Last reviewed: September 18, 2026

X870 is newer than X670E.

It is not simply a better version of X670E.

AMD’s own current chipset specifications make that clear.

AMD lists X670E with 44 usable PCIe lanes and X870 with 36 .

Both support up to 24 usable PCIe 5.0 lanes.

Both can provide:

• PCIe 5.0 x16 graphics,
• PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe storage,
• CPU overclocking,
• DDR5 memory overclocking / EXPO,
• and current AM5 Ryzen processors.

The real trade is different:

X670E gives motherboard makers more total chipset I/O. X870 gives you USB4 as a standard platform feature.

That means the chipset badge does not decide which board is better.

The exact motherboard layout does.

Before buying, open the manual and check where the M.2 slots, USB4 controller, SATA ports and PCIe expansion slots actually get their lanes.

If you are checking a specific CPU and board combination, use the Motherboard Compatibility Tool as a first compatibility check.

X870 vs X670E: the buying decision

Best Default in 2026 Buy X870

MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk WiFi

The safer current-generation choice for a normal high-end AM5 build: USB4, Gen5 graphics, four M.2 positions, Wi-Fi 7 and 5GbE.

• USB4 is standard
• 2 × CPU-connected Gen5 M.2 with Ryzen 7000/9000
• 5GbE + Wi-Fi 7
• Catch: M2_2 shares bandwidth with rear USB4

Check Current Price on Amazon → Amazon affiliate link

X670E Exception

MSI MAG X670E Tomahawk WiFi

Only buy X670E now when a good new board is clearly cheaper than its X870 equivalent or its particular expansion layout suits your build better.

• X670E platform has 44 usable PCIe lanes
• Four M.2 slots on this board
• PCIe 5.0 x16 graphics
• Catch: no USB4 on this specific Tomahawk

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More Expansion

MSI MAG X870E Tomahawk WiFi

If you genuinely need X670E-style lane headroom, compare X870E before buying an older board. It restores the larger I/O budget and keeps USB4 standard.

• 44 usable PCIe lanes
• 24 usable Gen5 lanes
• 2 × Gen5 + 2 × Gen4 M.2
• Catch: even this board has M2_2 / USB4 sharing

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X870 vs X670E specifications

Swipe → to see the full comparison

Those figures are platform maximums, not promises that every board exposes every lane or port.

AMD gives the motherboard manufacturer a resource budget.

The manufacturer decides how to spend it.

The biggest misconception: X870 is not X670E’s replacement

The names suggest a simple hierarchy:

X870 is newer, so X870 must be more capable.

That is not what AMD’s platform layout shows.

X670E has the larger downstream I/O budget.

According to Puget Systems’ breakdown of the AM5 chipset architecture , AMD’s higher-I/O designs use multiple Promontory 21 chipset components together, while X870 belongs to the smaller-I/O class.

That is why X670E and X870E can offer:

• more chipset-connected PCIe resources,
• up to twice the 10Gbps USB allowance,
• up to twice the 20Gbps USB allowance,
• and up to twice the SATA / PCIe 3.0 resource budget.

X870’s defining advantage is different: USB4 became standard.

Does X870 give you more gaming performance?

No inherent gaming-performance advantage comes from changing X670E to X870.

The CPU, GPU, memory, BIOS configuration and cooling decide performance.

The chipset mainly decides connectivity and expansion.

TechSpot’s large 2026 test of 53 X870/X870E motherboards found only a small spread in CPU performance, and explained that even those differences were largely caused by motherboard vendors’ default PPT, TDC and EDC settings rather than the chipset itself.

With equivalent settings, the boards are not generating a new class of CPU performance.

What X870 actually gives you: standard USB4

This is the strongest technical reason to choose X870 in a new build.

AMD lists USB4 as:

• standard on X870,
• standard on X870E,
• and optional on X670E.

That last word matters.

Some X670E boards have USB4. Many do not.

For example, the MSI MAG X670E Tomahawk WiFi tops out at rear USB 20Gbps Type-C.

