MSI's New BIOS Restricts Ryzen 7000X3D Voltages

MSI is rolling out new UEFI BIOS firmware for its AM5 motherboards that limit the overvoltage of AMD's Ryzen 7000X3D-series processors. The company says that the release is a response to reports concerning Ryzen 7000X3D CPUs overheating, bulging, and damaging motherboards.

"Recently, there have been reports of the 7000X3D series CPUs being damaged, which may have been caused by abnormal voltage issues," a statement by MSI on Reddit reads. "It is important to note that the Ryzen 7000X3D-series CPUs do not support manual voltage and frequency adjustments, but only support PBO (Precision Boost Overdrive) overclocking. In order to prevent over-voltage and reduce the risk of damage to the Ryzen 7000X3D-series CPUs, MSI has added some restrictions in both the AM5 series BIOS and the MSI Center."

"The BIOS now only supports negative offset voltage settings, which can reduce the CPU voltage only," the representative from MSI said. "MSI Center also restricts any direct voltage and frequency adjustments, ensuring that the CPU won't be damaged due to over-voltage."

"For those looking to enhance the performance of their 7000X3D CPUs, an option called Enhanced Mode Boost is offered in BIOS," the MSI spokesperson explained. "This option optimizes the PBO settings, allowing the 7000X3D series CPUs to achieve better performance without any manual voltage adjustments."

(Image credit: MSI)
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.