Prepping Your Motherboard for the AMD Ryzen 5000 Series

[Robert_Hallock]

Hey, everybody! Today is the magical day: the AMD Ryzen^TM 5000 Series goes on-sale worldwide. We’re incredibly excited for you to get your hands on the extraordinary performance the “Zen 3”¹ core is bringing to the table, and we want to make sure that you’re ready to perform a drop-in upgrade.

Getting ready right now is easy:

1. Have an AMD 500 Series motherboard.
2. Already have a motherboard? Update your motherboard's BIOS to a version containing AGESA 1.1.0.0. This will make sure your AMD Ryzen 5000 Series processor has full performance and the best experience.
3. Just bought a new motherboard? You can easily perform a BIOS update via USB Flashback (if needed). This will allow you to update the BIOS even when the installed processor is not compatible with the current BIOS. You may not even need a CPU installed at all! Consult your manual for details on how to perform a BIOS update via USB.

And if you have an AMD 400 Series motherboard, you should see BIOS updates starting in January, 2021. Learn more here. We’ll let you know what to look for as we get closer to that date.

Example: An AGESA 1.1.0.0-based BIOS for the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Hero

What’s new in AGESA 1.1.0.0 for Ryzen 5000 Series:

• General performance improvements for many types of workloads
• Improved support for loading and applying overclocked memory profiles
• Improved BIOS overclocking robustness
• Improved USB hotplug detection
• Improved SATA device detection on select SATA ports
• Adds support for Eco Mode for automatic TDP reduction (AMD Ryzen Master)

Overall, this AGESA is designed to bring the Ryzen 5000 Series to the full performance and experience intended by AMD. Performance optimization is really the hero of this release, so make sure you grab the update for your motherboard when you’re up and running on “Zen 3.”

But that’s not all! We have an exciting roadmap beyond AGESA 1.1.0.0 and wanted to give you a small preview of what’s coming in future BIOS updates.

Beyond AGESA 1.1.0.0 for Ryzen 5000 Series:

• Returning support for negative core voltage offsets (“undervolting”) with all-new AMD functionality for better frequency, voltage, and performance tweaking
• Additional AMD optimization for performance and stability at ~2000MHz fabric clock. While not all processors are innately capable of reaching this frequency, our tuning is intended to help stabilize the overclock on capable samples² —good luck!
• Additional functionality tuning for benchmarking under extreme OC conditions (e.g. LN2)

What’s an AGESA?

An AGESA is the “AMD Generic Encapsulated System Architecture.” It defines the nucleus of BIOS options and features for an AMD chipset and processor. On top, motherboard vendors build a final interactive BIOS with their own code and board-specific proprietary features. A newer AGESA can enable new features, new BIOS options, and additional performance tuning. When necessary, AMD develops and releases new AGESA packages for motherboard makers so they can develop a new round of BIOS updates for your motherboard. Not all BIOS releases for a motherboard need or use an updated base AGESA, nor is the latest patch (e.g. "Patch D") explicitly required.

1. GD-122: “Zen” is a codename for the AMD architecture, and is not a product name.
2. GD-106: Overclocking AMD processors, including without limitation, altering clock frequencies / multipliers or memory timing / voltage, to operate beyond their stock specifications will void any applicable AMD product warranty, even when such overclocking is enabled via AMD hardware and/or software. This may also void warranties offered by the system manufacturer or retailer. Users assume all risks and liabilities that may arise out of overclocking AMD processors, including, without limitation, failure of or damage to hardware, reduced system performance and/or data loss, corruption or vulnerability.