AMD Ryzen 5000 Processors Allegedly Work With 300 Series Motherboards

[Uskompuf]

When AMD initially announced that their next-generation Ryzen processors would only support 500 series motherboards they faced significant backlash and were forced to include 400 series motherboard support. The reason AMD cited at the time was the limitations in some flash chips not containing enough space to store the information for all processors, several motherboard manufacturers encountered this issue with Ryzen 3000 bios updates where they needed to reduce graphical elements in their BIOS.

An overclock.net forum user by the name Brko has recently claimed that Zen 3 processors can run on a GIGABYTE X370 motherboard with a beta BIOS and AGESA update. This claim has been partially validated by chm128256m who got a Ryzen 9 5900X to run on his modded ASRock A320M motherboard. AMD is extremely unlikely to officially support this backwards compatibility with 300 series motherboards given their previous statements. It will be interesting to see if any OEMs provide backward compatibility updates and any issues that may arise.



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[Athlonite]

What's the pixelated area

 

[laszlo]

What's the pixelated area

obviously the bios version "beta" probably not official one..made by... who knows..

 

[sutyi]

What's the pixelated area

BIOS version.

 

[murr]

It would be nice if we could actually buy a 5000 processor at retail price.

 

[the54thvoid]

Need a mod for my Asus X370 board. That'd make my tech day.

 

[watzupken]

BIOS support is one thing, but I feel it is a risk because not every board rocking a 3xx series chipset can accommodate the higher power requirement on the Ryzen 5xxx series.

 

[junglist724]

BIOS support is one thing, but I feel it is a risk because not every board rocking a 3xx series chipset can accommodate the higher power requirement on the Ryzen 5xxx series.

What higher power requirement? An 1800x draws more power than a 5950x.

 

[R0H1T]

What higher power requirement? An 1800x draws more power than a 5950x.

You're kidding right? The 5950x can regularly cross 5GHz on single core, it's also 16c/32t

 

[evernessince]

This is not surprising. AMD is restricting 5000 series chips to 400 series or newer chipsets due to BIOS size constraints, not because of incompatibility.

 

[yotano211]

You're kidding right? The 5950x can regularly cross 5GHz on single core, it's also 16c/32t

Like you said, single core 5.0, when all cores are load it drops on the core speed.

 

[tripleclicker]

BIOS version.

Correct. While R4.0 is the board version.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/A320M-HDV R4.0/index.asp

I have an older board: (Now everyone knows I'm a cheapskate)
http://www.asrock.com/MB/AMD/A320M-HDV/index.asp

Support link says both latest bios support:
1. Update AMD AGESA Combo-AM4 PI 1.0.0.6
2. Supports 3RD Gen AMD Ryzen XT series CPU

I wonder if AMD would remove support though (in the future)?

 

[Kohl Baas]

Well, it makes sense. 4xx and 3xx boards use the same Promontory chipsets, if the 4xxs can be made compatible than the 3xxs could too.

You're kidding right? The 5950x can regularly cross 5GHz on single core, it's also 16c/32t

Kidding? What are we talking about? Power or frequency? 'cause the two are not the same! 5GHz is not power! 16c/32t aren't either! WATTS are power!

And a funny fact... 3xx chipset has NOTHING to do with power! The board's VRM does!

So what is your point exactly?

 

[OrangeJuicelol]

Support link says both latest bios support:
1. Update AMD AGESA Combo-AM4 PI 1.0.0.6
2. Supports 3RD Gen AMD Ryzen XT series CPU

I wonder if AMD would remove support though (in the future)?

That's just the support update for the 3000 XT series (these ones: https://www.amd.com/en/partner/elite-performance-ryzen-3000xt-processors), not the 5000 series. This is almost 100% a modded BIOS because AMD does not officially support 5000 series CPUs on first gen motherboards. They even almost cut support for the second gen (B450, X470,...) if not for backlash from the community.

 

[londiste]

As long as it is not officially supported - even as beta that 400-series support is claimed to be in January - this is a completely moot point.
This is kind of the same as Intel's 9900K was running on Z170 motherboards. Interesting but ultimately pointless.

 

[Kohl Baas]

As long as it is not officially supported - even as beta that 400-series support is claimed to be in January - this is a completely moot point.
This is kind of the same as Intel's 9900K was running on Z170 motherboards. Interesting but ultimately pointless.

That's marketing too.But since you can't get it 'cause scalpers, it makes no difference. I told my friend who don't want to wait to get an X570 mobo with RX5700TX and a 3600X and he can upgrade 2 years after... Screw those bastards!

