MSI, a world-leading motherboard manufacturer, announces support for AMD's new SMART ACCESS MEMORY feature. SMART ACCESS MEMORY is an innovative feature. It allows the system to access the full capacity of the VRAM on the graphics card. Compare to the current solution which has 256 MB access limitation, this feature will provide the users better gaming experience.

For MSI motherboard users, enabling SMART ACCESS MEMORY is quite simple. It only takes a few clicks after updating the BIOS. Go to "Settings > Advanced > PCI Subsystem Settings", enable "Re-size BAR" and "Above 4G memory/Crypto Currency mining", press "F10", to save the settings and reboot. The requirement of this feature is pairing the AMD Radeon RX 6000 series graphics card with AMD Ryzen 5000 series desktop processor. And don't forget to update the graphics card driver to the latest version as well. After these steps, this feature is online and ready to boost the gaming performance.

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.

EVGA has today published the "XOC" BIOS version for its GeForce RTX 3090 FTW3 graphics cards. The XOC BIOS version is designed for "extreme overclocking" purposes, as it boosts the power limit of the card by very a few additional Watts. This allows the overclockers to use the card to its full potential so the GPU core is not limited by power. To run XOC BIOS on your GeForce RTX 3090 FTW3 GPU card, you need to have an adequate cooling solution and sufficient power supply. For power, EVGA recommends that you use at least 850w+ Gold PSU, at minimum. This is a sign that shows that XOC bios will boost the system power consumption by quite a bit. The XOC BIOS is enabling the GPU to have a power limit of 500 Watts. It is important to note that EVGA does not guarantee any performance increase or overclock while using this BIOS update.

You can download the EVGA XOC BIOS for GeForce RTX 3090 FTW3 graphics card here. To install it, unzip the file, run Update.exe, and after updating restart your PC. That is the complete update process for the BIOS update. EVGA uploads both the normal BIOS (so you can revert) and XOC BIOS there so be careful when choosing the right files. You can use TechPowerUp GPU-Z tool to verify the BIOS install.

BIOSTAR, a leading brand of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, today announces that their AM4 400 series motherboards will support the latest generation AMD Ryzen 5000 Vermeer series Zen 3 processors. BIOS updates supporting the AMD Ryzen 5000 Vermeer series processors on BIOSTAR AM4 400 series motherboards will be available starting January 2021. The details will be subject to BIOSTAR official website announcement.

Intel today unveiled the suite of new security features for the upcoming 3rd generation Intel Xeon Scalable platform, code-named "Ice Lake." Intel is doubling down on its Security First Pledge, bringing its pioneering and proven Intel Software Guard Extension (Intel SGX) to the full spectrum of Ice Lake platforms, along with new features that include Intel Total Memory Encryption (Intel TME), Intel Platform Firmware Resilience (Intel PFR) and new cryptographic accelerators to strengthen the platform and improve the overall confidentiality and integrity of data.

Data is a critical asset both in terms of the business value it may yield and the personal information that must be protected, so cybersecurity is a top concern. The security features in Ice Lake enable Intel's customers to develop solutions that help improve their security posture and reduce risks related to privacy and compliance, such as regulated data in financial services and healthcare.

Today there is some quite interesting information circulating the web regarding ASUS and its alleged decision. Going a few months back, AMD released a statement regarding the support for its upcoming Ryzen 5000 series CPUs and said that it should enable compatibility with the last-generation X470 and B450 chipset. That, however, has remained a bit of mystery. The update is baked-in with the BIOS, which every manufacturer, like MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, etc. provides independently of AMD. So it is a manufacturer-dependant case, where if one vendor chooses not to provide support for 400 series chipsets, many motherboards will not support new CPU generation.

Update Oct 14th: ASUS has reached out to us and said that "ASUS will provide updated BIOS' for the X470 and B450 chipsets based on AMD's current release schedule of new AGESA code in January 2021. This original report was based on incorrect information." This means that the customer support case contained wrong information, and ASUS is going to support 5000 series Ryzen CPUs on 400 series chipsets. Please note that the information below is incorrect.

The global leading motherboard manufacturer, ASRock, announces its AMD X570/B550/A520 motherboards series will support next generation AMD Ryzen 5000 Series processors via BIOS update. The next generation processors come with a full suite of technologies designed to elevate your PC's processing power. Update to the latest BIOS and get ready for the unmatched performance as well as latest technologies with AMD Ryzen 5000 series processors.

