B450 Tomahawk Max - Upgrading to 5000 series. Don't use the beta bios!

The Artfull Bodger · 3 May 2021 at 17:32

Just wanted to let others know who have B450 tomahawk max boards and are looking to throw in a 5000 series chip. Don't use the most recent beta bios, just spent a couple of hours fault finding as although my 3600 worked fine, my Pc wouldn't even power up (with the exception of usb's) with a 5000 series. It also wouldn't let me flash the bios via usb with the cpu installed. Suffice to say, it's now up and running, but I have exhausted my supply of thermal paste and sanity in the process!

JTrickle · 3 May 2021 at 17:51

The Artfull Bodger said:
It also wouldn't let me flash the bios via usb with the cpu installed.

Hasn't that always been the case, that you are supposed to have only the power supply connected, nothing else. For bios flashback method on MSI.

DeliciousStorage · 3 May 2021 at 17:56

The Artfull Bodger said:
Just wanted to let others know who have B450 tomahawk max boards and are looking to throw in a 5000 series chip. Don't use the most recent beta bios, just spent a couple of hours fault finding as although my 3600 worked fine, my Pc wouldn't even power up (with the exception of usb's) with a 5000 series. It also wouldn't let me flash the bios via usb with the cpu installed. Suffice to say, it's now up and running, but I have exhausted my supply of thermal paste and sanity in the process!

I have a B450 Tomahawk Max with the latest Beta BIOS (7C02v3B2), works just fine for me with a 5600x.

The Artfull Bodger · 3 May 2021 at 18:06

DeliciousStorage said:
I have a B450 Tomahawk Max with the latest Beta BIOS (7C02v3B2), works just fine for me with a 5600x.

Can't explain it, but 7C02v3B2(Beta version) definitely wouldn't boot or power up for my 5900x, worked fine with 3600.

JTrickle said:
Hasn't that always been the case, that you are supposed to have only the power supply connected, nothing else. For bios flashback method on MSI.

Sorry should have been more clear, the issue was I had to keep removing the cooler and cpu to retry the beta bios/install the previous 7C02v3A version. I have flashed the bios previously with the 3600 installed with this method numerous times ok, so it can be done, its just the beta bios (i'm guessing) didnt recognise the cpu which prevented this.

DeliciousStorage · 5 May 2021 at 17:36

The Artfull Bodger said:
Can't explain it, but 7C02v3B2(Beta version) definitely wouldn't boot or power up for my 5900x, worked fine with 3600.

Sounds like you have a faulty motherboard rather than there being a problem with the Beta BIOS. I'm sure if there was a compatibility issue it would have been pulled by now. I upgraded to a 5950x which also works fine with it. Seems a little bit ridiculous pairing a £740 CPU with a £90 motherboard but I can't see any benefit from upgrading it.

Joxeon · 5 May 2021 at 18:31

JTrickle said:
Hasn't that always been the case, that you are supposed to have only the power supply connected, nothing else. For bios flashback method on MSI.

Doesn't really matter what you have installed it's just that the msi demo vid shows without the CPU.

The Artfull Bodger said:
Can't explain it, but 7C02v3B2(Beta version) definitely wouldn't boot or power up for my 5900x, worked fine with 3600.

Sorry should have been more clear, the issue was I had to keep removing the cooler and cpu to retry the beta bios/install the previous 7C02v3A version. I have flashed the bios previously with the 3600 installed with this method numerous times ok, so it can be done, its just the beta bios (i'm guessing) didnt recognise the cpu which prevented this.

Maybe the issue was from fitting the 5900X rather than the bios.

I'm guessing that now it's working that if you updated to the beta it would boot fine although at this point it's probably not worth messing about with it anymore.

The Artfull Bodger · 5 May 2021 at 20:35

Joxeon said:
Maybe the issue was from fitting the 5900X rather than the bios

Updated the bios to the beta with 3600 in it originally days before and probably reseated the 5900x at least 3 times on that bios, including a fresh install and CMOS reset. Soon as I popped the 3600 back in on the beta powered up. Installed previous version popped 5900 in and once again powered up. So why not impossible highly unlikely that it was the CPU and not the bios. I also checked all PSU connections, case power switch was working and backed off cooler screws in case overtightened.
Anyways it's working and I'm experiencing no issues, planning on having this setup for a long time so can't be bothered buying more thermal paste, finished off my kryonaut and two tubes of noctua paste already

Joxeon · 5 May 2021 at 20:50

The Artfull Bodger said:
Updated the bios to the beta with 3600 in it originally days before and probably reseated the 5900x at least 3 times on that bios, including a fresh install and CMOS reset. Soon as I popped the 3600 back in on the beta powered up. Installed previous version popped 5900 in and once again powered up. So why not impossible highly unlikely that it was the CPU and not the bios. I also checked all PSU connections, case power switch was working and backed off cooler screws in case overtightened.
Anyways it's working and I'm experiencing no issues, planning on having this setup for a long time so can't be bothered buying more thermal paste, finished off my kryonaut and two tubes of noctua paste already

Did you clear CMOS after installing the 5900X as sometimes that helps when swapping CPUs when the board don't like it.

