MSI released a new set of X470 and B450 motherboards as the company jumps on the Ryzen 3000 bandwagon.
The 400-series MAX motherboards will supposedly deliver on the promise of backward compatibility for the third-gen Ryzen chips. The problem is that MSI didn’t foresee how big the updates for the AGESA microcode was going to get.
Most of its motherboards, however, were still equipped with 16MB BIOS rate, which is not compatible with the latest microcodes.
Basically, if you are going to install a Ryzen 3000 chip on your computer, some support will be compromised.
One of the features of the Ryzen AM4 chip is its backward compatibility, which is both a boon and bane for manufacturers. They had to scramble to calibrate their own products to optimize the specs of the latest chip. Some are more successful than others.
In response, MSI released the MAX boards for the X470 and the B450, which already feature 32MB BIOS chips.
Of course, the consumers will only benefit from this. For one thing, they don’t have to spend more on motherboards to play the Ryzen 3000 chips. After all, the MSI MAX boards are still among the cheapest products today.
For instance, You don’t have to buy a 300-dollar X570 motherboard just to enjoy the third-gen Ryzen. The X470 and the B450 are going to be the best products under $200 that are compatible with the new graphics cards.
Accordingly, there are 10 B450 motherboards that are getting the MAX treatment. That’s plenty to choose from even if you are on a budget.
Nevertheless, for a few dollars more, you can upgrade to the Aorus X570, which offers a great value for the price point.
Starting at $300, the X570 already offers multiple PCIe 4.0 ports, 2.5Gbps Ethernet, USB3 Gen2 ports, and threw M2 slots. That offers plenty of chances for builders to modify their Ryzen 3000 PCs. There are so many slots on the I/O panel that you won’t know what to do with the extra holes.
Of course, 300 bucks is still 300 bucks. And it might still be too expensive for some people, so they have to forget about the X570 for now. But it’s good to know that MSI is offering options with its MAX series.
