AMD Am4 platform has been popular because AMD has promised that the platform will be here to stay till 2020 and that includes APUs as well as CPUs. Keeping that in mind, that could soon be coming to an end. Sticking to this superior compatibility model has lead to issues where CPUs would not POST and AMD had to send out boot kits to allow users to boot their systems once the new chips were installed.
This first happened when the AMD Raven Ridge 2400G, as well as the 2200G, came out and the same issue was faced when the new AMD Ryzen 2000 series came out. Although Intel has been keeping compatibility for only two generations until recently, that did solve this issue.
While the last two generation of Intel CPUs feature the same socket the compatibility has been locked which means that if you are interested in moving from a 7th generation CPU to an 8th generation CPU then you will need to upgrade your motherboard and if you have an unlocked CPU, that is not going to be very cheap.
The two generation model has solved the issue of compatibility with older motherboards as Intel is quick to release new chipsets and it also allows Intel to make money off of these new chipsets as well. On the AMD side of things, the AMD Ryzen 2000 series chips work fine with previous motherboards and that should also be the case with the upcoming AMD Ryzen series CPUs as well. While there are new motherboards on the market it is not necessary for anyone to buy one.
While AMD might be taking the high road here, it seems that this is causing a lot of issues for the company and AMD could indeed quit providing AMD AM4 compatibility altogether. I am not sure whether the promise of AMD AM4 compatibility till 2020 will be kept or not but it is safe to say that it is just a matter of time before the company gives in.
Intel has been in the market for a long time even in the absence of AMD and if Intel could not find a solution to the problem at hand then I doubt that there really is one. Sending out boot kits and then getting them back takes a lot of resources, time and leaves customers in a pickle. This is not something that you want when you just got a new CPU and motherboard. All you want to do is install the parts and get right into the action.
Let us know what you think about AMD AM4 compatibility and whether or not this is something that will be dropped in the upcoming months.