Look for the following BIOS version numbers in the downloads section of the product page of your motherboard on the ASRock website.

MSI began rolling out UEFI firmware updates that pack AMD's latest AGESA Combo PI V2 1.0.8.1 microcode, for the company's Socket AM4 motherboards based on the AMD 500-series chipsets. The company released firmware updates for 9 of its B550 motherboards today. Some time mid-September, it plans to release updates for X570 chipset boards, and the rest of its B550 motherboards. By late-September, updates will be released for A520 chipset boards.

MSI says AGESA V2 1.0.8.1 improves memory compatibility and memory overclocking headroom, and supports UMA memory share control for Ryzen 4000G / PRO 4000G "Renoir" desktop processors. MSI added fixes specific to its products, such as Soft RAID issues on B550, and PCs refusing to resume from S3 state. Check the "support" section of your motherboard's product page on the MSI website for the new firmware updates.

Even if you don't have more than one operating system installed, your PC has a boot-loader, a software component first executed by the system BIOS, which decides which operating system to boot with. This also lets users toggle between different run-levels or configurations of the same OS. The GRUB2 boot-loader is deployed across billions of computers, servers, and pretty much any device that uses a Unix-like operating system. Cybersecurity researchers with Oregon-based firm Eclypsium, discovered a critical vulnerability with GRUB2 that can compromise a device's operating system. They named the vulnerability BootHole. This is the same firm behind last year's discovery of the Screwed Drivers vulnerability. It affects any device that uses the GRUB2 boot-loader, including when combined with Secure Boot technology.

BootHole exploits a design flaw with two of the key components of GRUB2, bison, a parser generator, and flex, a lexical analyzer. Eclypsium discovered that these two can have "mismatched design assumptions" that can lead to buffer overflow. This buffer overflow can be exploited to execute arbitrary code. Devices with modern UEFI and Secure Boot enabled typically wall off even administrative privileged users off from tampering with boot processes, however, in case of BootHole, the boot-loader parses a configuration file located in the EFI partition of the boot device, which can be modified by any user (or malicious process) that has admin privileges. Thankfully, patched versions of GRUB2 are already out, and the likes of SUSE have started distributing it for all versions of SUSE Linux. Expect practically every other *nix vendor, server manufacturer, to release patches to their end-users. Find a technical run-down of the vulnerability in this PDF by Eclypsium.

Microsoft has announced an extension to the Windows Defender System Guard which will allow it to also verify and guarantee integryity of systems at a UEFI BIOS level. Citing an increase in hardware and firmware-level attacks over the years, the extended protection functionality aims to guarantee protection across the entire hierarchy of a device, from firmware up through to cloud processing.

The UEFI scanner is a new component of the built-in antivirus solution on Windows 10 and gives Microsoft Defender ATP the unique ability to scan inside of the firmware filesystem and perform security assessment. Working in conjunction with your systems' chipset, the UEFI scanner features a three-pronged solution to firmware security: UEFI anti-rootkit, which reaches the firmware through Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI); Full filesystem scanner, which analyzes content inside the firmware; and a Detection engine, which identifies exploits and malicious behaviors.

BIOSTAR, a leading brand of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, today announces product support for the latest AMD RYZEN 3000 XT series processors.

AMD's latest refresh of their RYZEN 3000XT series desktop processors has taken the market in storm providing higher clock speeds designed on the highly stable Zen 2 architecture. Built on AMD's B550 and A520 chipsets, AMD has expanded the 3rd Gen Ryzen processor range with a wider selection for consumers with the addition of the new XT range which consists of 3 new processors, the Ryzen 9 3900XT, AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT and AMD Ryzen 5 3600XT processors.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, today announce the latest BIOS update of AMD platform motherboards. To ensure users can embrace the performance boost, high compatibility, and high stability of 3rd Gen. AMD Ryzen XT Series desktop processors.

In order to furnish the best performance and user experience, AMD has been working closely with GIGABYTE and other motherboard vendors to provide BIOS code updates regularly for optimizing system performance or solving the issues verified by motherboard vendors. Adapted to the latest 3rd gen. are AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT,Ryzen 7 3800XT, Ryzen 5 3600XT processors. AMD provides AGESA ComboV2 1.0.0.2 BIOS for X570 and B550 chipset motherboards, and AGESA ComboV1 1.0.0.6 BIOS for X470, B450,X370, B350, and A320 chipsets products.

