AMD just revealed the top four changes with its new AGESA 1.1.9.0 microcode update, which motherboard manufacturers and OEMs will release via UEFI firmware updates in January and February, 2021. Beta firmware updates with 1.1.9.0 have already been floating around for the past couple of weeks. To begin with, the new AGESA enables support for the S0i3 power state of Windows 10, more commonly known as Modern Standby. Next up, AMD claims that firmware updates with 1.1.9.0 should improve system stability in the FCLK 1800 MHz to 2000 MHz range.

Next up, AMD mentions support for "fanless X570 motherboards." We're not entirely sure whether this means a fan-down mode on existing X570 motherboards, or whether a new wave of motherboards based on the chipset is incoming, which lacks active cooling for the chipset (and makes do with passive heatsinks). One such board is the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero. Perhaps the firmware assists in helping the X570 chipset maintain a lower TDP. Wrapping things up, AMD mentions "general stability improvements," which are always welcome. Keep probing the "support" section of your motherboard's product page on its company website for the latest firmware updates.

MSI, the world leading gaming motherboard brand, releases optimized BIOS updates for AMD 500-series and 400-series motherboards. The latest AGESA Combo PI V2 1.1.9.0 beta BIOS has been released for MEG X570 GODLIKE, MEG X570 UNIFY, MEG B550 UNIFY / UNIFY-X, MPG B550 GAMING EDGE WIFI and MAG B550M MORTAR / MORTAR WIFI. And the rest models will be able to download soon in January 2021. The new BIOS supports AMD Curve Optimizer feature, as well as support for PCIe Resizable BAR function for NVIDIA graphics cards (in addition to compatible AMD ones).

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, today announces the latest BIOS update on AMD X570、B550 and A520 motherboards for the features of AMD Smart Access Memory and Rage mode. These innovative features enabling a bandwidth boost when the CPU accesses the GPU memory on graphics cards, which enhances and unleashes the ultimate system performance. Now, users with an "AMD Yes" platform on GIGABYTE AMD 500 series motherboards with AMD Ryzen 5000 processors and Radeon RX 6000 series VGA cards, will be able to experience an extra gaming and performance boost.

Through the AMD Smart Access Memory and Rage mode, the CPU has access to the GPU memory. This access unlocks the limited bandwidth to full bandwidth when running 4K gaming. By accessing the GDDR6 GPU memory more rapidly on AMD 500 series motherboards paired with Ryzen 5000 series processors and Radeon RX 6000 series VGA cards, CPU's operating performance and gaming performance are both improved. Based on results of gaming tests with Smart Access Memory and Rage Mode enabled, the 1080P gaming improved by 17%, and a performance increase of 10% was unlocked on 2K and 4K resolutions.

ASRock announced a new partnership with Razer to develop the ASRock Taichi Razer Edition line of motherboards, the world's first motherboard that is natively integrated with Razer Chroma RGB lighting. Razer Chroma RGB is the world's largest lighting ecosystem for gaming devices which supports over 500 devices, 150 natively integrated games and over 15 million users worldwide. The integration with ASRock enables universal compatibility with thousands of addressable RGB (ARGB) components directly into the ecosystem.

"We've been so excited to make the ASRock Taichi Razer Edition debut. The sense of Razer sublimates it into a part of gamers' religion," said Chris Lee, general manager of ASRock motherboard business unit. "Razer knows well about elements gamers looking for and makes everything fall into place!"

One of the secret sauces of AMD's new "Big Navi" Radeon RX 6800 series GPUs is the ability for the GPU to sustain high engine clock speeds, with the company leveraging boost frequencies above 2.00 GHz in certain scenarios. It was only a matter of time before professional overclockers got their hands on an RX 6800 XT, and paired it with an LN2 evaporator. TecLab_Takukou is the new king of the 3DMark Fire Strike leaderboard thanks to their skills in running an RX 6800 XT at insane 2.80 GHz engine clocks. Takukou overclocked the RX 6800 XT to 2.80 GHz core, and 2150 MHz (17.2 Gbps) memory. This particular configuration yielded a Fire Strike score of 48890 points.

