ASUS, ASRock, Gigabyte and MSI begin rolling out Raven Ridge APU support to AM4 motherboards

Update (12/02/18): Gigabyte has joined the likes of Asus, ASRock and MSI in rolling out BIOS updates for AM4 motherboards, adding in support for AMD's new Ryzen desktop APUs with RX Vega graphics.

Gigabyte's motherboard deputy director, Jackson Hsu, says that the company has done “extensive research and preparation” while developing its X370, B350 and A320 BIOS updates. With the latest BIOS version, Gigabyte AM4 motherboard owners will be able to drop in one of the new Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 3 APUs and still retain access to all of the board's usual features.

AMD's APUs launch this afternoon, so keep an eye out for more coverage from us.

Original Story (09/02/18): It looks like AMD's Raven Ridge APU launch is imminent. The latest desktop processors from the red team combine Ryzen CPU cores with RX Vega graphics cores, paving the way for a big performance boost compared to past APUs. With the official launch edging closer and closer, major motherboard makers have begun pushing out BIOS updates for current Socket AM4 boards to support these new Raven Ridge APUs.

ASUS, MSI and ASRock have all begun rolling out BIOS updates to support AMD's latest desktop chips. These new Ryzen 2000 series APUs will feature up to four Zen-based CPU cores combined with RX Vega graphics. We've seen some leaked benchmark results already, but official reviews for these processors are expected to begin going live on Monday next week.

ASUS has begun adding support for these APUs in all of its X370, B350 and A320 motherboards through a new BIOS update. If you have an X370 motherboard, then you'll want BIOS version 3502 or newer, those on B350 or A320 will need version 3803 or newer.

On the MSI side, the first Raven Ridge supporting BIOS update is version 7A33v19, which recently became available for the X370 Krait Gaming motherboard. Other motherboards in MSI's range should also be receiving a BIOS update soon to add support. Finally, ASRock has also begun openly supporting Raven Ridge APUs, though the different BIOS versions required aren't quite as easily grouped like we saw with Asus's boards.

Those of you with an ASRock X370 motherboard will need BIOS version 4.50 for APU support, with the exception of the Fatal1ty X370 Gaming ITX board, which requires BIOS version 4.40. Meanwhile, the ASRock AB350 Pro 4 requires BIOS version 4.60, the AB350M Pro 4 requires version 4.50 and the AB350 M requires version 4.40. The Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming K4 requires version 4.60 and the Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming ITX requires version 4.40.

Finally, ASRock's A320M Pro 4 requires BIOS version 4.50, while the rest of the A320 boards need version 4.40. Currently, the X370 Taichi is awaiting support, as is the Fatal1ty X370 Professional Gaming motherboard.

KitGuru Says: AMD's Raven Ridge APUs have already begun making their way into the hands of reviewers, so we should expect plenty of coverage next week. This will of course be followed by retail availability, hopefully before the end of the month.

Become a Patron!