AM4 (A question, not news - don't get excited)

So AM4 motherboards look like they'll be appearing substantially ahead of Zen itself as I understand Bristol Ridge is going to be AM4 socket and that should be appearing in the next couple of months.

If Zen is any good I'm almost certainly going to get it in which case I'm tempted to get everything else earlier and a Bristol Ridge APU to try out.

Do people think the AM4 motherboards that are released this Summer will be fully forward compatible with Zen and wont be lacking any important features? I don't mind buying a Bristol Ridge APU knowing I'll probably replace it, but I don't want to have to replace the motherboard too.

h4rm0ny said:

So AM4 motherboards look like they'll be appearing substantially ahead of Zen itself as I understand Bristol Ridge is going to be AM4 socket and that should be appearing in the next couple of months.
If Zen is any good I'm almost certainly going to get it in which case I'm tempted to get everything else earlier and a Bristol Ridge APU to try out.
Do people think the AM4 motherboards that are released this Summer will be fully forward compatible with Zen and wont be lacking any important features? I don't mind buying a Bristol Ridge APU knowing I'll probably replace it, but I don't want to have to replace the motherboard too.

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This is not my forte but I would presume that AM4 will be compatible with Zen as that is the way it has been previously with the other AM sockets being compatible with the "performance" CPU line up. It would make sense that AMD would launch their latest and greatest socket for their future CPU's. IIRC they were condensing the APU/CPU lineups into just one socket anyway so I suppose that supports this (Again don't quote me on this)

Thanks. I'm fairly sure that the Zen will plug into one of the earler AM4 boards. I'm more worried about getting stuck on some older chipset missing things I want like the 970/990FX division. Both AM3+ but one is superior. Just wondering how safe I am to buy the motherboard early.

Appreciate the reply.

Personally I wouldnt risk it, a discreet CPU and an APU are two different things. Just because they have the same socket doesnt mean the board will support both.

I could be completely wrong but for me I wouldnt risk having to buy two boards

Why would you buy a motherboard before CPU's.
Also, I really can't see the board being out before the CPU.

Relentless81 said:

Personally I wouldnt risk it, a discreet CPU and an APU are two different things. Just because they have the same socket doesnt mean the board will support both.
I could be completely wrong but for me I wouldnt risk having to buy two boards

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I wouldn't risk it either but from previous info that was released they "should" work in the same boards but this may come at the cost of certain features missing

Martini1991 said:

Why would you buy a motherboard before CPU's.
Also, I really can't see the board being out before the CPU.

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Because my current motherboard isn't doing so well and I really want some of the newer features as well (in particular PCI-E SSD which would be very useful for my work). I'm interested in the new APUs and if IPC are good enough it might be a viable stop-gap for me until Zen comes out. I'm on an FX-8350 currently so unless Zen is a disaster it's going to be a substantial upgrade for me regardless.

So it's either muddle along with my current set up which I'm not happy with, upgrade to something I'll probably want to replace within five months or get AM4 when it comes out with Bristol Ridge, have some fun playing around with it and then get Zen when it's released. Currently I'm going along with the muddling through but if it looked safe, I'd be happy to eat the cost of a Bristol Ridge APU and use it in the interim, subject to its performance.

Don't make the mistake I did.

I had Phenom 965, and bought a fancy expensive AM3+ motherboard whilst waiting for faildozer.

The whole point of AM4 is to offer a unified socket and broad support.

Buy the motherboard with the cpu, as I can guarantee that once full fat Zen is released there will be new motherboards out to compliment them. They could include anything from better overclocking through the bios, extra features or a better aesthetic.

AiiR said:

Buy the motherboard with the cpu, as I can guarantee that once full fat Zen is released there will be new motherboards out to compliment them. They could include anything from better overclocking through the bios, extra features or a better aesthetic.

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Thanks. I don't care about the aesthetic - it will be in my big boxy computer case where it will stay hidden until the day it is replaced. But "extra features" are what I care about. I guess I'll see what they're like when they appear and the price and make a decision then if I want to risk it. But following comments like yours, I'll probably hold off.

Cheers.