AMD pivots: B450, X470 motherboards will support Ryzen 4000 after all - heardarithe

AMD

Surprise! A mere week after announcing that its B450 and X470 motherboards South Korean won't support future generations of Ryzen processors, AMD has had a change of heart regarding socket AM4 compatibility. Huzzah! Next-gen Ryzen processors wish straight off support some 400-series and 500-series AM4 motherboards, though thither are many caveats up to my neck.

"Over the past week, we closely reviewed your feedback thereon news: we watched every video, take every scuttlebutt and saw every Twitc," AMD said in a release, via Anandtech. "We get a line that many of you hoped a longer upgrade path. We hear your hope that AMD B450 and X470 chipsets would carry you into the 'Zen 3' era…American Samoa the team weighed your feedback against the technical challenges we confront, we decided to change course."

AMD's compatibility annunciation spurred anger and traumatise crossways the Net. Even before Ryzen launched, AMD touted a long-term upgrade path via its AM4 socket. Survive week's announcement discovered that future "Back breaker 3" chips will so continue to support the AM4 socket but drop compatibility with older motherboard chipsets. That kept veracious just right of AMD's AM4 upgrade promise all the same tossed the spirit in the scraps bin. We aired our grievances in the about recent Full Nerd podcast, which you can experience start at about the 31-minute mark in the video below.

Don't be mistaken: In that respect are few very real technical limitations that require dumping support for elderly CPUs, as Gamers Link admirably covered. But AMD's marketing section spent old age playful Intel for its fugacious socket (not chipset) support, and worse, solely equitable trilled out B550 motherboards.

If you bought a kick-ass, affordable AMD 3000-serial publication Ryzen 3 or Ryzen 5 processor since parting August and didn't wishing to expend more on your motherboard than you did for your chip, B450 was the but red-brick option. X570 costs overmuch, and B550 is only rolling tabu at once. AMD and its partners pitched its 400-series motherboards arsenic a practicable alternative to newer 500-series boards, as the only notable 500-serial publication difference is support for the stylish PCI 4.0 technology. People who listened and opted to get a B450 or X470 board rather suddenly found themselves aground on a dead weapons platform without warning—until today's reversal. Kudos to AMD for listening to the (valid) feedback of its community.

ryzen pcie 4 ssd — B450 and X470 motherboards will support next-gen Ryzen chips, but not PCIe 4.0 SSDs like Corsair's Force MP600. You need a B550 or X570 board for that.

AMD's via media is just that: a compromise. It has to be, relinquished the subject area limitations that spurred the original plans to cut backward compatibility. The Zen Buddhism 3 support for B450 and X470 motherboards won't be arsenic seamless as antecedent upgrades, which leave probably limit it to enthusiasts unparalleled. But because this controversy pretty much single affects enthusiasts looking to upgrade their existing PCs—a same young subset of users—it's a welcome move from AMD.

Rather than trying to break apart refine the complicated process, here's what AMD says to expect:

As the team weighed your feedback against the field challenges we font, we decided to convert course. As a result, we will enable an upgrade path for B450 and X470 customers that adds support for following-gen AMD Ryzen Processors with the "Acid 3" architecture. This decision is very strong, just here is a initiative take how the upgrade path is expected to work for customers of these motherboards.

1)      We will develop and enable our motherboard partners with the code to support "Lucy in the sky with diamonds 3"-based processors in select beta BIOSes for AMD B450 and X470 motherboards.

2)      These optional BIOS updates will disable reinforcement for many existing AMD Ryzen™ Desktop Processor models to make the necessary ROM space obtainable.

3)      The select genus Beta BIOSes wish enable a one-way upgrade path for AMD Ryzen Processors with "Zen 3," coming later this class. Flash vertebral column to an older BIOS version will not be supported.

4)      To reduce the potential for confusion, our intent is to declare oneself BIOS download only to supported customers of 400 Series motherboards who have purchased a new screen background processor with "Zen 3" interior. This will help the States ensure that customers have a bootable central processing unit happening-hand after the BIOS flash, minimizing the risk a user could get caught in a No-boot out position.

5)      Timing and availability of the BIOS updates testament vary and may non immediately coincide with the availability of the first "Zen 3"-based processors.

6)      This is the final pathway AMD rear enable for 400 Serial motherboards to tally new Mainframe support. CPU releases beyond "Acid 3" leave require a newer motherboard.

7)      AMD continues to urge that customers choose an AMD 500 Series motherboard for the best performance and features with our new CPUs.

There are still umteen inside information 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 web log just like this to provide the remaining details and a walkthrough of the specific process.

Over again: Props to AMD for working to address the feedback near it original plan. This comes at a cost to the company and its partners, but it's well worth it. Ryzen's starting to give a big impression with enthusiasts, at last snatching Intel's bimestrial-held desktop computing crown. Suddenly stranding 400-series motherboard owners without warning was a massive slip-up.

Original 300-series motherboards that launched with the first-generation Ryzen chips volition still fall by the wayside, yet. I have one. Considering that it started out supporting the eight-core Ryzen 7 1800X and can be upgraded clear to the atrocious 16-core Ryzen 7 3950X with much high IPC and clock speeds, I ain't even mad.

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Brad Chacos spends his days digging through desktop PCs and tweeting too much.