ASUS Confirms A520 Support for AMD Zen 3 CPUs; X470, B450 Support in Doubt?

[Raevenlord]

ASUS today has seemingly confirmed platform support of AMD's A520 chipset for the upcoming Zen 3-based CPUs. An official ASUS slide showcases the A 520 covering the latest Renoir-based CPUs (Ryzen 4000G, based on Zen 2), alongside upcoming Cezanne (Ryzen 5000G, based on Zen 3), and Vermeer (Ryzen 4000 or 5000 series, based on Zen 3 with actual series nomenclature being up in the air).

The good news end there, as the same ASUS slide may have just dropped a bomb on consumer expectations for their current platform support. Initially, the AMD B450 and X470 chipsets weren't going to support Zen 3-based CPU solutions; however, following considerable community backlash, AMD made the decision to offer support for these platforms via a vendor-specific BIOS update. This update might entail curbed support for older AMD Zen architectures, but would at least allow for an upgrade path for users interested in keeping their AM4, current-gen motherboards. ASUS doesn't seem to be offering such Zen 3 support for its X470 and B450 motherboards, though. We will have to see if this is an ASUS-specific decision or if something is indeed afoot in the world of AMD future proofing.



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[Ja.KooLit]

Yey. Thats why I moved to AMD. my X570 can last atleast 3 more gen ( hopefully more ).

 

[DarwiN]

The slide is BS, since it shows Matisse (Ryzen 3000) is supposedly not even supported on 300 series boards, where in fact 300 boards do support these cpus.

 

[kayjay010101]

Might be similar to Zen 2 on 3000, there are only select beta BIOS' available for the platform and it won't be kept particularly up to date

 

[Aretak]

The slide is BS, since it shows Matisse (Ryzen 3000) is supposedly not even supported on 300 series boards, where in fact 300 boards do support these cpus.

This. If the data on it isn't even correct for currently available CPUs, I'm not sure why anyone would be expecting it to be correct for unreleased ones.

 

[Punkenjoy]

I am under the impression than Zen 3 is the last architecture on AM4 as Zen 4 will be DDR5 and will require a new socket? altought that with chiplets they could do Zen 4 core with a DDR4 I/O chiplet if that make sense economically...

Not sure about that.

 

[Makaveli]

I am under the impression than Zen 3 is the last architecture on AM4 as Zen 4 will be DDR5 and will require a new socket? altought that with chiplets they could do Zen 4 core with a DDR4 I/O chiplet if that make sense economically...

Not sure about that.

This is correct. Zen 3 is the last cpu on AM4.

And bios support for Zen 3 on boards older than x500 series was always going to depend on the vendor.

 

[Houd.ini]

If this comes from Asus then I'm sure this is just Asus shenanigans.

 

[Kaesar]

I think it is very sad that every year the community is the one that has to backlash every board maker into making updates to old motherboards. Every drop of hope that we all seemed to have in Ryzen announcement back in 2016/2017 were not properly explained, there were a lot of side notes that AMD hide from everyone.
Like is very easy saying that AM4 socket will run for four years if you're doing a chipset that will only run for 2 years. Back in 2019 MSI had so much bs going after a support ticket from their german website got out and they come out in public saying we don't have memory capacity in our bios chips to support the long list of CPUs, this all just goes to show you just don't believe until you see it happens. It is so sad to me remembering myself defending AMD with tooth and nails thinking things were going to be awesome because my motherboard would support the next 4 years.
I think it is very irresponsible for AMD, now 4 years into ryzen architecture just serving all the manufactures the full responsability for any type of incompatibility. Since the chipset and socket are their own making. But unfortunatelly for everyone I got say I won't be buying ever again from any maker that do not provide at least beta bios for the upcoming CPUs, and I'll be watching and bringing this subject with my nerd friends in the future, be certain of that. If not a single one updates, guess I'm going back to Intel.

It is a very sad time and the funny part is it I'm not talking about COVID.

 

[Jism]

The slide is BS, since it shows Matisse (Ryzen 3000) is supposedly not even supported on 300 series boards, where in fact 300 boards do support these cpus.

It's called experimental, and not officially. So there's litterally zero support for running that CPU. Just as PCI-E 4.0 could be activated on some X470 boards.

 

[Makaveli]

I think it is very irresponsible for AMD, now 4 years into ryzen architecture just serving all the manufactures the full responsability for any type of incompatibility. Since the chipset and socket are their own making. But unfortunatelly for everyone I got say I won't be buying ever again from any maker that do not provide at least beta bios for the upcoming CPUs, and I'll be watching and bringing this subject with my nerd friends in the future, be certain of that. If not a single one updates, guess I'm going back to Intel.

It is a very sad time and the funny part is it I'm not talking about COVID.

Lol going back to intel who switches sockets every 2 years.

Cool story bro.

 

[Kaesar]

Lol going back to intel who switches sockets every 2 years.

Cool story bro.

I didn't say it would be great, neither that I'd like it.

 

[Object55]

Don't even care. Give me Crosshair IX

 

[InVasMani]

I am under the impression than Zen 3 is the last architecture on AM4 as Zen 4 will be DDR5 and will require a new socket? altought that with chiplets they could do Zen 4 core with a DDR4 I/O chiplet if that make sense economically...

Not sure about that.

I think that's a hard conclusion to draw for certain. AMD could make it so they can interchange the I/O die for DDR4 or DDR5 support, but use the same Zen 4 CPU dies for either and just have some different SKU's for each they'd probably still of course release more options for the DDR5 SKU's in either case. As for a new socket I don't know the socket could remain the same and just the I/O die, chipset, and memory channels updated. I really don't know how well AM4's socket in terms of pins stands up today and if it's nearing it's physical limits or not. I don't think AMD has a real reason to change it unless it's pretty near exhausted. If they stand something to gain from it sure, but doing it just to do it seems needless even if they have been on AM4 for a long while because it was it was a design that's held up and lasted well. It's a bit of a if it ain't broke don't fix it scenario. Now if it's broken for AMD's plans in mind have at it.