AGESA 1.0.0.3 ABBA - 1.0.0.4 Boot Time Comparison (Image credit: HKEPC)

It appears that AMD's upcoming AGESA 1.0.0.4 micrcode (think of a microcode as being like CPU firmware) not only improves the all-core boost clock speed for AMD Ryzen 3000-series chips, but also delivers shorter boot times.

MSI has deployed new firmwares with the AGESA 1.0.0.4 Patch B microcode for its X570 motherboards. The company is touting improvement in boot times by up to 20%. MSI's test system used the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU, MSI's MEG X570 Godlike motherboard and a pair of 8GB DDR4 memory modules (brand not specified).

Hong Kong media HKEPC tested MSI's latest firmware on the over-engineered MEG X570 Godlike motherboard, and the reported results were in line with MSI's figures.

MSI's Results AGESA 1.0.0.4 Patch B AGESA 1.0.0.3 ABBA Improvement Boot up system after CLEAR CMOS 25 seconds 33 seconds 24.2% Save and exit (F10) 16 seconds (Boot up to BIOS) 23 seconds (Boot up to BIOS) 30.4% Normally boot up system 16 seconds (Boot up to BIOS) 23 seconds (Boot up to BIOS) 30.4%

Since the time your PC takes to boot into Windows is dependent on a number of factors, MSI and HKEPC measured the time it takes to get inside the motherboard's BIOS instead.

On the AGESA 1.0.0.3 ABBA microcode, HKEPC registered a boot time of 22 seconds. When HKEPC switched over to the AGESA 1.0.0.4 microcode, the boot time went down to 17 seconds, a 22.7% improvement.

The publication also measured the boot times after clearing the motherboard's CMOS. With the current AGESA 1.0.0.3 ABBA microcode, the MEG X570 Godlike motherboard took 34 seconds to boot up. The boot time decreased to 26 seconds on the AGESA 1.0.0.4 microcode, a 23.5% reduction.

The new firmware is available as of today for MSI X570 motherboards. MSI 400-series Max motherboard owners will get theirs in the middle of November, while MSI 400-and 300-series motherboard users have to wait until the end of November.