MSI introduced the B350M Pro-VD and A320M Pro-VD socket AM4 motherboards. Built in the slim micro-ATX form-factor, the two boards are nearly identical, and differ only with the chipset (AMD B350 and A320). The boards draw power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors; conditioning it for the AM4 SoC with a 6-phase VRM. The APU socket is wired to two DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting up to 32 GB of dual-channel DDR4 memory; a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot, and both of the boards' PCIe x1 slots. Two of the four SATA 6 Gbps ports on the boards come from the AM4 SoC. Display outputs include DVI and D-Sub. Gigabit Ethernet and 6-channel HD audio make for the rest of them. The only feature the B350M Pro-VD offers over its A320-based twin is support for CPU overclocking. The two could feature sub-$80 price-points.

In response to the soon to be launched new Intel LGA 2066 socket, PC thermal solution brand CRYORIG announces that all existing LGA2011v3 supported models will support the new LGA 2066 socket.

The supported models include: all A series liquid coolers, the R1 Ultimate/Universal, R5, C1, H5 Ultimate/Universal and the H7 Quad Lumi. Models that support only AMD or AM4 will not support the Intel LGA 2066 socket. The mounting mechanism of LGA2011v3 and LGA2066 are identical, thus no additional kits will be required to support the new socket.

Raijintek today introduced the Juno X top-flow CPU cooler. A throwback to the heatsink-designs of the early-2000s, the Juno X features an aluminium fin-stack that has been bunched up in the middle to make the base, with the ends of the fins projecting radially; and two 6 mm-thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes fast-tracking heat transfer from the base to the peripheries of the fins. The cooler comes in four variants based on the color of its fan's LED illumination, red, green, and blue, and no-illumination.

The factory-fitted 92 mm fan takes in 4-pin PWM power input, and spins between 1,200-2,500 RPM, pushing up to 52 CFM of air, with a noise output of 26 dBA. Measuring 110 mm x 110 mm x 50 mm (LxWxH), the cooler weighs about 130 g, and can handle thermal loads of up to 70W TDP. The cooler supports most modern CPU sockets, including AM4, AM3(+), FM2(+), LGA115x, and LGA775.

AMD today posted an updated compatibility list of DDR4 memory kits for Ryzen processors. While just about any DDR4 memory kit will run on socket AM4 motherboards, a limited few have been tested by AMD to run reliably at speeds such as DDR4-3200, DDR4-2933, DDR4-2667, and DDR4-2400. AMD's new compatibility list contains a wider selection of DDR4 memory modules that have been tested by AMD to work reliably on Ryzen processors.

To make the most of these modules, however, AMD asks you to look out for and install motherboard BIOS updates which contain the AGESA 1.0.0.6 micro-code update. This should be prominently displayed in the change-logs of BIOS updates from motherboard manufacturers, and the latest batches of motherboards should come with AGESA 1.0.0.6 pre-installed.The revised DDR4 compatibility list can be accessed here.

AMD is readying a new stepping of its 14 nm "Summit Ridge" eight-core CPU silicon, which powers its socket AM4 Ryzen processors, according to Canard PC. The new B2 stepping reportedly addresses a lot of hardware-level errata which cannot be fixed merely by AGESA updates. According to Canard PC, the changes seem to be focused on the uncore components of "Summit Ridge." Typically, uncore refers to the integrated northbridge, which includes components such as the memory controllers, PCI-Express root complex, etc.

If the B2 stepping is mostly focused on uncore-level errata, it could mean improved PCI-Express device support, and perhaps even memory support improvements beyond even what AGESA 1.0.0.6 brings to the table. Canard PC reports that it hasn't come across any CPU core-specific errata being addressed with the B2 stepping. The glaring FMA3-related bug has been patched through BIOS updates, and most newer batches of socket AM4 motherboards come with the patch pre-installed.

AMD Ryzen Threadripper is a really big processor, and here's what its underside looks like. A multi-chip module (MCM) of two eight-core "Summit Ridge" dies, it is also AMD's first client-segment processor to feature a land-grid array (LGA) socket interface, since the decade-old Athlon64 FX 72; with the pins being located on the motherboard, and contact-points on the CPU package. Until now, AMD has limited large LGA sockets to its enterprise processors. The processor is based on the 4,094-pin socket SP3r2, which is increasingly being referred to by motherboard and cooler manufacturers as "TR4."

