AMD ZEN3 to get see Series B450 and X470 motherboard support after all
AMD just issued a press statement where they are explaining that AMD B450 and X470 chipsets could become compatible with the new “Zen 3” era of processors.
As AMD heads into the upcoming “Zen 3” architecture, there are considerable technical challenges that face a CPU socket as long-lived as AMD Socket AM4. For example, AMD recently announced that they would not support “Zen 3” on AMD 400 Series motherboards due to serious constraints in SPI ROM capacities in most of the AMD 400 Series motherboards. This is not the first time a technical hurdle has come up with Socket AM4 given the longevity of this socket, but it is the first time our enthusiasts have faced such a hurdle. Over the past week, AMD has closely reviewed your feedback on that news: they've watched every video, read every comment, and saw every Tweet.
-- AMD -- We hear that many of you hoped for a longer upgrade path. We hear your hope that AMD B450 and X470 chipsets would carry you into the “Zen 3” era. Our experience has been that large-scale BIOS upgrades can be difficult and confusing especially as processors come on and off the support lists. As the community of Socket AM4 customers has grown over the past three years, our intention was to take a path forward that provides the safest upgrade experience for the largest number of users. However, we hear you loud and clear when you tell us you would like to see B450 or X470 boards extended to the next generation “Zen 3” products. As the team weighed your feedback against the technical challenges we face, we decided to change course. As a result, we will enable an upgrade path for B450 and X470 customers that adds support for next-gen AMD Ryzen Processors with the “Zen 3” architecture. This decision is very fresh, but here is a first look at how the upgrade path is expected to work for customers of these motherboards.
- We will develop and enable our motherboard partners with the code to support “Zen 3”-based processors in select beta BIOSes for AMD B450 and X470 motherboards.
- These optional BIOS updates will disable support for many existing AMD Ryzen™ Desktop Processor models to make the necessary ROM space available.
- The select beta BIOSes will enable a one-way upgrade path for AMD Ryzen Processors with “Zen 3,” coming later this year. Flashing back to an older BIOS version will not be supported.
- To reduce the potential for confusion, our intent is to offer BIOS download only to verified customers of 400 Series motherboards who have purchased a new desktop processor with “Zen 3” inside. This will help us ensure that customers have a bootable processor on-hand after the BIOS flash, minimizing the risk a user could get caught in a no-boot situation.
- Timing and availability of the BIOS updates will vary and may not immediately coincide with the availability of the first “Zen 3”-based processors.
- This is the final pathway AMD can enable for 400 Series motherboards to add new CPU support. CPU releases beyond “Zen 3” will require a newer motherboard.
- AMD continues to recommend that customers choose an AMD 500 Series motherboard for the best performance and features with our new CPUs.
There are still many details to iron out, but we’ve already started the necessary planning. As we get closer to the launch of this upgrade path, you should expect another post like this to provide the remaining details and a walkthrough of the specific process.
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REMOVED, please stop posting unnecessary videos in a discussion forum, thanks.
With all kind of information on how this will /may work, for those that prefer to listen instead of reading.
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I don't see why all the fuss about the BIOS being made available only by request to people buying Zen 3.
The upgrade to Zen 2 was just like this in B350 motherboards, where they had to remove support for Raven Ridge to make space in the ROM, and if you were on Raven Ridge and flashed a Zen 2 BIOS you'd be left with a dead system, and it would be your fault.
But well, we cannot complain. Good move, AMD. My B450 is looking forward to it.
probably because it happened before where some consumer have a dead system and complained? Or maybe, just a disclaimer
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AMD really need to sort their PR department. A lot of the flack they get is easily avoidable. Good to see them revert.
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This is a relief knowing the backlash worked, as in those clowns are paying attention. I'm on an X570 board but that doesn't mean I'm any less infuriated. They made sure B550 was not available so everyone who bought a B450 board was screwed with 0 generational upgrades available if they went through with their BS. I bought a (at least at the time) high end X470 board with my Ryzen 2700 fully expecting support up to Zen 3 since it was heavily implied by AMD and eventually outright stated by MSI (at least for their 32MB ROM boards) since everyone including them obviously were expecting it.
AMD have barely tasted success for a minute and they're already turning into Intel. AMD needs to be more transparent and fire their current marketing department. I didn't need to be lied to and told my 3900X can pull a 4.6GHz turbo when its single core performance even at 4.3GHz is faster than an Intel chip at 5.2GHz outside of games. Stop lying, just talk about the good stuff you have, clowns.
And for the record, physically there is no reason higher end B350 and X370 boards can't support Zen 3 either. But at least cutting off support for those is more understandable due to what a mess it can become. You can bet for non-finalized designs AMD will just change pin count or physical compatibility in some way from now on to prevent having to support older boards. At the very least they'll say ahead of time they're not supported.
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Exactly.