When building a new PC, longevity and upgradability of components are often at the forefront of the purchasing process. AMD has historically given its chipset platforms a long life, with numerous upgrades over time. AMD's AM5 platform appears to be no exception, with recent BIOS updates from ASUS and MSI all but confirming compatibility with AMD's next-gen CPUs. AMD's Zen 5 Ryzen 9000 series appears to be supported, allowing for a painless drop-in upgrade for existing users.
The AGESA version is now Combo AM5 P1 1.1.7.0 Patch A, released for a variety of AMD 600 series motherboards for both ASUS and MSI. Other vendors surely will follow, as we can expect with the eventual release.
The current AM5 Ryzen 7000 series has been popular, but it started off life at a snail's pace. The initial release of AMD's AM4 Ryzen 5000 CPUs rocketed AMD to the most dominant position in gaming CPUs, eclipsing Intel. They had the benefit of being a drop-in upgrade for AMD AM4 motherboard owners, such as X570 motherboards.
With the introduction of AMD's Ryzen 7000 lineup, an entirely new platform was also needed with AM5. This carried with it the requirement for DDR5 RAM, which was at the time more expensive than widely available DDR4.
AMD's AM5 platform has matured, however, and is brimming with success with CPUs such as the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D. Therefore, with owners already possessing the requisite DDR5 and AM5 motherboards, it is sensible the next generation will be a drop-in upgrade.
ASUS BIOS showing an update for next-generation Ryzen CPUs
With a much easier upgrade path, AMD's Ryzen 9000 CPUs should prove to be popular. PC gaming hardware has been in a bit of a lull lately, since the primary motivator for new upgrades is often the GPU. Aside from NVIDIA's GeForce RTX Super refresh, there has not been much in the way of enticing hardware.
Coupled with gamers holding on to their wallets a bit tighter, and it means that PC hardware has to be both easy to upgrade and affordable to make a splash. Already owning compatible motherboard will surely be a boon to sales. While availability of these new AMD Zen 5 Ryzen 9000 CPUs is unknown, they should be expected in 2024 at some point. With NVIDIA also potentially releasing new GeForce RTX 50 series later in the year, it may be an exciting time to upgrade hardware.
