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ASRock confirms its BIOS settings are killing Ryzen CPUs, is fully committed to fixing any damaged motherboards

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New BIOS will reduce PBO limits.

Biostar updates AM5 motherboard BIOS
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ASRock confirmed that it is responsible Ryzen 9000 failures plaguing ASRock motherboard owners. In a discussion between Gamers Nexus and ASRock's VP of motherboards, Chris Lee, the company confirmed its latest BIOS revision, 3.25, alters certain PBO settings to stop Ryzen 9000 chips from failing.

A few days ago, YouTuber Tech Yes City revealed that ASRock had allegedly solved its Ryzen 9000 problem. The issue surrounded three power and voltage-related functions, Electric Design Current (EDC) and Thermal Design Current (TDC) in Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO), and shadow voltages which were set too high in older ASRock firmware. ASRock has since provided BIOS version 3.25 to its armada of AM5 motherboards with re-tuned EDC, TDC, and shadow voltage settings to rectify the issue.

ASRock Failures Face-to-Face: Motherboards, BIOS, & Burned 9800X3D CPUs - YouTube ASRock Failures Face-to-Face: Motherboards, BIOS, & Burned 9800X3D CPUs - YouTube
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ASRock confirmed to Gamers Nexus that it is solely responsible, and AMD's chips aren't causing problems. ASRock also stated it will cover shipping costs both ways if users RMA their motherboards. However, it notes that it has not seen a single damaged motherboard in this whole ordeal.

If customers RMA their motherboard with the faulty CPU, ASRock will automatically send the CPU back to the retailer from which the customer bought it. ASRock is not recommending users RMA this way; rather, this was to clarify what happens if this scenario occurs (particularly for less tech-savvy focused customers).

ASRock also recommends that users check if BIOS version 3.25 is installed on brand-new AM5 ASRock motherboards and not to assume it is already preloaded from the factory. ASRock also apologized for not being as transparent with customers about the problem as it could be.

This is the second time ASRock has had to provide BIOS updates to fix its "Ryzen 9000 death" problem. The first time, ASRock pinned the Ryzen 9000 failures on memory compatibility issues and claimed initially that the problem was fixed with a new BIOS update that rectified the memory compatibility issues. Only time will tell if ASRock's second attempt will be successful.

Evidence has already emerged that ASRock has not fully resolved this issue. At least two Reddit reports online claim that their Ryzen 7 9800X3Ds died with the 3.25 BIOS update.

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Aaron Klotz
Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Nitmare64
    "Its our fault but dont blame us for your burned CPU. Go to AMD" ASRock, you guys are really something else..
    Reply
  • dt9999
    I had installed the 3.25 BIOS update last week only to see it was pulled and replaced by 3.26. I have an X870 Steel Legend WiFi with a 9900X that I built about 7 months ago. Never had any issues, but I have it running at stock and never overclocked it.
    Reply
  • flamingspinach
    I think this article misinterprets some parts of the interview.

    Article:
    ASRock confirmed to Gamers Nexus that it is solely responsible, and AMD's chips aren't causing problems.
    Interview:
    Steve: So is that an AMD issue? AMD CPU issue?
    Chris: No we're not saying it's an AMD issue, we found that it's related to our BIOS setting, one of our BIOS settings

    (IMO "we're not saying it's an AMD issue" is pretty different from "we are saying it's not an AMD issue")

    Article:
    If customers RMA their motherboard with the faulty CPU, ASRock will automatically send the CPU back to the retailer from which the customer bought it. ASRock is not recommending users RMA this way; rather, this was to clarify what happens if this scenario occurs (particularly for less tech-savvy focused customers).
    Interview:
    Steve: Correct me if I'm wrong on any of this. The recommendation from ASRock is to update to 3.25; if you buy a new board don't assume it has 3.25 on it because it might have been at the retailer already, even before the change. If there's a defect, then ASRock will pay for shipping both ways, and I guess either swap the board if it's broken or... if there's a CPU issue, I mean, are you replacing the CPUs? Or you send it back to the customer and tell them to go to AMD? Or how does that work, if they send both in and the CPU's the problem?
    Chris: I mean, ASRock, we only sell the motherboards, right? So, the CPU, if they buy from, let's say, any e-tailer or retailers, they just send it back and say it's defective.
    Steve: So then you would send it back to them?
    Chris: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
    Steve: And then they go through AMD, I guess, to warranty the CPU. Or the retailer, yeah.
    Chris: Yeah, if that happens.

