Test Pairing X570 Motherboard and Ryzen 3 1200 CPU Suggests AMD Will Live up to Backward Compatibility Promise

A new test by German site Planet 3D Now suggests AMD X570 socket backward compatibility may offer more than we initially expected. This off the bat of AMD announcing that the AM4 socket wouldn’t be compatibility with AMD Ryzen processors of the first-generation variety.

AMD Backward Compatibility

According to the test, the latest AGESA 1.0.0.4b microcode motherboard firmware geared towards X570 motherboards do, in fact, support the CPUs. The AGESA update is touted as instrumental in shortening boot times by around 30% as well as boosting all-core boost speeds but may hide compatibility rejigs as well.

Planet 3D Now was able to pick up a beta version of the 1103 BIOS for the Asus Crosshair VIII Hero (Wi-Fi) board. It plugged in an AMD Ryzen 3 1200 and was able to load the system without any issues. The setup was even confirmed in CPU-Z. The site also tried the same setup with a past iteration of the BIOS, which failed as expected, to weed out the possibility of a fluke.

Whether this means AMD is planning to live up to the backward compatibility promises it made in the past remains to be seen. The company has yet to announce the feature in any capacity formally. But, it seems likely that X570 motherboards are set to be compatible with first-generation AMD Ryzen processors moving forward.

While the test is interesting, it isn’t what you’d call a requested feature. Builders would much rather have older motherboards support new CPUs instead of the other way around.

Final Word

We already know that older motherboards with AM4 sockets will be compatible with new AMD processors through BIOS updates as AMD senior technical marketing manager, Robert Hallock, revealed earlier this year. 

The question is whether all manufacturers will see the merits of implementing support for 3000-series CPUs and integrate the BIOS updates pushed out by AMD.