AMD confirms that X570 and B550 chipsets will support next-gen Zen 3 architecture

[Shawn Knight]

Why it matters: AMD on Thursday confirmed that its next-gen AMD Ryzen desktop processors, which will utilize the Zen 3 architecture, will indeed be compatible with AMD X570 and B550 motherboards. That's great news as enthusiasts have a viable upgrade path that doesn't involve purchasing additional core hardware just to get a CPU upgrade.

The affirmation came courtesy of a revised roadmap which now illustrates support for Zen 3 on the aforementioned chipsets. In announcing the compatibility, AMD said that a BIOS update would be needed but that’s a small hurdle to overcome in exchange for not having to buy a new motherboard.

AMD’s X570 chipset has been around since last summer. The B550, meanwhile, was officially introduced last month alongside two new Ryzen 3 desktop chips – The Ryzen 3 3100 and the Ryzen 3 3300X. Those two processors are slated to land on May 21 priced at $99 and $120, respectively.

All of that said, AMD noted that it has no plans to introduce Zen 3 architecture support for older (X pre-500 Series) chipsets. The company said it wishes it could enable full support for every processor on every chipset but flash memory chips that store BIOS settings have capacity limitations.

Given these limitations and the unprecedented longevity of the AM4 socket (it’s been around since late 2016), AMD said there will inevitably be a time when they have to make a transition and the 500 Series chipset is that time.

Update: As pointed out by many readers in the comments, this is only AMD's official support list which is guaranteed. It's entirely possible motherboard manufacturers will expand upon this, by offering Zen 3 support in existing AMD X470 and B450 motherboards, for example.

This was the case when a multitude of X370 motherboards received Ryzen 3000 support via BIOS updates, although it's still not officially supported by AMD. We'll know when we know, but it's important to keep this in mind.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/85144-amd-next-gen-zen-3-compatible-amd-b550.html

 

[Adi6293]

This better be a joke. I have a £240 X470 motherboard, I was hoping to upgrade my 2700X to 4700X but if this is how it is I will just stick to what I have and AMD won't get my money.....

 

[Lew Zealand]

Awww my crappy $70 2.5 year old B350 won't run a Ryzen 4000. I'll have to console myself with it's new $85 R5 1600AF.

And I guess this $130 R5 2600 will just have to do in the $85 B450 until I need a 16C32T R9 3950x when the time comes. Woe is me.

sigh. \s for those who need it

 

[Evernessince]

It should also be noted that it's highly possible older boards get 4000 series support as well, similar to how many X370 boards got ryzen 3000 series support despite not being on the mandated support list. Just like past launches, the list above is just what AMD mandates but additional support is possible and likely depending on the board's BIOS chip size.

 

[Irata]

Seems like getting the B450 Tomahawk‘s Max version was a good idea.

I am pretty hopeful that at least some pre- 5xx mainboards will support Ryzen 3 as I doubt AMD will restrict this. If they did that would be a disappointment but I honestly see no reason why they would.

 

[Shadowboxer]

And every year the compatibility gets muddier. I guess now when you buy a motherboard it’s a bit a of a lottery as to whether you will get support in the future and for how long.

 

[Lew Zealand]

This is a minimum requirement list from AMD. Many (most?) B450 and X470 will support Ryzen 4000. Look at the compatibility list as X370 is not officially supported for Ryzen 3000 yet there are many X370 boards like the MSI X370 Carbon which do support R3000.

 

[Evernessince]

And every year the compatibility gets muddier. I guess now when you buy a motherboard it’s a bit a of a lottery as to whether you will get support in the future and for how long.

Not really. X370 and B350 supports 3 generations (despite the 3rd generation not being mandated. X470 is playing out exactly the same, as I noted above. X570 might not but it was always known that X570 was an end of socket chipset.

I'm not seeing the inconsistency, it's playing out exactly the same as prior generations compatibility wise.

