How likely are current AM4 motherboards to actually support Zen2?

[tim9317]

I know that the future Zen2 AMD cpus are supposed to be compatible with current AM4 motherboards, but how likely is it that AM4 motherboard manufactures will release a bios update that will allow users to upgrade to a Zen2 cpu?

I was thinking of getting a Ryzen 2600 cpu and aftermarket cooler for a new PC build but I'm concerned that I will have wasted my money if I can't use the same motherboard a few years from now when I upgrade to a Zen2 cpu. If the motherboard manufacturer didn't release a new bios update and I had to buy a new motherboard, that combined with a new midrange Zen2 cpu would cost me at least another $300 and at that point, I would just buy an Intel 9600k and motherboard and use that for the next 5 years as the additional cost of the 9600k and cooler would still be a lot less than $300.

So, which motherboard manufacturers are most likely to release the necessary bios updates and how much would a decent motherboard for casual gaming and good support from the manufacturer be?

 

[TheELF]

I believe that every mobo will support the ZEN 2 CPUs, the real question is how much of the benefits you will see,with zen+ they would run pretty much like simple ZENs on older boards.

 

[EXCellR8]

I had read awhile back that AM4 was going to be supported until at least 2020 (Zen 3). This would indicate that all manufacturers are likely to release BIOS updates for at least their higher end products.

 

[mdram]

am3 and am3+ lasted years, i would imagine am4 will be similar

 

[whm1974]

I had read awhile back that AM4 was going to be supported until at least 2020 (Zen 3). This would indicate that all manufacturers are likely to release BIOS updates for at least their higher end products.

I imagine that AMD will wait until DDR5 is out before releasing a new socket. About 2021/2022.

 

[Dannar26]

I believe that every mobo will support the ZEN 2 CPUs, the real question is how much of the benefits you will see,with zen+ they would run pretty much like simple ZENs on older boards.

Novice here.

For the sake of argument, let's assume that Zen2 is going to utterly knock the socks off of all current versions of Ryzen. Are you implying that our hypothetically awesome Zen2 chip will be bottle-necked by current generation (x470, x370, b450, b350, etc) boards? Does this mean it isn't worth the money to upgrade your CPU without upgrading your mobo?

 

[TheELF]

Novice here.

For the sake of argument, let's assume that Zen2 is going to utterly knock the socks off of all current versions of Ryzen. Are you implying that our hypothetically awesome Zen2 chip will be bottle-necked by current generation (x470, x370, b450, b350, etc) boards? Does this mean it isn't worth the money to upgrade your CPU without upgrading your mobo?

Everybody is a noob on these systems and especially on zen 2, nobody knows for sure.

 

[Dannar26]

Everybody is a noob on these systems and especially on zen 2, nobody knows for sure.

Haha, yeah that's true.

But let me ask this from a historical perspective. It is common to see motherboards hold back CPUs that have been created after the mobo? I know that AMD keeps their sockets around for longer periods of time, so has that been a thing? My last few builds were Intel, and I always jumped to a new chipset and CPU (upgrading roughly every 4-5 years), so it isn't something I've had to deal with for my system builds.

 

[TheELF]

Haha, yeah that's true.

But let me ask this from a historical perspective. It is common to see motherboards hold back CPUs that have been created after the mobo? I know that AMD keeps their sockets around for longer periods of time, so has that been a thing? My last few builds were Intel, and I always jumped to a new chipset and CPU (upgrading roughly every 4-5 years), so it isn't something I've had to deal with for my system builds.

On the bulldozer FX series the last revision of the CPUs they made was the e line like the FX-8370E these had reduced wattage so that they could be used with low TDP motherboards that were made for phenoms or something but AMD promised that they would support the FX line so this is how they did it, they just completely crippled the chip by running it way slower just so it would run at all.

 

[Dannar26]

Ah. So if I get a completely cheap mobo with limited power phases, there's a possibility that in the future it wont run the next gen Ryzen 7's if it's a power hungry chip?

 

[capsulej]

Id theres a high chance, unlike with Intel stuff that makes you upgrade all the time.

 

[Christopher Bohling]

I mean, just look at the TR4 boards. You can run the 2950X on a first-gen X399 board no issues. The 2990WX will also run with no issues at stock but overclocking may be too much for some early X399 boards.

My guess is this represents the worst case scenario for Zen 2 on X370/X470.