 

[R0H1T]

Well, it makes sense. 4xx and 3xx boards use the same Promontory chipsets, if the 4xxs can be made compatible than the 3xxs could too.



Kidding? What are we talking about? Power or frequency? 'cause the two are not the same! 5GHz is not power! 16c/32t aren't either! WATTS are power!

And a funny fact... 3xx chipset has NOTHING to do with power! The board's VRM does!

So what is your point exactly?

Well how about you explain your claim? 1800x drawing more power than 5950x at what full load, idle, what voltage? First you make a wild claim that 1800x draws more power, unless you meant to say efficiency, not only does that post sound preposterous but also revisionist!

And thanks for telling us VRMs matter a lot, care to point the difference between the best VRMs on x370 vs x570 then

 

[kapone32]

As much of the online sales look like bots I can attest that even brick and mortar stores are having difficulty keeping stock. I was watching the 5600x at Canada Computers. Sales started at 10am and were only in store purchases with no pre orders. By 10:30 AM every store in the GTA (The Greater Toronto Area is about the size of 1/2 or 2/3 the size of Dallas TX) was sold out. By 2 pm every store in the province of Ontario (Which is about the size of Texas, California and New York) was sold out. Interestingly you cannot even pre order now. There is a real demand for the new hardware and when or if they can confirm that it works with boards like the X370 Taichi the sales will not diminish in the short term as there are plenty of 1st or 2nd Gen owners that would see a very discernable difference in performance by gabbing one of these. Wait until these get reviewed with the 6000 series GPUs and it is proven that SAM makes these chips even faster in Gaming.

 

[Kohl Baas]

Well how about you explain your claim? 1800x drawing more power than 5950x at what full load, idle, what voltage? First you make a wild claim that 1800x draws more power, unless you meant to say efficiency, not only does that post sound preposterous but also revisionist!

And thanks for telling us VRMs matter a lot, care to point the difference between the best VRMs on x370 vs x570 then

My claim? My claim was that neither 5GHz nor 16c/32t are power-consuption and I think I made a clear, undisputable point on that.

And VRM is the only thing matters when it comes to CPUs' power-consumption. Chipset does not.

So if you want to suggest that 3xx chipsets are incompatible becausethe 5000 series' power-consuption, that is utter BS.

 

[Jism]

BIOS support is one thing, but I feel it is a risk because not every board rocking a 3xx series chipset can accommodate the higher power requirement on the Ryzen 5xxx series.

This is'nt a concern really. Even the 50$ boards out there are capable of even running an OC'ed 3950X.

It is because AMD pretty much demands, that if you want to make a AMD motherboard, you have to comply with the minimum they require. So a capable VRM that is up to 150W or so.

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X Tested on Cheap B350 Motherboard

We're testing AMD's 12-core, 24-thread Ryzen 9 3900X flagship on a cheap B350 motherboard. Performance results are good, even overclocking works as well as on X570. Special attention is paid to VRM temperatures, which we measure using a FLIR thermal camera.

www.techpowerup.com

There you have it. The days of the FX era where boards where'nt capable of running a high-end FX are long gone. And yes, a VRM "can" run up to 130 degrees, it's just not very healthy for the surrounding components such as capacitors as it greatly reduces it's lifespan. If your deciding to run a 50$ board with a high-end CPU, it's perfectly possible, but the chances are great your running into thermal issues. Could be solved simply by either extending it's cooling or have a VRM setup that evenly distributes the power as much as possible for best efficiency.

Like again; if you buy a ultra high-end board now these days and paying 500$ for it; you gotta be a bit weird for doing so if it's just for the VRM. In most cases, you won't be even close to the designed maximum of the VRM and not even on LN2. Your better off with a decent board that for example, allows you to play with VRM switching frequency rather then voltages or maximum current. I've seen much better results in OC'ing with just adjusting it's VRM Frequency (how many times it goes on and off a second) rather then loading up a higher voltage.

A good stable voltage that goes from idle to high load and stays the same without huge flutucations is far better then just booting another higher voltage in it.

 

[Tom Yum]

Well how about you explain your claim? 1800x drawing more power than 5950x at what full load, idle, what voltage? First you make a wild claim that 1800x draws more power, unless you meant to say efficiency, not only does that post sound preposterous but also revisionist!