Given that it is an MCM of two dies, you can see a clear dividing line between two groups of the contact points that make up the total pin count of 4,094 pins. There are also two distinct ancillary cutouts which holds critical electrical components for the dies above. Something like this is lacking on the socket AM4 Ryzen "Summit Ridge" processors, where the cutout is blank, and the ancillaries are located around the CPU die, on the other side of the fiberglass substrate. AMD Ryzen Threadripper could be available from 27 July.

XIGMATEK today launched the Whiz upper-mainstream CPU air cooler, which it debuted at the 2017 Computex. The cooler features a conventional tower-type heatsink design, and can handle thermal loads of up to 150W. Four 6 mm-thick copper heat pipes make direct contact with the CPU at the aluminum base, conveying heat to the fin-stack, which is ventilated by an included XIGMATEK SE II Red fan, with support for a second fan in push-pull configuration.

The included fan takes in 4-pin PWM input, spins between 800 to 2,000 RPM, pushing up to 78 CFM of air, with a noise output as low as 19.4 dBA. The fin-stack is capped off by a stylized top-plate. The XIGMATEK Whiz measures135 mm x 85 mm x 158 mm (LxWxH). It supports most modern CPU sockets, including AM4, AM3(+), FM2(+), LGA2011v3, LGA115x, LGA1366, and LGA775.

Be Quiet!, the market leader in PC power supplies in Germany for eleven consecutive years*, adds a new top flow CPU cooler to its current portfolio of cooling products. Shadow Rock TF 2, the follow-up to be quiet!'s successful Shadow Rock TopFlow, adds several optimizations that significantly improve upon its predecessor's cooling potential. With its low-profile design and supported TDP of 160W, Shadow Rock TF 2 is ideal for powerful compact PC systems requiring extensive cooling.

Five 6 mm high-performance copper heat pipes are designed with aluminum caps at the ends, enhancing Shadow Rock TF 2's clean modern look. Overall cooling performance is improved significantly by a complete redesign of the cooling fins - direct connections between fins and base plate support faster heat dissipation. As a result, Shadow Rock TF 2 cools down the CPU significantly better than its predecessor at a similar TDP rating of 160W. Additional cooling support comes from a 135mm silence-optimized be quiet! fan using a durable rifle bearing, airflow-optimized fan blades and a design producing sound pressure levels up to 24.4dB(A) at the maximum of 1,400 revolutions per minute.

ID-Cooling announced market availability of the Auraflow 240 all-in-one, closed-loop liquid CPU cooler. Based largely on the company's Frostflow platform, the Auraflow 240 is characterized by RGB multi-color LED lighting on its pump-block and included 120 mm fans, which supports software-based lighting management standards such as ASUS/ASRock Aura Sync, MSI Mystic Light, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion, and BIOSTAR Vivid LED DJ.

Designed to cope with thermal loads of up to 200W, the Auraflow 240 features a copper-base pump-block plumbed to a 240 mm x 120 mm radiator with aluminium fins; ventilated by a pair of 120 mm hydraulic-bearing fans, which take in 4-pin PWM input, spin between 700-1,800 RPM, pushing up to 74.5 CFM of air, each, with a noise output ranging between 18-35.2 dBA. The cooler supports all modern CPU socket types, including AM4, AM3(+), FM2(+), LGA2066, LGA2011(v3), LGA115x, LGA1366, and LGA775. Available now, the cooler is priced at USD $119.99.

Deepcool today formally launched the GAMMAXX GT tower-type air CPU cooler it unveiled at Computex 2017. Featuring a conventional tower-type design, the cooler features four 6 mm-thick copper heat pipes, which make direct contact with the CPU at the base, conveying heat to an aluminium fin-stack, which is ventilated by an included 120 mm fan. The topmost aluminium fin is capped off with a stylish brushed aluminium plate with a multi-diode RGB LED diffuser. The included fan features multi-diode RGB LEDs, too. From a 65,536-color palette, you can select up to two colors each for the heatsink and fan, which the diffuser then provides a groovy blend/transition effect for.

Measuring 135 mm x 84.8 mm x 156 mm (WxDxH), the GAMMAXX GT weighs 870 g. The included fan takes in 4-pin PWM power input, and spins between 500 to 1,500 RPM, pushing up to 70.08 CFM of air, with its noise output ranging between 17.8 to 29.5 dBA. It features a fluid dynamic bearing. Both the fan and the heatsink top-plate take in standard 4-pin RGB headers, and support popular standards such as ASUS Aura Sync. The cooler can handle thermal loads of up to 150W on the Intel platform, and up to 140W on the AMD platform. It supports most modern CPU socket types, including AM4, AM3(+), FM2(+), LGA2011(v3), LGA1366, and LGA115x. The company didn't reveal pricing.Our Computex 2017 images of this cooler follow.

