It has come to our attention that MSI Customer Support has regrettably misinformed an MSI customer with regards to potential support for next-gen AMD CPUs on the MSI X370 XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM motherboard. Through this statement we want clarify the current situation.
At this point, we are still performing extensive testing on our existing lineup of 300- and 400-series AM4 motherboards to verify potential compatibility for the next-gen AMD Ryzen CPUs. To be clear: Our intention is to offer maximum compatibility for as many MSI products as possible. Towards the launch of the next-gen AMD CPUs, we will release a compatibility list of MSI AM4 motherboards. Below is a full list of upcoming BIOS versions which include compatibility for the next-gen AMD APUs for our 300-Series and 400-Series AM4 motherboards based on the latest AMD Combo PI version 1.0.0.0. These BIOS versions are expected to be released in May this year.
158 Comments on MSI Issues Clarification on Next-Gen AMD CPU Support on 300-series Motherboards
There's press/news and then there's a tabloid. I've always thought of techpowerup as something of an inbetween but erring towards press. I wish people understood that distinction. News is suppsoed to always aim for the truth. "Fake news' is almost an oxymoron that has become mainstream. Why? Because news is never supposed to try to be fake or it ceases to be news. Calling it fake news is like calling water "not dry liquid," it's stupid. Antitruth and alternative facts are popular lately though. Sometimes I swear I'm in an episode of 1984 with the "20 minutes of hate." But just because that sells, that does not change our obligations.
If you have to report only after receiving the official word first, then why do we have journalism? We may even have the Zen2 support on the 300 series thanks to the backlash the news sites produced.
"Greedy motherboard vendors such as MSI want you to buy a new motherboard every two generations of processor for no sound reason at all. "
Does that sound like an ethical piece of journalism in light of the press release by MSI? Or does it sound like a gross assumption made off of one support email? MSI should have been asked for comment before the borderline libelous article was written.
I love this site because it is up to date, does good reviews of all the new hardware, and has good forums. But being accurate? That's usually secondary to being sensational and as quick as possible with the articles.
Here's an alternative first sentence for the gun-jumping article. See the difference?
"A new email raises serious concerns that MSI will follow a similar course with Intel motherboard releases and make their 300-series motherboards incompatible with new Ryzen processors despite longstanding assumptions that AM4 was forwards compatible. We have reached out to MSI to confirm or deny these accusations. "
In fact, what is more likely is that we may have users who read the original story, didn't bother to re-check for any updates so they missed the clarification, and are now in turn spreading false information further, which damages MSI's reputation needlessly.
All of this could have been mitigated with a simple: 'We have reached out to MSI for further comment and clarification and will update the article when we have more information.' Instead, the written diarrhea that came out in that article was totally unfounded with no basis in fact.
Hell, they could have just written that and lied to us and it would have been better.
I know in my line of work, if I said I couldn't do something, they would see that as the whole company I work for cannot.
There's no assuming when it comes to private companys making statements, doesn't matter how low in the chain they are, hence why management has now come and issued a correction.
TPU don't have to apologise.
What we need to see now, is if they follow through.
Oh right I forgot we are supposed to defend the multi million dollar global corporation who can't hire competent tech support or keep them informed.:wtf:
For the record, no one is really defending MSI. People are pointing out the lack of basic journalism.
As someone who's worked in retail/CSR/service positions, people like you are literally the worse. You are the type that will jump down on the lowest paying employee's throat (MSI rep in this case) the second something doesn't get your way. You are literally the "Can I speak with your manager type." This is regardless of how right you are or how much control the employee have.
Also, you are "reporting" a click-bait headline simply based one one sentence some tier 1 support said and you're taking it as absolute fact. Imagine I clean the toilet at Apple headquarters and told you Steve Jobs is secretly alive in the basement powering iCloud with his life force. You're gonna have a field day on TPU's front page with that too? Learn to have some journalistic integrity and double check your sources for future press releases. YOU being the only place where this blew up should be a telling to you. At this point, you are so far up your own arse you probably won't realize it.
None of the other forums have published this yet and that's probably due to the lack of real sources. (Glancing at Tweaktown, LTT, JayzTwoCents, and Gamernexus confirms that)
Why shouldn't we expect the same here?
We (TPU) use the words: 'Greedy' and 'Betrays' while purporting this as fact. Without ever reaching out to MSI (or at least indicating that). Why wouldn't you want more effort?
Remember, the pitch forks are out for the multi million dollar company, not the team member that wrote the response.
If they didn't know the answer, support staff should have simply replied "Unfortunately I do not have an answer for that question", or supported the customer in asking another team member for more information.
Then again, we don't know. There could big a massive white board message that says "No Zen 2 support for x370/B350/A320", however, that is very speculative.
MSI has made a mistake, and have followed it up in this article. I'm sure they'll have a word to the support team and implement a better procedure for when customers ask about future features, and they do not know the answer.