MSI: All 400-Series Motherboards Will Receive Ryzen 5000 Support

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Zen 3 for all.

X470 Gaming Pro Carbon AC

X470 Gaming Pro Carbon AC (Image credit: MSI)

Although AMD has already confirmed Ryzen 5000 compatibility for 400-series motherboards, it's up to each respective motherboard maker to decide if they will extend backward compatibility to their hardware – AMD has made it optional. It's encouraging, then, to hear MSI announce its commitment to provide support for the brand's entire lineup without exceptions.

The list of MSI motherboards includes offerings based on the X470 and B450 chipset as well as the company's Max and non-Max models. MSI will supply new firmwares for the aforementioned motherboards to accommodate the Zen 3 chips without hiccups. MSI estimates that the firmware should be ready in January 2021. Once AMD has provided the AGESA code to MSI, the motherboard manufacturer will post a more precise release schedule.

Ryzen 5000 chips officially go on sale on November 5, and AMD will not release a new chipset for the Zen 3-based parts. Therefore, AMD 500-series motherboard owners will be the only ones to use the processors at launch. Barring any last-minute changes, 400-series motherboard owners have to wait until January of next year.

Unfortunately, the 300-series motherboards' future is clear – AMD hasn't said it wouldn't extend support to the older chipsets.

After a bit of uproar from the chipmaker's followers, AMD backpedaled to allow support for Zen 3 processors on the 400-series motherboards. Due to the BIOS chips' limited capacity, there will be certain compromises for 400-series motherboard owners, like removed support for older Ryzen chips and a one-way ticket with no option to roll back to a previous firmware. Upgraders will also miss out on PCIe 4.0 support; the older chipsets aren't designed to support the interface. That's not a problem for gamers, though; PCIe 4.0 has no impact on game loading performance.  

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Zhiye Liu
Zhiye Liu
News Editor and Memory Reviewer

Zhiye Liu is a news editor and memory reviewer at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Ocean111
    So,

    An MSI B350 mobo, a ZEN 3 5600x, and nerd walk into a bar. Unfortunately there are only 3 bar stools in the pub and currently sitting there is a 1600x, 2600x, and 3600x.

    The BIOS bar tender says to the nerd: : "We ain't got enough room! Take that fancy ZEN 3 chip to the new bar 450/550!

    The nerd politely asks: What if we completely wipe out the BIOS on the B350, er throw the existing customers out? Then having downloaded a fresh AGESA COMBO PI V2 1.1.0.0 bios update, then we just make one big stool for our zen 3 chip to sit on? It is after all, the same socketed stool.

    Would this work?

    If there is not enough space to accommodate 4 generations of zen, what about just the one you be using?

    Sorry for the analogy
    Reply
  • vinay2070
    Ocean111 said:
    So,

    An MSI B350 mobo, a ZEN 3 5600x, and nerd walk into a bar. Unfortunately there are only 3 bar stools in the pub and currently sitting there is a 1600x, 2600x, and 3600x.

    The BIOS bar tender says to the nerd: : "We ain't got enough room! Take that fancy ZEN 3 chip to the new bar 450/550!

    The nerd politely asks: What if we completely wipe out the BIOS on the B350, er throw the existing customers out? Then having downloaded a fresh AGESA COMBO PI V2 1.1.0.0 bios update, then we just make one big stool for our zen 3 chip to sit on? It is after all, the same socketed stool.

    Would this work?

    If there is not enough space to accommodate 4 generations of zen, what about just the one you be using?

