Question I've heard rumors about certain AM5 motherboards damaging CPUS and many other hardware related issues. Which AM5 MB should I get that is reliable?

[Faibra]

I would prefer if the price is $120-250 at the most. Can you also tell me any steps I should take to ensure my I face no hardware issues?

 

[drea.drechsler]

Any AM5 board you want is just as likely to be as reliable as any other. Just make sure you update BIOS to the latest, whichever board you get, and you'll have none of the issue you're probably referring to as it's been fixed.

 

[Faibra]

Any AM5 board you want is just as likely to be as reliable as any other. Just make sure you update BIOS to the latest, whichever board you get, and you'll have none of the issue you're probably referring to as it's been fixed.

Do I update the bios before i install windows? Is it safe to have the cpu inside the motherboard when I am updating the bios? I heard someone say that you should not have the cpu installed when first starting up the pc?

 

[drea.drechsler]

Do I update the bios before i install windows? Is it safe to have the cpu inside the motherboard when I am updating the bios? I heard someone say that you should not have the cpu installed when first starting up the pc?

The problem was when memory EXPO was enabled it would sometimes over-volt X3d CPU's on some motherboards. So IF your motherboard was susceptable you'd have to have an X3d processor, enable EXPO and run sufficiently demanding application or game long enough to do it damage.

But IF you're also buying an X3d processor your motherboard quite likely won't start up anyway until you update BIOS to one that supports it. So plan on it and you'll be ahead but you're in good shape since any AM5 motherboard allows updating using BIOS Flashback which doesn't need a processor or memory. So it's really quite simple: following instructions in the board's manual update to the latest BIOS first thing using Flashback then put in CPU and memory to complete the build, install Windows.

And don't even think about this ever again. It's pointless.

 

[hotaru.hino]

Do I update the bios before i install windows? Is it safe to have the cpu inside the motherboard when I am updating the bios? I heard someone say that you should not have the cpu installed when first starting up the pc?

It doesn't matter when you update BIOS. It's safe to have the CPU in BIOS when you update it, even if the motherboard doesn't support it.

The thing is, all x86 CPUs boot into a specific mode. The only reason why a CPU is "not supported" is because the BIOS doesn't know how to set it up properly to get it out of that mode.