    I interpret this as Chris saying that ASRock will send the CPU back to the customer and then the customer would have to RMA it with AMD or whoever they bought the CPU from. Not sure how the article writer interpreted it as basically the opposite.
    Reply
  • rentbox
    flamingspinach said:
    I think this article misinterprets some parts of the interview.

    Article:

    Interview:


    (IMO "we're not saying it's an AMD issue" is pretty different from "we are saying it's not an AMD issue")

    Article:

    Interview:


    I interpret this as Chris saying that ASRock will send the CPU back to the customer and then the customer would have to RMA it with AMD or whoever they bought the CPU from. Not sure how the article writer interpreted it as basically the opposite.
    This. Thank you for the good call-out.

    I watched this earlier and there are three categories that ASRock is attributing failures to, but stops short of saying "we're responsible".

    If you're going to rehash another outlets news, please do it justice by actually being informed about it's content.
    Reply
  • YSCCC
    TBF it does seem like it's an Asrock issue, as so far it's very concentrated that the Asrock boards are frying the CPU as opposed to the 7800X3D or intel raptor lake pattern. It sucks for the consumer to get "lucky" and hope they can find out the root cause sooner than later
    Reply
  • craigss
    I dont get it , excuse my ignorance but from what i have taken away from this Asrock have said the issue is the Bios settings, but if you have a failed CPU due to the settings then you need to take that up yourself with AMD or retailer?
    WTH?
    Guess I have bought my last Asrock but then again what else do you expect from an Asus offshoot
    Reply
  • randomizer
    flamingspinach said:
    I interpret this as Chris saying that ASRock will send the CPU back to the customer and then the customer would have to RMA it with AMD or whoever they bought the CPU from. Not sure how the article writer interpreted it as basically the opposite.

    ASRock wouldn't even know where the CPU was purchased from.
    Reply
  • luperian
    flamingspinach said:
    I think this article misinterprets some parts of the interview.

    Article:

    Interview:


    (IMO "we're not saying it's an AMD issue" is pretty different from "we are saying it's not an AMD issue")

    Article:

    Interview:


    I interpret this as Chris saying that ASRock will send the CPU back to the customer and then the customer would have to RMA it with AMD or whoever they bought the CPU from. Not sure how the article writer interpreted it as basically the opposite.
    Thanks flamingspinach, I scrolled to the comments immediately after that first statement hoping that someone would point this out.

    The article is just wrong and misrepresents the tone of the interview also. This was an ambush from Steve and not an example of AsRock being accountable.

    "However, it notes that it has not seen a single damaged motherboard in this whole ordeal."

    This line seems a bit out of context. The VP seemed to be implying that it was an issue with the CPU when he said this (without explicitly blaming AMD). A far cry from taking sole responsibility.
    Reply
  • dalek1234
    So AMD is on the hook for replaying CPU's fried by A$$Rock, but A$$Rock will replace any damaged motherboards, yet no boards have been damaged, only CPU's.

    Translation: "ASrock: stay away from us because we are a scummy brand".

    Got it. Thanks for the tip!
    Reply
  • YSCCC
    craigss said:
    I dont get it , excuse my ignorance but from what i have taken away from this Asrock have said the issue is the Bios settings, but if you have a failed CPU due to the settings then you need to take that up yourself with AMD or retailer?
    WTH?
    Guess I have bought my last Asrock but then again what else do you expect from an Asus offshoot
    I think partly for Asrock is that they won't have stock or even with some legal issues if they stock various AMD CPUs for replacement? The issue for customer is obvious that AMD or local dealer could reject RMA due to the burnt marks. IMO they can at best pay the customer to buy their burnt CPU with the original reciept.
    Reply