    Sorry for the analogy
    Unfortunately just like a chip company selling new chips, mobo makers rely on selling newer boards to survive. Thats the only issue. I am happy AMD is at least supporting the 400 series, whereas if it was intel, you know what would have happened.
    Reply
  • Ocean111
    This is the basis for my query:

    https://www.extremetech.com/computing/265086-modders-find-way-drop-coffee-lake-cpus-intel-skylake-kaby-lake-motherboards
    https://segmentnext.com/2018/03/05/intel-coffee-lake-skylake-kaby-lake-motherboards/
    https://www.pcgamer.com/modders-get-intels-coffee-lake-cpus-to-run-on-incompatible-motherboards/
    https://www.techpowerup.com/242073/modders-get-coffee-lake-chips-to-work-stable-on-intel-100-200-series-chipsets
    I hope some witch doctor can "smell what I'm steppin' in" and help us curmudgeonly frugal bunch who don't wanna invest in an entire new board.. Especially since AMD is now turning on their customer base with their pricing.
    Reply
  • vinay2070
    Hardware unboxed mentioned in his review that PCIe 4 can be activated on 450 series motherboard and ASUS or MSI had actually done this as PCIe4 is a CPU feature and not a chipset feature to access the directly connected components like GPU etc. However AMD might have stepped in and disabled it. This shows how tech companies will step in to stop supporting a older system even though they are compatible. My sound blaster audigy soundcard puchased over 16 years ago works perfectly fine using Daniel K drivers. However creative stopped supporting it over 10 years ago and the newer pcie audigy is just the same old card with a pci to pcie bridge chip built in has full driver support from creative because its a newer card.

    To be frank I cant blame them. They need to pay their employees, rents, bills, keep the R&D going and keep the shareholders happy. Not possible if they keep supporting the older hardware forever :)
    Reply
  • Ocean111
    vinay2070 said:
    Hardware unboxed mentioned in his review that PCIe 4 can be activated on 450 series motherboard and ASUS or MSI had actually done this as PCIe4 is a CPU feature and not a chipset feature to access the directly connected components like GPU etc. However AMD might have stepped in and disabled it. This shows how tech companies will step in to stop supporting a older system even though they are compatible. My sound blaster audigy soundcard puchased over 16 years ago works perfectly fine using Daniel K drivers. However creative stopped supporting it over 10 years ago and the newer pcie audigy is just the same old card with a pci to pcie bridge chip built in has full driver support from creative because its a newer card.

    To be frank I cant blame them. They need to pay their employees, rents, bills, keep the R&D going and keep the shareholders happy. Not possible if they keep supporting the older hardware forever :)

    I can't blame millionaires for continuing to do millionaire things either.

    However this is not my question...

    Is it possible to created a bios update to allow zen 3 to work on previous chipsets.

    I'm also asking this question on TPU

    I'm just curious as it's been done before, sometimes when the corporations feet are held to the fire, only then they comply. https://www.techpowerup.com/254634/msi-betrays-amds-socket-am4-longevity-promise-no-zen2-for-300-series
    After the backlash, outrage, and pressure they came through.

    I'm fully aware am4 was only promised three generations of support and they've fufilled their word. I'm only curious about the possibility, I really am uneducated about how BIOS works, so really I'm only curious to find someone like the modders in the links posted above who could inform us/me.
    Reply
  • Math Geek
    if it is possible to make a custom BIOS for 300 series, then i am sure someone will do it. the modders who make these type things love the challenge. however, don't expect perfect functionality on every board ever made. usually they put the effort into a handful of common mainstream boards and then move on to the next challenge.

    though i am sure we'll see some work done, people are gonna be real disappointed when the cheap 320 board they bought 4 years ago gets no love. it's just probably not gonna happen.

    honestly though if you already got a few years out of the board and want to move up to the new chip, then do it with a new board and sell the other as a mobo/cpu set. i buy a cpu/mobo knowing they will never be separated. by the time i'm ready for the upgrade, i go for the new board and whatever that brings to the table. i don't bother with trying to "future proof" a system as that is never really gonna happen. get a good 4 years out of it then move on and delegate the old system to whatever secondary role it moves to.

    i've got 4 systems in the house and finally sent the old q6600 system to a friend after it slowly fell down the work tier in the house until it was just not needed anymore. is a great htpc for my friend and should work until it finally joins the great pc pile in the sky :)
    Reply