Comments on: Lenovo Vendor Locking Ryzen-based Systems with AMD PSB

By: UhhhuhNoWay

UhhhuhNoWay — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 21:08:35 +0000

This is BULLLLLLLL Lenovo, SHAME ON YOU!!! I can’t tell you how many low income families we have helped by making PC’s affordable to them using components off the second hand market. All this does is keep people from upgrading and pushes back “Right to repair” into the dark ages. STOP DOING THIS! Other vendors, just know the enthusiast community will always piece-meal something together before buying some locked down non-upgradable crap! They also speak very loudly to friends and family members when it comes to “What not to buy” Have a good day! 😉

By: Sightus

Sightus — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 14:17:02 +0000

Update:
I) Using a new CPU works if a) PSB is disabled or b) if you “lock” the new CPU if you want to use PSB

II) The shipped CPU (Ryzen 7 Pro 5750G) cannot be used in any other retail motherboard. I checked several vendors and chipsets. I haven’t checked if the locked CPU can be used in other Lenovo systems.

Conclusion: This is some sort of “killer feature” but in a bad sense…

By: Sightus

Sightus — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 10:02:59 +0000

I have ~250 M75t with AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5750G incoming. So the CPU might be locked, I will test it in a few days. Is there any chance that this only affects Ryzen PRO and not the non-PRO?

By: Patrick Kennedy

Patrick Kennedy — Sun, 02 Jan 2022 22:10:05 +0000

We often do not have hardware for 7 months, plus STH moved in 2020 so by April the goal was to get everything back to vendors and not take on new products that we would have to move.

We also would have needed at least two more AM4 platforms that support the CPU for a control experiment, and at least one more CPU that was unlocked. We also would have wanted a second Lenovo system to test that.

I know things may sound simple, but we cannot test everything immediately.

By: chithanh

chithanh — Sun, 02 Jan 2022 21:58:22 +0000

Patrick,

> “Rather not try” chithanh? We just did not have the parts/ a second unit so I did not want to tell folks that we had tried if we did not.

What for would you need a second unit? Do you have any other AM4 mobo that has the the Ryzen PRO 4750GE in its CPU compatibility list? An example would be the ASRock Rack X570D4U which STH reviewed in late 2020:

https://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=X570D4U#CPU

So you could install it there to see whether it works, and report that to your readers.

By: Dev Martin

Dev Martin — Sun, 02 Jan 2022 19:18:42 +0000

I wasn’t planning to buy Lenovo anyway but at this point I’d be fine with them just going out of business. It should be a requirement for them to be etched on the lid if they’re crippled like this. No idea why it’s even used at all.