In a separate feat, with the RX 6800 XT running at 2.75 GHz, Takukou chased down the HWBot 3DMark Fire Strike leaderboard, with 49456 points. For both the 2.80 GHz and 2.75 GHz feats, the rest of the system included an LN2-cooled AMD Ryzen 9 5950X processor running at 5.60 GHz all-core, 32 GB of DDR4-3800 memory, and an MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE motherboard. From the looks of it, Takukou is using a reference-design RX 6800 XT board, so we can only hope what else can be accomplished from custom-design RX 6800 XT boards, such as the Sapphire NITRO+, PowerColor Red Devil, or ASUS ROG Strix O16G. Takukou leads the 3DMark Fire Strike leaderboard, followed by another RX 6800 XT-powered close-second, Lucky_n00b (47932 points, 2.65 GHz engine clock on air). Safedisc is third (47725 points, RTX 3090 @ 2.38 GHz).

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, is announcing new DDR4 memory specifications under the Trident Z Neo series, optimized for the new AMD Ryzen 5000 processors. Featuring ultra-high speeds of up to DDR4-4000 CL16-19-19-39 32 GB (16GBx2), extreme low latency at DDR4-3800 CL14-16-16-36 32 GB (16GBx2), and high-capacity kit at DDR4-4000 CL18-22-22-42 64 GB (32GBx2), these memory kits are the perfect choice for PC enthusiasts and gamers looking to push memory bandwidth to the extreme limits on the new AMD Ryzen 5000 processors.

With the improvements of memory support on the latest AMD Ryzen 5000 processor series, the R&D team at G.SKILL is always looking to push the performance boundaries even further and have expanded the G.SKILL Trident Z Neo series with higher performance options, whether you're looking for extreme frequencies, high kit capacities, or extreme low latency. At high memory frequency speed, the Trident Z Neo DDR4-4000 CL16-19-19-39 32 GB (16 GBx2) raises the memory speed support for AMD platforms to DDR4-4000 from the previous generation of processors. Built with high performance Samsung B-die components, this memory kit also features a low latency of CL16. Seen below, this memory specification can be seen running in 1:1 ratio on the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero and MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE motherboard with the latest AMD Ryzen 7 5800X and Ryzen 5 5600X processors.

For AMD Ryzen 5000 Series desktop processor, ASRock, a leading global motherboard manufacturer, has launched the X570 PG Velocita. It is a new crew of Phantom Gaming series designed to meet the needs of high-end gamers and the best choice for high price-performance build. "We've heard the voice of online gamers! The Killer networking on the X570 PG Velocita offers the uninterrupted online experiences and makes gamers beat all competitors in an instant!" said Chris Lee, general manager of ASRock motherboard business unit.

Users may well spot on the phantom gaming logo's difference! The blazing fire in the core symbols the higher transmit rate. Users can enjoy the PCI express 4.0 with double bandwidth from previous generation. At the same time, the whole new Killer Ethernet & Wifi offer a faster and more reliable networking for gamers towards perfect gaming experiences. The cool color around contrasts quite markedly with the flame inside, making the design code of phantom gaming full of mystery. The frame-break shield integrates all elements above, showing temperament of domineer and unbeatable strength of new Phantom Gaming.

The processors may be a few days away from availability, but the overclocking records are already trickling out. Darklord posted a CPU-Z validation for a Ryzen 9 5950X 16-core processor overclocked to 5898.63 MHz (or roughly 5.90 GHz), with all 16 cores and 32 threads enabled, and dual-channel memory. It appears to be a straight up multiplier overclock with the multiplier set to 59.0X, and stock base-clock. What's interesting, though, is the core voltage that this feat took—a scorching 1.656 V. Other components include an ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Impact X570 motherboard, dual-channel DDR4-3600 memory, and basic GT 710 graphics. There's no word on cooling, but with this kind of voltage, an extreme method such as LN2 won't surprise us. Find the validation here.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, announced today the release of the latest BIOS for the motherboards with the AMD X570, B550, and A520 chipsets to ensure the most comprehensive performance, compatibility, and reliability improvements for users to have the most pleasant user experience on their PCs equipped with AMD Ryzen 5000 series processors.