Its newer X870 Tomahawk replacement provides rear USB4 / USB 40Gbps connectivity.

USB4 matters when you actually use hardware such as:

• fast external NVMe enclosures,
• USB4 docks,
• capture hardware,
• high-bandwidth creator peripherals,
• or compatible Type-C display workflows.

If your desk is just:

• keyboard,
• mouse,
• headset,
• ordinary USB drives,
• and a monitor connected directly to the GPU,

USB4 may contribute nothing to your daily use.

Our Best AM5 Motherboards With USB4 guide goes deeper into when this feature is actually worth paying for.

What X670E still does better: total I/O headroom

X670E gets 44 usable PCIe lanes versus 36 on X870.

The extra eight lanes do not make the graphics card faster.

They give the board designer more flexibility to connect things such as:

• additional PCIe slots,
• more full-speed NVMe positions,
• network controllers,
• additional USB controllers,
• capture cards,
• storage controllers,
• or other onboard devices.

X670E also has the larger chipset USB and SATA budget

AMD allows X670E up to:

• 12 × USB 10Gbps,
• 2 × USB 20Gbps,
• and 8 SATA / PCIe 3.0 resources.

X870 is limited to:

• 6 × USB 10Gbps,
• 1 × USB 20Gbps,
• and 4 SATA / PCIe 3.0 resources.

Again, that does not mean every X670E motherboard contains 12 fast USB ports or eight SATA ports.

It means the chipset gives the manufacturer more resources to allocate.

Lane sharing matters more than the chipset badge

This is the part I would check before any AM5 motherboard purchase.

Count the slots.

Then find out what happens when you actually populate them.

MSI X870 Tomahawk: M2_2 and USB4 share the same CPU link

MSI explicitly documents that the two rear USB4 ports and the M2_2 position share a CPU PCIe 5.0 x4 connection .

Install an SSD in M2_2 and, by default, the connection is split:

• M2_2 operates at x2,
• USB4 gets the other share.

Go into the BIOS and force M2_2 to its full x4 link, and the rear USB4 ports are disabled.

That is not a defect.

It is the physical lane budget being allocated one way or another.

X870E Tomahawk still shares those lanes

Moving to X870E does not magically eliminate every sharing rule.

MSI documents the same M2_2 / rear USB4 relationship on the X870E Tomahawk .

The important X870E advantage appears elsewhere: its larger chipset resource pool allows M2_3 and M2_4 to run at Gen4 x4, where the X870 Tomahawk’s third M.2 position is only Gen4 x2 and shares bandwidth with an expansion slot.

1. MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk WiFi — the X870 board I would start with

For a normal premium AM5 build, this is the kind of X870 board that explains why X670E is becoming harder to recommend without a discount.

MSI gives you:

• PCIe 5.0 x16 graphics,
• four M.2 positions,
• two CPU-connected Gen5 x4 M.2 slots with Ryzen 7000/9000,
• dual rear USB4 40Gbps Type-C,
• 5Gb Ethernet,
• Wi-Fi 7,
• ALC4080 audio,
• Flash BIOS,
• Clear CMOS,
• and tool-less M.2 / GPU-release hardware.

Storage is good—but you must understand M2_2

With a Ryzen 7000 or Ryzen 9000 processor:

• M2_1 = Gen5 x4,
• M2_2 = Gen5 x4 maximum,
• M2_3 = Gen4 x2,
• M2_4 = Gen4 x4.

If USB4 matters, I would use M2_1 for the primary Gen5 SSD and treat M2_2 as a strategic slot rather than automatically filling it second.

The X870 Tomahawk is not the cheapest AM5 gaming solution

If your system is:

• one graphics card,
• one or two SSDs,
• ordinary Ethernet/Wi-Fi,
• and no USB4 equipment,

you should also compare B850.

Our B850 vs X870 vs X870E guide explains where the cheaper chipset makes more sense.

2. MSI MAG X670E Tomahawk WiFi — buy only when the discount is real

The X670E Tomahawk is not suddenly a bad motherboard because a newer chipset exists.

