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Lenovo vendor locking Ryzen CPUs with AMD PSB

servethehome.com

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Re: Lenovo vendor locking Ryzen CPUs with AMD PSB

#21

Post by jfim »

This different article from STH explains what the AMD PSB is, without having to watch a video: https://www.servethehome.com/amd-psb-vendor-locks-epyc-cpus-...

> An OEM who trusts only their own cryptographically signed BIOS code to run on their platforms will use a PSB enabled motherboard and set one-time-programmable fuses in the processor to bind the processor to the OEM’s firmware code signing key. AMD processors are shipped unlocked from the factory, and can initially be used with any OEM’s motherboard. But once they are used with a motherboard with PSB enabled, the security fuses will be set, and from that point on, that processor can only be used with motherboards that use the same code signing key.

Basically, the CPU once in that mode will only work with the same signing key, and cannot be put on a motherboard from another brand (or potentially another model from the same manufacturer).

Re: Lenovo vendor locking Ryzen CPUs with AMD PSB

#23

Post by vel0city »

AnotherGoodName wrote: post #3

Could it be AMDs doing behind the scenes? I don't see the motivation for Lenovo here but I do see AMD asking vendors to do this to prevent OEM CPUs completing with retail CPUs.

The motivation from Lenovo's customer perspective is theoretically the customer knows this was the processor intended for the machine by Lenovo and nobody swapped it out in between the Lenovo factory and the customer's hands.

Of course, no system is perfect so it's not a full guarantee and also there's the impact to the secondary market. But if you're an enterprise leasing these machines you don't care about the secondhand market anyways.

Re: Lenovo vendor locking Ryzen CPUs with AMD PSB

#25

Post by rasz »

YXNjaGVyZWdlbgo wrote: post #20
rasz wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine its Lenovo asking for lower prices on Chinese market bound CPUs and AMD being super happy killing secondary market after seeing Intel server/workstation CPUs flooding out of Asia.

It makes sense for server security as discussed by the same source as the op https://www.servethehome.com/amd-psb-vendor-locks-epyc-cpus-...

except those arent server chips

Re: Lenovo vendor locking Ryzen CPUs with AMD PSB

#26

Post by vel0city »

rasz wrote: post #14
UltraViolence wrote: post #7

Quoted post unavailable.

You misunderstood. This is about resale of base components. Go to ebay and look up 2-3 generations old Intel chips - super cheap from China. With this you wont find cheap AMD parts since they will be locked to Lenovo motherboards.

FWIW, they're not locked to Lenovo boards you just need to have a board that can be configured to not care about the PSB.

Re: Lenovo vendor locking Ryzen CPUs with AMD PSB

#27

Post by R0b0t1 »

jfim wrote: post #21

This different article from STH explains what the AMD PSB is, without having to watch a video: https://www.servethehome.com/amd-psb-vendor-locks-epyc-cpus-... > An OEM who trusts only their own cryptographically signed BIOS code to run on their platforms will use a PSB enabled motherboard and set one-time-programmable fuses in the processor to bind the processor to the OEM’s firmware code signing key. AMD processors…

Notably this seems to happen to CPUs that you might purchase yourself, which seems like a huge liability. If you somehow burn a $1000 CPU on a shitty mobo I can't see most people eating that.

Re: Lenovo vendor locking Ryzen CPUs with AMD PSB

#29

Post by YXNjaGVyZWdlbgo »

rasz wrote: post #25
YXNjaGVyZWdlbgo wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It makes sense for server security as discussed by the same source as the op https://www.servethehome.com/amd-psb-vendor-locks-epyc-cpus-...

except those arent server chips

That's why I said in my initial comment that lenovo is the first vendor that uses it on workstation cpus. ie. Threadripper epyc is very much a server chip.

Re: Lenovo vendor locking Ryzen CPUs with AMD PSB

#30

Post by NablaSquaredG »

vel0city wrote: post #26
rasz wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You misunderstood. This is about resale of base components. Go to ebay and look up 2-3 generations old Intel chips - super cheap from China. With this you wont find cheap AMD parts since they will be locked to Lenovo motherboards.

FWIW, they're not locked to Lenovo boards you just need to have a board that can be configured to not care about the PSB.

This is not correct. The locks does happen on the CPU level. If the board cannot provide a BIOS with a valid signature from the key that was burned into the CPU, the CPU will refuse to boot (PSB prevents it from booting)
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