While AMD officially released its 3rd generation Ryzen CPUs on July 7th, the red team has been really struggling with this new architecture since its launch. Apparently, the launch did not go as smooth as the team would expect, making it a pain in the ass building a new Ryzen 3000 system. Still, AMD is doing its best to address most of the issues affecting its CPUs, and is also offering free boot kits for those owning older B450 or X470 motherboards that want to use them with their brand new Ryzen CPUs.
Going into more details, the red team is currently offering PC owners an AMD Athlon 200GE Processor, including thermal solution, for short-term use (“boot kit”) to perform the BIOS update on their motherboard.
This short-term processor loan or boot kit is offered through AMD warranty services and is available only for qualified users that a) have made a valid purchase of a 3rd Gen Ryzen™ Desktop Processor and b) are unable to boot that processor because the user’s current X470/B450 BIOS must be upgraded first.
While the new Ryzen CPUs are also compatible with B350/X370 boards, AMD did not clarify whether owners of such motherboards are also qualified for receiving these free boot kits.
As AMD stated:
“Once you have submitted your claim for a processor loan boot kit, AMD will require pictures of your 3rd Gen Ryzen™ Desktop Processor and AMD Socket AM4 400 Series motherboard, which clearly shows the model numbers and unique serial numbers as well as a copy of the purchase invoice(s) to authorize the request. Additionally, a summary or copy of communication with the motherboard manufacturer is requested to indicate why support from the Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) is not suitable.
Once the RMA request is approved, the AMD Athlon 200GE processor will be sent with pre-paid return shipping. The processor is provided as a temporary loan to you for the sole purpose of updating the BIOS and must be returned within 10 business days of receipt. It is not necessary to return the provided thermal solution.”
Those wishing to receive a free boot kit should go to the AMD online warranty claims page (https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/warranty-information/rma-form), fill in their full contact and product details (3rd Gen Ryzen Processor OPN number and serial number), and in the Problem Description field enter “Boot kit Required” (without quotes).
In case you are wondering, the new Zen2 CPUs are not yet available in our region. Furthermore, and as we’ve already said in the first paragraph, there are numerous issues with these CPUs that AMD is addressing right now (for example, Destiny 2 is not working with them). The new X570 motherboards are also in a very early (or should I say beta) stage with most manufacturers releasing new BIOSes almost every week. Hell, some X470 motherboards perform even faster than the new X570 motherboards. For these reasons, we’ve decided to wait and build our Zen2 system once things have settled down.
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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