Buzz
In the near future, users will witness an innovative motherboard upgrade solution pioneered by ASRock. While ASRock contributes a significant portion, the success hinges greatly on AMD's design for B650 and X670. Fundamentally, both AMD B650 and X670 are built on Promontory21 chipsets. While B650 houses one Promontory21, X670 boasts two. ASRock ingeniously iterates upon this foundation.Level1Tech Channel receives a new motherboard sample from ASRock - B650 LiveMixer, accompanied by a special expansion card named X670 XPANSION KIT. For those who haven't guessed yet, the B650 LiveMixer motherboard is equipped with a Promontory21 chipset, while the remaining chipset resides on this expansion card. So, when users plug the X670 XPANSION KIT into their system, it's synonymous with adding an extra Promontory21 chipset to the motherboard, equivalent to any other X670 product.
The I/O of the X670 XPANSION KIT includes 3 USB Type-A ports, 1 USB Type-C port, and 1 10Gb LAN port, while the card itself provides an additional 2 SATA ports and 2 NMVe M.2 slots. The card connects to the B650 LiveMixer motherboard via a PCIe x4 slot, requiring an additional cable header to be plugged in. This indicates that the X670 XPANSION KIT is only compatible with a few motherboard models produced by ASRock. Currently, the selling price and the products that will support this special expansion card are unclear. Nevertheless, it's a pretty clever idea for those with modest budgets when building a new AMD AM5 configuration, but later have the means to upgrade. The question remains whether the total cost of the motherboard + X670 XPANSION KIT is worth trading off for selling the old motherboard and buying a completely new product.
