Question Can i use a Ryzen 5 2600x with my mobo?

[AKonly]

I have a msi x370 sli plus motherboard given to me i currently am looking at a ryzen 5 2600x but its telling me i may need an update, i dont want to buy a cpu that wont work with this

 

[R_1]

depends on when the motherboard was made. older boards that have been on the shelves since release will need a BIOS update to support the CPU, newer boards will ship with the proper BIOS pre-installed.

computer stores will update it for you, I read that frye's will do it for 20 bucks.
AMD had boot kits where they would send you a CPU to flash the motherboard and you send it back when the software upgrade is complete.
there are options, but the only real way is to verify which BIOS version supports the CPU and buy a board with that version installed. it will be written on the box.

 

[AKonly]

it says ryzen 7th gen a series, im just starting to move from console so forgive me if i dont understand much

 

[R_1]

there is no ryzen 7th generation...yet.
we are currently on the 2nd generation ryzen chips. the ryzen is available in the ryzen 3 series, the ryzen 5 series and the ryzen 7 series.
that motherboard can support a ryzen 2nd generation up to the 7 series.
the A series is a slower ryzen 3 with a vega graphics processor built in. they are called APU, Application processing Units. a fancy way to say it has a GPU built in. an entry level GPU at that.

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/X370-SLI-PLUS#support-cpu
here you can see all the CPU's and APU's that motherboard supports and which BIOS revisions ARE NEEDED FOR EACH. the R5 2600 REQUIRES a bios revision of 7A33V3B.
the currently installed BIOS should be on the box if you have it.