Overview

• In a new interview, AMD executives David McAfee and Travis Kirsch said many failures trace to BIOS/UEFI settings that do not follow AMD’s recommended values.
• Community tracking highlights a concentration of cases with the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, with a disproportionate share reported on ASRock AM5 boards.
• Reports describe severe outcomes including failed processors and occasionally scorched CPU sockets, prompting renewed scrutiny of safety and reliability.
• Manufacturers and independent outlets have investigated, with findings and vendor notes pointing to overly aggressive Precision Boost Overdrive and elevated default power limits on some boards.
• AMD says it is working closely with motherboard partners to resolve the issue and reiterates that installing the latest firmware is the primary mitigation for affected systems.