According to Toms’ Hardware MSI's just has brought in initial support for what’s most likely to be Ryzen 9000 CPUs.  MSI's latest firmware for its AM5 chipset motherboards is flaunting AGESA 1.1.7.0, and it's whispering sweet nothings about AMD's "next-gen CPU."

Asus is in on the action, too, with a BIOS update that struts the same AGESA version.

This means that two big-shot motherboard moguls have rolled out the red carpet for these hotshot Zen 5 processors. And it's not just the Ryzen 9000, aka 'Granite Ridge' CPUs, we're talking about – there's also the Fire Range APUs strutting their Zen 5 stuff.

It's early days, but the rumours are that we are looking at a third-quarter curtain-raiser, and the motherboard manoeuvres only fan the flames. Chips could be on the scene as early as July. The grand unveiling might be at Computex this June, setting the stage for a summer of silicon love.

Leaks are hinting at a beefy 15 -20 per cent performance leap for the Ryzen 9000.