EK Water Blocks, the Slovenia-based premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer is proving its market leadership once again by releasing a new AM4 socket based monoblock tailor made for the MSI X370 XPOWER Gaming Titanium motherboard. The EK-FB MSI X370 XPower RGB Monoblock has an integrated 4-pin RGB LED strip which makes it compatible with MSI Mystic Light Sync, thus offering a full lighting customization experience.

This is a complete all-in-one (CPU and motherboard) liquid cooling solution for the new AMD X370 Chipset AM4 socket based MSI X370 XPOWER Gaming Titanium high-end motherboard that supports the latest generation of AMD Ryzen and 7th Generation A-series/Athlon processors.

ECS took to Computex to showcase seven different motherboards from both AMD and Intel. First up we have the Z270 Lightsaber, which is great at deflecting laser blaster shots. It's an LGA 1151 socket motherboard, features 8-channel audio courtesy of a Realtek ALC 1150 audio chip, a Killer E2500 Gigabit controller, 1x M.2 slot with support for SATA, NVMe, and Intel Optane. There are 3x PCIe x16 slots, which work at x8 x8 x4 when all slots are populated, as is usual with Z270 motherboards.

In this issue of the Ryzen BIOS update digest, we have the latest updates. Our BIOS update digest lets you keep track of crucial BIOS updates that improve stability of your AMD Ryzen machine. As per usual, only updated BIOSes from the last digest are listed. Changes are listed after each BIOS, sans beta BIOSes which do not always include change logs. You can find it all below.

We have now moved to a "rolling-release" model for our digest to better track releases as they happen. Today we have some releases and betas from a broad range of manufacturers.

Special shout out to @nemesis.ie for tipping our local news editor off to some stealthy ASRock betas. Please note that although I have included those betas, they have a german zip self-extractor, so some language-fu may be required to extract them.

In addition to its socket TR3/SP3 Threadripper-ready CPU cooler prototypes, Noctua showed off this prototype of a super compact socket AM4 CPU cooler, the NH-L9. Ideal for SFF builds, the cooler sits just 37 mm tall, and features a dense aluminium fin-stack which propagates along the plane of the motherboard, to which heat drawn from the base is fed by nickel-plated copper heat pipes. The heatsink is ventilated by an included NF-A9x14 PWM 92 mm fan.

Here are some of the first pictures of the Whiz RGB tower-type CPU cooler by Xigmatek. The cooler features a conventional tower-type design four 6 mm-thick copper heat pipes, which make direct contact with the CPU at the base, convey heat through a large aluminium fin-stack, with hexagon-shaped fins; which are then ventilated by the included Xigmatech SC120 RGB fan.

The cooler features RGB multi-color LED lighting on both the SC120 RGB 120 mm fan, and an LED-lit logo topping of the fin-stack. The included fan spins between 800 to 1,800 RPM, pushing up to 62 CFM of air, with a noise output as low as 19.4 dBA. The fan takes in 4-pin PWM input. The cooler supports most modern CPU socket types, including AM4, AM3(+), FM2(+), LGA2011(v3), LGA115x, and LGA1366.

ZOTAC, at its Computex 2017 booth, showed off the ZBOX MA551 compact desktop with an AMD socket AM4 motherboard inside. Currently, this desktop is being displayed with a 7th generation A-series "Bristol Ridge" APU, but the board is ready for upcoming Ryzen "Raven Ridge" APUs up to 65W TDP, which combine a "Zen" CCX (quad-core complex) with a "Vega" based integrated GPU.

We took a peek under its hood, which reveals a custom-design motherboard, with an air cooling solution over the APU. The board also features a 2.5-inch drive bay with SATA back-plane, a 32 Gb/s M.2-2280 slot, an M.2-2240, an additional mPCIe slot (probably for the WLAN card). Two DDR4 SO-DIMM slots hold on to up to 32 GB of dual-channel memory. Other connectivity includes six USB 3.0 ports (including a type-C), an SD/micro-SD card reader, gigabit Ethernet, 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.2 WLAN, and display outputs that include HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2 outputs.

ID-COOLING a cooling solution provider focusing on thermal dissipation and fan technology research and production for over 10 years, announced AURAFLOW 240 AIO water cooler, featuring RGB lighting on both the pump and fans at the same time synchronizing with motherboard RGB control.