AMD is readying the PRO565 desktop motherboard chipset. Mention of the chipset surfaced in screenshots of the latest AMD CBS (common BIOS settings) lists of an ASRock motherboard, unearthed by Komachi Ensaka. Not much else is known about the AMD PRO 565. We expect it to be the key component of a business platform rivaling the Intel Q470, enabling several large business-relevant management features. AMD is making efforts to rival Intel vPro, as seen with its Ryzen 4000 Pro series mobile processors targeted at commercial notebooks with quasi-enterprise features. AMD's current crop of Ryzen PRO processors features GuardMI. It's likely that AMD will crystallize its "PRO" feature-set further with the PRO565 possibly enabling new features with the Ryzen PRO 3000 series desktop processors, or their "Renoir" based successors.

ASUS and Janus Technologies Inc. today announced the launch of the new ASUS ExpertBook P5440FA laptop with BIOS-SHIELD technology. The two companies have teamed up to deliver a feature rich security solution and cloud service for small to mid-size businesses and their remote workers. Using BIOS-SHIELD technology embedded within the ASUS ExpertBook P5440FA, businesses will be able to manage PCs remotely while adding extensive security capabilities to each endpoint. The ASUS ExpertBook P5440FA-54-SHD is the first model within the ExpertBook P-Series family to include BIOS-SHIELD technology.

AMD finally got around to officially talking about its sneaky last-minute specs update of the Radeon RX 5600 XT graphics card, which saw its memory frequency increased to 14 Gbps from its original 12 Gbps, in a bid to make it competitive against the price-cut GeForce RTX 2060. In a blog post subheaded "Unlock the full potential of your Radeon RX 5600 XT today," AMD tabulated all the graphics cards eligible for a video BIOS update that increases memory- and GPU clock speeds; along with links to support pages on their manufacturer website. We already made such a list. The AMD table also lists out certain custom-design cards that come with 14 Gbps memory out of the box, for which a BIOS update isn't needed. Find the table in the AMD blog post here.

Back in January, AMD released its Radeon RX 5600 XT graphics card with a last-minute specifications update that made it competitive with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card. It did so by increasing GPU clock speeds, and more importantly, increasing memory clock speeds to 14 Gbps up from 12 Gbps in the original spec. Various AMD add-in board (AIB) partners released one-click BIOS updates on January 22nd (find them for ASRock, Sapphire, MSI, PowerColor, and Gigabyte). An easy updater from ASUS was missing in action at the time. The company finally got around to releasing easy, Windows-based programs that update the video BIOS of its ROG Strix Radeon RX 5600 XT O6G and TUF Gaming RX 5600 XT EVO OC graphics cards. The BIOS updates run the video memory at 14 Gbps since the cards physically do feature 14 Gbps-rated memory chips. The specifications update has had a profound impact on the price-performance positioning of the RX 5600 XT, from being able to outperform the GTX 1660 Ti to trading blows with the RTX 2060. Grab the BIOS update from the links below.

DOWNLOAD: ASUS RX 5600 XT Easy BIOS Updates for ROG Strix RX 5600 XT O6G | TUF Gaming RX 5600 XT EVO OC

MSI, a world-leading motherboard manufacturer, proudly introduces two new B450 MAX motherboards, B450 GAMING PRO CARBON MAX WIFI and B450M BAZOOKA MAX WIFI. For the 3rd Gen Ryzen processors, the new MAX motherboards are optimized with best compatibility in every aspects. These two new MAX motherboards can satisfy more gamers and users.

As the most iconic motherboard for mainstream gamers, this time GAMING PRO CARBON also includes a MAX version for stylish gamers to perfectly match with 3rd Gen Ryzen processors. With millions colors and 17 LED effects, Mystic Light offers customization options for ever-changing RGB experience. B450 GAMING PRO CARBON MAX WIFI is also equipped with USB 3.2 Gen2 solution with up to 10 Gbps transfer speed. Audio Boost 4 with Nahimic 3 provides stable and high quality sound effects with premium components. Furthermore, concerning the higher performance-based 3rd Gen Ryzen processors, B450 GAMING PRO CARBON MAX WIFI includes Extended Heatsink Design and M.2 Shield to ensure better heat dissipation effects and lower temperature for CPUs and M.2 devices. Flash BIOS Button becomes more and more important and gives more convenience for BIOS updates.

