Question Is Intel vPro/Ryzen PRO purely hardware based ?

[FlameTail]

If you take a vPro processor and normal processor, there are obviously going to be differences in the processor chip. But-


Are Intel vPro/ Ryzen PRO purely hardware based ? Or does it also include software components ( drivers etc... ) ?

 

[nicalandia]

If you take a vPro processor and normal processor, there are obviously going to be differences in the processor chip. But-


Are Intel vPro/ Ryzen PRO purely hardware based ? Or does it also include software components ( drivers etc... ) ?

Hardware based, according to AMD they use additional hardware based security.

 

[BorisTheBlade82]

The Hardware itself between a vPro/PRO SKU and a consumer part is identical. The difference is only between what is fused off or deactivated via Microcode, drivers etc.

 

[nicalandia]

The Hardware itself between a vPro/PRO SKU and a consumer part is identical. The difference is only between what is fused off or deactivated via Microcode, drivers etc.

Could you "unlock" a Pro version of your own CPU? I know that for ThreadRipper the Pro are repurposed EPYC processors with a factory overclock since they have the same specs(PCi Lanes and memory channel)

 

[BorisTheBlade82]

@nicalandia
Not to my knowledge.