Intel 16MB BIOS restriction - removes BIOS support for Core i5 7640X and i7 7740X (Kaby Lake-X).

Yesterday we reported that Intel issued a product notification with the entire Kaby Lake generation going EOL, meaning the will not fabricate the processors anymore. Today we're advancing on that with a bit of a warning if you own X299 with a Core i5-7640X, i7-7740X you probably want to double-check compatibility on your future firmware updates.

It's kind of weird to see this posted on the Intel website as to why drop BIOS support? Well the answer to that question is in fact a simple one, for the very same issue that AMD recently ran into the fact that some older processors had to be removed from their 16MB BIOSes, firmware space restrictions. Intel needs to add, and thus clear room for the Core i9 10980XE, i9 10940X, i9 109020X and i9 10900X into that X299 firmware.

So again, Kaby Lake X generation processors are no longer supported with new Intel firmware. However, motherboard manufacturers could still support the processors, as the notification is solely from Intel. Their firmware, however, propagates to the motherboard partners. For AMD Ryzen 3000 MSI, for example, bypassed the space restriction by revamping the UEFI interface with a very simply and space-saving GUI layout. For Intel, the processors involved are the Core i5 7640X (review) and Core i7 7740X (review).