AMD has confirmed on its official website that the Radeon RX 9000 series graphics cards will only support UEFI systems for full compatibility. This doesn’t necessarily mean that CSM/legacy systems will stop working, but it does mean that AMD will not take responsibility for any issues that may arise when using these older systems with their new GPUs.
As explained by Tom’s Hardware, the term BIOS is commonly used to refer to all firmware types that motherboards use to boot up systems. This includes UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface), which is the modern version. UEFI is often referred to as BIOS as well, even though it’s technically a different type.
To maintain compatibility with older hardware, UEFI systems often include a Compatibility Support Module (CSM), also known as legacy mode in some systems. However, the new Radeon RX 9000 series cards will not officially support these modes.
The Benefits of UEFI Over Legacy Systems
UEFI offers modern features such as a user interface and support for drives larger than 2.2TB. One of its key features is Secure Boot, which is required for installing Windows 11, for example.
This decision also applies to GPUs from AMD’s RDNA 4 generation onward, which means future AMD graphics cards will also only officially support UEFI.
According to AMD’s post, UEFI firmware provides critical functions for your PC, including starting and powering the processor, detecting and configuring memory, setting up data buses and peripheral devices on the motherboard, monitoring and controlling core hardware, and helping Windows communicate with your PC’s components.
