Ryzen 3000-series: Motherboard Support

Phuncz

Lord of the Boards
Original poster
SFFn Staff
May 9, 2015
5,836
4,906
For the peeps out there with 300 or 400 series chipset motherboards who are wondering if they'll be able to run the Ryzen 3000 series CPUs, here are some resources:

Motherboard VRM ratings, is it expected to work fully ? (via Reddit): > chart <
Look for column D for 16-core support (non-OC) or 12-core support (OC or PBO enabled) and column E for 12-core support (non-OC). The 8-core CPUs (non-OC) are expected to run on all the current boards.


Firmware updates are required !
Be sure to look for the ones with AGESA Combo-AM4 1.0.0.1 or higher dated around july 2019 or later:

ASRock: link
Asus: link
Gigabyte: link
MSI: link

If you are buying an older board, be sure to get it updated either by the store you are buying from or the seller ! Otherwise you'll need to source an older CPU to get it flashed, as there are only a few motherboards able to flash without a CPU.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheHig and khanate

Phuncz

Lord of the Boards
Original poster
SFFn Staff
May 9, 2015
5,836
4,906
This is interesting: apparently there is a new AGESA Combo-AM4 1.0.0.3AB out released in the weekend, but not yet for all the boards. MSI seemed to have BETA updates ready though. A nice overview of this here: https://www.hardwareluxx.de/community/f12/ultimative-am4-uefi-bios-ubersicht-05-07-19-a-1228903.html

Seems to be a fully qualified Zen2 bios if it is truly 1.0.0.3AB

Mostly 1-2 core boosting, it was a hit & miss nightmare on all the previous bioses because of the broken AGESA. AMD rushed this out about 36 hours ago, so hopefully it doesn't break anything else lol

I heard in other threads that they intentionally withheld 1.0.0.3AB until now because it is necessary for PBO OD to work properly to enforce the NDA
 
  • Like
Reactions: Legion

Stevo_

Master of Cramming
Jul 2, 2015
449
304
If you are buying an older board, be sure to get it updated either by the store you are buying from or the seller ! Otherwise you'll need to source an older CPU to get it flashed, as there are only a few motherboards able to flash without a CPU.

That issue doesn't affect 400 series and up motheboards AFIK they all have flashback capability the 300 series and especially the 350 is really the one to watch out for but AMD does offer a boot kit. That Reddit chart is wildly off in that regard.

https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/pa-100

At least for MSI a few caveats, sounds like you don't really want to flash the BIOS unless you have, many bricked systems in link below

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=320889.0

From link above

Notice:

1.This BIOS doesn't support Bristol Ridge CPU.
2.If you already set RAID for your system, please don`t update these beta BIOS as they are not ready for raid function.
3.After download this BIOS, please unzip the BIOS file and copy it to the root folder of your USB pen drive. Then go to bios setup and choose M-Flash to update bios.
4.Support 3000 series CPU,
Ryzen 9 3900X/Ryzen 7 3800X/Ryzen 7 3700X/Ryzen 5 3600X/Ryzen 5 3600/Ryzen 5 3400G/Ryzen 3 3200G

In order to support AMD Ryzen 3000 series CPU, GSE-Lite Bios Interface need to be modified in order to release more space to fit the current CPU code.

GSE-Lite BIOS UI,
 
  • Like
Reactions: Phuncz

Phuncz

Lord of the Boards
Original poster
SFFn Staff
May 9, 2015
5,836
4,906
That issue doesn't affect 400 series and up motheboards AFIK they all have flashback capability the 300 series and especially the 350 is really the one to watch out for but AMD does offer a boot kit. That Reddit chart is wildly off in that regard.
Flashing a motherboard without a CPU is very uncommon though, the 400-series chipset doesn't facilitate this. It's not an issue, it just requires a specific board design (along with a chip or two) to be able to have that feature.

Thanks for the heads-up on the MSI BIOS updates !
 

Stevo_

Master of Cramming
Jul 2, 2015
449
304
Flashing a motherboard without a CPU is very uncommon though, the 400-series chipset doesn't facilitate this. It's not an issue, it just requires a specific board design (along with a chip or two) to be able to have that feature.

Thanks for the heads-up on the MSI BIOS updates !

Yeah, it's not a chipset issue really but motherboard support wasn't common until the 400 series and MSI had probably the most support for it like 8 of the b450 mobos though not my b450i but at least bios was up to date for Raven Ridge APUs from factory.