Early AGESA Versions Responsible For Possible Ryzen 7000 Delayed Release
For unknown reasons, previous rumors indicated that the Ryzen 7000 release date could be pushed back to September 15th to 27th. But now, according to one report, Hardware Luxx, (opens in new tab) I know why. AMD is reportedly addressing AGESA issues on the motherboard side, and if it becomes official, this will be the main reason for the delayed release date.
Unfortunately, HardwareLuxx states that they have not been told (by the source) why there is a problem with the AGESA microcode.
If you’re unfamiliar with AGESA, it’s virtually the core firmware for all modern motherboards and microprocessors from AMD. As a result, AGESA has become a key aspect of all Ryzen systems today. Unfortunately, AGESA bugs can disrupt system stability and cause critical components such as USB ports, memory, PCIe buses, clock speeds, and power delivery to stop working properly.
It’s easy to guess why AMD has such problems with low-level motherboard software. AM5 is an all-new motherboard architecture, featuring new connectivity standards for AMD such as DDR5 and PCIe 5.0, and an all-new chipset design. Overall, end-to-end testing of new system architectures is difficult (if not impossible) to do under time constraints.
This is why almost every new platform from Intel or AMD has “game-breaking” bugs on launch day, as developers and engineers are unfamiliar with the state-of-the-art architecture.
Nonetheless, AMD should provide “minimum” stability on the first day of release. If this condition is not met, the release window should be pushed forward to prevent the platform from collapsing in the hands of users.
With evidence of both Ryzen 7000’s rumored release date delay and major AM5 motherboard software issues, it seems likely that AMD will move the release date to the 27th. But it’s better to be safe than sorry.