It ’s a small affair that only the great unwashed build up and upgrading their own PC will apprise but to the delight of AMD enthusiasts , the companyrecently announcedthat it would make its succeeding Zen 3 architecture compatible with the older X470 and B450 motherboards , and it would be sticking with its AM4 socket too . Initially , the ship’s company said its next CPUs would be compatible with only X570 and B550 motherboards and high-pitched , while still keeping the AM4 socket , at least for one more generation of processors . Either manner , AMD has made secure on its 2016 hope of extend musical accompaniment the AM4 socket through 2020 , and in all likelihood into 2021 at this point . But how much longer can AMD use the same socket , specially when Intel has shown less inclination to do the same ?
It really all depend on the future schedule of I / O ( input signal / output ) applied science , or what form of capacity motherboards and other PC constituent will have in the hereafter . BIOS updates are n’t a long - terminus answer , and AMD ’s beloved AM4 socket , as well as its X470 and B450 motherboards , will have to become another musical composition of computer history at some point .
With the release of its Zen architecture and Ryzen 1000 serial in 2017 AMD flush the playing field against Intel . Every yr it ’s dominated the multicore outer space , and it was even the first of the two to make CPUs with 7 nm transistors — all on the same AM4 socket . That is no little exploit . As Robert Hallock , senior proficient marketing managing director at AMD , detailed in a late web log , there was a time when microcomputer builder had to replace their motherboards every CPU genesis . That ’s no longer the event . AMD has usher ( Intel , too ) , that it can get around physical ironware change with BIOS updates to their motherboards and extend compatibility into the next coevals of processors .
Photo: Alex Cranz (Gizmodo)
While making the next generation of CPUs compatible with X470 and B450 motherboards is great for consumers in the unforesightful terminal figure ( I have a X470 motherboard myself ) , there are lots of challenge that come with it , most notably constraints with SPI ROM ( Serial Peripheral Interface Read - Only memory board ) capacities in that propagation of motherboards — or simply put , how fast and how much information those motherboards could send to and receive from other microcomputer component and peripherals . AMD said that those motherboards ’ BIOS sizing would not be large enough to stick out the full range of AM4 socket processors .
So if you set up the BIOS for the next - gen CPUs , it will handicap living for many existing AMD Ryzen CPU role model , as AMD mention in its Reddit Emily Price Post , to produce the fixed storage quad it needs to support the raw CPU . Not only that , but you wo n’t be able to flash back to an earlier BIOS rendering . Once you update , that ’s it . And do n’t expect to utilize a 400 - series motherboard with a 5000 - series or whatever numbered Ryzen desktop C.P.U. . AMD says its next - gen CPUs will be the end of the line , for genuine this time . So while AMD is continuing to offer bread and butter for older motherboards and chipsets the argument could be made that you might as well kick upstairs to a 500 - series or mellow motherboard and reap the benefits of those high electrical capacity PCIe 4.0NVMe M.2 SSDs — when the toll finally come down , that is .
These are not uncommon issue that AMD and Intel have faced , and continue to front , when deciding what motherboards to support , when to update their sockets , and what central processing unit will be supported by either . Intel just roll out out a new socket for its current - gen processors , after being on the LGA 1151 socket since 2015 , to back improved power delivery and future incremental I / O features , which makes it seem like it ’s trying to design well in advance for whatever I / O feature appear down the road . AMD will have to give up its beloved AM4 socket , too , for the same reason , but it ’s focused on offering the same compatibility aright now for as long as it can .
The AM4 socket is n’t as old as Intel ’s now - retired LGA 1151 . There ’s still life left in it . How much is the question . It ’s possible that AMD could mystify with the same socket for as long as Intel stuck with its LGA 1151 , but at least its CPU , chipset , and socket lineage is less complicated than Intel ’s , something that I ’ve always appreciated about AMD .
There are two versions of Intel ’s LGA 1151 socket , and both of them support different mainframe and different motherboard chipsets . Revision one hold up Intel ’s 6th ( Sky Lake ) and ( Kaby Lake ) seventh - gen desktop processors . Revision two sustain its 8th ( Coffee Lake ) and 9th - gen ( Coffee Lake refresh ) entirely . So that means any of the later propagation CPUs are not supported by 200 - series motherboards and in the first place , not because of a lack of a BIOS update , but because the updated socket reassigned some pins to support the requirement of 6 - core and 8 - core central processor . So you could say that both LGA 1151 translation are really different sockets even though they have the same number of pin and the same dimension .
9th - gen CPUs work on the same 300 - series motherboards as the 8th - gen , but those motherboards take a BIOS update to work with the 9th - gen . But the Z390 motherboard chipset does n’t need the same BIOS update because it rolled out with the 9th - gen central processor . Confusing ? I know .
AMD ’s compatibility is simpler and reaches further across generations , with some BIOS update , of course , but no socket refreshes or entirely newfangled socket . Leaving out AMD Ryzen desktop processors with mix graphics , first - gen Ryzen works with 300 and 400 - series motherboards . 2nd - gen Ryzen works with 300 , 400 , and 500 - series , except the B550 . tertiary - gen Ryzen bring with 400 and 500 - series , and now the next - gen will work with 400 , 500 , and 600 - series , assuming it ’s called the 600 - series . I also assume 500 - series motherboards will put to work with next - gen CPUs , too .
There are some perks to purchase AMD ’s most up - to - date motherboards though , like PCIe 4.0 sustenance , which can address double the amount of bandwidth as PCIe 3.0 , but look on your budget , that might not make much sense . If you ’re mostly concerned in a PCIe 4.0 SSD , one with a 1 TB of reposition could pass over $ 200 . SSDs speed does n’t matter so much if you ’re only game ( Intel did n’t let in PCIe 4.0 support at all on its modish 10th - gen compatible motherboards ) , so putting most of your money toward a good CPU while waiting to upgrade the motherboard is generally a better choice consider the availability and pricing of such tech .
No , AMD wo n’t be able to keep the same socket eternally , but unlike Intel , if your introduction to its Ryzen processors was with a first - generation CPU and a 400 - serial motherboard , you ’ll be able to keep that motherboard for another processor propagation , and that ’s awing for consumer , keeping the same motherboard and the same socket for four generations of processor . Say what you want about AMD versus Intel core count and benchmarks ; AMD has the more consumer - friendly upgrade path , and when you ’re pinching pennies on a DIY background form , that variety of matter matters a lot .
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