MSI Announces Full AMD 300-Series Motherboard Compatibility for Zen 3

[Raevenlord]

MSI today announced that its full 300-series motherboard lineup, which includes A320, B350 and X370 chipset-based motherboards, now support AMD's latest Zen 3 CPUs in the Ryzen 5000 series. The full support will be backed into BIOSes developed under the latest AMD AGESA COMBO PI V2 1.2.0.7 BIOS, which MSI expect to rollout for its 300-series motherboards from the middle of May this year.

This announcement from MSI builds upon AMD's own promises of research into adding support for more recent Ryzen architectures towards even the beginning steps in its AM4 ecosystem. In theory, users rocking older motherboards can now take advantage of AMD's latest developments in power, performance, and core density, deeply increasing - and confirming - the value proposition of AMD's AM4 platform. Alongside the announcement, MSI has also pledged to launch a fix for fTPM-based stuttering issues present in 400-series and 500-series AM4 motherboards towards June.



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[Dragokar]

June for 400 and 500 series? Jesus.....

 

[Fergutor]

I just downloaded the last BIOS for my B350 Tomahawk and checked it with Ryzen SMU Checker 1.2.0.8 and says there aren't any Pinnacle Ridge modules...

I have a 3600 though...I wonder if that intermittent performance stuttering issue affects me, for what I read in this article is if one is using Win11 (?) I have W10...

 

[Sabotaged_Enigma]

That's clever move. This kind of "generous" behaviour allowing compatibility for 300-series chipsets pleases consumers, but at the same time I think most Ryzen 5000 buyers, at least many of them, have already bought 500-series mainboards for better experience, so unlocking at this time round earns them good reputation and doesn't hurt market sales. Instead, it probably could increase sales. Imagine a user with Ryzen 1000 and B350 who now has got a chance to upgrade with a Ryzen 5000 at the lowest expense. That's what I call it clever move.

 

[eidairaman1]

That's clever move. This kind of "generous" behaviour allowing compatibility for 300-series chipsets pleases consumers, but at the same time I think most Ryzen 5000 buyers, at least many of them, have already bought 500-series mainboards for better experience, so unlocking at this time round earns them good reputation and doesn't hurt market sales. Instead, it probably could increase sales. Imagine a user with Ryzen 1000 and B350 who now has got a chance to upgrade with a Ryzen 5000 at the lowest expense. That's what I call it clever move.

Kinda slow since this was done by AsRock Already, Asus is sandbagging.

 

[VuurVOS]

I just downloaded the last BIOS for my B350 Tomahawk and checked it with Ryzen SMU Checker 1.2.0.8 and says there aren't any Pinnacle Ridge modules...
View attachment 247304
View attachment 247305
I have a 3600 though...I wonder if that intermittent performance stuttering issue affects me, for what I read in this article is if one is using Win11 (?) I have W10...

Your Ryzen SMU Checker is out of date. Please use 1.2.2.0. It shows Pinnacle Ridge.

Also suttering issue can also happens on Windows 10 if you use fTPM with an older Agesa version. (Intermittent System Stutter Experienced with fTPM Enabled on Windows® 10 and 11 | AMD)

 

[Mussels]

Honestly, bravo to AMD for enabling this to happen as well as these companies pushing through to make it happen.

Even my midrange gigabyte AX370 has full support for a 5950x and the 5800x3d now - it's insane.

I have no reason to actually upgrade the board now, since it's a fantastic fallback if my mobo dies.

 

[tony359]

That's clever move. This kind of "generous" behaviour allowing compatibility for 300-series chipsets pleases consumers, but at the same time I think most Ryzen 5000 buyers, at least many of them, have already bought 500-series mainboards for better experience, so unlocking at this time round earns them good reputation and doesn't hurt market sales. Instead, it probably could increase sales. Imagine a user with Ryzen 1000 and B350 who now has got a chance to upgrade with a Ryzen 5000 at the lowest expense. That's what I call it clever move.

I guess it’s a balance between AMD making money by extending support of older chipsets on more CPUs and also allow the mobo manufacturers to sell boards too.
This delay Is understandable to me: those who wanted to upgrade to the greatest and latest went for a new board. Others now have the option to upgrade saving some money.

After all for MSI, investing in R&D to support new CPUs on an old chipset is basically money lost… (I know there’s not much R&D involved but developing a new BIOS, releasing it and supporting it is still some money!)

