ASRock First to Support AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs on X370 Chipsets

ASRock X370 Pro
(Image credit: ASRock)

ASRock has become the first AMD motherboard partner to release official BIOS updates for its X370 series motherboards that add support for AMD's current-gen Ryzen 5000 (Vermeer) CPUs. AMD originally told Tom's Hardware of potentially officially sanctioned modernizing of 300-series motherboard CPU compatibility in our interview with AMD's Corporate VP and GM of the Client Channel business, David McAfee, last week at CES 2022. 

(Image credit: ASRock)

ASRock's newly published BIOS updates allow its aging X370 boards to support Zen3 CPUs like the Ryzen 9 5950X, Ryzen 9 5900X, Ryzen 7 5800X, and Ryzen 5 5600X. Specifically, the first motherboard to benefit is the ASRock X370 Pro. The sacrifice upgraders have to make is that ASRock removes support for AMD Bristol Ridge APUs (launched mid-2017). It must also be noted that while ASRock doesn't say it will remove support for previous-gen Ryzen processors, it recommends that you shouldn't update if you have a Pinnacle, Raven, or Summit Ridge processor. 

(Image credit: ASRock)

As we ended 2021, there were multiple reports of lowly A320 motherboards getting BIOS updates that allowed them to operate with the latest Zen3 CPUs. This reignited consumer ire that had been smoldering ever since the launch of AMD 5000-series processors when it became clear that the 300-series chipset motherboards were being shut out from (officially supported) upgrades. Ingenious and enterprising PC users have sometimes used hacked BIOS files to work around what they see as an unjust restriction, but resorting to unofficial firmwares isn't usually the best idea for security, stability, and peace of mind.

With these BIOS updates starting to arrive, X370 motherboards and the lower-tier 300 series boards still aren't the best choice for AMD's current-gen processors. The platform upgrades users enjoyed with new 400- and 500-series of motherboards obviously aren't going to materialize with a new BIOS, and as AMD has warned, some of the top end Vermeer processors are "not going to deliver the performance the product is capable of," due to factors like PCIe Gen 4.0, PBO, SAM, and improved power delivery features on newer designs. However, users should retain the lion's share of performance improvements relative to prior-gen processors. 

Now this update is out of the bag, ASRock's footsteps are likely to be followed by the likes of Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, and others. As we saw last year, some of these other vendors were willing and quick to update their A320 motherboards for Ryzen 5000,

It will be interesting to see if other motherboard vendors follow the same method of completely dropping Bristol Ridge support to cram the necessary code in the BIOS to support Vermeer. If you still run an AMD 300-series motherboard and are hankering after a Vermeer chip, it might be worth keeping an eye open for updates over the next few weeks.

Mark Tyson
News Editor

Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

  • wifiburger
    Zen3 prices are so garbage vs Intel that people don't stop complaining about junk,relic 300series support to save a few $$$

    Going by history, beta bios from AMD are complete trash. Maybe AMD would have better success by droping Zen3 prices.
    Reply
  • salgado18
    wifiburger said:
    Zen3 prices are so garbage vs Intel that people don't stop complaining about junk,relic 300series support to save a few $$$

    Going by history, beta bios from AMD are complete trash. Maybe AMD would have better success by droping Zen3 prices.
    Some people don't have a lot of money to spare, and in many places the prices of parts are very high compared to the average earning. Not everyone can afford to upgrade often.

    Also, it also means that these motherboards have just got more value on the second-hand market, and future upgraders can enjoy even better CPUs. So what's not to like?
    Reply
  • TCA_ChinChin
    About time. It's better than Intel, but that's a low bar to pass for socket support. AMD should've gotten a lot more flack for segmenting Ryzen support on AM4 than they did.
    Reply
  • kerberos_20
    TCA_ChinChin said:
    About time. It's better than Intel, but that's a low bar to pass for socket support. AMD should've gotten a lot more flack for segmenting Ryzen support on AM4 than they did.
    they had to segment it, agesa code is big, older mainboards had 16MB bioses, for full CPU support you need 32MB bios
    so there are currently two agesa versions maintained, agesa V1 (for CPUs up to zen2) and V2 (for CPUs from zen2 onward)
    both are 16MB, with 32MB bios you can run both of them and can run it with any CPU u want, but with 16MB bios, you can fit in only one agesa version, if you switch to V2 agesa, then youll loose cpu support which predates zen2

