List of boards with BIOS flash without cpu.

Associate
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Manchester
Hi people.

Does anyone have a list, or can you point me towards one, of motherboards (X570/B550) that have the capability of flashing the bios without a CPU installed?

I am making the switch to AMD for the 5900x but as this will be my only board and CPU, I will need the facility to update via a USB drive and no CPU as from what I have read, the boards will need a bios update to run the new 5000 series CPU's.

Many thanks.
 
Associate
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Look for models that have that facility listed in their specs. Each brand has a specific name:

ASUS - BIOS Flashback
MSI - M-Flash
Gigabyte / Aorus - Q-Flash Plus

They are the ones I know of
 
Man of Honour
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Hi people.

Does anyone have a list, or can you point me towards one, of motherboards (X570/B550) that have the capability of flashing the bios without a CPU installed?

I am making the switch to AMD for the 5900x but as this will be my only board and CPU, I will need the facility to update via a USB drive and no CPU as from what I have read, the boards will need a bios update to run the new 5000 series CPU's.

Many thanks.

Rather than listing every board why don't you tell us which board you like and we then can check
 
Soldato
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18 Oct 2002
Posts
14,114
Location
West Midlands
X570 boards

Asrock X570 Aqua
Gigabyte X570 Aorus Extreme 1.0/1.1
MSI MEG X570 Godlike
Asrock X570 Creator
Asrock X570 Phantom Gaming X
Asrock X570 Taichi
Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Formula
Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero /Wifi
Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero Dark
Asus ROG Strix X570-E
Asus ROG X570-F
Asus TUF Gaming X570-PRO WiFi
Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite / Wifi
Gigabyte X570 Aorus Master 1.0/1.1/1.2
Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro /Wifi /1.1/ 1.1 Wifi
Gigabyte X570 Aorus Ultra/1.1
Gigabyte X570 Gaming X
Gigabyte X570 UD/1.1
MSI MEG X570 ACE
MSI MEG X570 Unify
MSI MPG X570 Gaming Edge Wifi
MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus
MSI MPG X570 Gaming Pro Carbon Wifi
MSI MPG X570-A Pro
MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk
Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Impact
Gigabyte X570i Aorus Pro Wifi

B550

Asrock B550 Taichi
Asus ROG Strix B550-A
Asus ROG Strix B550-E
ASUS ROG STRIX B550-XE Gaming WiFi
Asus ROG Strix B550-F/ Wifi
Asus TUF B550-Plus / Wifi
Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite
Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master
Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro / AC
Gigabyte B550 Gaming X
Gigabyte B550 Vision D
MSI MEG B550 Unify
MSI MEG B550 Unify X
MSI MPG B550 Gaming Pro Carbon WiFi
MSI MPG B550 Gaming Edge
MSI MPG B550 Gaming Plus
MSI MPG B550 Tomahawk
MSI B550-A Pro
Asus Tuf Gaming B550M-Plus / Wifi
Gigabyte B550M Aorus Elite
Gigabyte B550M Aorus Pro
Gigabyte B550M DS3H
Gigabyte B550M Gaming
Gigabyte B550M H
Gigabyte B550M S2H
MSI MAG B550M Bazooka
MSI MAG B550M Pro VDH WiFi
MSI MAG B550M Mortar / WiFi
Asus ROG Strix B550-I gaming
Gigabyte B550I Aorus Pro AX
MSI MPG B550I Gaming Edge Wifi / MAX

There are more, but you get the picture. ;)
 
Associate
OP
Joined
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Location
Manchester
Look for models that have that facility listed in their specs. Each brand has a specific name:

ASUS - BIOS Flashback
MSI - M-Flash
Gigabyte / Aorus - Q-Flash Plus

They are the ones I know of

That's great, thank you.

