[SOLVED] Should I get the third-gen AMD Ryzen?

[krelidas_34]

3rd-gen AMD Ryzen has Zen 2 Architecture, which is immune to both Meltdown and Spectre. But I cannot afford them due to the price, I need to get the previous models to keep the costs. I'm really on a tight budget right now. Besides, I don't think there's any mobos that support the upcoming CPU, so I might wait for an update/ new mobo.

However, I'd get exposed to security threats if I stick with the 2nd gen/1st gen Ryzen. Although that's only 9% on AMD CPUs...

 

[Lutfij]

Wait, is the key word we're all using around here before it's official in stores and reviewers hands.

 

[InvalidError]

Ryzen 3000 should work on most 400-seies and many 300-series motherboards as long as they have an updated BIOS preloaded onto them, no need for the expensive x570 motherboards if you don't forgoing the CPU's board-dependent perks. For ~$50 extra relative to 2nd-gen, the 20-30% higher performance from IPC+clocks, lower TDP, improved memory controller and other improvements are likely worth it.

Since you can't buy one until launch, may as well just wait for the reviews. If Ryzen 3 looks good enough to convince me to upgrade, I'm not buying unti B550 boards become available.

 

[krelidas_34]

Ryzen 3000 should work on most 400-seies and many 300-series motherboards as long as they have an updated BIOS preloaded onto them, no need for the expensive x570 motherboards if you don't forgoing the CPU's board-dependent perks. For ~$50 extra relative to 2nd-gen, the 20-30% higher performance from IPC+clocks, lower TDP, improved memory controller and other improvements are likely worth it.

Since you can't buy one until launch, may as well just wait for the reviews. If Ryzen 3 looks good enough to convince me to upgrade, I'm not buying unti B550 boards become available.

How do I update the BIOS? If I'm going to to do that, I need an older CPU in place. The new CPUs don't even work without an update. But that's gonna cost even more money. I don't have anything like that.

 

[InvalidError]

How do I update the BIOS? If I'm going to to do that, I need an older CPU in place. The new CPUs don't even work without an update. But that's gonna cost even more money. I don't have anything like that.

That's why you buy a motherboard with the correct BIOS PRELOADED on it already. To hopefully avoid a repeat of the Ryzen 2 upgrade nightmare, AMD designed a sticker that board manufacturer can put on the boxes of boards that have been updated for Ryzen 3. Buy a 300/400 series board with that "AMD Ryzen 3" sticker on it, problem solved.

 

[cats_Paw]

Yeah... Might as well wait till they come out, read a lot and once you have that knowledge "make an informed decision".
Especially since Ryzen 2000 and 1000 prices should drop after those release.

 

[InvalidError]

Especially since Ryzen 2000 and 1000 prices should drop after those release.

Given how much most of first and second gen Ryzen CPU prices have already dropped pre-launch, I'm not expecting them to drop much further until the ramp-up to fourth-gen launch... unless Ryzen 3's launch is a failure due to most people wanting an AMD 6C12T for ~$200 and 8C16T for ~$300 already having one, then we may see early price cuts on Ryzen 3 applying further downward pressure on the older stuff down that much sooner.

 

[cats_Paw]

Might not. But waiting to see if they do sounds like a plan to me .

 

[bmacsys]

Given how much most of first and second gen Ryzen CPU prices have already dropped pre-launch, I'm not expecting them to drop much further until the ramp-up to fourth-gen launch... unless Ryzen 3's launch is a failure due to most people wanting an AMD 6C12T for ~$200 and 8C16T for ~$300 already having one, then we may see early price cuts on Ryzen 3 applying further downward pressure on the older stuff down that much sooner.

Pretty sure you will see more price cuts on the current Ryzen cpu's after July 7.

 

[InvalidError]

Pretty sure you will see more price cuts on the current Ryzen cpu's after July 7.

Current prices are already at similar if not better performance-per-dollar as third-gen, it does not make much sense to drop them much lower until the channel wants to get rid of 'em or AMD lowers third-gen prices, perhaps in time for Black Friday or holiday sales.