GIGABYTE late-Tuesday released a video BIOS update for its Radeon RX 5600 XT Gaming OC graphics card (model: GV-R56XTGAMING OC-6GD). The new FA0 video BIOS increases TGP of the card to a massive 180 W (up from 150 W original spec), gaming clocks up to 1670 MHz, boost clocks up to 1750 MHz, and memory clocks up to 14 Gbps (GDDR6-effective), up from 12 Gbps. Gigabyte's BIOS update package for the RX 5600 XT Gaming OC includes a Windows-based GUI updater that's a lot easier to use than manually updating the BIOS using ATIWinFlash. Grab the update package from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: GIGABYTE RX 5600 XT Gaming OC New FA0 BIOS Update

PowerColor joins many other AMD Radeon partners in releasing enhanced video BIOS updates for its Radeon RX 5600 XT graphics cards to implement AMD's updated specification for the RX 5600 XT that increases clock-speeds and power-limits for the SKU, making it competitive against NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 2060. PowerColor saves its users the hassle (and risk) of updating their cards using bare ROM image files and ATIWinFlash, by automating the process via batch files. Unfortunately, PowerColor's updater appears DOS-based, and involves having to boot your PC to DOS and running the batch file.

Eligible models for PowerColor's RX 5600 XT Unleashed BIOS are the RX 5600 XT Red Devil (model: AXRX 5600XT 6GBD6-3DHE/OC) and the RX 5600 XT Red Dragon (AXRX 5600XT 6GBD6-3DHR/OC). Both cards offer the dual-BIOS feature, in which one of the BIOS is marked "OC" for the best performance, and the other "Silent," for the lowest noise levels. You're expected to run the updater once for each BIOS. Follow the instructions in the PDF file included with the BIOS update package, which includes instructions to make a DOS bootable media.

DOWNLOAD: PowerColor RX 5600 XT Unleashed BIOS

AMD's last minute specifications change of the Radeon RX 5600 XT means that early adopters of the card could be on the older (slower) spec. The new specification is being distributed by video BIOS updates. The likes of ASRock and Sapphire have released 1-click updaters; while MSI is distributing it through its centralized MSI Dragon Center app.

MSI Dragon Center unifies the functionality of tuning (that of Afterburner), with Mystic Light (RGB LED control), and Live Update (software updates) into one interface. In addition to looking up video driver updates, Dragon Center can now fetch and update the video BIOS of your Radeon RX 5600 XT graphics card. Among the eligible cards are the RX 5600 XT Gaming X and RX 5600 XT Gaming.

DOWNLOAD: MSI Dragon Center

Sapphire today released BIOS updates for its sole Radeon RX 5600 XT product, the Pulse Radeon RX 5600 XT OC Edition. The updated BIOS enhances performance by significantly increasing engine and memory clock speeds and power-limits, resulting in an up to 10 percent performance improvement. This stems from AMD's last-minute specifications update for the RX 5600 XT in a bid to make it competitive against the GeForce RTX 2060. Much like ASRock, Sapphire has automated the BIOS update process by shipping its BIOS ROMs with the flashing tool and batch files.

Since the Pulse RX 5600 XT OC Edition ships with dual-BIOS, one of which is the out-of-the-box performance BIOS, and the other is a 'quiet' BIOS, you're expected to update both, and there are separate Windows batch files to run after manually switching the between the ROMs. Sapphire's BIOS update package includes a PDF file with detailed instructions on how to update each ROM. The batch files spare you of having to manually work the various CLI arguments of the flashing tool. Look for the "New VBIOS Update" tab on the card's product page the Sapphire website.

As you may have heard, AMD's decision to revise the specifications of its Radeon RX 5600 XT in the last minute, has thrown its board partners and end-users into chaos and confusion. Inventories of cards with the original specs have already shipped, and cards available in the market today most likely stick to the old spec. The updated spec is being distributed by board partners in the form of a video BIOS update. ASRock released updated BIOS for its three factory-overclocked RX 5600 XT graphics cards, and has gone a step ahead in making it convenient for end-users to update their BIOS, through a 1-click updater.

