BIOS

BIOS are generally a bit trickier to configure after the upgrade to DDR5.

Context Memory Restore

Once a newly installed computer boots up, expect it to stay black for ~1-2 minutes during boot while DDR is trained.

To avoid this, you can enable _Memory Context Restore_ found here on the ASUS B650E-F:

Advanced - AMD CBS - UMC Common Options - DDR options - DDR memory features - Memory Context Restore

By enabling this, the computer will then do one training on the next reboot, and then reuse that data for upcoming boots, giving the same kind of boot behavior as DDR4 and below.

AMD EXPO

This allows for auto overclocking according to your DDR5 memory. This may increase DDR training time.

Enabling both AMD EXPO and Context Memory Restore should work well, but sometimes it gives stability issues, and you have to refrain from using one of them.

For me, it worked fine with the 1807 BIOS, but not with the 2616 BIOS.

No display

Sometimes the displayport can not be used while configuring BIOS. This is the case on the ASUS B650E-F in conjunction with a RTX 3070 graphics card. You have to connect the HDMI to see the BIOS screen every time.

= Method for BIOS updating for ASUS Rog Strix B650E

• Connect HDMI to monitor
• Disconnect Displayport to monitor
• Put BIOS CAP file on USB stick and reboot into bios (DEL after DDR5 training)
• Advanced - Tools - EZ Flasher, update BIOS
• After full update, hit F1 to enter BIOS, do a "Load Optimized Defaults" and reboot again
• Go into BIOS and change:
  • Advanced - Ai Tweaker - Ai Overclock Tuner - EXPO I
  • Advanced - Boot - Secure Boot - OS Type - Windows UEFI Mode
  • Advanced - Boot - Secure Boot - Secure Boot Mode - Standard
• Save and reboot, verify that Windows boots and is stable. Verify DDR frequency is 3GHz (DDR-6000).
• Either be happy here and live with 1.5 minutes extra boot time, or attempt CBS:
• Reboot again, hit DEL (after DDR training) to enter BIOS and change:
  • Advanced - AMD CBS - UMC Common Options - DDR options - DDR memory features - Memory Context Restore - Enabled
• Save and reboot (DDR training will happen one final time)
• Verify that Windows boots and is stable.
• Reboot, DDR training should now be much faster. Verify that Windows is stable. Verify DDR frequency is 3GHz (DDR-6000)