AMD recently released the Ryzen 5000 series processors which are the most extensive upgrade since 2017. The Ryzen 5000 series includes four models of Ryzen 9 5950X, Ryzen 9 5900X, Ryzen 7 5800X, and Ryzen 5 5600X. With the enhancement by the brand new Zen3 core design, these four processors present monumental uplift on performance which attracts notable intension of users to expect further upgrade for their "AMD YES" systems.

ASUS today announced the Republic of Gamers (ROG) Crosshair VIII Dark Hero, TUF Gaming X570 Pro (WiFi) and ROG Strix B550-XE Gaming WiFi—three gaming motherboards designed for gaming builds featuring the latest-generation AMD Ryzen Zen 3 architecture processors. In addition to the latest X570 and B550 motherboards, all ASUS 500 series motherboards (X570, B550 and A520) are ready for AMD Ryzen Zen 3 architecture processors.

ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero
The AMD X570 platform features extensive PCI Express 4.0 connectivity ripe for the latest graphics cards and SSDs. The chipset's copious bandwidth necessitates a robust cooling solution to deliver sustained performance, and that challenge is typically tackled by neatly pairing a heatsink with an embedded fan that spins up on demand. ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero is the first ASUS X570 board to implement a completely passive cooling design, featuring a sizeable heatsink that extends from the chipset zone to the space between the PCIe slots. The additional surface area helps keep thermals under control even when the motherboard is loaded with a full complement of hardware, laying a compelling foundation for enthusiast PC builds.

In the anticipation of the AMD Ryzen 5000 series of CPUs launch based on Zen 3 architecture, AMD has just released the updated drivers for its chipsets. Covering a wide selection ranging from B350, A320, X370, X399, B450, X470, X570, B550, and TRX40 Chipset, the updated chipset drivers include some bug fixes and new features. Now there is an updated power plan for AMD Ryzen CPUs that coordinate with chipsets, which means that AMD engineers have developed a new plan for Windows 10 OS which provides the best performance and power usage. You can check out the fixes listed below and you can go to the download link to install the new drivers.Download: AMD Ryzen Chipset Driver 2.10.13.408.

The global leading motherboard manufacturer, ASRock, announces its AMD X570/B550/A520 motherboards series will support next generation AMD Ryzen 5000 Series processors via BIOS update. The next generation processors come with a full suite of technologies designed to elevate your PC's processing power. Update to the latest BIOS and get ready for the unmatched performance as well as latest technologies with AMD Ryzen 5000 series processors.

Look for the following BIOS version numbers in the downloads section of the product page of your motherboard on the ASRock website.

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, made October 10, 2020 a day to remember for the global gaming community. Fans across the world tuned in to the inaugural RazerCon to watch Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan's live mixed-reality keynote - a one-of-a-kind interactive session hosted against the iconic Singapore skyline. This was followed by Razer panels on new and unannounced products, and exclusive content showcases and giveaways from game studios such as Romero Games, Perfect World Entertainment, Paradox Interactive and technology partners such as Intel, NVIDIA and Western Digital.

The event was a huge hit with the fans, peaking at over 1 million concurrent viewers with a total of more than 250,000 hours viewed and 175 million impressions across Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch. In a true celebration of all things gaming, highly decorated veterans of the industry, including Brenda and John Romero, and Haz Dullul, presented their newest projects, whilst leading gaming celebrities CloakZy, CourageJD, PaladinAmber and many others engaged with the community during their sessions.