ASRock's RX 5600 XT video BIOS updater consists of an executable and a Windows batch file. Clicking on the batch file with administrator privileges launches the automated updater. It frees you of having to use the CLI-based ATIWinFlash with a bare flash ROM image, getting all the arguments right, and having to cross your fingers. Grab the BIOS updater specific to your ASRock-made RX 5600 XT graphics card from the links below.

DOWNLOAD: ASRock RX 5600 XT Phantom Gaming D3 | ASRock RX 5600 XT Phantom Gaming D2 | ASRock RX 5600 XT Challenger D

PowerColor today issued a press release where they present the world their new Red Devil and Red Dragon models of AMD's RX 5600 XT graphics cards. This comes after reports on AMD's move towards increasing TDP, memory and core clockspeeds on their new graphics card so as to better compete with NVIDIA's recently price-cut RTX 2060, which would make it a much better performer than AMD's RX 5600 XT at a slightly higher price ($279 vs $299).

Hence a reported strike back from AMD in increasing performance for their RX 5600 XT with increased power envelope (160 W over 150 W), faster memory (at 14 Gbps instead of the original 12 Gbps) and increased core clocks (1615 MHz gaming and 1750 MHz boost, versus 1375 MHz gaming and 1560 MHz on AMD's CES press-event slides). The change in configuration brought about changes in the card design, with the higher-powered Red Devil coming in with 1x 8-pin and 1x 6-pin power delivery inputs, instead of the firstly developed 8-pin only. The changes have been brought about by a BIOS change, and not all cards will ship with the new specifications. However, PowerColor said that a BIOS update will be made available for customers to get their RX 5600 XT on steroids. Of course, whether or not it should be the onus of users to do such an update (which may risk in bricking their graphics card) is another matter entirely. The press release follows.

Intel is readying a microcode update specially for its X299 Express chipset, to enhance the overclocking capabilities of its 10th generation Core i9 XE "Cascade Lake-X" processors. News of the update was put out in an MSI press release that speaks of the company encapsulating the new microcode in BIOS updates for its entire socket LGA2066 motherboard lineup.

"To enhance the overclocking capability for the newly launched Intel Core X-series Processors (Intel Core i9-10980XE, 10940X, 10920X, 10900X), Intel will provide a new microcode update," the statement from MSI reads. Besides "overclocking capability," the new microcode also helps to "maximize the overall performance" of "Cascade Lake-X" processors," says MSI. The company does not describe what specifically these changes are. The microcode update will be released to end-users as BIOS updates by motherboard manufacturers, so be on the lookout for one, if you're using "Cascade Lake-X."

Overclocking the memory clock of a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti to 2000 MHz (16 Gbps) isn't difficult, but most custom-design RTX 2080 Ti cards cap out at that, and so the enthusiasts over at TecLab took matters into their own hands by pulling off a daring memory chip replacement mod, by installing 16 Gbps-rated memory chips onto a Galax RTX 2080 Ti HOF graphics card. In a 16-minute video presentation, they detail the process of soldering a component as delicate and sensitive as GDDR6 memory chips, and 45 times over. The team had to sacrifice not one, but two Galax GeForce RTX 2080 Super graphics cards, which feature 16 Gbps-rated memory chips to support the SKU's 15.5 Gbps memory clock. A total of 33 manual solder operations had to be performed (removing the 15 stock chips from the RTX 2080 Ti, removing 11 chips from the two RTX 2080 Super cards, and soldering them onto the RTX 2080 Ti).

The group detailed the process of removing the memory chips under hot air, giving the extracted chips fresh ball-grids, and placing the chips onto the RTX 2080 Ti PCB. No BIOS modding was required, as the RTX 2080 Ti card's video BIOS was able to auto-detect the chips and run them at 14 Gbps. From here on, manual overclocking easily runs the card at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps) memory, with overclocking headroom to spare. The memory clock could now be dialed all the way up to 2150 MHz (17.2 Gbps), something that's close to impossible with 14 Gbps chips. TecLab is calling their creation the world's first RTX 2080 Ti Super, which could very well be true. Last we heard, the RTX 2080 Ti Super could get more CUDA cores, and not just faster memory. Nevertheless, this mod blew our minds, and provides valuable pointers on how to solder dense BGA components without a multi million-dollar placer. We tip our hats to TecLab.Watch the TechLab video presentation here.