AMD Ryzen 3000 processors get free speed boost with new update

Early versions of upcoming BIOS updates for AMD Ryzen 3000 processors have appeared online, and it looks like they bring a performance boost for AMD’s latest consumer CPUs.

While AMD’s Ryzen 3000 line, which includes the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, Ryzen 7 3700X and Ryzen 5 3600, got brilliant reviews (we list them as some of the best processors money can buy), and have been huge sellers, there has been some controversy as well, with the CPUs unable to hit promised boost speeds in many cases.

This led AMD to promise a fix to increase the boost clock speeds of the CPUs, and now ComputerBase is reporting that beta BIOS updates – including AMD’s AGESA 1.0.0.4 microcode, which addresses these issues – are available for certain AsRock and Asus motherboards.

The following motherboard have early BIOS updates, hosted by German retailer JZ Electronic:

• ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming X 
• ASRock X570 Taichi
• ASRock X470 Taichi 
• ASRock X370 Taichi 
• ASRock Fatal1ty X470 Gaming K4  
• ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming K4 
• ASRock B450 Pro4 
• Asus ROG Strix X570-E Gaming 
• Asus ROG Strix X570-F Gaming 
• Asus ROG Strix X570-I Gaming 
• Asus ROG Crosshair Impact

Performance gains

ComputerBase also tested out the new microcode on an AMD Ryzen 7 3800X with the ASRock Fatal1ty X470 Gaming K4 motherboard.

It found that the new firmware gave the all-core boost clock a boost. With the older microcode it hit 4,245 MHz across all cores, while with the new AGESA 1.0.0.4 microcode, it hit 4,325MHz – a 1.9% improvement.

It’s not a mind-blowing leap, but every little helps. However, ComputerBase noted that the single-core boost speeds remained the same.

If you want to try out the new BIOS updates yourself, use the links above, but there are some important things to note. To begin with, these BIOS updates are only for Ryzen 3000 processors, so only install them if you have on of those installed.

You also need to make sure you install the right one for your motherboard. If you’re not sure, don’t do it. It could cause big issues otherwise.

The final thing to note is that these are early beta versions of the updates, and as with all beta software, it means it’s not the final code – so bugs could still be present, while some features may not be included. For the vast majority of people, it’ll be better to wait until the final versions of the updates are released – no matter how tempting the speed boost is.

• These are the best AMD processors

Via Tom's Hardware