Monday, April 15th 2019
MSI Betrays AMD's Socket AM4 Longevity Promise: No Zen2 for 300-series?
Greedy motherboard vendors such as MSI want you to buy a new motherboard every two generations of processor for no sound reason at all. MSI is reportedly blocking support for 3rd generation Ryzen "Matisse" processors on its AMD 300-series chipset motherboards, including those based on high-end AMD X370 and OC-capable B350 chipsets. This would also put those who own $300 motherboards such as the X370 XPower out of luck. To recap, AMD announced on numerous occasions that it doesn't want to be a greedy clique like its competitor, by forcing motherboard upgrades and promised that socket AM4 motherboards will be backwards and forwards compatible with at least four generations of Ryzen processors, running all the way up to 2020.
This normally should mean that any 300-series motherboard must support 4th generation Ryzen processors with a simple BIOS update. Most 300-series motherboards, including from MSI, even ship with USB BIOS Flashback feature to help with forwards compatibility. Unfortunately, motherboard companies such as MSI care more about their bottom-lines than the consumer. In a support e-mail to an X370 XPower Titanium owner, MSI confirmed that it will not extend Zen 2 support to AMD 300-series. Other motherboard vendors could follow MSI's suit as a representative of another motherboard vendor, on condition of anonymity, told TechPowerUp that "Zen 2" processors have steeper electrical requirements that 300-series motherboards don't meet. This is an excuse similar to the one Intel gave for the planned obsolescence of its 100-series and 200-series chipsets, even as it was repeatedly proven that those motherboards can run and overclock 9th generation processors with custom firmware just fine. Would MSI care to explain whether a B450M PRO-M2 has a stronger VRM than an X370 XPower Titanium to warrant "Zen 2" support? Will all "Zen 2" processor SKUs have steep electrical requirements? Will there not be any SKUs with double-digit-Watt TDP ratings?
Update (16/04): MSI posted a clarification on this issue.
Source:
master3553 (Reddit)
This normally should mean that any 300-series motherboard must support 4th generation Ryzen processors with a simple BIOS update. Most 300-series motherboards, including from MSI, even ship with USB BIOS Flashback feature to help with forwards compatibility. Unfortunately, motherboard companies such as MSI care more about their bottom-lines than the consumer. In a support e-mail to an X370 XPower Titanium owner, MSI confirmed that it will not extend Zen 2 support to AMD 300-series. Other motherboard vendors could follow MSI's suit as a representative of another motherboard vendor, on condition of anonymity, told TechPowerUp that "Zen 2" processors have steeper electrical requirements that 300-series motherboards don't meet. This is an excuse similar to the one Intel gave for the planned obsolescence of its 100-series and 200-series chipsets, even as it was repeatedly proven that those motherboards can run and overclock 9th generation processors with custom firmware just fine. Would MSI care to explain whether a B450M PRO-M2 has a stronger VRM than an X370 XPower Titanium to warrant "Zen 2" support? Will all "Zen 2" processor SKUs have steep electrical requirements? Will there not be any SKUs with double-digit-Watt TDP ratings?
335 Comments on MSI Betrays AMD's Socket AM4 Longevity Promise: No Zen2 for 300-series?
Like I'm rich and can change motherboards on the fly.
If this is true I will put MSI on my blacklist along with Biostar.
MSI could just have said that the 300 series only supports up to 8 or 12 cores, if that's really the issue here.
This is just a dick move.
Working hard and making money is a part of life. Using tactics like the ones described in this article is lowlifeishness and is not rewarded with further purchasing of your products. Best reconsider unless you want some very unprofitable backlash. Otherwise, take a long walk off a short pier or perhaps take a flying leap off a tall cliff or maybe go french-kiss a light socket? Yes, yes..
Regards,
Retailers and Purchasers everywhere.
to much speculation and faulty assumptions here, I expected better
this crap has been making the rounds with some sites claiming that the bios chip size on B3xx boards was to small to accommodate the microcode, which given that the microcode is a few bytes to a couple of kb and most bios images are < 8MB
is bullshit, so now somebody is blaming the vrm ? in a poorly translated email exchange, ill but that for a dollar
is there possibly unforeseen compatibility oversight on some of the lower end boards, Probly is it a show stopper probably not ...
so why don't we just stop with the click bait articles and stop writing scathing bs posts based on one user dealing with one T1 agent over email
seriously bta you should know better
That was the reason for dropping pre-Ryzen CPU support from some (cheaper) boards. It is only logical that the same problem will also kick in again now that new CPUs need to be added.
Edit:
So, the motherboard in question - X370 XPower Titanium - has the latest BIOS update with a file size of 16384 bytes.
"No it will not, this will be for X470 and B450. "
It's a shame because MSI was building some solid reputation on AM4 with some very good mobos on both hardware and software side ( especialy with the recent implementation of offset voltage ) but looks like they are keen to destroy all of this !
Don't disappoint me now, ASRock.
MSI is not in that position, but like OneMoar said, is this really the official word from MSI?
It won't last. It's either a misunderstanding, or MSI will change their mind.
Otherwise they'll lose a lot of money.
What I'm REALLY curious about are motherboards like the Asrock x470 Tai Chi which have massively overspec VRM and power delivery solution; will they get a x570 bios update because the board itself can certainly handle it.
In any case, I am trying to cut down on my salt intake so we'll see what happens.
Cheers for TPU
It's not like they are a market leader, in either volume and options... ASUS beats them hands down.
If ASUS won't do this crap, MSI will have no choice other than supporting as well, otherwise a lot of their customers will switch sides "just because"
Oh and there's Gigabyte, ASRock, Biostar, Elitegroup ... and there might be other less known ones especially on Asian market.
I doubt everyone will shoot themselves in the foot with such attitude.
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If the manufacturer wants to sell a new board, then OFFER SOMETHING that is good enough that people will WANT to upgrade.
2.5 gbps Ethernet anyone ?
I'm sure that a LOT of people are waiting for it to become standard.
Also USB 3.x 10gbps, bundled radiator for NVMe, multiple (A)RGB headers that can be controlled independently, Wifi module offered on more boards (they are dirt cheap these days anyway)
Give use more and better stuff and WE WILL UPGRADE. Not because we HAVE TO, but because we WANT TO.
Expect MSI to speak out within a week and correct this.
If not, then yes, they're indeed stupid in the face.
We need something official from MSI, until then there's no point in posting "if this is true" posts. We already know what everyone thinks if this is true.. ;)
The one thing I'm well aware of is many people will actually buy a new x570 motherboard regardless of backwards compatibility. To ensure every single feature can be tapped into with the new Processors.
So this is simply a MSI greed tactic that WILL backfire.
Any company that follow suit should also see low overall sales.