970 Pro3 R2.0 unsupported CPU after firmware updat

kub0x wrote: Thanks a lot for the information given Parsec. Now I understand the facts why my CPU works under this board but the consequences it has due to it's power requirements since the CPU needs more power than the board can supply. My other concern was the AMD point of view of this, and as you say, when they released this CPU the fail setting up the requirements for using it in their boards. Also thanks for explaining the real source of the "unsupported" message displayed in the boot process when updating to a new UEFI firmware. You all have cleared my doubts about this issue. Next time I will do a better research when buying new equipment. Regards!

You are not the first person to learn about this the hard way, we have users asking about this quite a bit.

I know that message is confusing, you remind me of myself when I read something and I think it means what it should mean, when it really means something else.

You said you've used your CPU fine for a long time without any problems. That means you are cooling the mother board fine and correctly. But other people may not be doing that, which is the problem. Just be careful and don't over clock.

Another problem is you could have done research when you bought your board and CPU, but the information about this situation was not available at that time. The FX-9000 series was released after all the other AM3+ type processors. That warning message was added to the BIOS/firmware not that long ago, right? It was not there when you bought the board, right? So how is this your fault? Even the mother board manufactures did not understand this for quite a while.

I don't have a mother board like yours, so I don't understand what the new firmware really does. It displays the not supported message, but then what happens? Does the PC boot anyway, normally? I guess it does, and I see why that is very confusing.

kub0x wrote: Thanks you both for your replies. @Xaltar: My concern on updating UEFI firmware version was about security issues being patched. Do you know if any sec problem has been fixed in any of these patches? If not the case then I won't be longer interested on firmware updating. @parsec: Then my CPU isn't suitable for my board since the aforementioned has more TDP than supported by my board, so this overheating has to be covered with a good heat sink. Well in three years of usage I haven't faced a single problem caused by this phenomena (I have a good heat sink). What surprises me is the "anything goes on any board" when talking about AMD. When I bought the equipment I remember seeing my board being compatible with the CPU, but I'm afaid I'm not able to give the exact reference (website) where I found the info. Finally, is also surprising the fact that no firmware version supports my CPU series, then why does it work? I think Xaltar's first reply covers this, right? They tried to manage FX 9k series but failing mantaining it? Regards!

We have described the ways that an FX-9000 series processor, due to its electrical characteristics (mainly power usage under high loads) causes it to draw more power from the CPU VRM components than they are designed and built to provide over long periods of time, on some AM3+ mother boards. That reduces their life span, and can cause them to fail.

If your CPU is over clocked, then the power usage is even greater, and the stress on the CPU VRM components is even greater, reducing their life span even further, and increasing the chance that they will fail.

AMD recognizes this, as you have seen with their own requirements for a mother board when used with an FX-9000 series processor. The problem with this is, AMD did not have these requirements defined and communicated to customers and mother board manufactures when these processors were released. That happened much later. AMD is at fault.

Also, a mother board manufacture cannot predict, or has any control over, how the owner of the mother board will use it. The owner might not have adequate cooling for the components in the PC case, in this instance the CPU VRM components on the mother board. They may be over clocking the CPU while using a small, stock CPU cooler that is completely inadequate for that usage. We see examples of that in the forum all to often, pre-bulit PCs that are not configured correctly with mismatched hardware, for example.

The result of all this is, in order to protect and prevent the mother board from being used beyond its capability, or misused and abused by the owner, a safety feature is added to the UEF/BIOS. This safety feature checks which processor is in the CPU socket, and if it is a model whose TDP is over 140W, the message that the processor is "not supported" is displayed. That is why you are seeing this message with the new firmware updates.

You are reading or interpreting the "not supported" message as we usually know what that term means. We know that means that something is not able to function or operate normally at all with another piece of equipment. That is NOT what it means in this situation.

The message could have better explained why an FX-9000 series processor should not be used in this board. Yes an FX-9000 series can function in this board, but it can also require more power from the board than the board can safely and without damage provide for long periods of time.

Instead, the message is a general statement that your CPU is not supported in the board. That could be due to any number of reasons, not simply that it cannot work in the board.

A similar situation is using a video card that requires a 600W PSU, with a 300W PSU. The video card will work, but not at its best, and the PSU is being stressed beyond its design, and will likely fail, or other issues will happen.

The heat sink we are talking about is NOT the heat sink on the CPU! It is a heat sink on the CPU VRM components next to the CPU socket, that your board does not have! You are using a high performance, high power usage processor, in a low-end budget board. You are able to get away with it with your usage, but that does not apply to everyone. There are AMD enthusiasts that believe boards that boards that are built much better than yours are still not appropriate for use with the FX-9000 series.

list of compatible boards are here for the 9370 and 9570

Edited by mgrandy@hotmail.co.u - 14 Mar 2017 at 5:50am

The issue came down from AMD, this is what Parsec was referring to. At the time these and many other 970 boards (from all manufacturers) were designed they were designed to AMD's stipulated power requirements which were supposed to be compatible with even the FX 9k series. AMD later discovered that these specs were not adequate and board partners were forced to take action. ASRock removed support from boards that had the "specified power design" from AMD. Some boards may have had beefier power systems and not been effected but support was pulled from all the standard spec models.

Edited by Xaltar - 14 Mar 2017 at 3:35am

What Xaltar said covers the FX-9000 series usage on any AM3+ board very well.

Any FX processor whose TDP is north (or is that south?) of 140W is considered not supported by any AM3+ board whose CPU VRM stage is not robust enough to provide the power they need easily.

The 220W TDP of the FX 9000 series qualifies them as not supported on boards like yours, with its 4 + 1 phase CPU VRM design, without a heat sink. One of the times when AMD's "anything goes on any board" way of doing things came back to haunt them, sorry to say.

AMD added their minimum requirements for using an FX 9000 series processor at some point, which you can see on the information page of this board, scroll down to find it:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/990FX%20Extreme9/index.asp

Also check the VRM specs for this board, as an example.

The message is a warning, removing it does not change anything regarding a board's inability to properly support an FX 9000 series processor adequately. I suggest you have adequate air movement across the board in the area around the CPU socket, as noted in the CPU support list for your board:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/970%20Pro3%20R2.0/?cat=CPU

The answer to your question about which firmware version supports the FX 9000 series is none of them.


Edited by parsec - 13 Mar 2017 at 10:20pm