ASUS’s ProArt B550 Creator motherboard will be the first product, not only based around the AMD platforms but the first to feature support for Thunderbolt 4. Although the Z590 motherboards already feature Thunder 4 connectors, the ASUS ProArt B550 Creator chipset is a B550 one. The B550 is the mid-range chipset for AMD’s AM4 socket. It comes somewhere in between the A520 chipset and the X570 chipset.
So far Thunderbolt 4 had been seen only on Intel which was featured on Tiger Lake-U laptops last year and on Z590 motherboards. Thunderbolt 4 works over a USB Type-C port, adding more power to delivery, DisplayPort, and PCIe connection functionally over USB and the new generation improves on the functionality. Incidentally, the ProArt B550 Creator is the first AMD motherboard to support Thunderbolt 4.
So far the Thunderbolt 4 connector has been exclusive of Intel chipset motherboards. However, the ASUS B550 Creator has two Thunderbolt 4 ports that support DisplayPort 1.2/1.4 video outputs.
AMD Ryzen 5000, 4000G, and 3000 CPUs are supported by the ASUS B550 Creator. The memory support is DDR4-5100 on 4000G series and DDR4-4866 with Ryzen 5000/3000. The connectivity and audio are dual 2.5 Gb Ethernet and Realtek ALC1220 audio.
As mentioned above, the Thunderbolt 4 was supposed to be entirely exclusive for the Intel chipset; however, the fact that it has been included in the ASUS ProArt B550 Creator automatically gives it a certain edge and makes it quite special. This is something that has not been witnessed before. However, it should be mentioned that the Thunderbolt 4 had appeared on an AMD chipset even before it claimed a space on the Z590 motherboard. The ASUS ProArt B550 Creator also will only cost $299 which some people find to be too expensive but are justifiable for the features that it offers.
