News The Exciting Future of AMD Socket AM4

[Rigg]

The Exciting Future of AMD Socket AM4

In 2016, we made a pretty bold commitment to you: we would continue to support AMD Socket AM4 until 2020. It was a big promise, especially given what people were accustomed to with other platforms. In the four ensuing years, the humble Socket AM4 has been on an incredible trajectory: 4X more...

community.amd.com

Update:

AMD to Support Zen 3 and Ryzen 4000 CPUs on B450 and X470 Motherboards

www.anandtech.com

AMD has backtracked and decided to offer beta bios support on 400 series motherboards.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Looks like I made the right call with an X570

 

[GoodRevrnd]

lol... told my friend to wait a week until Asus X570-P's were back in stock and he rushed a B450 instead. I wonder if some of the late B450s like the MSI Max boards with larger BIOS chips might sneak support in.

 

[SpaceBeer]

Well, they also say 300 series MBs don't support Zen2 CPUs, but that is not the case. So I suppose some vendors might add Zen3 support on some X470/B450 MBs

 

[Rigg]

I'm sure getting Zen 3 support on certain 400 or even 300 motherboards is a possibility. It won't be officially supported and might have some limitations though. That being said I built a couple of Zen 2 systems on Asus x370 boards and they worked just fine.

 

[EXCellR8]

I didn't plan on a third CPU upgrade for X370 anyway... 3700X is most likely my last processor on the 1st gen board. My system still works great, but I've been slowly getting hungrier for more cores and faster archive storage, so I'll need a new chipset regardless.

 

[KeithP]

I wonder if some of the late B450s like the MSI Max boards with larger BIOS chips might sneak support in.

No, that won't happen unless AMD does an "about face." At least not according to Hardware Unboxed.

-KeithP

 

[cherullo]

This is awful, borderline dishonest messaging.

Q: Will the “Zen 3” architecture be compatible with AMD Socket AM4?
A: Yes! AMD officially plans to support next-gen , with the “Zen 3” architecture, on AMD X570 and B550 motherboards.

Well, the answer is no! The question wasn't about X570 and B550 motherboards, it was about Socket AM4!
And it's no strong commitment either, because AMD just *plans* to support next-gen on those boards, it can change it's mind again for whatever reason and don't be accountable for it.
This misleading, weasel piece of text announces next-gen incompatibility with older boards and this non-commitment as a triumph, an incredible achievement! This is really, really low.
Since AMD is dictating compatibility based on chipset, the fact that all those boards share the same socket is completely irrelevant for the consumer's point of view. It's just PR fluff.

 

[JustMe21]

I don't think people would be so upset if the B550 chipset had been out shortly after the X570 chipset was out. If you look at it though, the B550 chipset is only good for an even briefer time than B450 because future chips after Zen 3 will probably use a new socket.

 

[KentState]

With how AMD adds functionality with each new chipset, I'm not surprised that they are only certified for a few generations of motherboards. I would rather a company not hold on to legacy support if it impacts their ability to improve new products. This happened with the TR4 socket and it was easily justified with higher power requirements, PCI 4 and so on.

 

[JustMe21]

The main question I have is will a 4000 APU, which is based on Zen 2, work on the B450 motherboards.

 

[YAYgee]

The main question I have is will a 4000 APU, which is based on Zen 2, work on the B450 motherboards.

Socket AM4 - AMD - WikiChip

AM4 is a socket for AMD's mainstream series of microprocessors, serving as a successor to Socket FM2+ and Socket AM3+. It was superseded by Socket AM5.

en.wikichip.org

Sadly AMD's slide lacked this bit of info (or have they confirmed that will be the case?).

 

[KeithP]

This is awful, borderline dishonest messaging.

Q: Will the “Zen 3” architecture be compatible with AMD Socket AM4?
A: Yes! AMD officially plans to support next-gen , with the “Zen 3” architecture, on AMD X570 and B550 motherboards.

Well, the answer is no! The question wasn't about X570 and B550 motherboards, it was about Socket AM4!

Not to split hairs but the answer is most definitely "yes." Zen 3 is using AM4. Is it your contention that AMD promised that every AM4 socket motherboard ever made would be compatible with Zen 3?

There is no question AMD could have handled it better. But is it really something to rage about? It seems to me the cost difference between buying a 450 board at some point in the past and then upgrading to a 550 board when available isn't going to be much different than buying an x570 (had you known the 450 wasn't going to work with Zen 3).

In end the solution is simple, if you feel a company has treated you unfairly, take your business elsewhere. Intel would be happy to have you.