The pump is designed with a simple C character with an improved light diffuser which can provide smooth and even lighting effect. Copper base contacts CPU to help the heat transfer. Micro fin submerged design increases the heat dissipation surface. The dimension of the whole water block is Ф65×36mm. Solid connectors are used on both ends of the premium sleeved tubing, more reliable & performance efficient. Inside the tubing is self-contained highly efficient and eco-friendly liquid coolant.

Swiftech today released the Apogee Drive 2 CPU water-block with integrated pump, which now comes with support for AMD socket AM4. A successor to the second-generation Apogee HD pump-block, the Apogee Drive 2 features increased surface area for heat dissipation to the coolant, and features a higher flow MCP35X integrated-pump, with hydraulic bearings. The G1/4 inlet and exhausts can turn within a 90° angle. The Swiftech logo ornament on top of the block features an RGB lighting element (simple 3-color). Besides AM4, the Apogee Drive 2 supports LGA2011(v3), LGA115x, LGA1366, and LGA775, besides other AMD sockets, such as AM3(+) and FM2(+). Available now, it is priced at US $138.95.

ASUS today introduced its RGB LED-rich implementation of AMD's mid-tier B350 chipset, with the ROG STRIX B350-F Gaming motherboard. This socket AM4 motherboard built in the ATX form-factor, this is one of the rare few B350 chipset based boards to feature two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots wired to the AM4 SoC, and x8/x8 lane switching, something B350-based boards generally lack. Don't expect SLI support, though. You can still install CrossFireX with not just these two slots, but also the third x16 (electrical x4) slot wired to the chipset. Three x1 slots make for the rest of the expansion. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors, conditioning it for the SoC using an 8-phase VRM.

Storage connectivity on the ROG STRIX B350-F Gaming includes one 32 Gb/s M.2 slot with NVMe booting support, and six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. USB connectivity includes two 10 Gb/s USB 3.1 ports (both type-A, rear panel), and six 5 Gb/s USB 3.0 ports (four on the rear panel, two by headers). Networking is care of an Intel I211-AT gigabit Ethernet controller. The ROG SupremeFX onboard audio solution is powered by a Realtek ALC1220 CODEC (up to 120 dBA SNR), mated with two headphones amplifiers, audio-grade capacitors, and ground-layer isolation. Besides the RGB LED-lit ornament on the chipset heatsink, the board features two RGB LED headers, controlled by the ASUS Aura Sync RGB software. The company didn't reveal pricing, although we expect it to be around the $140 mark.

MSI expanded its Gaming series CPU cooler family with the new, larger, Core Frozr XL CPU cooler. This tower-type air cooler features a simple aluminium fin-stack heatsink covered by an ABS plastic shroud, and two 120 mm fans in push-pull configuration. The cooler features a nickel-plated copper base, from which eight 6 mm-thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes pass, conveying heat to the aluminium fin-stack. MSI innovated in giving the cooler motherboard clearance on two fronts - the heatsink itself is off-center, so it adds clearance to the topmost expansion slot on the motherboard.

Further, the fan can be elevated slightly, to add clearance to the memory slots or large VRM heatsinks. The fin-stack is capped off by a detachable cooler shroud, with an MSI Gaming dragon logo that's lit by RGB LED, controllable using MSI Mystic Light RGB software. The included fans feature 4-pin PWM inputs, fluid-dynamic bearings, spin between 500 to 1,500 RPM, pushing 19.79 to 71.27 CFM of air, with a noise output ranging between 17.2 and 33.6 dBA. The cooler supports all modern CPU socket types, including AM4, AM3(+), FM2(+), LGA2011(v3), LGA115x, LGA1366, and LGA775. Measuring 150.4 mm x 170.0 mm x 129.8 mm (WxHxD), the cooler weighs about 1,295 g. It is designed for thermal loads of up to 250W. The company didn't reveal pricing or availability information.

AMD, in an interview with Forbes, confirmed that it is working to improve DDR4 memory support of its Ryzen series processors, to enable higher memory clocks. AMD Ryzen users find it difficult to get DDR4 memory clocks to run above 3000 MHz reliably. With memory clock being linked with the chip's Infinity Fabric clock (the interconnect between two CCX units on the "Summit Ridge" silicon), the performance incentives for higher memory clocks are just that much more.

AMD confirmed that its AGESA update for May improves DDR4 memory compatibility, although it also stressed on the need for motherboard manufacturers to improve their board designs in the future, with more PCB layers and better copper traces between the DIMM slots and the SoC socket. The company assures that more updates to AGESA are in the pipeline, and would improve performance of Ryzen processors at various levels. The AGESA updates are dispensed through motherboard vendors as BIOS updates.

