Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) inches up in pre trading session on Monday as AMD has officially diagnosed the issue with certain Ryzen 7000X3D processors burning up and is presently putting out fresh software to permanently resolve the issue. The burning up of Ryzen CPUs has been one of the most talked about topics in the PC world in recent weeks, with AMD issuing an official statement stating that extremely high voltages on AM5 motherboards with the new Ryzen 7000X3D processors were hurting both the chip and the motherboard.
AMD provided a statement about the burnout issues that certain Ryzen 7000X3D CPU customers have been experiencing. The issue, which has been reported in numerous Reddit subforums, involves certain Ryzen 7000X3D CPUs burning off a portion of the chip and breaking the AM5 socket. AMD issued a second statement this morning on the issue, detailing what it is doing to resolve the issue and put Ryzen 7000 CPU users at ease.
The company stated that it has identified the main cause of the problem and has already deployed a revised AGESA that implements safeguards on particular power rails on AM5 motherboards to prevent the CPU from operating over its specification limits, including a 1.3V SOC voltage limiter. None of these modifications impair their Ryzen 7000 Series CPUs’ ability to overclock RAM with EXPO or XMP kits, or improve performance with PBO technology.
The company anticipates that all of its ODM partners will release new BIOS for their AM5 boards in the next days. The company advises all customers to visit the website of their motherboard maker and update their BIOS to verify their system has the most up-to-date software for their CPU.
Anyone whose CPU has been affected by this problem should contact AMD customer service. Their customer care representatives are aware of the problem and are prioritizing these instances.
To address the issue, AMD appears to have uncovered a problem with particular chip voltages being excessively high when users enable AMD’s EXPO memory profiles. The key change in the AGESA firmware deployment appears to be a new restriction on SoC voltages.
However, AMD’s broad statement mentions that the update will address multiple power rails, implying that the problem may extend beyond the SoC power rail – or, at the very least, that AMD isn’t taking any chances. So what this all means is unclear, as AMD hasn’t specified in detail what it’s doing outside of SoC power limits to keep Ryzen CPUs from exceeding their specification limits.
Enabling EXPO memory profiles is technically a form of overclocking – that is, operating the processor outside of specifications – because AMD’s Ryzen 7000 family only officially supports DDR5 memory up to DDR5-5200 speeds. Going beyond this puts extra strain on the memory controller in terms of clockspeeds; however, the major problem is how the different voltages on the chip are being changed to meet the needs of higher memory speeds.
One intriguing aspect of AMD’s statement is that it does not specify if the problem is limited to its Ryzen 7000X3D processors or affects all Ryzen 7000 processors. Regardless of which Zen 4 chip consumers have, AMD’s phrasing is vague, and it appears that AMD recommends that all users with a Ryzen 7000 series CPU upgrade to the newest software.
In any event, AMD is actively working with its motherboard partners to deliver a new AGESA firmware with the increased voltage limitations, which they claim is currently available. AMD believes that all AM5 motherboard suppliers and models will have a new BIOS version available within the next few days, and advises all customers to upgrade their BIOS as soon as possible.
