Due to the AMD Ryzen 9 3950X's power requirements, many entry-level AMD motherboards might not support the 16-core monster. However, a ComputerBase reader noticed that the chip will work on ASRock's A320M-DVS R3.0 motherboard, which gives us a bit of hope.
AMD's upcoming flagship Ryzen desktop CPU features 16 cores and 32 threads, while the current AMD Ryzen 9 3900X has 12 cores and 24 threads.
A320 motherboards are at the bottom tier the motherboard stack with lower power delivery subsystems, so it's surprising ASRock has listed that its A320M-DVS R3.0 motherboard is compatible with the Ryzen 9 3950X. Shockingly, support is limited to this specific revision, as the newer A320M-DVS R4.0 model seemingly lacks support for the the CPU. Both revisions continue to employ a six-phase power delivery subsystem. Other than the slight aesthetic change, it's unclear what the difference is between the two motherboards that would make one compatible with the Ryzen 9 3950X but not the other.
In order to get the Ryzen 9 3950X to work on the A320M-DVS R3.0, it's necessary to update the motherboard's firmware to the latest 3.30 BIOS, which incorporates the AGESA 1.0.0.3ABB microcode. MSI has given us the heads-up that Ryzen owners can expect a new microcode that reportedly brings over 100 improvements next month. Perhaps there's a little something in there for A320 motherboard users.
AMD hasn't officially announced if the Ryzen 9 3950X will work on A320 motherboards. We probably won't find out until the 16-core part drops next month, assuming AMD doesn't run into any more setbacks.
