After weathering a storm of criticism following news that Zen 3 chips would not support AMD B450 and X470 chipsets, AMD has announced that it is now working to ensure that the next-gen chips are compatible with the chipsets.
In a post on the official AMD subreddit, the chip giant explained that it had heard feedback after the recent announcement, carefully reviewing video, comments, and tweets on the topic. AMD notes that it’s clear that Socket AM4 owners want a longer upgrade path, notably into the Zen 3 lineup.
Despite what it calls ‘considerable technical challenges’ linked to constraints in the SPI ROM capabilities of most of the AMD 400-series motherboards, AMD is making a U-turn on its initial decision to cut-off support at the AMD X570 and B550 motherboards and enabling ‘an upgrade path for B450 and X470 customers that adds support for next-gen AMD Ryzen Processors with the ‘Zen 3′ architecture.’
As AMD points out, the decision is incredibly fresh, and as such, the company is still wading through the technical challenges coughed up by the change. Nevertheless, AMD has laid out a plan to ensure B450 and X470 motherboards are Zen 3 compatible.
AMD will develop code that will support Zen 3 chips in select beta BIOSes for AMD B450 and X470 motherboards. These updates will cancel support for existing Ryzen CPUs to free up enough ROM space for Zen 3 chips. They will offer a ‘one-way upgrade path,’ meaning that once upgraded, the motherboards will no longer support older BIOS versions.
Furthermore, to avoid complicating the matter for consumers, these updates will only be available to 400-series motherboard owners with verified purchases of Zen 3 processors. The logic is that this will avoid situations where owners don’t have a bootable processor available when updating the BIOS.
AMD notes that delivery of the necessary BIOS updates may vary and might not arrive in time for the launch of the Zen 3 chips.
Despite this consumer-friendly shift, AMD says that Zen 3 will be the last generation to support 400-Series motherboards, and any future CPU releases will require a new motherboard to function.
As AMD says there are still many details to iron, but the company is eager to guarantee this upgrade path for B450 and X470 motherboard owners. AMD promises more news and detailed guidance as we approach the release of the Zen 3 processors.