Asus AMD A-Series Motherboards 'Godavari' (That Is, 'Kaveri') Refresh Ready

Following AMD's announcement of the latest A-series APUs, Asus was quick to announce that all of its current A-series motherboards are ready for the newest refreshed APUs. The company's press release stated that Asus announced support for AMD A-Series "Godavari" APUs. (As we mentioned in an earlier post, though, the new line is a "Kaveri refresh;" "Godavari" was just internal nomenclature.)

The list of boards that support the new processor is quite long. Essentially all of the current A88X, A78, A68, A58, and A55 boards that Asus sells are included. Each of the boards will need to be flashed to the latest BIOS, which is available now through the EZ-Update utility.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Header Cell - Column 0 Model Name UEFI BIOS Version UEFI BIOS Update Tool Graphics Driver Version
USB BIOS Flashback EZ Update
A88X Crossblade Ranger 1002 Yes Yes V14.502.1013.0
A88X-Pro 1902 Yes Yes
A88X-Gamer 904 N/A Yes
A88X-Plus 2302 N/A Yes
A88XM-Plus 2202 N/A Yes
A88XM-A 2204 N/A Yes
A88XM-E 1204 N/A Yes
A78 A78M-A 1501 N/A Yes
A78M-E 1301 N/A Yes
A68 A68HM-Plus 803 N/A Yes
A68HM-E 803 N/A Yes
A68HM-K 803 N/A Yes
A68HM-F 507 N/A Yes
A58 A58-C 804 N/A Yes
A58M-A/USB3 1505 N/A Yes
A58M-A/BR 1201 N/A Yes
A58M-E 1603 N/A Yes
A58M-E R2.0 703 N/A Yes
A58M-K 1302 N/A Yes
A58M-F 1303 N/A Yes
A55 A55-C Plus 1004 N/A Yes
A55BM-Plus 2102 N/A Yes
A55BM-A/USB3 2701 N/A Yes
A55BM-E 2501 N/A Yes
A55BM-E/BR 1701 N/A Yes
A55BM-K 1801 N/A Yes

Owners of Asus A88X-Pro and Crossblade Ranger motherboards have an additional option for flashing their BIOS. These two top-end boards have support for a feature called USB BIOS Flashback. Using this method, users will save the BIOS file on a USB thumb drive. The motherboard simply needs power -- it doesn't even need a CPU or memory installed. With the USB stick plugged in, simply press the USB BIOS flashback button and the rest should be automatic.

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Contributor

Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years.

  • TechyInAZ
    I can't wait until all motherboards can upgrade their BIOSes without CPU or RAM installed.
    Reply
  • rwinches
    The latest BIOS version for the ASUS A88X PRO is 2001 just released.

    Reply
  • toadhammer
    I can't wait until all motherboards can upgrade their BIOSes without CPU or RAM installed.
    Excellent feature! I hope whoever developed this got a big bonus. If only ASUS would offer a mini ITX for FM2+.
    Reply
  • j0ndafr3ak
    Excellent feature! I hope whoever developed this got a big bonus. If only ASUS would offer a mini ITX for FM2+.

    Agreed and possibly one mini itx board with a DP connector. No mini itx fm2+ board out there has it.. just the atx ones do...
    Reply