MSI marketing director, Eric van Beurden, has revealed during the most recent edition of the MSI Insider Show on YouTube, that the range of Ryzen CPUs is receiving a brand new AMD microcode next month. The updated code is purported to offer no less than one hundred various changes and upgrades to AMD processors.
AMD Microcode Update
According to Van Beurden, the improvements aren’t limited to patching up bugs and problems but also add in several new enhancements. No further details as to the specifics of the new features were provided. They aren’t likely to change all that much from the user’s perspective, but stranger things have happened, so we will have to wait and see what AMD has up its sleeve.
Microcode is loaded to the CPU via BIOS upgrades, and Van Beurden explains that AMD will start pushing out updates to motherboard manufacturers as soon as next week. The first is widely expected to be microcode AGESA 1.0.0.4. In MSI’s case, this will affect the 300, 400, 400 Max, and 500 series motherboards.
He explains that the process is slightly convoluted as it involves the BIOS vendor who must update the BIOS code to push through the CPU microcode updates as well as motherboard manufacturers responsible for adapting the changes to their specific models.
What Does It All Mean?
In simple terms, microcode is the most basic instructions sets used by the CPU to go about its daily business of processing data. In the same way that motherboards get firmware updates, and GPUs get driver updates, the CPU also needs a bit of love once in a while to improve overall performance.
The November window isn’t set in stone, and we could see multiple beta versions of BIOS firmware come through in the interim as motherboard manufacturers iron out any potential teething problems.