Intel, AMD & VIA CPU Microcode Repositories
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This is a collection of every Intel, AMD and VIA CPU microcode we have found. You can use MC Extractor to check instantly whether a microcode is already at the repository.
Collecting all available Production CPU microcodes is important for upgrading/downgrading purposes, for creating universal tools that can help people understand what microcode they use, for research on how the general technology works, for developers with no vendor representative who want to work on a given platform etc.
Disclaimer: All the microcodes below come only from official BIOS/UEFI updates, Intel Linux Microcode Updates, Linux Distributions, Windows Updates etc which were provided and made public by various manufacturers! It is always advised to request and/or wait for your OEM/OS to release newer fixes. The microcodes are gathered and provided with the sole purpose of helping people who are out of other viable solutions. Thus, they can be extremely helpful to those who have major problems with their systems for which their manufacturer refuses to assist due to indifference and/or system age.
All microcodes at the repositories have some common attributes and are categorized based on them as follows:
- Every microcode targets a specific CPUID which encodes info such as Family, Generation etc. For example, Intel 0x000906EB or AMD 0x00810F10 or VIA 0x00010690.
- Every microcode has an Update Revision which is increased when fixes are applied. For example, 0x00000A0B < 0x00000A0E. Only Latest microcodes are included in the repositories.
- Every microcode has a Date which relates to its public release, in ISO8601 YYYY-MM-DD format. For example, 2018-01-02 or 2016-12-09.
- Every microcode includes a Checksum to check its validity during deployment to manufacturers. For example, 0x64731550 or 0xA8B24DC2.
- Intel microcodes have a Platform field which signifies the supported CPU family sockets. For example, 0xC0 or 0x03 or 0x00 or 0x76.
- Intel microcodes are distinguished between Production and Pre-Production Release. Only Production microcodes are included in the repositories.
- VIA microcodes have a human readable Signature which shows the CPUID and Update Revision. For example, 06FA003BB or BJ_6FE_0205.
There is a certain mentality which is followed in order to structure the microcode repositories properly:
- Every firmware filename follows the structure cpuCPUID_platPlatform(Intel)_verUpdateRevision_Date_Release(Intel)_Checksum and has a .bin extension. For example: Intel cpu906EB_plat02_ver0000007C_2017-12-03_PRD_5046D998, AMD cpu00800F11_ver08001129_2017-07-14_4F426450 or VIA cpu10690_ver00000001_sig[BJ_10690.020]_2017-01-09_A8B24DC2.
- All microcodes are checked by MC Extractor to verify their health, size etc. Please check MCE's description to learn more of its features and capabilities.
- Due to the fact that there are too many CPU micrcodes, everything is placed in one vendor-specific folder and the user is responsible for finding the proper CPUID and Platform they require.
- The update status of all CPU microcodes (Latest Yes/No) relies on their CPUID, Update Revision and Date.
- The update status of Intel microcodes additionally relies on their Release, which is either Production (PRD) or Pre-Production (PRE). For example, a hypothetical microcode cpu206A6_plat12_ver00000028_2010-09-15_PRD is "Latest" compared to the "Outdated" cpu206A6_plat12_ver00000022_2010-07-07_PRD but so is cpu206A6_plat12_ver00000028_2010-09-15_PRE. That's because, compared to the other two, it is Pre-Production and not Production. Please note that MC Extractor can detect that as well and will show both as being "Latest" due to their difference in Release, even if everything else is the same or in favor of one or the other.
- The Platform field of Intel microcodes can contain up to 8 supported sockets, based on Family and Generation. The user needs to determine if their chosen microcode update has the same or more Platforms compared to the currently loaded CPU microcode from the BIOS or OS. You can use MC Extractor to check each Intel microcode's supported platforms. For example, if your current microcode has CPUID 0x00000F4A and Platform 0x5C (2,3,4,6) you can update to a newer microcode which has the same CPUID of 0x00000F4A but Platform 0x5D (0,2,3,4,6) since it additionally includes platform "0". On the other hand, you cannot update to a newer microcode with the same CPUID of 0x00000F4A but Platform 0x58 (3,4,6) as it doesn't include the original "2" and your socket might not be supported, depending on how "2" is decoded in Intel's private socket names. Please note that MC Extractor can detect that as well, so if you cannot find the exact CPUID & Platform combo at the repository, as the one you currently have, it might be because there is another microcode with the same CPUID but with more supported platforms. For example, in 2017, microcodes with CPUID 0x000906E9 & Platform 0x22 (1,5) were succeeded by CPUID 0x000906E9 & Platform 0x2A (1,3,5) in order to add KBL-X support at LGA2066 socket.