ASUS today introduced the Republic of Gamers (ROG) STRIX X370-F Gaming motherboard, positioned below its flagship ROG Crosshair VI Hero, but above its Prime X370-Pro upper mid-range motherboard. Based on the AMD X370 chipset, and ready for socket AM4 Ryzen processors, the board is characterized by its RGB LED lighting chops. The VRM and chipset heatsinks feature RGB LEDs with diffusers, the board is peppered with status LEDs, and features RGB LED headers. The included ASUS Aura Sync RGB lets you orchestrate your LED setup.

Built in the ATX form-factor, the STRIX X370-F Gaming draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors. A 10-phase VRM conditions power for the AM4 SoC, which is wired to four reinforced DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting up to 64 GB of dual-channel DDR4 memory; and two reinforced PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (electrical x8/x8 with both populated), with NVIDIA SLI support. The third x16 slot is electrical x4 and wired to the chipset. Three other x1 slots make for the rest of the expansion.

AMD Ryzen 9 "Threadripper" series 12-core, 14-core, and 16-core client desktop processors, which will form the company's next-generation high-end desktop (HEDT) lineup, which goes against Intel Core i9 "Skylake-X" series, could come in a brand new socket. This shouldn't come as a surprise because the chips have higher electrical requirements, besides double the I/O of socket AM4 Ryzen processors, such as a 44-lane PCIe gen 3.0 root complex, quad-channel DDR4 memory interface, and more. This socket, according to a "HotHardware" report, is an LGA (land-grid array) with 4,094 pins.

The new LGA-4094 socket, so-called SP3r2, will be slightly scaled up from the SP3 socket AMD has been selling enterprise Opteron-brand multi-socket CPUs on (pictured below). The consumer version of this socket could feature a more user-friendly retention mechanism that shouldn't require a screwdriver to fasten. Motherboards based on this distinctively rectangular socket will feature up to eight DDR4 DIMM slots to hold quad-channel DDR4 memory, and over four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, with support for 3-way and 4-way multi-GPU solutions. The motherboards will also feature copious amounts of onboard devices, M.2 slots, and other storage connectivity. Since "Threadripper" is rumored to be a multi-chip module of two 14 nm "Summit Ridge" dies linked together on-package with with an Infinity Fabric interconnect, only one of the two dies links to the motherboard chipset (AMD X399 chipset), while all the PCIe lanes of the second die (including those which would make up the chipset bus) are freed up.

ASUS today introduced a variant of its flagship socket AM4 motherboard, the Republic of Gamers (ROG) Crosshair VI Hero, featuring an onboard WLAN module. The new Crosshair VI Hero Wi-Fi AC, as its name suggests, features 802.11ac WLAN. The module also features MU-MIMO, and Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity. ASUS includes a dual-MIMO antenna the company bundles with several of its Wi-Fi enabled motherboards. Besides the wireless networking module, the board is identical to the original ASUS launched its socket AM4 motherboard lineup with. The included ASUS GameFirst IV software lets you distribute Internet connectivity between two interfaces, the WLAN, and the wired gigabit Ethernet connection, letting you task latency-sensitive tasks such as your game and video stream to the wired network, and low-priority background Internet tasks to the WLAN. The Crosshair VI Hero Wi-Fi AC could be priced at a $25 premium over the original's list price of $249.

Raijintek today introduced its Leto line of tower-type CPU coolers. Available in three variants based on the color of the LED illumination - Leto W (white LED), Leto R (red LED), and Leto B (blue LED), the cooler features a conventional tower-type design, with a matte black anodized aluminium fin-stack. The base is made of anodized aluminium too, although three 8 mm-thick copper heat pipes make direct contact with the CPU. The heat pipes feature black nickel-plating, and are pressed against the aluminium fins using a patented process that lacks solder.

The included 120 mm fan features a custom-design frame, and sleeve-bearing. It takes in 4-pin PWM input, spins between 800 to 1,800 RPM, pushing up to 67 CFM of air, with a noise-output of up to 29 dBA. Rubber mounts hold the fan onto the heatsink, which supports a second 120 mm fan for push-pull ventilation. Measuring 122 mm x 76 mm x 157 mm, the heatsink weighs 570 g. The Raijintek Leto supports most modern CPU socket types, including AM4, AM3(+), FM2(+), LGA2011/v3, LGA115x, and LGA1366. The company didn't reveal pricing.