Sapphire has announced three AM5 boards based around AMD’s mid-range B650 chipset. Each is small in size and price, though getting your hands on one may be hard as they’re destined for China.
Known for its well-built and unique graphics cards, Sapphire is branching out into new territories with its motherboard models. To begin, there are no full-sized or extended ATX variants, as the company focuses on small form factor (SFF) efforts.
Pulse B650M
Like Pulse graphics cards, Pulse B650M motherboard takes a black and grey design with a somewhat clean aesthetic, giving it a nice industrial feel. It doesn’t try to break any world records. Instead, it focuses on saving space with its Micro-ATX design and bolstering value, only offering features that users may need. For instance, gone are the massive VRM designs. Here, you only get a 7+2+1 affaire using 60A power phases.
Same for the connectivity, you won’t find PCIe Gen 5 for graphics, only a Gen 4 x16 slot, which is perfectly fine for current and maybe even upcoming GPUs. That said, for storage, you do get a single Gen 5 M.2 slot alongside another Gen 4 slot plus four SATA – enough for most users. Interestingly, memory support isn’t half bad, rated for DDR5-7400 in capacities up to 48GB. This is probably helped by the board’s dual DIMM design, which reduces signal interference.
Unfortunately, I/O leaves to be desired, with its weak dual USB 3.2 being the fastest available. The rest are made of six slower USB 2.0 ports plus the usual HDMI, DisplayPort, and audio jacks, not to mention WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5. But for its low ¥899 (£97) price tag, the Pulse B650M is worth considering if you can get one. Note that Pulse will also be available in a second variant without Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for ¥799 (£86).
Nitro+ B650I
Nitro+ is even smaller, with its Mini-ITX form factor taking only 170x170mm. Within this limited area, you will find 8+2+2 80A power phases, one PCIe Gen 4 for graphics, two DIMM slots supporting DDR5-6000, and two Gen 4 M.2 SSD locations, plus four SATA ports. For some reason, the Nitro+ isn’t rated for faster memory speeds, even though it seems to be from a higher tier.
Yes, you lose the Gen 5 SSD, but that’s not a big deal for most users. However, in its place, you get a much faster and varied I/O packing one USB 20Gbps Type-C, two USB 10Gbps Type-A, plus two USB 5Gbps Type-A. Add to these two USB 2.0, WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5, and video/audio ports.
As you can expect from such a format, the Nitro+ B650I comes at a premium, asking for ¥1,689 (£183). Unlike its larger sibling, at this price, you can find better-equipped alternatives from the likes of MSI. Nothing a swift discount couldn’t fix.