Asus is the first motherboard manufacturer to offer BIOS upgrades for all AM4-300 motherboards that could support AMD Ryzen-3000 processors in the future. Not only the X370, but also the B350 and A320 motherboards are on board.
AMD Ryzen 3000: Asus Offers AGESA 0.0.7.2 Updates for B350 and A320
In the future, AMD will launch its Ryzen 3000 processors for the AM4 socket and support existing motherboards. There should be a new generation with the X570 and B550 chipsets, but users of an older AM4 platform should be able to upgrade without having to buy a new motherboard. BIOS updates are necessary. Versions containing the AMD Generic Encapsulated Software Architecture, AGESA for short, 0.0.7.0 or 0.0.7.2 are currently distributed in preparation for “new CPUs”. It is not yet known with certainty if they are compatible with the Zen-2 models or only with the Raven-Ridge-APU-Refresh Picasso, and the speculations are moving in the former direction.
First B350 and A320 motherboards with presumed Ryzen-3000 support
Asus previously provided BIOS updates for the X370 cards, other than the 400 series like other manufacturers. This has changed this week, as you can see from the Asus support product pages. A BIOS update with AGESA 0.0.7.2 or 0.0.7.0 is available for almost all AM4 motherboards. This includes the B350 models and even the most affordable A320 motherboard, the Prime A320M-A. Only a few exceptions, such as the Prime B350-Plus, are off the grid and can still be supplied. AMD’s Ryzen 3000 processors should run on most, if not all, motherboards in the future when introduced this summer.
Soldered BIOS sizes and flash chips were cited as possible reasons why Ryzen 3000 CPUs should not be supported on older motherboards. An overview of the specifications shows that the argument is only valid to a certain extent. Asus, for example, only uses 32-MiByte modules for its more expensive X470 models, such as the Crosshair VII Hero. The B450 variants must cope with 16-MiByte chips, just like the X370, B350 and A320 series. If a B450 model can get a BIOS update, this should also be the case for B350, if the new versions are really intended for Zen 2. It is possible that other manufacturers will do the same in the near future. Also there, 16-MiByte chips are mainly used for BIOS in the 400 and 300 series.