Purchased Ryzen 5 3600 - is it just MSI b450 MBs that are having issues?

[TheWitt]

I purchased the Ryzen 5 3600 chip to replace my i3-8100, which should be a phenomenal upgrade in performance. However, I have not yet ordered my motherboard. I was looking at the MSI B450's for their price point and the fact that they are supposed to be compatible. However, I am seeing all over the MSI forums that the MSI B450s are having a very difficult time posting. From what I've gathered, the 16mb of storage for the BIOS is not enough for the new Zen 2 BIOS updates AND the GUI so they are stripping that down to make room. My question is whether it is just the MSI motherboards that are the issue or if others such as ASUS are functioning fine. If they are, should I go with them now or stick it out with MSI until they get this issue resolved since MSI seems to have the best B450 MBs on the market. 

 

Thanks,

[anoor9000]

MSI is releasing "MAX" variants of their B450 motherboards which supposedly will fix the reported issues and be compatible with 3000 series out of the box. 

 

However, only SOME people are having issues. I built a computer for my friend with a Tomahawk, updated the bios using BIOS flashback, and everything works fine. 

 

No one knows when the MAX motherboards are being released in the USA though...

[Vejnemojnen]

@TheWitt You should also consider Asrock B450 Steel Legend. Decent enough for 3600, and looks good.

[anoor9000]

4 minutes ago, Vejnemojnen said:

@TheWitt You should also consider Asrock B450 Steel Legend. Decent enough for 3600, and looks good.

How would he update the BIOS? This motherboard has no feature to flash BIOS without a CPU

[MMKing]

I believe 16mb of storage is universal on the B450 platform.

 

The way BIOS versions are made, is that the partners (Asus, msi etc) receive the source code. I.e just a long line of code, without any context to it. Then they create a BIOS, using their own logic and internal software to be compatible with their own boards.

 

Certain individual boards, or partners. May struggle more or less to stay within the 16MB hard limit.

[TheWitt]

1 minute ago, anoor9000 said:

How would he update the BIOS? This motherboard has no feature to flash BIOS without a CPU

That's a good point. I forgot that it was an MSI feature to be able to flash the BIOS updates without an older ryzen chip. 

[Vejnemojnen]

2 minutes ago, anoor9000 said:

How would he update the BIOS? This motherboard has no feature to flash BIOS without a CPU

retailers do upgrade if asked for. Usually for a little surcharge. At least in my country, for 3-4€, they happily update it. Or you can contact AMD to support you with a cpu for update-ing.. 

[anoor9000]

1 minute ago, Vejnemojnen said:

retailers do upgrade if asked for. Usually for a little surcharge. At least in my country, for 3-4€, they happily update it. Or you can contact AMD to support you with a cpu for update-ing.. 

Why would you go through the trouble of doing that when you could get a motherboard with BIOS flashback?

[Vejnemojnen]

Like for instance, lack of availability of MSI boards? Here the new "MAX" series are not yet available, whereas the old Tomahawk&Mortars are out of stock in every store.. : ) 

Just options. 

[Stormseeker9]

21 minutes ago, TheWitt said:

I purchased the Ryzen 5 3600 chip to replace my i3-8100, which should be a phenomenal upgrade in performance. However, I have not yet ordered my motherboard. I was looking at the MSI B450's for their price point and the fact that they are supposed to be compatible. However, I am seeing all over the MSI forums that the MSI B450s are having a very difficult time posting. From what I've gathered, the 16mb of storage for the BIOS is not enough for the new Zen 2 BIOS updates AND the GUI so they are stripping that down to make room. My question is whether it is just the MSI motherboards that are the issue or if others such as ASUS are functioning fine. If they are, should I go with them now or stick it out with MSI until they get this issue resolved since MSI seems to have the best B450 MBs on the market. 

 

Thanks,

Have a look at the tomahawk or gaming pro carbon from MSI. Have buddies who switched their 2600 to 3800x and both used bios flashback and they both worked straight after 

[anoor9000]

Personally, I just got a 3700X for myself and I will be waiting for the MAX B450 motherboards since I am going with the mATX form factor.

 

You could just get an X570 motherboard too.

[TheWitt]

1 minute ago, anoor9000 said:

Personally, I just got a 3700X for myself and I will be waiting for the MAX B450 motherboards since I am going with the mATX form factor.

 

You could just get an X570 motherboard too.

Considered...However, I don't quite have that budget. Went and got a Ducky One 2 keyboard.

[Aleks NE]

39 minutes ago, TheWitt said:

I purchased the Ryzen 5 3600 chip to replace my i3-8100, which should be a phenomenal upgrade in performance. However, I have not yet ordered my motherboard. I was looking at the MSI B450's for their price point and the fact that they are supposed to be compatible. However, I am seeing all over the MSI forums that the MSI B450s are having a very difficult time posting. From what I've gathered, the 16mb of storage for the BIOS is not enough for the new Zen 2 BIOS updates AND the GUI so they are stripping that down to make room. My question is whether it is just the MSI motherboards that are the issue or if others such as ASUS are functioning fine. If they are, should I go with them now or stick it out with MSI until they get this issue resolved since MSI seems to have the best B450 MBs on the market. 

 

Thanks,

I just bought a Asrock Steel Legend, it works; that is all I can say as I havent had time to preform any benchmarks yet.

[TheWitt]

1 minute ago, anoor9000 said:

MSI is releasing "MAX" variants of their B450 motherboards which supposedly will fix the reported issues and be compatible with 3000 series out of the box. 

 

However, only SOME people are having issues. I built a computer for my friend with a Tomahawk, updated the bios using BIOS flashback, and everything works fine. 

 

No one knows when the MAX motherboards are being released in the USA though...

Yeah, I am aware that the MAX variant is coming. However, I am competing in a $1500 tournament at the end of August and I cannot wait an unknown amount of time to get a motherboard that simply has a nice looking GUI. Given that you are with many others I've read - being that its only a few that are having Bios flashing issues, I'll go ahead and get the tomahawk then.

[Gohardgrandpa]

I’ve got a tomahawk also and went from 1800x to 3600 with no issues at all. I’ve heard online of people having issues but I personally know 4 other guys plus myself who went from 1st gen to 3rd gen on the tomahawk with no issues what so ever.

The UI is definitely different and a little ugly but who cares to spend time sight seeing in the bios? The chips don’t overclock for shit anyways, set your ram speed and go. 

[paulmohr]

I also have the tomahawk with a 3600, works fine. I don't have any issues with heat, voltages or any of that stuff. I updated the bios with my old 1500x, shut it off and dropped the 3600 in there and it worked. Every now and then it won't post when I restart it. All I have to do is shut it off and turn it on again and it posts every time. And it actually hasn't done it in a few days so maybe the new bios and chipset driver release fixed it.

 

And no, it isn't just the msi tomahawk boards having weird issues. Even .x570s are doing strange things for some people.

 

I think the reason you are seeing more people talking about having problems with that board is because they were really popular boards. Newegg sold out of them shortly after the 3000 series dropped. Same with the arous elite x570 for 200 bucks. I blame buildzoid, shortly after his motherboard review series for the cpus they promptly sold out lol. As with everything, the more product you have out in the wild the higher the chances someone will have an issue.

 

And if you are talking about this forum inparticular it really isn't that many. Maybe a handful of people, not even sure I would call it that. Its just the same people creating multiple posts about different issues. I don't go to redit or many other computer forums so I have no idea what is going on there.