New AMD Ryzen 7000X3D chips are burning and no one knows why

Joel Loynds
AMD Ryzen 7800X3D on fire

Multiple reports over the last couple of weeks have shown that the new AMD Ryzen CPUs are burning out and destroying the motherboard in the process.

A post on Reddit over the weekend sparked concerns over the safety of their systems. In the photo, the motherboard’s CPU socket has a dark burn mark and the processor itself has bulged considerably. According to the user, the whole system is dead because of it.

The new AMD CPUs from the Ryzen 7000 roster tend to run incredibly hot. AMD has stated that they see these new temperatures as “normal”, however, it appears that it could be down to the BIOS.

ASUS Board with burnt patch from AMD cpu

On April 22, Twitter user HXL found that Asus had taken down multiple older BIOS files from its support pages, while another Reddit thread collating all the known instances of this happening suspects it’s down to the firmware on the motherboards.

AMD’s latest CPU, the Ryzen 7800X3D, which has been at the heart of the issue, launched last month to rave reviews. However, the Reddit poster and the commenters hadn’t expected to see it bulge. Another user posted a video of the Ryzen 7700X with the same hardware failures, bulging from the top.

One user speculated that Asus’ past habits of pushing more voltage to the CPU might be the root of the issue here.

No comment from AMD on burnt-out hardware

Neither AMD nor Asus has come out with a statement regarding the hardware failures. It’s to be noted that as far as we can tell, no overclocking was in place on affected motherboards.

In the ensuing chaos of motherboards frying processors, Gamers Nexus’ Steve offered to purchase the broken hardware for the full retail price to conduct his own analysis on it.

A Russian repair channel on YouTube also found that the CPUs were burning out in similar spots when attempting a repair themselves.

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About The Author

E-Commerce Editor. You can get in touch with him over email: joel.loynds@dexerto.com. He's written extensively about video games and tech for over a decade for various sites. Previously seen on Scan, WePC, PCGuide, Eurogamer, Digital Foundry and Metro.co.uk. A deep love for old tech, bad games and even jankier MTG decks.