Rather than listing every board why don't you tell us which board you like and we then can check

I was thinking of this, but with me not knowing if there were only a couple available I didn't want to keep naming one I liked for someone to say "nope, doesn't work" over and over. If I'd have known there were so many I would have probably specified, but I created this thread because I am not very well informed on the subject.

X570 boards

Asrock X570 Aqua
Gigabyte X570 Aorus Extreme 1.0/1.1
MSI MEG X570 Godlike
Asrock X570 Creator
Asrock X570 Phantom Gaming X
Asrock X570 Taichi
Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Formula
Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero /Wifi
Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero Dark
Asus ROG Strix X570-E
Asus ROG X570-F
Asus TUF Gaming X570-PRO WiFi
Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite / Wifi
Gigabyte X570 Aorus Master 1.0/1.1/1.2
Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro /Wifi /1.1/ 1.1 Wifi
Gigabyte X570 Aorus Ultra/1.1
Gigabyte X570 Gaming X
Gigabyte X570 UD/1.1
MSI MEG X570 ACE
MSI MEG X570 Unify
MSI MPG X570 Gaming Edge Wifi
MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus
MSI MPG X570 Gaming Pro Carbon Wifi
MSI MPG X570-A Pro
MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk
Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Impact
Gigabyte X570i Aorus Pro Wifi

B550

Asrock B550 Taichi
Asus ROG Strix B550-A
Asus ROG Strix B550-E
ASUS ROG STRIX B550-XE Gaming WiFi
Asus ROG Strix B550-F/ Wifi
Asus TUF B550-Plus / Wifi
Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite
Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master
Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro / AC
Gigabyte B550 Gaming X
Gigabyte B550 Vision D
MSI MEG B550 Unify
MSI MEG B550 Unify X
MSI MPG B550 Gaming Pro Carbon WiFi
MSI MPG B550 Gaming Edge
MSI MPG B550 Gaming Plus
MSI MPG B550 Tomahawk
MSI B550-A Pro
Asus Tuf Gaming B550M-Plus / Wifi
Gigabyte B550M Aorus Elite
Gigabyte B550M Aorus Pro
Gigabyte B550M DS3H
Gigabyte B550M Gaming
Gigabyte B550M H
Gigabyte B550M S2H
MSI MAG B550M Bazooka
MSI MAG B550M Pro VDH WiFi
MSI MAG B550M Mortar / WiFi
Asus ROG Strix B550-I gaming
Gigabyte B550I Aorus Pro AX
MSI MPG B550I Gaming Edge Wifi / MAX

There are more, but you get the picture. ;)

This is brilliant. Cheers, Journey.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
23 Mar 2011
Posts
16,867
Location
West Side
X570 boards

Asrock X570 Aqua
Gigabyte X570 Aorus Extreme 1.0/1.1
MSI MEG X570 Godlike
Asrock X570 Creator
Asrock X570 Phantom Gaming X
Asrock X570 Taichi
Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Formula
Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero /Wifi
Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero Dark
Asus ROG Strix X570-E
Asus ROG X570-F
Asus TUF Gaming X570-PRO WiFi
Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite / Wifi
Gigabyte X570 Aorus Master 1.0/1.1/1.2
Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro /Wifi /1.1/ 1.1 Wifi
Gigabyte X570 Aorus Ultra/1.1
Gigabyte X570 Gaming X
Gigabyte X570 UD/1.1
MSI MEG X570 ACE
MSI MEG X570 Unify
MSI MPG X570 Gaming Edge Wifi
MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus
MSI MPG X570 Gaming Pro Carbon Wifi
MSI MPG X570-A Pro
MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk
Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Impact
Gigabyte X570i Aorus Pro Wifi

