B350 bios update on msi tomahawk for Ryzen 2 requires 1st gen CPU?

[1neoisa]

I have a msi tomahawk b350 mobo and am planning to get a second gen Ryzen chip, (2600x). I've read that a bios update is required and that you have to boot with a first gen chip to update the bios (Which I don't have). Would updating be possible without a first gen chip or would it just be smarter to buy a first gen ryzen chip?

 

[WildCard999]

Try running the system first with the 2600X as some of the retailers/manufacturers updated the BIOS, if it doesn't boot then get a boot kit CPU from AMD.

https://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/2Gen-Ryzen-AM4-System-Bootup.aspx

 

[Lutfij]

If you can buy a B450 chipset or an X470 chipset board, you'll avoid all the hassle involved. I don't see why you could take the system to a local computer shop and have them update the BIOS using the 1st Gen Ryzen processor.

 

[1neoisa]

If you can buy a B450 chipset or an X470 chipset board, you'll avoid all the hassle involved. I don't see why you could take the system to a local computer shop and have them update the BIOS using the 1st Gen Ryzen processor.

I already bought the mobo, I'm just trying to figure out whether to buy a 1600 or 2600x. There are stores near me that would do the bios update for me but they charge a lot. Thanks for the advice though!

 

[WildCard999]

Well the 1600 is cheaper and after overclocking the performance differences are pretty minimal and you won't need to worry about the BIOS update however the 2600X will overclock a little bit higher.

 

[drea.drechsler]

If you can buy a B450 chipset or an X470 chipset board, you'll avoid all the hassle involved. I don't see why you could take the system to a local computer shop and have them update the BIOS using the 1st Gen Ryzen processor.

I already bought the mobo, I'm just trying to figure out whether to buy a 1600 or 2600x. There are stores near me that would do the bios update for me but they charge a lot. Thanks for the advice though!

An alternative is buy a cheap APU to do the update but about the only advantage to that is time saved and (hopefully) lower cost than taking it to a shop. But if you can bear with the wait get the boot kit from AMD (see WildCard999's post), it's no cost to you, and the 2600x processor as it is truely an improvement over the 1600.