intel's Platform Controller Hub.
Fusion Controller Hub A88X
AMD's FCH has been discontinued since the release of the Carrizo series of CPUs as it has been integrated into the same die as the rest of the CPU.[9] However, since the release of the Zen architecture, there's still a component called a chipset which only handles relatively low speed I/O such as USB and SATA ports and connects to the CPU with a PCIe connection. In these systems all PCIe connections are routed directly to the CPU.[10] The UMI interface previously used by AMD for communicating with the FCH is replaced with a PCIe connection. Technically the processor can operate without a chipset; it only continues to be present for interfacing with low speed I/O. AMD server CPUs adopt a self contained system on chip design instead which doesn't require a chipset.[11][12][13][14]
^UMI ×4 Gen. 1 is based on PCIe 1.1 × 4 lanes, giving 1 GB/s bandwidth
^UMI ×4 Gen. 2 is based on PCIe 2.0 × 4 lanes, giving 2 GB/s bandwidth
AM4 chipsets
AMD B350 ChipsetAMD B450 Chipset
There are currently 3 generations of AM4-based chipsets on the market. Models beginning with the numeral "3" are representatives of the first generation, those with "4" the second generation, etc.
In addition to their traditional chipsets, AMD offers chipsets with "processor-direct access", exclusively through OEM partners.[18] Enthusiast publication igor'sLAB obtained leaked documents about an AMD "Knoll Activator" that enables "activating... processor I/O and processor features in the absence of an alternative AMD chipset." It is concluded that motherboards with the Knoll Activator would be built with I/O from the processor and low-cost I/O chips.[19]
Individual chipset models differ in the number of PCI Express lanes, USB ports, and SATA connectors, as well as supported technologies; the table below shows these differences.[20][21]
The 300 series, 400 series, and the B550 chipsets are designed in collaboration with ASMedia and the family is codenamed Promontory.[41] The X570 is designed by AMD with IP licensed from ASMedia and other companies and is codenamed Bixby.[42]Network interface controller, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth are provided by external chips connected to the chipset through PCIe or USB. All 300 series chipsets are made using 55 nm lithography.[43] The X570 chipset is a repurposed Matisse/Vermeer IO die made using a 14 nm process.[44]
TR4 chipsets
Supports both 1st and 2nd generation AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors.[45]
Although the X399, TRX40 and WRX80 motherboards' CPU sockets use the same number of pins, the sockets are incompatible with each other due to ID pins and no-connects of some pins. Twelve TRX40 motherboards were released at launch in November 2019. The TRX40 chipset does not support the HD Audio interface on its own, so motherboard vendors must include a USB audio device or a PCIe audio device on TRX40 motherboards to integrate audio codecs.[47]
sWRX8 chipsets
Supports 3rd (3900WX) and 4th generation (5900WX) AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro processors.[49]
HW-wise identical to EPYC/Threadripper IO die[citation needed]
Although the X399, TRX40 and WRX80 motherboards' CPU sockets use the same number of pins, the sockets are incompatible with each other due to ID pins and no-connects of some pins.[47] Three WRX80 motherboards were released at launch in March 2021. The WRX80 chipset does not support the HD Audio interface on its own, so motherboard vendors must include a USB audio device or a PCIe audio device on WRX80 motherboards to integrate audio codecs.
AM5 chipsets
AMD uses a single Promontory 21 chipset for all configurations that include a chipset. A single Promontory 21 chip provides four SATA III ports and twelve PCIe 4.0 lanes. Four lanes are reserved for the chipset uplink to the CPU while another four are used to connect to another Promontory 21 chip in a daisy-chained topology for X670, X670E and X870E chipsets.[50]
^Motherboard makers may omit Wi-Fi on some models.
^ PCIe lanes provided by the chipset. The CPU provides other PCIe 5.0 and/or 4.0 lanes.
^ ab The motherboard maker may configure the USB 3.2 provided by the chipset as 6× 3.2 Gen 2x1 and 0× 3.2 Gen 2x2 ports.
^ ab The motherboard maker may configure the USB 3.2 provided by the chipset as 10× 3.2 Gen 2x1 and 1× 3.2 Gen 2x2 ports, or 12× 3.2 Gen 2x1 and 0× 3.2 Gen 2x2 ports.
^ abTwo Promontory 21 chipsets are present, each having a TDP of ~7 W, giving a total TDP of ~14 W.
sTR5 chipsets
The sTR5 socket has two chipset options available, TRX50 and WRX90:
TRX50 is an HEDT (High-End Desk-Top) platform which is intended to be paired with Threadripper (7000X) series processors, but is also compatible with Threadripper Pro models. When a Threadripper Pro CPU is paired with a TRX50 motherboard, extra features like enterprise management and security won't be available to the user, and PCIe lanes and memory channels will still be limited to that of non-Pro Threadripper.
WRX90 is a workstation platform for Threadripper Pro (7000WX) series processors. It is not compatible with the Threadripper non-Pro 7000X series.[59]
HD audio support is provided by the CPU, rather than by the chipset.[60]
^Gavin Bonshor (2019-05-26). "AMD Reveals the X570 Chipset: PCIe 4.0 is Here". AnandTech. Retrieved 2020-08-19. One of the caveats to a more powerful chipset is that it draws around 11 W of power.
^Ian Cutress (2017-03-02). "Making AMD Tick: A Very Zen Interview with Dr. Lisa Su, CEO". AnandTech. Retrieved 2019-06-10. Q6: It has been noted that AMD has been working with ASMedia on the chipset side of the platform, using a 55nm PCIe 3.0x4 based chipset.
