We may earn a commission when you buy through links in our articles. Learn more.

Early AMD Ryzen BIOS update further increases CPU clock speeds

A BIOS AGESA update for 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen processors further increases boost clock speeds under heavy load

3rd Gen AMD Ryzen CPU

A recently released AGESA update for 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen processors further increases boost clock speeds under heavy load. AMD’s recent code update, AGESA Combo-AM4 1.0.0.4, is now available on at least three motherboards from ASRock, and, in preliminary testing, has been shown to further increase Zen 2 boost clocks.

AMD’s Ryzen 3000 CPUs soared to the top of our best gaming CPU list following their July launch. However, even with chart-topping performance in hand, there were some questions of unattainable boost frequencies from enthusiasts – since admitted by AMD – that the company has been seeking to rectify with AGESA updates buried in your BIOS ever since.

The latest, as teased by the MSI YouTube channel a few weeks ago, has been promised with over 100 ‘fixes’ for its planned launch in November. However, this AGESA update has arrived early in Germany across three ASRock boards, and comparative testing carried out by Computer Base reports that you can expect a moderate, but not trivial, increase in clock speed as a result.

Testing an AMD Ryzen 7 3800X on both AGESA 1.0.0.3ABBA and AGESA 1.0.0.4, Computer Base reports a 50MHz increase in boost clock under load across all eight cores.

We suspect some improvement in boost frequencies will be available across the entire 3rd Gen Ryzen lineup.

The maximum boost frequency of the chip remains the same. Rather the behaviour of the chip under load has been adjusted to allow for an increase when the chip’s working at its hardest. This all builds upon similar changes introduced with the AGESA 1.0.0.3ABBA update, which AMD initially intended to increase boost clocks under load and keep desktop idle behaviour steady.

The AGESA 1.0.0.4 update is now available on the ASRock X570 Taichi, X470 Taichi, and X370 Taichi. You can download the BIOS from JZ Electronic (pending they remain live). But please note these are still in beta, and so may not be entirely representative of the performance or stability of the final version.