Oh, and I still remember users on this very forum questioning me for expecting Zen3 on A320 because ‘those boards are not fit for purpose’.

 

[VuurVOS]

I have no reason to actually upgrade the board now, since it's a fantastic fallback if my mobo dies.

The first generation AM4 motherboards have a weak/bad VRM. Even second generation Ryzen AM4 can have weak VRM's. I've sent my MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX Motherboard for RMA since the VRM's were already busted after 2 years of usage with a 3700X (not overclocked). Didn't noticed until I installed a 5900X on the motherboard...

When the VRM's are warmed up (60~70 degrees) the system could fully crash in a instant during high cpu load (blackscreen and power button not responding) while with cold VRM's the problem wasn't there at all. Luckly MSI gives 3 years of warranty

Now my first generation AM4 motherboards MSI B350 Tomahawk is running this cpu but on purpose I limited it to 45W to avoid frying the VRM's while I wait on MSI to repair/replace/refund the MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX

 

[Mussels]

The first generation AM4 motherboards have a weak/bad VRM. Even second generation Ryzen AM4 can have weak VRM's. I've sent my MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX Motherboard for RMA since the VRM's were already busted after 2 years of usage with a 3700X (not overclocked). Didn't noticed until I installed a 5900X on the motherboard...

When the VRM's are warmed up (60~70 degrees) the system could fully crash in a instant during high cpu load (blackscreen and power button not responding) while with cold VRM's the problem wasn't there at all. Luckly MSI gives 3 years of warranty

Now my first generation AM4 motherboards MSI B350 Tomahawk is running this cpu but on purpose I limited it to 45W to avoid frying the VRM's while I wait on MSI to repair/replace/refund the MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX

Budget boards had weak VRMs.
You sure as heck dont sort that out by chipset

MSI had some really, really terrible designs (I just sold off my MSI b450 that didnt even have a heatsink on its VRM's) - but it's ridiculous to say B450 is the problem

 

[VuurVOS]

MSI had some really, really terrible designs (I just sold off my MSI b450 that didnt even have a heatsink on its VRM's) - but it's ridiculous to say B450 is the problem

I only said "Even second generation Ryzen AM4 can have weak VRM's as well". It is ridiculous to assume I only meant the B450 chipset.

The B450 Tomahawk MAX is an example since I own this board. The board was praised on the internet as a good board with fine VRM's with a heatsink. It should run the 5900x on stock fine.

If you google with "B450 5900x backscreen" you will see it happens quite often to the B450 Tomahawk (MAX). If you google with X470 5900x blackscreen you will see it is often a MSI X470 Gaming Plus.
When you compare the VRM designs you will see it is using the same controller (RT8894A) and mofsets (4C029N).

 

[Fergutor]

Your Ryzen SMU Checker is out of date. Please use 1.2.2.0. It shows Pinnacle Ridge.
View attachment 247418

Also suttering issue can also happens on Windows 10 if you use fTPM with an older Agesa version. (Intermittent System Stutter Experienced with fTPM Enabled on Windows® 10 and 11 | AMD)

Damn! I downloaded that one like 4 weeks ago and now I'm searching and can only find the same one. Where is the new one? Link please? Thanks!

 

[VuurVOS]

Damn! I downloaded that one like 4 weeks ago and now I'm searching and can only find the same one. Where is the new one? Link please? Thanks!

You can download Ryzen SMU Checker from the starter post: https://www.hardwareluxx.de/community/threads/ultimative-am4-uefi-bios-agesa-Übersicht.1228903/

Or you can use the online version where you can upload the bios file: https://kolos.github.io/ryzen-smu-checker/

 

[Fergutor]

You can download Ryzen SMU Checker from the starter post: https://www.hardwareluxx.de/community/threads/ultimative-am4-uefi-bios-agesa-Übersicht.1228903/

Or you can use the online version where you can upload the bios file: https://kolos.github.io/ryzen-smu-checker/

Yeah I found that online one but it says it's based on the same version that I used, but couldn't find the other you provided.
Thank you!

 

[VuurVOS]

Yeah I found that online one but it says it's based on the same version that I used, but couldn't find the other you provided.
Thank you!

I am not sure how you looked, but it is definitely in the starter post of the link I provided you