It remains a capable AM5 board with:

• PCIe 5.0 x16 graphics,
• one Gen5 x4 M.2 slot,
• three additional Gen4 x4 M.2 positions,
• four SATA ports,
• 2.5Gb Ethernet,
• Wi-Fi 6E,
• Flash BIOS,
• and strong enough power delivery for current AM5 gaming CPUs.

Notice how the theoretical X670E advantage does not all appear here

The chipset can support a larger SATA and USB allocation than X870.

This particular motherboard still exposes only four SATA ports.

And while X670E makes USB4 optional, this Tomahawk does not provide rear 40Gbps USB4.

That is exactly why buying from the chipset name is the wrong approach.

The board does have useful expansion behavior

Its storage arrangement is less dependent on sacrificing USB4 because there is no USB4 controller to feed.

MSI instead documents sharing between PCI_E4 and M2_4: install a device in PCI_E4 and M2_4 drops to x2.

For somebody running several NVMe drives but no USB4 equipment, that may actually suit the system better than the newer X870 layout.

How cheap does X670E need to be?

I would not switch chipsets for a $10 or $20 difference.

For a broadly comparable board, I would want the X670E model to be roughly 15–20% cheaper before I start preferring it purely on value.

At today’s ~$200–$300 motherboard tier, that means a real clearance discount, not an older board selling for essentially the same money.

3. MSI MAG X870E Tomahawk WiFi — the more logical expansion upgrade

If the reason you are considering X670E is:

• more PCIe expansion,
• several NVMe drives,
• more chipset bandwidth,
• or a workstation-style configuration,

I would check X870E pricing before buying an older X670E board.

AMD gives X870E the same 44 usable PCIe lanes / 24 usable Gen5 lanes as X670E, but USB4 is standard.

The X870E Tomahawk makes better use of the expanded chipset budget

On this board:

• M2_1 = Gen5 x4,
• M2_2 = Gen5 x4 maximum,
• M2_3 = Gen4 x4,
• M2_4 = Gen4 x4.

Compare that with the X870 Tomahawk, where M2_3 is only Gen4 x2 and shares with a chipset-connected PCIe slot.

You also retain:

• dual rear 40Gbps USB4,
• 5Gb Ethernet,
• Wi-Fi 7,
• PCIe 5.0 graphics,
• and the same general modern MSI build features.

But X870E still cannot create lanes from nothing

The second Gen5 SSD still shares its CPU connection with USB4.

Populate M2_2 and both sides use x2 by default.

Force M2_2 to full x4, and rear USB4 is disabled.

That limitation is useful because it demonstrates the whole point of this article:

even the higher chipset does not eliminate the need to read the board manual.

Why old X670E vs X870 advice can now be wrong

When X870 and X870E launched, the price situation looked very different.

In its original 2024 X870/X870E motherboard roundup , TechSpot described the new boards as extremely expensive.

At the time, the cheapest tested X870E board was around $320, while an X670E option could be around $200.

In that market, buying older X670E made enormous sense.

2026 retail availability has changed the calculation

Recent U.S. retailer snapshots have shown strong X870 boards such as the MSI X870 Tomahawk around the low-$200s, while several popular X670E models have become unavailable, third-party-seller listings, or inconsistent old stock.

For example, Newegg has listed the X870 Tomahawk as the available alternative on its X670E Tomahawk page, while its X670E Steel Legend listing has shown out of stock.

That does not mean X670E can never be a deal again.

It means the recommendation must begin with the current board price, not a chipset reputation from two years ago.

The 2026 memory squeeze has also distorted the PC-parts market

Tom’s Hardware reported major motherboard vendors cutting 2026 shipment expectations by roughly 22–37% amid the broader component and memory shortage.

TrendForce has likewise documented sharply elevated DRAM pricing and weakening consumer PC demand.

That does not prove why any one X670E model costs what it does.

It does help explain why old-stock pricing and availability are unusually inconsistent.