Razer today kicked off Razercon 2020, its first annual virtual conference for gamers. The company announced entry into several new markets, including a foray into the DIY PC components market, and showed off its updated notebooks. To begin with, the company unveiled its Fall 2020 update to the Razer Blade Stealth 13 ultra-portable gaming notebook, by giving it cutting-edge 11th Gen Intel Core i7 "Tiger Lake" processors. All models combine an i7-1165G7 processor with GeForce GTX 1650 Ti graphics, but vary with display options, which include Full HD 60 Hz, Full HD 120 Hz, 4K 60 Hz touchscreen, and Full HD 60 Hz OLED.

Next up, is the Tomahawk line of cases. These come in two main variants, the Tomahawk ITX and the Tomahawk ATX (corresponding with the Mini-ITX tower, and ATX mid-tower form-factors). Built in distinct Razer industrial design, with a focus on gamer-related connectivity, low noise, and low temperatures, these cases combine steel with hinged tempered glass panels on both sides. The ATX version has room for graphics cards up to 38 cm in length, CPU coolers up to 17.6 cm in height, and features a conventional horizontally partitioned interior layout. The ITX case takes in graphics cards up to 32 cm in length, 16.5 cm tall CPU coolers, and a 240 mm x 120 mm radiator. Both cases feature the "Chroma Underglow," a set of RGB LED elements that project a soft glow underneath the case.

As we explained in our older article about the new ASUS ROG Crosshair XII Dark Hero, AMD's Ryzen 5000 series Socket AM4 processors based on the "Zen 3" microarchitecture are unlikely to be accompanied by a new chipset, presenting motherboard makers with the opportunity to refresh their AMD 500-series chipset product stacks with new products. ASUS has a new premium product based on the AMD X570, in the form of the ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero. The company also unveiled a premium product based on the AMD B550 chipset—the ROG Strix B550-XE Gaming. While the Dark Hero is an incremental upgrade over the original Crosshair VIII Hero while retaining the PCB design, this particular board appears to be largely based on the ROG Strix B550-E Gaming.

ASUS has traditionally used the "XE" brand extension for ROG Strix series motherboard refreshes to denote improved CPU VRM, and this appears to be the case with the B550-XE Gaming, too. The board features a meatier 16-phase CPU VRM, with a more elaborate VRM cooling solution that uses larger heatsinks, which are interconnected by a flat heat-pipe, and unless we're mistaken, a 40 mm fan underneath the rear I/O shroud. The rest of the board's feature-set appears to be identical to that of the B550-E Gaming.

AMD is expected to announce its 5th Gen Ryzen Socket AM4 processors based on the "Zen 3" microarchitecture later today, and it's rumored that these chips will not be accompanied by a new chipset. Motherboard vendors aren't missing the opportunity to refresh their product-stacks with new boards based on existing AMD X570 and B550 chipsets. ASUS has a new premium Socket AM4 product in the works, the ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero. We know this board is based on the X570 from its unchanged generation number "VIII," for this chipset.

From what we can tell, the ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero is based on an identical PCB design to the original Crosshair VIII Hero/WiFi. The changes appear to be cosmetic, with all of the board's heatsink design and color schemes aligning with the company's latest ROG generation (eg: the Maximus XII Hero). Another interesting spot by our readers is that the board lacks a chipset fan, and makes do with passive cooling for the X570. Dark, diagonal ridges replace the smooth brushed metal with chrome-like accents of the original. It remains to be seen if the new wave of AM4 motherboards come with out-of-the-box support for Ryzen 5000 series, since the data-sheet for the Dark Hero only mentions 2nd- and 3rd-Gen Ryzen chips. In any case, the board supports USB BIOS Flashback, and all AMD 500-series chipset motherboards are expected to receive Ryzen 5000 support through BIOS updates.Update 12:32 UTC: ASUS mentions the two key areas of development for the Dark Hero are a completely fanless chipset cooling solution, and the use of 90 A DrMOS in the CPU VRM (compared to 60 A on the original).