 

[Manuel Diego]

This is a minimum requirement list from AMD. Many (most?) B450 and X470 will support Ryzen 4000. Look at the compatibility list as X370 is not officially supported for Ryzen 3000 yet there are many X370 boards like the MSI X370 Carbon which do support R3000.

And not only X370: I'm using a 3700X on a B350 mobo, no problem at all.

 

[HofyPC]

And all we need now are B550 boards.

 

[krizby]

Noice...glad I paid the extra 135usd to get the X570 Aorus Elite instead of a B450 board for my backup PC, once Ryzen 4000 come I can just pop in a 4900X couple with the 3080 Ti it would replace my current 8700K + 2080 Ti rig, or maybe I should just sell my current rig now when it still hold high value...hmmm...

 

[Lew Zealand]

And not only X370: I'm using a 3700X on a B350 mobo, no problem at all.

Which B350, out of curiousity? I have a low end B350 and R3000 compatibility doesn't seem to exist though there is a single submission in the Geekbench DB using my Mobo with an R5 3600.

Edit: nvm as it seems my MSI B350 Pro-VD+ is compatible with R3000 as I searched by the board code and there are lots of R3000 submissions.

 

[Manuel Diego]

I've used my 3700X with two different B350 boards without any problems (after having updated the BIOS, of course):
- Asrock AB350 Pro4
- Gigabyte AB350N Gaming Wifi

 

[wiyosaya]

As I see it, it is to AMD's advantage to support as many future generations as possible on prior chipsets. It certainly sets them apart from sIntel in this aspect.

 

[Evernessince]

As I see it, it is to AMD's advantage to support as many future generations as possible on prior chipsets. It certainly sets them apart from sIntel in this aspect.

Yep. Just like with the 3000 series getting B350 and X370 support, I suspect AMD doesn't force motherboard manufacturers to support 3 full generations of CPUs at once due to BIOS chip size. That way the motherboards that have a smaller BIOS chip aren't forced into doing something they likely can't do and those that can support the additional chip do.

Essentially, you get what you pay for.

 

[Ravalo]

What about B550AM?

 

[Irata]

As I see it, it is to AMD's advantage to support as many future generations as possible on prior chipsets. It certainly sets them apart from sIntel in this aspect.

To be fair, they have so far supported four processes from 25nm to 7nm and two completely different CPU architectures (Bristol Ridge and Ryzen) on the same socket and boards. Don‘t think we’ve ever seen this before.

That said, I would still be disappointed if my B450 Max board did not support Ryzen 3.

I really think AMD need to clarify asap if they just do not guarantee Ryzen 3 support on older boards or if they will actually prohibit board manufacturers from supporting it.

 

[KiwiDave]

This better be a joke. I have a £240 X470 motherboard, I was hoping to upgrade my 2700X to 4700X but if this is how it is I will just stick to what I have and AMD won't get my money.....

Afraid not. Most 300 and 400 series mobos bios chips are too small to accommodate the 4000 series. That's been out there for last 6 months or so. Also 5000 series will need a new socket altogether so a new mobo definitely needed for that.

 

[Julio Franco]

Story update: As pointed out by many readers in the comments, this is only AMD's official support list which is guaranteed. It's entirely possible motherboard manufacturers will expand upon this, by offering Zen 3 support in existing AMD X470 and B450 motherboards, for example. This was the case when a multitude of X370 motherboards received Ryzen 3000 support via BIOS updates, although it's still not officially supported by AMD. We'll know when we know, but it's important to keep this in mind.

Personal comment: My good old Asrock X370 Taichi supports even the Ryzen 9 3950X: https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X370 Taichi/index.asp#CPU

No doubt I look forward to upgrading later in the year to a cheaper Ryzen 9 while reusing the rest of my desktop rig's parts.

 

[kiwigraeme]

I have a x570 and a 3700x - so no need to upgrade anytime soon.
However we run 2 PCs in our house - so options for the old sandy lake = & options for a year or 2 down the road with cheaper or zen3 .

