Current AMD AGESA 1.0.0.7 BIOS Firmware Riddled With Bugs, New Patch To Intro Thermal Limitations & Fix Memory Compatibility

AMD's current AGESA 1.0.0.7 BIOS firmware seems to be riddled with issues and comes with various memory compatibility bugs.

Following the recent reports of AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs and AM5 motherboards burning up, AMD and its partners issued a quick but temporary fix for the platform that lowered the SoC voltage to 1.3V. The red team also confirmed that a more refined BIOS will be shipping in early May that will introduce additional thermal limits to eliminate any possible voltage burnouts on the new chips.

While the majority of AMD's partners issued an update through AGESA 1.0.0.6 BIOS firmware, ASUS decided to go with a BETA release of AGESA 1.0.0.7 BIOS firmware. However, the actual AMD AGESA 1.0.0.7 BIOS firmware release may have to wait since the current version has various flaws & issues including buggy memory overclocking and compatibility.

AMD has confirmed with board partners about the existence of these issues and is now working on a newer 1.0.9.0 firmware (internal naming) which is expected to mitigate these issues but there's no guarantee that all of it will be fixed. It is advised that all board vendors who were planning to roll out BIOS based on the existing 1.0.7.0 firmware roll back to an older version for now.

This means that you have to stick with the latest AGESA 1.0.0.6 updates that include voltage limits but no thermal limits which are included in the internal 1.0.7.0 revision.

According to leaker, chi11eddog, the current AGESA 1.0.0.7 BIOS firmware can only offer support for DDR5-4400 speeds compared to DDR5-6000 speeds on the AGESA 1.0.0.6 BIOS. This means that EXPO has been limited and the only way to enjoy faster memory speeds is to use the older AGESA firmware.

From sources:“PROCHOT Control” and “PROCHOT Deassertion Ramp” in AGESA 1.0.7.0 (internal testing ver.) is NOT avaialable in AGESA 1.0.0.7.Also rumored RAM compatibility of 1.0.0.7 is worse than 1.0.0.6. Eg. 192GB stable frequency: 6000MT/s (1.0.0.6) -> 4400 (1.0.0.7) w/SOC 1.3v.

— chi11eddog (@g01d3nm4ng0) May 4, 2023

Motherboard vendors will be receiving the first 1.0.9.0 firmware (internal use) in the coming week and since they will take some time to test and finalize, we can expect the newest public AGESA BIOS to roll out by mid or even the end of May. It is not known if the new AGESA firmware will release as the standard 1.0.0.7 or 1.0.0.7a (Patch A). If the same bugs appear within the latest release, then you'll be waiting a bit more to grab the latest BIOS for your motherboards.

In response to the Ryzen 7000X3D CPU burnout incident, AMD released the AGESA 1.0.0.7 firmware to save lives. According to the motherboard manufacturer, it does not simply limit the SOC voltage to 1.3V, but also modifies the PROCHOT Control and 'PROCHOT Deassertion Ramp Time is two mechanisms related to thermal safety, .7000X3D users must update to AGESA 1.0.0.7 BIOS as soon as possible

It is understood that PROCHOT Control is a function related to CBS and SMU COMMON. It is a thermal safety function used to prevent the processor from overheating. When the temperature of the processor reaches a critical value, the CPU or other system components will send a PROCHOT signal. The processor The power is then reduced to lower the temperature and prevent possible damage. PROCHOT Deassertion Ramp Time is the time definition for the processor to return to normal power again after the PROCHOT overheating signal occurs. The time interval required for the processor to gradually increase its power and return to normal operating conditions when the temperature drops back below the critical value.

AGESA 1.0.0.7 obviously becomes conservative in the definition of PROCHOT, the voltage and temperature thresholds related to PROCHOT and SOC / IMC will be greatly reduced, and the interval time between power consumption recovery will be longer, which means that this CPU burn event is not a single cause, On the one hand, the SOC voltage is too high, coupled with the imperfect thermal management, but it will take time to verify whether the problem can be really solved.

via HKEPC

The current AMD AGESA 1.0.0.7 firmware also doesn't include PROCHOT Control & PROCHOT Deassertion Ramp Time functions which are included within the internal 1.0.7.0 release. These are also expected to appear in the newer 1.0.9.0 release which will serve as a patched AGESA 1.0.0.7 firmware. In conclusion:

Expect more information regarding the latest BIOS from motherboard vendors in the coming weeks.