And thanks for telling us VRMs matter a lot, care to point the difference between the best VRMs on x370 vs x570 then

Anandtech measured 9W more peak power draw (peak != full load power draw) between the 5950X and 2700X which is supported by all 300 series chipsets. My Asrock X370 Taichi runs my 3900X absolutely fine (it folds most of the day so high power draw for long periods) and has a slightly higher power draw than the 5950X.

I don't get people's obsession with ridiculously oversized power delivery systems in PC hardware. It is purely marketing driven, both AMD and Intel set clear power delivery requirements for their sockets that board manufacturers have to meet to be able to certify the board is compatible. Unless you are planing to do big OC's, you can comfortably rely on an AM4 board to run any compatible CPU from a power handling perspective. The FX debacle came about because AMD released a processor that sat far outside the AM3+ power spec (it used 220W TDP) which meant only certain boards could support.

 

[Jism]

Getting big OC's on these ryzen is something from the past. PBO pretty much OC's for you to a certain safe limit. There's not much headroom beyond there and what they do give you is some memory tweaking with IF's and deviders and so on. There's no way you can ever utilitize the full capacity of any decent higher end board as it is pure marketing. Ofcourse; a good board with a well proper build VRM is needed; but in 9 out of 10 cases you cant even get past that requirement since the CPU's dont OC that much great anymore.

When you go lower in temperature as well; the power requirement drops significant. So there's no real benefit into driving a VRM with up to 900 Amps or so for a CPU that would not in it's lifetime ever consume that. You cant cool that either without going LN2 because the heat density is like the sun on microscopic levels. Same applies for GPU's pretty much.

Since chipset these days is housed into the CPU and no longer on boards, there's not much of an addition like you had in the past. You could go for VIA which was a cheap chipset, or you could go for Nforce 2 or Nforce 3 for that matter, but that would only give you that additional benefit if you knew how to extract that. I mean buying a expensive as shit board is'nt going to make your system perform faster. The difference is that you have alot more tools to for example, improve your overclock or iron out the stability you could have in an OC.

Mweh.

 

[Rage Set]

Getting big OC's on these ryzen is something from the past. PBO pretty much OC's for you to a certain safe limit. There's not much headroom beyond there and what they do give you is some memory tweaking with IF's and deviders and so on. There's no way you can ever utilitize the full capacity of any decent higher end board as it is pure marketing. Ofcourse; a good board with a well proper build VRM is needed; but in 9 out of 10 cases you cant even get past that requirement since the CPU's dont OC that much great anymore.

When you go lower in temperature as well; the power requirement drops significant. So there's no real benefit into driving a VRM with up to 900 Amps or so for a CPU that would not in it's lifetime ever consume that. You cant cool that either without going LN2 because the heat density is like the sun on microscopic levels. Same applies for GPU's pretty much.

Since chipset these days is housed into the CPU and no longer on boards, there's not much of an addition like you had in the past. You could go for VIA which was a cheap chipset, or you could go for Nforce 2 or Nforce 3 for that matter, but that would only give you that additional benefit if you knew how to extract that. I mean buying a expensive as shit board is'nt going to make your system perform faster. The difference is that you have alot more tools to for example, improve your overclock or iron out the stability you could have in an OC.

Mweh.

I agree and disagree with your assessment of Ryzen overclocking. It is very true RAM overclocking is very important for Zen processors, getting a stable, large frequency OC without exotic cooling is possible...just very difficult.

Perhaps it is just me but I was able to kill the VRMs on my first Zenith Extreme II mobo and it so happens that Asus released a revision shortly after the release, called the Zenith Extreme Alpha, with you guess it, better VRMs.

Rageset`s Cinebench - R20 score: 15119 cb with a Ryzen Threadripper 3960X

The Ryzen Threadripper 3960X @ 4475MHzscores getScoreFormatted in the Cinebench - R20 benchmark. Ragesetranks #6 worldwide and #6 in the hardware class. Find out more at HWBOT.

hwbot.org

 

[InVasMani]

As long as it is not officially supported - even as beta that 400-series support is claimed to be in January - this is a completely moot point.
This is kind of the same as Intel's 9900K was running on Z170 motherboards. Interesting but ultimately pointless.

I could pad mod a 9700F and bios mod my Z170 and pocket $300's roughly over getting a 570X and 5600X ultimately pointless huh?

 

[seth1911]

AMD make the similar thing like Intel cause they can do it

Wait, no they are more Badass
If u buy an Intel u know 2x Gen and u have to buy a new Board
If u bought an X370, B350, A300 and thought AM4 would be have a long time support, AMD is trolling u and say no