So buy a discounted 450 M/B and discounted lower Zen2 or Zen 1 chip on release of Zen 3 - so cheapest parts possible $300-$350 max - so great 2nd PC - then in say 1 or 2 years get discounted HQ zen 3 chip into X570 and upgrade cheaper M/B to my 3700x and sell cheap Zen1 or 2 CPU
all for under $500-$600 to have 2 powerful PCs

 

[EtaLasquera]

Why mb vendors does not allow users to make a custom bios excluding CPUs who user don't want to use?
I want to update my R5 1600 14nm to a new CPU with the same mobo and the problem to update is the ROM space.
Why as customer I need in my product microcodes of CPUs who I don't plan to use like A10… Ryzen 2k series... Ryzen 3k series?
It's hard to mobo vendors allow users to make a custom microcode?

 

[KiwiDave]

Not really. X370 and B350 supports 3 generations (despite the 3rd generation not being mandated. X470 is playing out exactly the same, as I noted above. X570 might not but it was always known that X570 was an end of socket chipset.

I'm not seeing the inconsistency, it's playing out exactly the same as prior generations compatibility wise.

I'm not seeing inconsistency either. This is how it was with AM3 sockets as well and AMD have always signalled well in advance what there plans are. The mobo makers are adding additional support for some older mobos but that's never gauranteed and even then you need to think about things like power delivery. My strix-f x370 has a good VRM and officially can support a 3950x (according to Asus) but still I don't think I would try and run a 3950x on it.

 

[amoeba00]

One area where this gets sticky is with a BIOS release that supports the newer CPUs, but the CPU on the machine is the older/original model. Lots of folks in the MSI Forums having various system issues when flashing their x470/B450 chipset motherboards with the latest and greatest BIOS, but still having the Zen1/Zen+ CPUs.

Great for MSI to add the additional support, not so much with the lack of warnings on not to do it unless you actually have the Zen2 CPU to take advantage of the newer BIOS. Eventually, they released a newer version of some motherboards (the MAX line) with the increased EPROM size and better VRMs to fully accommodate the newer AGESA versions.

Let's hope those x570 motherboard owners don't run into similar issues with Zen3.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Why mb vendors does not allow users to make a custom bios excluding CPUs who user don't want to use?
I want to update my R5 1600 14nm to a new CPU with the same mobo and the problem to update is the ROM space.
Why as customer I need in my product microcodes of CPUs who I don't plan to use like A10… Ryzen 2k series... Ryzen 3k series?
It's hard to mobo vendors allow users to make a custom microcode?

Let's see. 7 different lines of processors:

Summit Ridge
Raven Ridge
Pinnacle Ridge
Vermeer
Picasso
Matisse
Athlon X4
Bristol Ridge

7x6x5x4x3x2 different combinations of support = 5K different BIOses for each Mobo to accommodate all options. But that's nuts.

How about a more realistic support set of BIOSes:

Pre-Ryzen + R1000 + R2000
R1000 + R2000 + R3000
R2000 + R3000 + R4000

Some Mobos don't have enough space for even this so you'd have to test 3x the number of BIOSes for Mobos you've already sold, knowing that some of these options won't actually work. This is not financially feasible.

So instead you get what we have: If you paid for an expensive Mobo, you're likely to get 3 generations of compatibility. But if you paid for a cheaper Mobo, you'll get 2 generations of compatibility, *but* you cut out an older generation if you upgrade to a new BIOS to get the newer gen. Some Mobos had to do this when Ryzen 3000 came out, but it may have been only the older A# and Athlon X4 series that was cut, not the R1000s.

 

[Lionvibez]

Excellent there is a reason I went with a x570 board on my Dec 2019 build. When everone was telling me go X470 to save $30-$50.... Ya I don't think so.

Plus the x470 and below uses PCIe 2.0 between the chipset and that was fixed on X570.