MSI, the world leading gaming motherboard brand, releases optimized BIOS updates for AMD 500-series motherboards. Combo PI V2 1.1.0.0 BIOS has been released and it will be able to download in the coming days.

Highlights include: Optimized compatibility for AMD Ryzen 3000-Series and Ryzen 4000 G-Series Desktop Processors and future AM4 socket processors, solve some specific OC failure issues, updated SMU module, and optimized DDR4 memory overclocking. MSI will keep announcing BIOS news. Please find the latest information of the complete product list and more details about the Combo PI V2 1.1.0.0 and newer BIOS update on this blog.

BIOSTAR, a leading brand of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, today announces that their motherboards are ready to support future Ryzen with AGESA Combo V2 PI 1.0.8.1 BIOS update.

With a wide list of supporting models, BIOSTAR consumers can rest assured that their dreams of upgrading to the future Ryzen are fully achievable. With a few easy steps to update the BIOS version, users can enjoy the full benefits of the future Ryzen from their existing BIOSTAR 500 series AM4 motherboards. Gaming and content creation will get extended benefits like improving memory compatibility and memory overclocking capabilities after AGESA Combo V2 PI 1.0.8.1 BIOS updating.

MSI began rolling out UEFI firmware updates that pack AMD's latest AGESA Combo PI V2 1.0.8.1 microcode, for the company's Socket AM4 motherboards based on the AMD 500-series chipsets. The company released firmware updates for 9 of its B550 motherboards today. Some time mid-September, it plans to release updates for X570 chipset boards, and the rest of its B550 motherboards. By late-September, updates will be released for A520 chipset boards.

MSI says AGESA V2 1.0.8.1 improves memory compatibility and memory overclocking headroom, and supports UMA memory share control for Ryzen 4000G / PRO 4000G "Renoir" desktop processors. MSI added fixes specific to its products, such as Soft RAID issues on B550, and PCs refusing to resume from S3 state. Check the "support" section of your motherboard's product page on the MSI website for the new firmware updates.

AMD's recent announcement of its Ryzen 4000G and Ryzen PRO 4000G series desktop processors lacked a key detail - pricing, possibly because it's irrelevant to end users as the processors are sold only in the OEM channel. momomo_us secured a slide (possibly by AMD's channel marketing), which puts out SEP (suggestive) pricing per chip in n-unit tray quantities. Apparently, the Ryzen 7 PRO 4750G, and its energy-efficient -GE variant, are priced at USD $309. The Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G/GE comes with a $209 price, and the Ryzen 3 PRO 4350G/GE at $149.

Prices of the other parts in this slide appear to be stuck at their respective launch-time SEP pricing, since all of the price-cuts AMD implemented appear to be unofficial, and specific to retailers and regions. AMD also updated its familiar-looking processor-to-chipset compatibility slide with the inclusion of the new 4000G series. Apparently the new processors only work with AMD 500-series chipsets, such as the B550, X570, and the commercial-segment exclusive PRO565 chipset. This is strange since "Renoir" is now confirmed to lack PCIe gen 4.0, and only spares gen 3.0 x8 for PEG, which means 400-series chipsets are excluded due to ROM size limitations to squeeze in AGESA microcode supporting several generations of processors and microarchitectures. Interestingly, AMD assured customers of Ryzen 4000-series compatibility with 400-series chipsets. Perhaps they were only referring to the "Zen 3" based "Vermeer" processors, as the slide shows.

BIOSTAR, a leading brand of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, today announces product support for the new AMD's Ryzen Pro 4000 series desktop processors. Built on the AM4 socket, the new Ryzen Pro 4000 processors are built to be the best using the latest cutting-edge technology AMD has to offer. The new AM4 based desktop APU's are based on the 8-core 7 nm "Renoir" chipset, built on the groundbreaking Zen 2 core architecture with innovative 7 nm process technology and optimized for high performance Radeon graphics in an SOC design.