    mine asrock x370 gaming x has bios 6.12 with agesa combo-am4 pi v2 1.1.0.0 dated december 2020 which supports zen 3 (vermeer)
    its not like those bioses with agesa V2 for zen3 doesnt exist, just ask asrock and theyll send you one
    Reply
  • wifiburger
    TCA_ChinChin said:
    About time. It's better than Intel, but that's a low bar to pass for socket support. AMD should've gotten a lot more flack for segmenting Ryzen support on AM4 than they did.

    It's so not better than Intel. It's exactly like Intel and more towards worst than Intel.

    Intel you get 2 gen cpus per chipset and support is guaranteed / working bios with no back and forth support with bios quackery. You don't like it, don't buy into the platform. Complains from users are ignored here !

    Official bios you only get 2 Zen cpus generation per socket. After it becomes beta bios which is worthless.

    Long times before bios release / updates, removing prev supported cpus, features that are blocked on the beta vs official bios, weird glitches,security that are not fixed, etc
    Reply
  • saint_craig
    Admin said:
    ASRock looks like it will be the first of many to up 300-series motherboards with official Vermeer support in the wake of our interview with AMD's Client Channel Business head.

    ASRock First to Support AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs on X370 Chipsets : Read more

    Any word if they plan on supporting the X370 Gaming X ?
    Reply
  • escksu
    Better be late than never!!

    I do agree that AMD did poorly regarding CPU support. All along, CPU support has nothing to do with chipset. Today's chipsets are mianly just providing connectivity options like SATA, extra PCIE, USB etc....

    All your CPU support, overclocking, PBO etc etc comes from the CPU and BIOS directly. Even your 20 usuable PCIE 4.0 lanes are from the CPU (nothing to do with chipset). I would say at least some of the x370/x470/B350/B450 boards are designed to conform with PCIE 4.0 standards but AMD do not allow manufacturers to enable it due to marketing reason. Doing so will greatly affect their x570/B550 sales.

    AMD ditch x370/B350 after a year and introduce "new" x470/B450 that has nothing to offer over older chipsets. IF you are talking about extra PBO, better memory OC etc, they are from the CPU and BIOS and to an extent board design (trace length/path, power), but not chipset. Barely a year later, they ditch x470 by introducing x570 chipset that "supports" PCIE 4.0. B550 came later because x570 was too expensive for many pple.

    We used to think that AMD was the underdog. They brough us affordable CPUs (Intel was the real devil). But no, AMD is just another devil. I am glad Intel is now competitve again so they are keeping AMD in check. I used to be a big big AMD supporter but now I only support my wallet. Screw these companies.
    Reply
  • saint_craig
    kerberos_20 said:
    they had to segment it, agesa code is big, older mainboards had 16MB bioses, for full CPU support you need 32MB bios
    so there are currently two agesa versions maintained, agesa V1 (for CPUs up to zen2) and V2 (for CPUs from zen2 onward)
    both are 16MB, with 32MB bios you can run both of them and can run it with any CPU u want, but with 16MB bios, you can fit in only one agesa version, if you switch to V2 agesa, then youll loose cpu support which predates zen2

    mine asrock x370 gaming x has bios 6.12 with agesa combo-am4 pi v2 1.1.0.0 dated december 2020 which supports zen 3 (vermeer)
    its not like those bioses with agesa V2 for zen3 doesnt exist, just ask asrock and theyll send you one

    How did you get them to send you a 6.12? I asked and they blew me off. and it's not on their web-site either.
    Reply
  • kerberos_20
    saint_craig said:
    How did you get them to send you a 6.12? I asked and they blew me off. and it's not on their web-site either.
    6.00 had some bugs which i didnt really like...it was running fine with R5 1600X, but switching to 3800X with that bios was not really great...so i pestered them and they sent it :)
    bios is asrock signed...as you cant install modded bios on asrock boards...some security checks are going there
    Reply
  • Tata_Figo
    One question, I have MSI X370 gaming pro carbon motherboard, if I update the bios, can I place ryzen 5800x?
    Reply