Users Report Ryzen 7000X3D Chips Burning Out

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Likely a motherboard BIOS issue.

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(Image credit: Speedrookie/Reddit)

High-performance microprocessors tend to get hot and, when overclocked without proper cooling or throttling, can literally burn out When an old CPU does so in an old PC because of dust and a worn out fan, there is nothing surprising about it. But when a new CPU breaks on a shiny new motherboard, that's surprising. This is what happened to an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, one of the best CPUs, which belonged to a Reddit user. And, according to other users, he's not alone. 

"The CPU pad is physically bulging," wrote Speedrookie, the owner of the burned-out processor. "I imagine there was just too much heat on the contacts causing the pad to expand. Not that the CPU has an internal component which exploded."

At least when it comes to AMD's Ryzen 7000X3D-series processors, it appears that this is by far not an isolated case. There are reports from other Reddit users who had the same experience with their Ryzen 7000X3D CPUs on motherboards from Asus and MSI.

Famous overclocker der8auer also had an issue with an AMD Ryzen 7000X3D chip burning out during some early overclocking tests a few weeks ago. As you can see in his video, he says "I did not expect this to happen so quickly and especially right out of the BIOS."

There are about a million of reasons why a modern processor can burn out. Defective sockets or a motherboards are likely causes and insufficient cooling can cause a similar result. A BIOS version that tends to automatically overclock CPUs too much could be a yet another reason for a processor failure. In fact, as noticed by HXL (@9550pro), Asus has just withdrew old BIOSes for many of its AMD X670-based motherboards, but for some of them old BIOSes are still available.

"There is a YouTube channel from Russia, a guy with a team who mainly repairs GPUs," wrote Nolmir87, another Reddit user. "They already have two motherboards from Asus and Ryzen 7000X3D AM5 CPUs in repair that burned in the exact same spot. The socket is dead, the CPU is dead too. They said more mobos and CPUs are incoming to them."

While there isn't enough evidence to draw any conclusions at this point, given the fact that we are dealing with Ryzen 7000X3D-series processors with 3D V-Cache and not with regular Ryzen 7000-series CPUs that bulge in the same spot and die, it is possible that the CCD chiplet with 3D V-Cache SRAM tile on top is getting overheated Perhaps, this happens when a motherboard attempts to boost CPU clocks too high and the chiplets do not get enough cooling. 

While AMD's X3D chips burst their clocks just like regular Ryzens, AMD does not offer these processors with an unlocked multiplier to enable their manual overclocking. Perhaps the reason for the lock is to prevent this situation and maybe an overly aggressive automatic overclock by the motherboard could cause the same malfunction.

Again, given that the information is insufficient to say the least, we cannot make any conclusions at this point. We'll reach out to our contacts at AMD and the motherboard vendors to see if they are aware of any issues. For now, we recommend that those with AMD's Ryzen 7000X3D processors keep a close eye on their CPU temps, use adequate cooling and keep their BIOSes up-to-date.

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Anton Shilov
Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

113 Comments Comment from the forums
  • InvalidError
    It is extremely unlikely that the substrate would bulge like this from a bad socket contact. If socket contact was the cause, everything would have been visibly discolored by the heat.

    Something must have shorted out, caused one or more traces inside the substrate to burn out, vaporizing substrate material and the trapped gasses formed the blister.
    Reply
  • drivinfast247
    FYI: Der8auer raised core voltage to an unsafe and damaging level. And the x3d CPU's do NOT boost like the non 3d chips. They have a much lower maximum clock.
    Reply
  • More likely an overvoltage issue, at least on ASUS mobos.

    Particularly in Der8auer's case, it was reported that the motherboard allowed for voltages beyond what AMD 3D V-Cache CPUs could handle and that led to the chip killing itself.

    During the overclocking session, the ASUS ROG X670E Crosshair Extreme motherboard allowed voltage tuning but not clock tuning on the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D CPU. So voltages were pushed to 1.35V and after a successful boot under LN2 cooling, the voltages were pushed further to 1.55V which seemed to be just too much for the chip to handle.

    Since the 3D V-Cache is a sensitive piece of silicon, it is possible that the higher voltages passing through it may have been just enough to kill it entirely as the chip was unable to boot afterward.

    Unfortunately, this was where the testing would halt, as the system flatlined with the motherboard reading the "00" error code. It might also be possible that the voltage not being locked by AMD to board partners was unintentional, and could have been something AMD missed upon sending samples ??
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    InvalidError said:
    It is extremely unlikely that the substrate would bulge like this from a bad socket contact. If socket contact was the cause, everything would have been visibly discolored by the heat.

    Something must have shorted out, caused one or more traces inside the substrate to burn out, vaporizing substrate material and the trapped gasses formed the blister.
    Where do they say that it's socket contact?!
    They say the CPU burns out, and that can result in the pins shorting.
    Reply
  • helper800
    InvalidError said:
    It is extremely unlikely that the substrate would bulge like this from a bad socket contact. If socket contact was the cause, everything would have been visibly discolored by the heat.

    Something must have shorted out, caused one or more traces inside the substrate to burn out, vaporizing substrate material and the trapped gasses formed the blister.
    I would assume a socket defect causing a short would lead to what you said, no? For instance if some of the pins were not long enough for contact but long enough for arcing, you have your short. Since sockets are mass produced it would make sense that if this defect did exist it would be in multiple boards from the same manufacturers.
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    GamersNexus and the reddit OP are in contact so we can expect a deeper dive into the issue in a future video.


    also I doubt Derbaur's is related to this. He purposefully pushed it into dangerous territory knowing they arent made to do so.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    helper800 said:
    I would assume a socket defect causing a short would lead to what you said, no? For instance if some of the pins were not long enough for contact but long enough for arcing, you have your short.

    A short on the pins would have caused the substrate to get burnt to a crisp from the outside, allowing fumes to escape and cause the burn to crater instead, same with arcing. For the substrate to bulge without obvious external discoloration, the heat source has to be internal to the substrate.

    Since they also say other instances of this issue have blisters in the same location also with X3D chips, there may be issues with V-cache chiplets burning out or drawing excessive current from whichever rail powers them, taking out the substrate trace that powers it along with the socket it sits on.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    Metal Messiah. said:
    Since the 3D V-Cache is a sensitive piece of silicon, it is possible that the higher voltages passing through it may have been just enough to kill it entirely as the chip was unable to boot afterward.
    SRAM leakage current scales a lot like CPU OC when you are at the end of the diminishing return voltage curve: nudge voltage up and current/power flies off the scale. I can imagine how OC experiments could readily fry V-cache chips like that.
    Reply
  • You just got to understand, overclockers just love the burn up stuff
    Reply
  • laxman10100
    hotaru251 said:
    GamersNexus and the reddit OP are in contact so we can expect a deeper dive into the issue in a future video.
    That's good to hear.

    I've been with Intel chips for such a long time now and finally decided to grab a 7800X3D and jump ships to AMD for better gaming performance than my 12900K could handle. I am kinda glad that I decided to snag an ASRock motherboard and presumably won't have to deal with this issue. ASRock did, however, release a 4/20 beta BIOS that has "more RAM compatibility" and AGESA 1.0.0.6....and yet it shafted the compatibility for my 6400M/T CL30 XMP memory sticks - even when I set it set to ignore AGESA parameters... I ultimately had to lower it to 6200M/T and raise the CL to 32 in order to boot (but with poor latency). And oddly enough, no other frequencies work (6000 and lower won't post).

    But on the flip side, my CPU has a lower average temperature now even though my voltages are the same... Weird...
    Reply