ASUS & ASRock Start Rolling Out BIOS Support For Intel 14th Gen Raptor Lake Refresh CPU

ASUS & ASRock have started rolling out their first BIOS firmware patches that enable support for Intel's 14th Gen Raptor Lake Refresh CPUs.

ASUS & ASRock 600/700-Series Motherboards To Receive New BIOS Support For Intel's Next-Gen Raptor Lake Refresh Desktop CPUs

The BIOS support for Intel's next-gen desktop CPUs codenamed 14th Gen Raptor Lake Refresh was first rolled out by Gigabyte. The motherboard manufacturer introduced next-generation CPUs on both 600 and 700-series motherboards and now other manufacturers are following up. ASRock and ASUS are the latest to start rolling out initial BIOS firmware that will enable support for Intel's 14th Gen CPUs.

As spotted by Momomo_US, ASRock's B760M PG Sonic WIFI and a few others are the first to receive BIOS updates for the next-generation processors. Although manufacturers aren't explicitly saying it is the 14th Gen Raptor Lake Refresh family there's enough evidence that the lineup exists & will be introduced in September, followed by a launch in October. The ASRock 5.04 BIOS for the B760M is the one you should get to enable support for the upcoming CPUs. Though this is an initial BIOS and it is wise to wait for the BIOS that's available closest to the launch of the chips since several tweaks & adjustments are made at the very last moment.

Meanwhile on the ASUS camp, spotted by HXL, the company has rolled out initial BIOS firmware for its high-end ROG Maximus Z790 APEX motherboard. The BIOS version is labeled "1203" and offers system stability along with compatibility for the next-generation processor lineup. The APEX will be the one motherboard that will break some world records with Intel's Raptor Lake Refresh Desktop CPUs along with offering insane memory overclock speeds thanks to its dual-DIMM configuration.

As for the Intel Raptor Lake Refresh lineup itself, we came to know just recently that Intel won't be using its new Core branding for the desktop parts (yet). As such, the chips will still utilize the 14th Gen naming convention and come in both K and Non-K chips which will be launching a few months apart from each other. The 14th Gen desktop lineup will be an intermediate solution that acts as the last LGA 1700/1800 family before the company transitions to the new LGA 1851 socket.

Motherboard vendors have decided to stick with their existing 600 and 700-series motherboards to support the 14th Gen Intel Raptor Lake Refresh CPU family instead of offering a new 800-series DIY refresh.

With that said, there are newer 700-series motherboards being rolled out with upgraded power delivery and I/O capabilities that users who haven't upgraded from older 400 or 500-series can take advantage of. ASRock is one of the manufacturers who has even considered going the cost-effective route with its Taichi-Lite series which you can check out here.

Written by Hassan Mujtaba