[SOLVED] No TPM on a gaming PC. what to do?

[Mkazem]

my gaming PC from 2015 seemingly does not have TPM 2 nor 1.2.

CPU is 6700K
Motherboard is Asus Maximus VIII Hero Alpha with no TPM header
There is no option to enable TPM (or PTT or anything related) in bios

does Z170 have this chip? can I somehow unhide TPM in bios and enable it?

will there be official support from Intel or Asus to give me this option?

 

[DSzymborski]

It doesn't appear to be an option for this board.

However, I wouldn't panic yet. Windows 11 isn't out and it' s unknown whether this will remain an option. Even in the worst case, Windows 10 will be support for another four years. By the time late 2025 rolls around, this PC will be a decade old and you may be close to or already have upgraded the platform.

 

[Colif]

Right now, the big differences between 10 & 11 are mainly on the surface.

Win 10 is fine, I am still trying to find a reason I would buy 11 if it wasn't a free upgrade from 10

I don't think you would notice the difference. They haven't reinvented the wheel, just painted it a different colour. still only there to run programs on... reminds me of stories of people buying first PC, turning it on, stare at screen and ask now what? Windows isn't meant to be there to entertain you. although I think win 11 wants to try. There is nothing in 11 that 10 can't do (this is subject to change)

 

[Joseph_138]

And to think I was ambivalent about upgrading from my Asus G11CD (i7-6700) to something with a newer CPU. Windows 11 justifies the upgrade for me. New hardware is only going to go up in price until the semiconductor shortage is resolved and China stops threatening to invade Taiwan, and take over the TSMC foundry. There are a lot of prebuilts, minus graphics card, on ebay right now for reasonable prices. If you have a graphics card that is still usable, that will fit into the case, that might be an option for getting Windows 11 compatibility without having to spend thousands of dollars. I bought a Dell 8940 SE on a hunch, even before the Windows 11 requirements were released, and it is turning out to be a good decision so far. The only hitch is that my GTX 1080 won't fit, but I can strip all the parts out of it and transfer them to a new motherboard if I have to. I have another video card that I can use until then, though.

 

[Cith]

This makes me angry and it looks like I am going to just wait it out. I bought a prebuilt Newegg gaming machine in June 2018 (first time I havn't built my own PC in over a decade. I have an EVGA Z370 FTW MB (no TPM header) with an Intel i7 8700K processor, Nvidia 1080TI, SSD drive expansion). My bios makes no mention of a TPM and I fail the TPM tests. I am not sure if the TPM is in the firmware of the CPU. Spent $1800 (without peripherals) for this state-of-the-art build 3 years ago. It is VR ready and use SteamVR for my Oculus Quest 2. And now I am being told after 3 years it is obsolete? What gets me is MS had this in the pipeline and didn't warn anyone until now. I would have made a different decision 3 years ago when I bought a new PC if I knew this was coming. That is really upsetting! If MS keeps these requirements I will be polite and not tell you where they can go.

Maybe my CPU already has what I need. I can't find out for sure. Maybe an external alternative can be invented? I am in wait mode and won't upgrade . Maybe build a new rig when support ends. And my premier gaming machine turns into a Linux machine.

 

[DSzymborski]

This makes me angry and it looks like I am going to just wait it out. I bought a prebuilt Newegg gaming machine in June 2018 (first time I havn't built my own PC in over a decade. I have an EVGA Z370 FTW MB (no TPM header) with an Intel i7 8700K processor, Nvidia 1080TI, SSD drive expansion). My bios makes no mention of a TPM and I fail the TPM tests. I am not sure if the TPM is in the firmware of the CPU. Spent $1800 (without peripherals) for this state-of-the-art build 3 years ago. It is VR ready and use SteamVR for my Oculus Quest 2. And now I am being told after 3 years it is obsolete? What gets me is MS had this in the pipeline and didn't warn anyone until now. I would have made a different decision 3 years ago when I bought a new PC if I knew this was coming. That is really upsetting! If MS keeps these requirements I will be polite and not tell you where they can go.

