After endless bad news stories concerning buggy, borked and broken Intel CPUs, now it's AMD turn. Yup, the Reddit threads are alive with the sound of expiring AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPUs.
Specifically, it seems the problem is concentrated on but not necessarily exclusive to ASRock motherboards. To that end, ASRock has released a BIOS update for X870 and X870E boards. However, the update is targeted at systems that are failing to post for specific reasons but will not fix dead CPUs.
Exactly how many AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D chips have gone up in metaphorical smoke isn't clear. Some observers claim that upwards of 40 have been reported on the Reddit megathread, while other audits and cross-referencing of various posts put the number nearer 10.
Either way, this does appear to be a real problem. As per the moderator's post on the ASRock subreddit, "ASRock and AMD are aware of the reports" but it's not yet clear if the problem lies with ASRock or AMD.
According to the pinned ASRock subreddit post, "the CPU deaths seem inconsistent; some CPUs seem DOA, some die within hours/days/weeks. Some deaths seem to be during active use while others occur in an attempted POST/boot."
Some users are reportedly finding that a BIOS flashback revives their rigs, while others appear to be victims of permanently fired CPUs. As for ASRock, along with the BIOS updates, which can be found here, the company posted a statement on its website earlier today.
"ASRock, a global leader in motherboards, graphics cards, mini PCs, power supplies, and gaming monitors, has observed reports on Reddit from users experiencing unexpected boot issues and error codes when using ASRock AM5 motherboards paired with minority proportion of AMD Ryzen™ 9000 series processors. To enhance user experience, ASRock promptly released the latest 3.20 Beta BIOS for its AM5 series motherboards, further improving AMD Ryzen™ 9000 series processors boot issues.
"Users can download and install the BIOS from the official ASRock website or use the BIOS Flashback function on their motherboard for a quick update. ASRock also promises to continue enhancing the compatibility of its products."
Needless to say, that is a somewhat vague statement that omits any mention of dead CPUs, limiting the scope of the issues to "boot issues and error codes". On face value, that seems a little disingenuous given that the Reddit reports unambiguously include numerous reports of not only boot issues and error codes, but also actually dead chips.
It's also unclear if this latest debacle is related in any way to earlier reports of 9800X3Ds suffering dramatic "burn outs" on MSI motherboards, which we covered in November last year. That seemed to be a relatively isolated issue while these latest failures appear to be more widespread.
Indeed, one Redditor reports suffering two 9800X3D failures, which is pretty grim if true. For the record, MSI and Gigabyte are among the other motherboard brands which appear to be implicated, the heavy majority of reports concern ASRock.
For now, it's very hard to say how many of the reports of "dead" CPUs are just that or how many might later turn out to be "boot issues and error codes" that can be resolved with a BIOS update.
For now, if you are running a 9800X3D in any kind of motherboard but particularly an ASRock board, the best advice seems surely to be to update to the latest available BIOS. Keeping a weather eye on the Reddit megathread and ASRock's support page would also seem to be a sound approach. Good luck!
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