Should you upgrade from X670E to X870?

No, in almost every normal situation.

If you already own a good X670E motherboard:

• keep the motherboard,
• update its BIOS when needed,
• install the new CPU you actually want,
• and spend motherboard-replacement money somewhere else.

What if you need USB4?

First check whether:

• your current board already has it,
• a manufacturer-supported add-in solution is available,
• or another free PCIe slot can solve the actual peripheral requirement.

Replacing a fully functional X670E board just to obtain one connection can be an extremely expensive way to add a port.

Will X670E support future AM5 processors?

AMD announced at Computex 2026 that it has extended Socket AM5 support through 2029 .

That is good news for both X670E and X870 owners.

But there is an important distinction:

AMD promised continued AM5 socket support. It did not promise that every existing motherboard will support every future processor.

For an actual future upgrade, the board manufacturer still has to:

• release the appropriate BIOS,
• include the processor in the board’s support list,
• and maintain enough firmware support for that exact model.

Before buying any future Ryzen chip, check the support page for the exact motherboard.

What about Ryzen 8000 APUs?

The chipset table describes the platform maximum.

The CPU also contributes PCIe lanes.

That means not every AM5 processor exposes the same graphics and storage configuration.

For example, MSI documents reduced lane generation or slot availability on some Ryzen 8000-series processors compared with Ryzen 7000 and 9000.

If you are building around:

• Ryzen 7 8700G,
• Ryzen 5 8600G,
• Ryzen 5 8500G,
• or another APU-style AM5 chip,

read the motherboard’s CPU-specific lane table before assuming every Gen5/M.2 feature works exactly as it does with a Ryzen 9000 CPU.

When X670E is actually the better buy

When X870 is the better buy

When you should skip both and buy B850

A lot of people comparing X870 and X670E do not actually need either chipset.

If the system is:

• primarily for gaming,
• one GPU,
• one or two NVMe SSDs,
• 2.5Gb or 5Gb networking at most,
• and no important USB4 workflow,

a good B850 motherboard can run the same Ryzen processor and graphics card without reducing gaming performance.

The motherboard savings may be far more useful in:

• a better GPU,
• more SSD capacity,
• a better monitor,
• or simply a lower total build price.

See: B850 vs X870 vs X870E .

X870 vs X670E decision in 30 seconds

Watch: X670E vs X870 — is the new chipset worth it?

The BC Zone video below covers the same key idea: X870 is not simply X670E with a newer number.

The decision is about:

• USB4,
• lane allocation,
• storage and expansion,
• and the price gap on the day you buy.

Seven mistakes to avoid

1. Assuming X870 has more PCIe lanes because the number is higher. AMD specifies 36 usable lanes on X870 versus 44 on X670E.
2. Assuming X670E is automatically better because 44 is bigger than 36. Those extra resources are useless if the board does not expose them in a way your build uses.
3. Buying from the number of M.2 slots alone. Find the lane-sharing table and determine what each populated slot changes.
4. Ignoring USB4 sharing. On boards such as the MSI X870 and X870E Tomahawk, M2_2 and rear USB4 compete for the same CPU link.
5. Replacing a working X670E board for gaming performance. The chipset swap does not make the same CPU and GPU produce a meaningful new tier of FPS.
6. Buying old X670E stock at a premium because it used to be the value choice. Compare live pricing. Past value does not guarantee current value.
7. Paying for X870 when B850 already solves the build. If you cannot name the extra connection you are buying, compare the cheaper chipset first.

Final verdict

The most important number in this comparison is not 870 or 670.

It is the number of:

• NVMe drives,
• PCIe cards,
• SATA devices,
• USB4 peripherals,
• and high-speed external devices

that you genuinely plan to connect.

Write that list first.

Then buy the least expensive good motherboard that connects all of it without creating a lane-sharing compromise you will actually notice.

That is a much better way to buy an AM5 motherboard than choosing the newest chipset badge and building the PC around it afterward.

More Best Motherboard Zone guides

X870 vs X670E FAQ