Maybe my CPU already has what I need. I can't find out for sure. Maybe an external alternative can be invented? I am in wait mode and won't upgrade . Maybe build a new rig when support ends. And my premier gaming machine turns into a Linux machine.

Did you look under Advanced/PCH-FW Configuration? Should be an option to switch from Enabled Discrete TPM (if you had an external module) to Enable Firmware TPM.

 

[USAFRet]

"what to do?

Seeing as Windows 10 will not fall off support for several years, and seeing as there seems to be no compelling reason to upgrade to Win 11, and seeing as your system will almost certinaly not be viable for Win 11....

What to do = nothing, right now.

Use the system as it is.
Wait a few years.
Buy/build something new.

What gets me is MS had this in the pipeline and didn't warn anyone until now. I would have made a different decision 3 years ago when I bought a new PC if I knew this was coming.

No.
There was no 'different decision' to be had 3 years ago.

Your system is from 2018, currently running Win 10.
That OS will not fall off support until 2025.

Giving you 7 years on that hardware.
What were you using before?

 

[Cith]

Thanks for the replies. I got the TPM 2.0 working. It is firmware, not discrete, and when I flashed the bios from version 1.06 to 1.16. TPM showed up and now it passes the compatibility tests for Windows 11.

Even though it does pass the test I probably will build a new PC in 7 years.

 

[Colif]

we don't know when MS told hardware makers about it. They are the ones that needed to know, not consumers. It would have been much smoother if TPM was enabled in bios already and half the threads in their forum wouldn't exist... okay, some would but the ones about TPM wouldn't.

 

[CombinationSquid]

Hello this is my first post and I am sure I will be riding this train soon enough.

Seeing as Windows 10 will not fall off support for several years, and seeing as there seems to be no compelling reason to upgrade to Win 11, and seeing as your system will almost certinaly not be viable for Win 11....

What to do = nothing, right now.

Use the system as it is.

I would like to add to this, beside doing nothing as this might save you some $$$ in a few years.

If MS are offering the free upgrade to Win 11 grab it even if you don't install it. You just might come back later and miss out on the offer. 😉

 

[Colif]

it makes sense to grab it on any machine it is available to as win 11 is built on top of 10 so its not like you lose anything by taking it and using it. The changes aren't that big (yet) compared to 10. I can use it all day and not even notice its not 10. That might change but even the new animations on task bar aren't that striking. Perhaps that is why everyone who makes videos seems to run it at 1080p or smaller to make all the animations more obvious.

The jump from 10 to 11 isn't as obvious as from 7 to 10 was.

You won't be able to accept the free upgrade if PC can't run it. Guess that means more money for MS in the future. Less people getting it for free.

 

[USAFRet]

Hello this is my first post and I am sure I will be riding this train soon enough.


I would like to add to this, beside doing nothing as this might save you some $$$ in a few years.

If MS are offering the free upgrade to Win 11 grab it even if you don't install it. You just might come back later and miss out on the offer. 😉

There is nothing to "grab".

Currently, it isn't even finished yet.

When it DOES come out,t he install package will be free, just like it is with Win 10.

The license is what costs money. And you only need that when you actually install it.

"miss out"?
6 years later, Win 7 to Win 10 is still free.

 

[Colif]

The difference is the amount of PC that can get a free upgrade. Microsoft have restricted that number. Anyone can have it IF their PC lets them. I can't see many PC being sold with win 10 after 11 is out, so opportunity to upgrade, while potentially never ending, is still restricted.

 

[mdd1963]

Rumor had it the 7th gen CPUs were allegedly being considered for suitability for Win11 by MS, but, I'd not hold my breath for them yielding on/including 6th gen as well.

My own 7th gen rig (7700K) might also simply remain deprived of Win11's centered taskbar icons and barely rounded Window corners, and all other such startling matters of innovations that have occurred thus far!