AMD Ryzen 9950X3D CPU render.
AMD Ryzen 9950X3D CPU render.
Another day and another AMD Ryzen 9000 X3D CPU has died in an ASRock motherboard. But this time, it wasn't the 9800X3D, which has quite a few instances of this issue occurring, but the brand new 9950X3D. The new chip failed after nine days of operation, which should discount ASRock's recent claims that the problems were caused by socket debris. The user was running the latest BIOS, though, so they should have a clear path to a refund or replacement.
For the past few months, more and more cases of AMD Ryzen 9800X3D CPUs failing in odd ways have appeared. Some have simply failed to boot from the get-go, while others have seemingly died after days or weeks of operation. In some niche cases, users have found burn marks in the CPU socket and on the backside of the processor itself. Although these instances have happened with a range of motherboards from different manufacturers, it appears to happen with ASRock boards more than any others.
Failed 9950X3D CPU.
Credit: u/iksdeasdf/Reddit
In each instance, though, it was a 9800X3D that seemed to have a problem. Now, whatever the issue might be, it appears to be affecting the newer 9950X3D CPUs as well. The first recorded instance of this comes from Redditor iksdeasdf, who showed their CPU and their system, which is just failing to boot at all, nine days after being put together. It uses an ASRock RX x870 motherboard, which had no problems to date. It's also running the latest BIOS, which should include ASRock's alleged fix for whatever the problem was determined to be.
To their credit, they've done a lot of local troubleshooting themselves. They've removed RAM, reset the BIOS, and even tried a different motherboard they purchased purely for testing purposes, and the CPU itself appears to be kaput rather than just failing to boot.
They do go out of their way to say they don't blame ASRock, and indeed, while there is evidence to suggest there may be a greater risk to Ryzen X3D CPUs in ASRock motherboards, there's no proof as of yet. We may even be looking at multiple disparate issues that cause similar outcomes. It's just not clear yet.
What is clear, though, is that the instances of X3D CPUs failing in ASRock motherboards are mounting, making it easier to recommend alternatives at the very least until this issue is solved.