MSI motherboards better for TPM 2.0 support than ASUS?

[Praful Kapadia]

I was surprised to see MSI's post on reddit about TPM. Here, you can see that their support for TPM is comprehensive, including Z170-based motherboards.


In contrast, ASUS recently said which motherboards will support Windows 11. On the same page, they say

"TPM 2.0 was introduced back in 2015, and all ASUS motherboards feature version 2.0" (my emphasis).

It is possible, technically, that all ASUS motherboards "feature" TPM 2.0. However, it's definitely the case that not all ASUS motherboards expose TPM via the BIOS or any other way, which means TPM is unusable. An example is my motherboard, Maximus VIII Hero Alpha. This is based on the Z170 chipset, which does support TPM (via Intel PTT) as the many MSI motherboards illustrate. (See my post for background.)


Microsoft backtracked on the Windows 11 hardware requirements soon after the announcement. Initially, Intel 8th gen was the minimum. They then said they were testing 7th gen and that 6th gen would not be supported. Later the statement about 6th gen was removed.


So the Windows 11 hardware requirements are not fixed. Many processors could satisfy their basic requirement of ">1GHz, 2-core processors, 4GB memory, and 64GB of storage".


I have raised a support call with ASUS, who replied about my motherboard:

"This is not currently supported. However motherboards that are still new are being checked and added to compatibility list, if possible via firmware and we will be getting more information as windows 11 approaches on the specifics."

I hope ASUS sort out the TPM support (they can't do anything about the Windows 11 processor requirements). It's disappointing to know that, back in 2016, MSI were supporting TPM 2.0 when ASUS weren't on some of their motherboards.

[arael79]

I was surprised to see MSI's post on reddit about TPM. Here, you can see that their support for TPM is comprehensive, including Z170-based motherboards.


In contrast, ASUS recently said which motherboards will support Windows 11. On the same page, they say

"TPM 2.0 was introduced back in 2015, and all ASUS motherboards feature version 2.0" (my emphasis).

It is possible, technically, that all ASUS motherboards "feature" TPM 2.0. However, it's definitely the case that not all ASUS motherboards expose TPM via the BIOS or any other way, which means TPM is unusable. An example is my motherboard, Maximus VIII Hero Alpha. This is based on the Z170 chipset, which does support TPM (via Intel PTT) as the many MSI motherboards illustrate. (See my post for background.)


Microsoft backtracked on the Windows 11 hardware requirements soon after the announcement. Initially, Intel 8th gen was the minimum. They then said they were testing 7th gen and that 6th gen would not be supported. Later the statement about 6th gen was removed.


So the Windows 11 hardware requirements are not fixed. Many processors could satisfy their basic requirement of ">1GHz, 2-core processors, 4GB memory, and 64GB of storage".


I have raised a support call with ASUS, who replied about my motherboard:

"This is not currently supported. However motherboards that are still new are being checked and added to compatibility list, if possible via firmware and we will be getting more information as windows 11 approaches on the specifics."

I hope ASUS sort out the TPM support (they can't do anything about the Windows 11 processor requirements). It's disappointing to know that, back in 2016, MSI were supporting TPM 2.0 when ASUS weren't on some of their motherboards.

I own the same motherboard as you and I fear it will be going into the trash bin in time to come. It's a pity since it's a fantastic and stable board. It's not a cheap back then, costing nearly USD400 in my country.

[Praful Kapadia]

I own the same motherboard as you and I fear it will be going into the trash bin in time to come. It's a pity since it's a fantastic and stable board. It's not a cheap back then, costing nearly USD400 in my country.

Yes, it's been a perfect board for me. It's coped with everything, including the recent addition of two M.2 cards and a front USB 3/C panel.

Before Win11 was announced, I was thinking this was my 4th build (build = at least mobo/CPU changed). I had a look at the date of the builds and noticed they were coincidentally about 5 years apart. Usually I update mobo/CPU when the system is too slow for my liking. I saw that this build is now 5 years old. I use for dev/photo editing and have a few VMs, docker and WSL running at the same time. I'm not a gamer so I don't need a fast CPU/GPU. I've noticed no slow down for my use case. It still runs fast.

So, it's a shame that a perfectly good mobo will have to be replaced sooner than necessary.

Praful