Gigabyte brought back the legendary SOC Force line — the B850M Force motherboard is presented
Gigabyte announced the B850M Force motherboard, thus reviving the iconic Force SOC series, which first appeared on Intel platforms. The new model is now focused on AMD processors and is made in the microATX form factor for the Socket AM5 platform. The manufacturer confirmed compatibility with Ryzen 9000, 8000 and 7000 series chips, including support for X3D Turbo Mode.
B850M Force features 2 DDR5 DIMM slots with overclocking speeds up to 9600MT/s and three M.2 slots, two of which are connected directly to the CPU. One of them supports PCIe Gen 5 SSDs if you use Ryzen 9000/7000 processors. The remaining M.2s operate at Gen 4, as do all four SATA ports. Expansion slots include full PCIe 5.0 x16, if the Ryzen 9000 CPU is installed, and the second PCIe 4.0 x4.
Networking and multimedia features include Realtek 2.5GbE LAN and integrated Radeon graphics, working via HDMI (4K@60Hz) and DisplayPort (1440p@144Hz). The audio subsystem on Realtek HD Audio is also noted. The model is equipped with many USB ports: USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, USB-C, 2.0 and headers on the board. The Wi-Fi version provides support for Wi-Fi 6E and a new type of antenna.
Gigabyte added a number of proprietary features, including X3D Turbo Mode, an updated BIOS interface and debug indicators. The board comes in a black, white and orange color scheme with reinforced heatsinks, and also surprisingly includes a PS/2 port as a nod to classic Force SOCs. A Wi-Fi version is also confirmed on the official website.
The B850M Force will be an interesting option for Ryzen 9000-based builds, including systems with PCIe 5.0 SSDs and DDR5 modules with speeds exceeding 9000MT/s.