As @DeliciousStorage said if it was a bios issue it would have likely been picked up by now and the bios removed given that the bios has been live for a few weeks now.

The Artfull Bodger · 5 May 2021 at 20:59

Joxeon said:
Did you clear CMOS after installing the 5900X

Yeah, took the battery out for a few mins to clear, was the first thing I did.

The Artfull Bodger · 5 May 2021 at 22:52

DeliciousStorage said:
Seems a little bit ridiculous pairing a £740 CPU with a £90 motherboard but I can't see any benefit from upgrading it.

Perfectly agree, they are cracking little boards for the money and I was already using a
Noctua NH-C14S top flow cooler so hopefully should help keep vrms nice and cool.

_Cereal_ · 6 May 2021 at 07:02

using a b450 tomahawk max currentlywith a 5800x since i had a 3600 previously and its been working perfectly, even managed to tinker with the settings, PBO2 and what not and it did not skip a single beat, also overclocked RAM to 4000mhz without issues, one of the best budget purchases ive made in a while, i think it costed me like 90 quid 2 years ago lol.

Wommers · 6 May 2021 at 12:47

Sorry to hijack this thread but I have a normal B450 tomahawk with a 2700 installed. If I upgraded the bios to the latest version my CPU would still run fine as it only takes away support for Ryzen 1000 series, am I right?

Joxeon · 6 May 2021 at 13:42

Wommers said:
Sorry to hijack this thread but I have a normal B450 tomahawk with a 2700 installed. If I upgraded the bios to the latest version my CPU would still run fine as it only takes away support for Ryzen 1000 series, am I right?

It probably would be ok but unless your going to upgrade the CPU then I don't really see it being worth while.

Wommers · 10 May 2021 at 08:37

Thanks. Yeah it would be to upgrade the Cpu without faffing on with the bios flashback. Cheers for the reply

Scougar · 11 May 2021 at 19:10

Not that it might help, but with the 350 tomahawk board I found that if things go wrong with an overclock to regain stability (even stock settings wouldn't work)... you need a full bios reset... AND... if you are updating bioses, you NEED to do a full settings reset and and battery removal. It just wouldn't show the correct bios if you didn't. I assume these little quirks carried over to the 450 as well.

Joxeon · 11 May 2021 at 19:15

Scougar said:
Not that it might help, but with the 350 tomahawk board I found that if things go wrong with an overclock to regain stability (even stock settings wouldn't work)... you need a full bios reset... AND... if you are updating bioses, you NEED to do a full settings reset and and battery removal. It just wouldn't show the correct bios if you didn't. I assume these little quirks carried over to the 450 as well.

Ive always just shorted the JBAT jumper pins with a flat screwdriver on my b450 tomahawk when the overclocking failed and it wouldn't boot, then back to bios load OC profile and continue etc.

Quartz · 11 May 2021 at 19:17

The Artfull Bodger said:
but I have exhausted my supply of thermal paste and sanity in the process!

Switch to a sliver of indium. No mess, no fuss, and only a degree or two off thermal paste. And reusable.

DeliciousStorage · 11 May 2021 at 19:40

Quartz said:
Switch to a sliver of indium. No mess, no fuss, and only a degree or two off thermal paste. And reusable.

So worse performance and more expensive than thermal paste? No thanks, spending 5 minutes cleaning off thermal paste once in a blue moon isn't that inconvenient.

Quartz · 11 May 2021 at 22:05

It's not more expensive in the long run. Don't forget the costs of the solvents, cleaning materials, and most importantly the time. And we're talking a difference of 1-2 degrees. Against that you have increased ease of use.

DeliciousStorage · 11 May 2021 at 22:29

Quartz said:
It's not more expensive in the long run. Don't forget the costs of the solvents, cleaning materials, and most importantly the time. And we're talking a difference of 1-2 degrees. Against that you have increased ease of use.

It's a fiver for 4g of MX-4 which is good for 10+ applications, and usually most decent coolers already come with a tube of good thermal paste which will last for the lifetime of the cooler. I already have a bottle of isopropyl alcohol and kitchen roll is fractions of a penny. Time cleaning is on average 5 minutes over 2-3 years which is not worth consideration.