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>First gen Ryzen (1000 series chips) had some memory compatibility issues, but 2000 and 3000 chips haven't had many issues. It's true that you needed to do a BI

by scurvy 6y ago

>First gen Ryzen (1000 series chips) had some memory compatibility issues, but 2000 and 3000 chips haven't had many issues. It's true that you needed to do a BIOS upgrade on x470/B450 boards when 3000 series chips were released, but those stickers indicate that the board maker installed a newer BIOS and they should work out of the box. Unless you manage to find an X470 board that's been sitting on the shelf since before last July any x470 board you buy today is extremely likely to be compatible with all currently released Ryzen chips out of the box.< I went through a pair of x470 Taichi's from Amazon last month. Both had non-compatible BIOS that wouldn't work with 3000-series. One so old that Dr Debug wouldn't even do anything. Just blank. It's not just me. Read the negative product reviews of almost any x470 boards, and you'll see memory and non-POST issues very recently (followed by the response macro from mfg'er saying everything is fine just use 1 DIMM, etc). It's very much a crapshoot with AMD chipsets. You get a good one and everything's great. You get a few bad ones and you're stuck in swap/return/RMA hell. Also, how can it be FUD when it's exactly what I went through? Edit: The "Ryzen 3000 compatible" stickers do NOT mean it will work out of the box. It means that it CAN work...after you update the BIOS with an old CPU. AMD will offer you a CPU "boot kit" to get it going, but you're risking on missing out on many 30 day return windows with shipping, covid19, processing, etc. Avoid it all and just get an Intel until the next refresh.

cturner 6y ago
Interesting on your x470 experience. I bought a X470 Taichi U from Scan UK in early February, and the 3600 chip worked. I was wary of the issue you raise, but lucked out, and figured the issues you talk of had washed through. Maybe the warehouse staff who boxed it looked at the order and gave me a recent unit. What action could AMD take to improve the situation? I wanted to go to AMD because I expect to get strong upgrade options from it - certainly to a 3950x, and possibly further. But - a complication of that is that older motherboards need BIOS updates. I am surprised at how slap-dash the motherboard is. It supports ECC ram - great. But BIOS configuration is a confused mess.
- user5994461 6y ago
  Not familiar with Scan UK but I would bet they don't resend RMA boards endlessly like Amazon sellers might do.
- m-p-3 6y ago
  Some motherboards supports flashing BIOS through a USB thumbdrive without a CPU, IMO this kinda of problem would be a non-issue if all of them did this.
  - scurvy 6y ago
    To some degree, yes. However, that assumes a functioning BIOS release is available and works...many incremental releases are no functioning despite release notes saying otherwise. Many times, you can't downgrade the BIOS either. So you're stuck with a bad board waiting for a beta BIOS...fun times! The workstation/server platforms ARE better. Having a BMC to flash/recover things is much more reliable.
dralley 6y ago
> a pair of x470 Taichi's from Amazon last month So, you bough the same board twice and expected different results, and then are painting all motherboards with that experience. It's unsurprising that motherboards need microcode updates to work with newer CPUs. Intel CPUs also worked that way, except that 1) they only rarely support a socket for more than two generations anymore, and sometimes not even that, so you physically need a new motherboard to upgrade your CPU anyways, and 2) Intel CPUs haven't had any major architectural changes since 2016.
- scurvy 6y ago
  Bought 1 board, returned twice. Third worked. I also bought an Asus which had similar non-POST'ing issues (slightly different). I tried an Athlon 220GE in each one, too. It's not just a Ryzen 3000 problem being too new and requiring an update. This platform just isn't solid and that's my point.
  - artificial 6y ago
    We’re these all purchased through Amazon? I usually always buy mobos physically from retailers.
    - scurvy 6y ago
      3 boards via Amazon, 1 via NewEgg. The NewEgg one works. What's a physical retailer? San Francisco is the supposed capital of the tech world. It only has a single computer store (Central). It's not even open right now. I guess you could count a big box store like Best Buy, but they're not going to help out much right now other than exchanging like-kind items.
      - artificial 6y ago
        I’m fortunate to be near a microcenter. I’ve had stuff arrive DOA being shipped and it’s such a downer when you’re excited to get the new system online only to discover an RMA.
      - 6y ago

by scurvy 6y ago

cturner 6y ago

Interesting on your x470 experience. I bought a X470 Taichi U from Scan UK in early February, and the 3600 chip worked. I was wary of the issue you raise, but lucked out, and figured the issues you talk of had washed through. Maybe the warehouse staff who boxed it looked at the order and gave me a recent unit. What action could AMD take to improve the situation? I wanted to go to AMD because I expect to get strong upgrade options from it - certainly to a 3950x, and possibly further. But - a complication of that is that older motherboards need BIOS updates. I am surprised at how slap-dash the motherboard is. It supports ECC ram - great. But BIOS configuration is a confused mess.

user5994461 6y ago
Not familiar with Scan UK but I would bet they don't resend RMA boards endlessly like Amazon sellers might do.
m-p-3 6y ago
Some motherboards supports flashing BIOS through a USB thumbdrive without a CPU, IMO this kinda of problem would be a non-issue if all of them did this.
- scurvy 6y ago
  To some degree, yes. However, that assumes a functioning BIOS release is available and works...many incremental releases are no functioning despite release notes saying otherwise. Many times, you can't downgrade the BIOS either. So you're stuck with a bad board waiting for a beta BIOS...fun times! The workstation/server platforms ARE better. Having a BMC to flash/recover things is much more reliable.

dralley 6y ago

> a pair of x470 Taichi's from Amazon last month So, you bough the same board twice and expected different results, and then are painting all motherboards with that experience. It's unsurprising that motherboards need microcode updates to work with newer CPUs. Intel CPUs also worked that way, except that 1) they only rarely support a socket for more than two generations anymore, and sometimes not even that, so you physically need a new motherboard to upgrade your CPU anyways, and 2) Intel CPUs haven't had any major architectural changes since 2016.

scurvy 6y ago
Bought 1 board, returned twice. Third worked. I also bought an Asus which had similar non-POST'ing issues (slightly different). I tried an Athlon 220GE in each one, too. It's not just a Ryzen 3000 problem being too new and requiring an update. This platform just isn't solid and that's my point.
- artificial 6y ago
  We’re these all purchased through Amazon? I usually always buy mobos physically from retailers.
  - scurvy 6y ago
    3 boards via Amazon, 1 via NewEgg. The NewEgg one works. What's a physical retailer? San Francisco is the supposed capital of the tech world. It only has a single computer store (Central). It's not even open right now. I guess you could count a big box store like Best Buy, but they're not going to help out much right now other than exchanging like-kind items.
    - artificial 6y ago
      I’m fortunate to be near a microcenter. I’ve had stuff arrive DOA being shipped and it’s such a downer when you’re excited to get the new system online only to discover an RMA.
    - 6y ago