B550

Asrock B550 Taichi
Asus ROG Strix B550-A
Asus ROG Strix B550-E
ASUS ROG STRIX B550-XE Gaming WiFi
Asus ROG Strix B550-F/ Wifi
Asus TUF B550-Plus / Wifi
Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite
Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master
Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro / AC
Gigabyte B550 Gaming X
Gigabyte B550 Vision D
MSI MEG B550 Unify
MSI MEG B550 Unify X
MSI MPG B550 Gaming Pro Carbon WiFi
MSI MPG B550 Gaming Edge
MSI MPG B550 Gaming Plus
MSI MPG B550 Tomahawk
MSI B550-A Pro
Asus Tuf Gaming B550M-Plus / Wifi
Gigabyte B550M Aorus Elite
Gigabyte B550M Aorus Pro
Gigabyte B550M DS3H
Gigabyte B550M Gaming
Gigabyte B550M H
Gigabyte B550M S2H
MSI MAG B550M Bazooka
MSI MAG B550M Pro VDH WiFi
MSI MAG B550M Mortar / WiFi
Asus ROG Strix B550-I gaming
Gigabyte B550I Aorus Pro AX
MSI MPG B550I Gaming Edge Wifi / MAX

There are more, but you get the picture. ;)

That would have took me a week to write.
 
Soldato
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11,618
Location
Finland
All sensible board choises have it.
For X570 Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite and MSI X570 Tomahawk are those sense making qualtiy for money choises.
Those have at least overkill VRMs and good chipset cooler design staying mostly passive, instead of relying constant running of fan. (like for example big marketing hype Asus boards)
 
Associate
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In the same position as OP and was about to ask the same thing in another thread. Glad a searched instead. Any way to sticky this as I'm assuming lots will have the same question.
 
Associate
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10 Dec 2007
Posts
1,689
People are worrying about this way too much. Boards came with 5000 support at the start/mid September. Just buy a board from a place with a high turnover and if you REALLY want to make sure, wait for it to go out of stock and order from the next supply.

If that's still not enough that's already 3 manufacturers who have unveiled board refreshes to accomodate Zen 3 landing in the next ~2 weeks.
 
Associate
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Location
Essex
Sorry where are you seeing that the ASUS ROG Striix X570-I Gaming is listed? I've checked on the Asus site and can't find anything mentioning the ASUS Bios Flashback feature.

That's correct. There's been many people asking about this over on redditt etc. You'd need a 3000 series CPU installed in order to make it 5000 ready as far as I've seen. Could be that Asus will be flashing the very newest stock that goes out but I haven't come across any specific announcements about that.
 
Associate
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1 Sep 2009
Posts
21
That's correct. There's been many people asking about this over on redditt etc. You'd need a 3000 series CPU installed in order to make it 5000 ready as far as I've seen. Could be that Asus will be flashing the very newest stock that goes out but I haven't come across any specific announcements about that.
Do you think Amazon would accept a return on a 3000 CPU if I got one and used it for the bios flash? I don't think I have another option as I would also be coming from an Intel system.
 
Associate
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Posts
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Location
Essex
Do you think Amazon would accept a return on a 3000 CPU if I got one and used it for the bios flash? I don't think I have another option as I would also be coming from an Intel system.

You could certainly try that but it's a bit risky as you will be returning an opened item. I know that AMD have/had a system in place where they would send out a short term loaner CPU although I'm not up to date with how that is working at present.

https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/pa-100
 
Associate
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That's correct. There's been many people asking about this over on redditt etc. You'd need a 3000 series CPU installed in order to make it 5000 ready as far as I've seen. Could be that Asus will be flashing the very newest stock that goes out but I haven't come across any specific announcements about that.
+1

hi guys, i found this thread searching if my mobo asus rog strix b550-i can flash a bios without a cpu
in the manual itself says that it needs a cpu placed on the motherboard for doing that, the thing is that my combo was a b550-i + r7 5800x
and the bios was one of the first ones, i bought the mother a couple of months ago and then wait for the release of the ryzen 5000 series.
without a cpu, the motherboard is like a paperweight. no lights, no sounds, nothing. so you have to put a cpu in order to use the bios features.

thats my grain of sand.
 
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