Changing from firmware TPM to discrete TPM

hello all,
So I am currently using firmware TPM and a little while back I purchased a TPM chip that plugs into my motherboard. If I plug the TPM into my board could it cause any issues? Do I just go into bios and change it from firmware to discrete? I am not using bitlocker or anything. I just want to make sure it doesn't mess something up. I made sure to buy the correct one for my asus motherboard. Everything looks like it should plug in correctly.

I have done this myself, both fTPM to discrete and back again with no problems. Gigabyte X570.

BrianInEngland said:

I have done this myself, both fTPM to discrete and back again with no problems. Gigabyte X570.

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Ok then I will install it next time I turn off my pc. So just boot into bios and change to discrete after I plug it into the board?

What is the point of doing this?

cereberus said:

What is the point of doing this?

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I thought having firmware TPM makes the processor do more work or am I wrong? If there is no point in doing it i won't bother but I was just inquiring.

ryanlever said:

I thought having firmware TPM makes the processor do more work or am I wrong? If there is no point in doing it i won't bother but I was just inquiring.

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There is no need to do it; you are just adding another potential point of failure to your system.

z3r010 said:

There is no need to do it; you are just adding another potential point of failure to your system.

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Ok thanks ya I won't bother

z3r010 said:

There is no need to do it; you are just adding another potential point of failure to your system.

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I'm just about to change over to a discrete TPM module - I'm hoping to fix the well-documented AMD fTPM stutter that is still a problem (audio stutter, intermittent mouse pauses) despite supposed fixes via BIOS updates.

Also, my 5900X / X570 machine doesn't support attestation, due to missing EK certificates it seems. Less of an issue, but still not right.

I have the most recent firmware (BIOS) and chipset drivers installed but still have these issues, so I'll see what installing a dTPM does.

Yearofthegoat said:

I'm hoping to fix the well-documented AMD fTPM stutter that is still a problem (audio stutter, intermittent mouse pauses) despite supposed fixes via BIOS updates.

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AMD fTPM will never get fixed, simply because fTPM is software, TPM is hardware, fTPM is a pretend TPM.
Buying a separate TPM was the best $10 ever spent. I do not have to update BIOS causing other issues.

Well, it's installed and so far no stutter. It's always difficult or impossible to prove a negative, but so far so good.

I've run all my audio software and things like YT videos - no stutters or mouse hiccups.

And I have "Attestation: Ready" now.

I should add that I bought am MS-4136-compatible NewHail TPM2.0 module. LPC 14Pin, Infineon SLB9665, firmware version 5.63.3353.0 dated 21st September 2016. Windows doesn't report a fault with the firmware like it reportedly does for modules with earlier firmware versions from 2013.

TairikuOkami said:

AMD fTPM will never get fixed, simply because fTPM is software, TPM is hardware, fTPM is a pretend TPM.
Buying a separate TPM was the best $10 ever spent. I do not have to update BIOS causing other issues.

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The issue is fixed a long time ago, including USB issues...the problem is that people are ignorant and complain that their stuttering is still caused by fTPM. Not all MBs has gotten the firmware update though and never will, but that is not AMDs fault.

What is AMDs fault however is that many of their CPUs has internal issues. Another cause of the stutters is also that people overclock the infinity fabrik and that in turn causes issues within games and even on desktop completely random.

I have bought TPM modules for three motherboards for AMD processors, and there was a slight modification to be made in the BIOS, after fitting the module, the fTPM can be deleted

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but I forget the exact details. At the time, I got advice from some of the forum guru's. You have to be very careful to get a module which has the exact pinout and is also compatible with the particular motherboard. You can check if the module is working in device manager and also in the security details.

SlicEnDicE said:

The issue is fixed a long time ago, including USB issues...the problem is that people are ignorant and complain that their stuttering is still caused by fTPM.

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That's quite an insulting comment - and actually not at all correct. The issue is NOT fixed.

If you don't like my own first-hand experience, just check out the AMD Community pages, there are plenty of folks who have followed all the advice re. running stock settings, updating chipset drivers, applying BIOS updates etc. Just like me.

The only thing that fixed the stutter on my X570/5900X machine was to turn off fTPM and use a dTPM.

Yearofthegoat said:

just check out the AMD Community pages, there are plenty of folks who have followed all the advice re. running stock settings, updating chipset drivers, applying BIOS updates etc.

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There are also plenty of folks with your exact setup without any issues on neither Windows 10 nor Windows 11. The underlaying issue must be somewhere else. fTPM going crazy can be caused by many things and disabling it may have worked for you as a bandage, but the underlaying issue is not solved.

It could be as simple as having a bad driver configuration. I had this issue on my laptop for instance. Went through about 25 different Radeon drivers and same amount of Chipset drivers, where some were stuttery, some did crash Windows with AMD-V enabled and some just were lacking or had dead configurations in Adrenaline software.

Also some MBs default configs are not AMD fail safe, which sux. Modern setups has so many settings that it's easy to get lost. One switch or number wrong and the system comes crawling down.

Even a simple thing as a bit unstable RAM may cause issues, not to the point it crash but causing a lot of stutters and slow downs. While this is not AMD related, there's this one Intel config that gladly runs one set of RAM at 6000MT/s while several other sets can't even do 4200MT/s even if they're rated higher as the well working RAM. Timings and voltages adjustment made no difference.


...just saying...

I'm well aware that PC configurations are complex.

If I revert everything to stock and I disable fTPM = no stutter.
If I configure everything and disable fTPM = no stutter.

As soon as I enable fTPM the system stutters. This happens in Windows 10 and 11. This happens with unfixed BIOSes and with the one that is supposed to contain the fix. I've tried with and without USB peripherals, different graphics cards, audio cards, different mice and keyboards.

The only way to prevent the stuttering is to disable fTPM, or as I've now found, use a dTPM.

Just saying.

Just out of curiosity, after updating the BIOS, did you reset it and also do a full fTPM clear? Then reinstall Windows wiping everything?

Also do you play or have installed any games that uses kernel level anticheats? You know this if your game anticheats require a reboot after install.

What AV do you use?

Do you encrypt your disk drive? If so, with what software?

Another thing I noticed about your system is that you're using 2 PCIe4.0 SSDs but have a PCIe3.0 GPU. It is a known issue on your board model that if you have PCIe gen set to AUTO in BIOS with mix and match different generation devices, it causes stuttering. Setting everything to same lowest generation, PCIe3.0 in your case, solves this issue.

Install from add optional features the TPM diagnostics utility.
Cheers
jimbo

I guess i have been lucky, not seen any issues with stuttering on my 3 AMD rigs, i went out tonight and googled it a bit after reading this post. It certainly seems to be an issue for many. Lucky for me, my box is stable as a rock.