As we move closer to the highly anticipated release of the AMD Ryzen 4000 desktop processors people are starting to wonder about the upgrade potential of their existing PC systems. PC enthusiasts like to be able to carry on using their currently in-use premium components if possible, and AMD has been pleasing users purchasing its Ryzen range of CPUs/APUs in recent years by enabling (relatively) painless transitions through generations of desktop processors.
German PC maker XMG, owned by Schenker Technologies in Leipzig, has given a clear indication of motherboard compatibility which will please many current AMD Ryzen users, going forward. In a reddit thread discussing the XMG Apex 15 laptop which (in)famously features a beefy AMD Ryzen desktop CPU, XMG says that the current Picasso packing machine will be compatible with Vermeer with a BIOS microcode update.
Specifically, XMG's Apex 15 laptop come packing a B450 Chipset motherboard (and is currently sold with up to an AMD Ryzen 9 3950X with 16 cores and 32 threads, running at 65W). It says that the upcoming Ryzen 4000 series Vermeer desktop CPUs "are slated to be compatible with B450 Chipset via microcode update".
The above shouldn't really come as a surprise with AMD's previous track record and assertions that its Socket AM4 is its "future-proof platform". You can see that statement and the list of currently supported AM4 platforms here. Nevertheless it is nice to see that the B450 is confirmed to support Vermeer, and that gives the nod to other similarly dated chipsets like the X470. How far back will compatibility go? With the previously seen laggardly BIOS updates for Ryzen 3000 CPU support of X370 and B350, owners of these might not enjoy the warm satisfaction of being able to support latest and greatest AMD 2020 CPUs.
According to the latest rumours on the grapevine, AMD Ryzen 4000 'Zen 3' 'Vermeer' desktop CPUs will arrive in September this year. These will have apparently been delayed from June - a Computex 2020 reveal - due to Covid-19, according to Taiwanese motherboard making sources.