The new AMD Ryzen 4000 G-Series Desktop Processors have shown exceptional leaps in performance with extremely precise power efficiency that is highly effective for consumers, gamers, streamers and content creators. Built for modern business PCs, AMD Ryzen 4000 Series Desktop Processors with PRO technologies offer enterprise-class solutions, advanced technology and multi-layered security features.

ASRock Rack today unveiled a pair of Socket AM4 motherboards targeted at SFF workstation and compact server builds. Both boards are based on the AMD X570 chipset, and include the X570D4U-2L2T, and the X570D4I-2T. The larger X570D4U-2L2T is built in the Micro-ATX form-factor, and comes with support for 3rd Gen Ryzen "Matisse" and "Picasso" processors (for now). The board is designed with its components and heatsinks aligned for server rack airflow. It draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors, conditioning it for the CPU with a 6+2 phase VRM. The AM4 socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots that supports both ECC and non-ECC UDIMMs. Expansion includes one PCI-Express 4.0 x16, a gen 4.0 x8, and a gen 4.0 x1.

Storage options on the X570D4U-2L2T include seven SATA 6 Gbps, from which one is high-powered to support DOMs; and two M.2-2280 slots with PCIe 4.0 x4 wiring, one of which even has SATA 6 Gbps wiring. Enterprise-relevant features include two 10 GbE networking interfaces driven by an Intel X550-AT2 controller, two 1 GbE interfaces handles by Intel i210-series controllers; an ASPEED IPMI+iKVM management chip that also puts out basic display; and various server-relevant legacy connectivity.

Since the AMD Ryzen 4000 Series Desktop Processors with PRO technologies have launched today, MSI 500-series motherboards are well-prepared to fully support for the new processors' coming. Compared to the Ryzen 3000 series CPUs, the AMD Ryzen PRO 4000 Series Processors are built in a monolithic design based on the 7 nm architecture for both Zen 2 CPU and Vega GPU, which improves greatly in latency and bandwidth numbers with better efficiency in performance. Of course, MSI 500-series motherboards including X570 and B550 platform are perfectly compatible for the Ryzen PRO 4000 Series Processors.

AMD Ryzen PRO 4000 Series Processors offer greater CPU and memory performance for overclockers and enthusiasts to push benchmark to another level. MSI has showcased not only the best performance for memory frequency but also the memory stability with Memtest pass.

ASUS today announced that the new BIOS with AMD AGESA 1.0.0.2 update for X570 and B550 series motherboards are now available for download. While the existing BIOS support Ryzen 3000XT processors, the new BIOS optimize the performance of the latest AMD Ryzen 3000XT series processors (Ryzen 9 3900XT, Ryzen 7 3800XT, and Ryzen 5 3600XT). The UEFI BIOS updates are available from the respective motherboard support pages, and can be accessed via the ASUS Support website.

AMD's 7 nm "Renoir" APU silicon, which features eight "Zen 2" CPU cores, has only a quarter of the L3 cache of the 8-core "Zen 2" CCD used in "Matisse," "Rome," and "Castle Peak" processors, with each of its two quad-core compute complexes (CCXs) featuring just 4 MB of it (compared to 16 MB per CCX on the 8-core "Zen 2" CCD). Chinese-language tech publication TecLab pubished a quick review of an alleged Ryzen 7 4700GE socket AM4 processor based on the "Renoir" silicon, and discovered that the chip offers significantly lower memory latencies than "Matisse," posting just 47.6 ns latency when paired with DDR4-4233 dual-channel memory.

In comparison, a Ryzen 9 3900X with these kinds of memory clocks typically posts 60-70 ns latencies, owing to the MCM design of "Matisse," where the CPU cores and memory controllers sit on separate dies, which is one of the key reasons AMD is believed to have doubled the L3 cache amount per CCX compared to previous-generation "Zeppelin" dies. TecLab tested the alleged 4700GE engineering sample on a ROG Crosshair VIII Impact X570 motherboard that has 1 DIMM per channel (the best possible memory topology).