Intel x299, bios update will remove kaby-lake support

All motherboards with the Intel X299 chipset will need an upgrade to support the upcoming Intel Cascade Lake-X CPUs, the Intel Core i9-10980XE, i9-10940X, i9-10920X, and i9-10900X.

Intel X299 will remove support for i5-7640X and i7-7740X processors

However, this week Intel released a note stating that if we update our X299 motherboard to support Cascade Lake-X, the board will no longer support two Kaby Lake-X processors: the i5-7640X and i7- 7740X.

The Kaby Lake-X family is not exactly known for its success in the market. It was basically a flop and has been removed from all retailers, so it's no wonder Intel has chosen these two chips to remove from support.

However, if we are users of precisely any of these two chips under an X299 motherboard, then we will have to avoid updating the BIOS under any circumstances. Fortunately, all motherboard vendors specify changes to different BIOS firmwares on their download pages. It is highly recommended to read the changes and warnings on the support page of our motherboard before taking the step of updating the BIOS in any situation.

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Vendors typically stop supporting old or selected CPUs due to limitations on BIOS chip capacity. Each individual CPU needs its own input with its respective configuration.

This same phenomenon happened to AMD in May, when we learned that X570 motherboards, which debuted with Ryzen 3000 series CPUs, were not compatible with first generation Ryzen models despite having the same socket. We will keep you informed.

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