-KeithP

 

[cherullo]

Well, B550/X570 is a subset of AM4, it's logically wrong to answer "Yes!" to the question. I have a AM4 socket here and Zen3 is not compatible with it.

My contention is that AMD did not provide it's users with the required information to make informed decisions, profited from it, and is still promoting disinformation. See the "officially plans to" part.

The AM4 platform as a whole is a fragmented mess. Look at Bristol Ridge (that nobody cares, but is AM4), the low end Athlons, the APUs, Zen2 on 300 motherboards (which works but AMD doesn't recognize), and now Zen3. There may be hundreds of valid reasons for this, I won't dwell because I'm not a motherboard nor CPU engineer.

The problem is that AMD marketing is still claiming that the longevity of the AM4 platform is some sort of virtue when it's completely irrelevant to users because pairing an AM4 processor with an AM4 motherboard already is an involved process, is about to get worse (specially for a layman), and AMD is glossing over it!

 

[VirtualLarry]

The problem is that AMD marketing is still claiming that the longevity of the AM4 platform is some sort of virtue when it's completely irrelevant to users because pairing an AM4 processor with an AM4 motherboard already is an involved process, is about to get worse (specially for a layman), and AMD is glossing over it!

Amen!

Edit: That said, I'm AM THANKFUL for the level of compatibility (virtually un-precedented in the industry) given thus far on AM4 platform.

I think breaking compatibility NOW may be un-wise, from a platform marketing and "goodwill" point-of-view, but perhaps ... there are "reasons".

Maybe the OEMs just want to sell more / newer mobos. I don't really know.

 

[EXCellR8]

I could maybe see some choice X470 boards getting partial support, but probably nothing for X370. I'm not a BIOS-modder by any means but it would probably be possible--so long the physical socket is indeed, the same.

 

[Rigg]

AMD to Support Zen 3 and Ryzen 4000 CPUs on B450 and X470 Motherboards

www.anandtech.com

 

[ArisVer]

Good news for some of us.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Up to you, but I would edit the thread title to reflect current events.

 

[Markeyse]

I wouldn't had backtracked. Especially if the board will limit the potential of the processor. I mean If you upgrading your CPU to a new platform, why not upgrade the motherboard? The AM4 socket is on it's deathbed anyway.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

The AM4 socket is on it's deathbed anyway.

Congratulations, that is silliest thing I have read in this thread, and there are some silly posts. X570 will support the upcoming 4 series Ryzen and has PCIe 4.0, what is more current than that?

 

[Markeyse]

Congratulations, that is silliest thing I have read in this thread, and there are some silly posts. X570 will support the upcoming 4 series Ryzen and has PCIe 4.0, what is more current than that?

AMD said this is that series 4 is the last one for the socket and something new may be coming out for the next one. So ain't so silly. Now if they reverse coarse then that is something else, but if this is the last hurray for the socket, how is it silly?

 

[powruser]

I have an Asus Prime B450M-A/CSM, which isn't even a high end board but has 128 MB flash ROM listed in the specs. Hoping there'll be eventual support for 4xxx series on it.

 

[Rigg]

AMD said this is that series 4 is the last one for the socket and something new may be coming out for the next one. So ain't so silly. Now if they reverse coarse then that is something else, but if this is the last hurray for the socket, how is it silly?

Assuming AM5 comes with Zen 4 we're probably looking at about 2 more years of AM4. If that holds true this represents about 40% of its entire lifespan. In terms of new CPU generations we'll probably only get 1 more out of AM4. By this standard every Intel motherboard generation is on it's deathbed the day they are released. So yeah, no offense but the comment was a bit silly.

 

[Markeyse]

Assuming AM5 comes with Zen 4 we're probably looking at about 2 more years of AM4. If that holds true this represents about 40% of its entire lifespan. In terms of new CPU generations we'll probably only get 1 more out of AM4. By this standard every Intel motherboard generation is on it's deathbed the day they are released. So yeah, no offense but the comment was a bit silly.

Zen 4 is said to have compatibility with DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 which will need a different type of pin requirements.


You guys haven't proved my comment silly. Zen 3 is said to be the last on AM4. If it get two more years and we KNOW that, then YES it is on its deathbed. It's about to be End of Life, and I doubt it will even take two years to get there.

And another fact. We KNOW AMD is ready to move to a new socket. What socket is the Threadripper using? Is it the AM4 Socket? It comes to the point where you have to move forward. Intel changing sockets all the time sucks of coarse, but at the same time if there is a innovation that will hold the CPU back, then hey what to do!? Tech moves fast and stuff gets old quick. Why you guys are acting brand new is crazy!