[SOLVED] Amd 3000 in incompatible board, does it break cpu?

[MSCS Spk]

Yesterday I decided to switch to ryzen 5 3600 and I thought I has purchased the appropriate board being the MSI tomahawk B450, however upon scouring the web trying to find out why it wouldn’t boot I discovered it was because the board needed a bios update before installing a 3000 chip... I was pretty ignorant but I finally bought a X570 board and it’s on the way, my question is: did I break the processor and is it safe to put it in the new board, or will it break the new board too? Thanks!

 

[drivinfast247]

You'll be fine.

 

[bignastyid]

You wouldn't be the first and likely not the last. It is extremely unlikely the cpu was damaged from being installed on a board with an incompatible bios.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

It didn't hurt the CPU nor will the CPU hurt either board.

You can use a USB drive to flash the bios in order for the B450 tomahawk to work.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTkXunUAriE

 

[mdd1963]

it will not post as the mainboard does not recognize it, but should be fine after you get your mainboard's BIOS flashed..

 

[MSCS Spk]

I don’t think I was very clear, I’ll simplify it a bit , I installed a ryzen 5 3600 into an MSI TOMAHAWK B450 and turned it on without the bios update for ryzen 3000, did I break the cpu? I’m pretty new to this stuff still my apologies if this is a dumb question :/

 

[bignastyid]

I installed a ryzen 5 3600 into an MSI TOMAHAWK B450 and turned it on without the bios update for ryzen 3000, did I break the cpu?

No

 

[RodroX]

I don’t think I was very clear, I’ll simplify it a bit , I installed a ryzen 5 3600 into an MSI TOMAHAWK B450 and turned it on without the bios update for ryzen 3000, did I break the cpu? I’m pretty new to this stuff still my apologies if this is a dumb question :/

As many already wrote, you didn't break the board nor the CPU. It wont boot unless you update the right BIOS.

Be sure to watch the video linked by NightHawkRMX it will show you how to update the BIOS, even without a CPU installed (your case) !!!!!!

 

[yourilevoye]

Pretty much everyone already told you indeed you should be fine and there is no need to get a x570 board to get it to work. MSI has many boards where you can make use of BIOS flash, where you can update the BIOS to the version so it supports 3000 series Ryzen without having a CPU installed. Make sure to check the video NightHawkRMX posted.
Honestly, the only real adventage I see of the X570 board is PCIe 4.0, which you probably only want if you use PCIe for storage. For the rest, I only see tiny fans on the motherboard that might be noisy or sensetive to break. You probably better off by returning that X570 board and bring a new life in that b450 as it should work perfectly fine!

 

[InvalidError]

I really wish AMD had launched the B550 with 3rd-gen, would have spared many people the hassle of worrying about compatibility for a first-time AM4 build using 3rd-gen when they don't want to pay the $50-100 premium of entry-level x570 over mid-range B-series or return shipping on AMD's bootkit.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I really wish AMD had launched the B550 with 3rd-gen, would have spared many people the hassle of worrying about compatibility for a first-time AM4 build using 3rd-gen when they don't want to pay the $50-100 premium of entry-level x570 over mid-range B-series or return shipping on AMD's bootkit.

And MSI had launched MAX boards in the USA sooner.

 

[InvalidError]

And MSI had launched MAX boards in the USA sooner.

If AMD really wanted to put an end to this, it could simply integrate a recovery micro-controller directly in the chipset or CPU, whichever connects to the BIOS SPI-flash. Then the micro-controller could check all directly attached USB ports for a BIOS version compatible with the installed CPU when the current BIOS isn't and automagically flash it if found.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

If AMD really wanted to put an end to this, it could simply integrate a recovery micro-controller directly in the chipset or CPU, whichever connects to the BIOS SPI-flash. Then the micro-controller could check all directly attached USB ports for a BIOS version compatible with the installed CPU when the current BIOS isn't and automagically flash it if found.

Higher cost of course.

 

[InvalidError]

Higher cost of course.

Not necessarily: the CPU and chipset already have all the smarts required to send content from the SPI-flash BIOS to the CPU so the CPU can start executing BIOS. The only thing AMD really needs to do here is put the CPU and chipset in a limp mode functional enough to let motherboard manufacturers start their BIOS with a recovery bootloader. The net cost (tweaking a few reset-default values in the CPU/chipset design and a small chunk of BIOS code) should be orders of magnitude cheaper than the hassle and grief caused by incompatible CPU-motherboard combinations and motherboard manufacturers having to go full-DIY for their own implementations using extra hardware.

If $10 SoCs can have on-chip pre-bootloaders for firmware source selection and in-system programming/unbricking over USB, AMD should be able to do the same for $100+ CPUs.

 

[MSCS Spk]

Holy crap, when I posted the second post I didn’t even have time to refresh the page to see the replies! Thanks for the help I was afraid I busted the whole thing lol