 

[MNR1776]

3rd-gen AMD Ryzen has Zen 2 Architecture, which is immune to both Meltdown and Spectre. But I cannot afford them due to the price, I need to get the previous models to keep the costs. I'm really on a tight budget right now. Besides, I don't think there's any mobos that support the upcoming CPU, so I might wait for an update/ new mobo.

However, I'd get exposed to security threats if I stick with the 2nd gen/1st gen Ryzen. Although that's only 9% on AMD CPUs...

I'm sorry for changing the topic, but what security threats? Is there a problem with 1st and 2nd gen Ryzen?

 

[InvalidError]

I'm sorry for changing the topic, but what security threats? Is there a problem with 1st and 2nd gen Ryzen?

Spectre and Meltdown affect just about every Intel CPU from the past 10 years, some variants also affect AMD CPUs including Ryzen 1&2.

However, these exploits are merely proof-of-concept (they are possible under very specific circumstances) and unlikely to ever become practical in a real-world setting, the scramble to patch those hypothetical vulnerabilities is just AMD, Intel, ARM and others covering their asses in the remote case where someone actually does find a practical exploit method. For the most part, this is stuff only virtualized server farms that run customer binaries really need to worry about. For everyone else, the would-be attacker needs to gain access to execute binary code on your machine before the exploit can even be attempted, in which case you have already been compromised and the attacker likely has much simpler and far more efficient ways to obtain your data than attempting to use unreliable and heavily luck-dependent side-channel attacks.

 

[MNR1776]

Spectre and Meltdown affect just about every Intel CPU from the past 10 years, some variants also affect AMD CPUs including Ryzen 1&2.

However, these exploits are merely proof-of-concept (they are possible under very specific circumstances) and unlikely to ever become practical in a real-world setting, the scramble to patch those hypothetical vulnerabilities is just AMD, Intel, ARM and others covering their asses in the remote case where someone actually does find a practical exploit method. For the most part, this is stuff only virtualized server farms that run customer binaries really need to worry about. For everyone else, the would-be attacker needs to gain access to execute binary code on your machine before the exploit can even be attempted, in which case you have already been compromised and the attacker likely has much simpler and far more efficient ways to obtain your data than attempting to use unreliable and heavily luck-dependent side-channel attacks.

Yeah, I figured it would not be something to worry about for normal users (otherwise it would be widely known), but I asked just to make sure.
Thanks for the information!!

 

[krelidas_34]

That's why you buy a motherboard with the correct BIOS PRELOADED on it already. To hopefully avoid a repeat of the Ryzen 2 upgrade nightmare, AMD designed a sticker that board manufacturer can put on the boxes of boards that have been updated for Ryzen 3. Buy a 300/400 series board with that "AMD Ryzen 3" sticker on it, problem solved.

Sorry for the late reply, but I found one with the support for the 3rd-gen Ryzen CPUs. https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B450-AORUS-ELITE-rev-10/support#support-cpu

I don't know if the BIOS is preloaded, but it supports some 3rd-gen Ryzen CPUs in terms of GPU frequencies.

 

[InvalidError]

If the appropriate BIOS isn't preloaded, the board may not boot to let you update the BIOS. If the board isn't clearly labeled with shipping BIOS version or other marking clearly indicating out-of-the-box support for Ryzen 3, then it probably doesn't support it.

MSI has announced that it will re-launch its updated boards with the "MAX" suffix to differentiate them from old stock.

Your other option is to look for boards that support CPU-less BIOS flashing and 3rd-gen, in which case all you need to do is download the appropriate BIOS image to a thumb-drive, connect the thumb-drive to the BIOS recovery USB port, hook up power and turn the board on to make it self-update before installing the CPU.

 

[krelidas_34]

If the appropriate BIOS isn't preloaded, the board may not boot to let you update the BIOS. If the board isn't clearly labeled with shipping BIOS version or other marking clearly indicating out-of-the-box support for Ryzen 3, then it probably doesn't support it.

MSI has announced that it will re-launch its updated boards with the "MAX" suffix to differentiate them from old stock.

Your other option is to look for boards that support CPU-less BIOS flashing and 3rd-gen, in which case all you need to do is download the appropriate BIOS image to a thumb-drive, connect the thumb-drive to the BIOS recovery USB port, hook up power and turn the board on to make it self-update before installing the CPU.

I see. Okay,