Asus has seemingly dropped a significant hint in the marketing for a new motherboard: its upcoming AM5 boards will support next-generation AMD Ryzen CPUs built on the Zen 6 architecture. The new Asus B850M AYW Gaming OC board, designed with overclockers in mind, appears ready to handle future AMD processors, as indicated by a recently spotted marketing image.
AMD’s Zen 6 architecture is rumored to bring substantial changes to both core counts and clock speeds. Leaks have hinted at a potential 24-core AMD CPU and impressive 7GHz clock speeds. Crucially, this revelation suggests that users may simply need to update their existing AM5 motherboard’s BIOS to accommodate these new CPUs, avoiding the need to purchase an entirely new system for an upgrade.
The marketing materials were discovered on the Chinese retail site JD.com by IT Home, featuring a section that clearly highlights ‘Zen6 64MB BIOS’ in one of the images. This large BIOS capacity points to broad CPU support across multiple generations, with the ‘Zen6’ mention specifically confirming support for the new Zen 6 architecture, alongside today’s AM5 CPUs.
AMD’s commitment to long CPU socket lifespans has consistently offered a significant advantage over Intel. The AM4 socket, for instance, supported four generations of Ryzen CPUs, allowing users to upgrade to newer chips like the 5000-series X3D models with just a BIOS flash on older motherboards.
In contrast, Intel’s LGA1851 socket, used by current Arrow Lake CPUs, is expected to be phased out for their new Nova Lake processors, following the recent retirement of the LGA1700 socket. This means Intel users will likely need a new motherboard for Nova Lake upgrades, while owners of AMD Ryzen 7000-series CPUs and newer could potentially upgrade to a Zen 6 chip by simply purchasing a new processor.
While Zen 6 is still a distant prospect, if you’re looking to upgrade your CPU now, consider consulting guides for the best gaming CPUs and gaming motherboards to find the ideal components for your current build and possibly future upgrades. For those seeking top-tier performance, recent reviews of chips like the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D highlight excellent performance for both gaming and productivity tasks.
Are you excited by the prospect of an easy Zen 6 CPU upgrade? Share your thoughts with us!