Tech YouTuber Highlights ASRock X870 Motherboard's "Killing" of His Ryzen 9 9950X CPU

[T0@st]

Unlucky owners of AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D processors have encountered major problems that largely involve ASRock motherboards. Throughout early 2025, user feedback provided insight into numerous cases of "catastrophic CPU failures." Members of the official ASRock subreddit have kept track of these unfortunate incidents; now closing in on 200 documented "murdered" specimens. Industry watchdogs reckon that even more disagreements—involving the Zen 5-based 9000X3D series and ASRock B- and X- (AM5) boards—exist outside of this community-aggregated log. At the end of February, ASRock pushed out an important BIOS update—this fix did not resolve all problems. Over a month later, AMD weighed in with their findings—in response, ASRock released another update.

Evidently, Ryzen 7 9800X3D products continue to perish—Tech YES City's Bryan Bilowol has added Team Red's Ryzen 9 9950X model to the mix. The tech YouTuber was surprised by the death of his example; apparently caused by an ASRock X870 Steel Legend mainboard. Standard "Granite Ridge" processors—that lack 3D V-Cache—have received less attention, but observers believe that these non-X3D options are still vulnerable. Bilowol did not personally experience the moment of catastrophe—instead, a friend was borrowing an affected PC build. As demonstrated in a new Tech YES City video post-mortem, the completely dead CPU sported some worrying gray marks. Tech YES City has a fairly large audience, so ASRock leadership will likely be cursing after noticing another uptick in public scrutiny. Past reports have pointed out the manufacturer's belief that too much "misinformation" is being spread. Bilowol surmised that the company is keeping this issue: "under the radar—they seem to be hoping that the issue will just go away." Despite collaborating with ASRock for over a decade, Tech YES City will not pull any punches—await for more gory details in upcoming follow-up investigations.




Tech YES City's video description stated: "so a few weeks into lending my rig out to a friend, and whilst he was watching movies; the System just said no display and then the CPU was gone.... what happened?"

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[RejZoR]

Weren't all the documented Ryzen deaths on AsRock boards? Seems like AsRock screwed something up with their BIOS logic that controls CPU's and overvolts them or something.

 

[Bobaganoosh]

Weren't all the documented Ryzen deaths on AsRock boards? Seems like AsRock screwed something up with their BIOS logic that controls CPU's and overvolts them or something.

No. There are also Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI, but substantially less. This is from the reddit thread a couple weeks ago.

 

[Chrispy_]

No. There are also Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI, but substantially less. This is from the reddit thread a couple weeks ago. View attachment 398727

Remember to normalise those bar charts by the marketshare of the manufacturers, too. Asus sell around four boards for ever board Asrock sell. Between them MSI+Gigabyte sell five boards for every board Asrock sell.

Post in thread '7800X3D and 5070 Ti / 9070 XT Build'

Apr 15, 2025

There are also 16 reports from ASUS boards, 5 MSI, and a Gigabyte. Whatever they're doing, it seems ASRock is the largest offender, sure, but it's not isolated to them. Also, until AMD or other vendors actually fix something and it becomes public, I'm not sure we know who is at fault, the full impact, or what boards are "safe". There are tons of ASRock boards out there with 9000 series CPUs and ~93 failures. I'm betting new BIOSs are due all around AM5 boards, but I'm just saying right now for a 7800X3D build, I wouldn't panic lol.

You're not wrong, but you also need to look as...

• Chrispy_

• 

In the motherboard market, Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, and ASRock are the dominant players. In 2024, they are expected to deliver 38.8 million motherboards, with Asus leading the way at 15 million, followed by Gigabyte (10.3 million), MSI (9.3 million), and ASRock (4.2 million)

 

[Bobaganoosh]

Remember to normalise those bar charts by the marketshare of the manufacturers, too. Asus sell around four boards for ever board Asrock sell. Between them MSI+Gigabyte sell five boards for every board Asrock sell.

Post in thread '7800X3D and 5070 Ti / 9070 XT Build'

Apr 15, 2025

There are also 16 reports from ASUS boards, 5 MSI, and a Gigabyte. Whatever they're doing, it seems ASRock is the largest offender, sure, but it's not isolated to them. Also, until AMD or other vendors actually fix something and it becomes public, I'm not sure we know who is at fault, the full impact, or what boards are "safe". There are tons of ASRock boards out there with 9000 series CPUs and ~93 failures. I'm betting new BIOSs are due all around AM5 boards, but I'm just saying right now for a 7800X3D build, I wouldn't panic lol.

You're not wrong, but you also need to look as...

• Chrispy_

• 

In the motherboard market, Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, and ASRock are the dominant players. In 2024, they are expected to deliver 38.8 million motherboards, with Asus leading the way at 15 million, followed by Gigabyte (10.3 million), MSI (9.3 million), and ASRock (4.2 million)

I remember. That's why I said substantially less were non-ASRock. They still exist though. Also, like the article even mentioned, these are just reports from Reddit. There are likely other occurrences from all vendors that haven't been reported on Reddit (as not everybody uses that or any other forum/site when they do an RMA).

Edit: I'm still betting there's a voltage spec that's too loose and ASRock is letting their boards run right at the edge of it while others have theirs dialed in better. I'm betting the failure rate per motherboard sold is still quite low (in relative terms), but at over 100 failures, it's too high for my liking lol. I hope they figure it out for everyone who has or wants one of these.

 

[bonehead123]

"If'n ya wansta play, ya gotsta pay", hahahaha

Seriously though, I was aware of some of these issues, but did not realize it was so widespread & significant to the point of actually KILLING the installed CPU's....'

This suks wallah, and I believe a class-action should be forthcoming, especially if the evidence supports the affected users, which the graphs above seem to do....

"Can ya smell what da Rock is cookin" ?

 

[LabRat 891]

Hmmmmm....

Charring means arcing.
Arcing means high voltage.
There are no HV sources in or around a CPU. However, when a loaded circuit is severed, the voltage rises intensely, causing arcing (and charring).

Given the evidence presented and my own experiences w/ AM5's socket flexing...
This CPU 'popped' out of place in its socket while under load; or, pin shifted slightly. Probably, a combination of PCB warpage / cooler torque and thermal expansion.

IMHO, start including a socket reinforcing bracket with CPUs, coolers, and boards as a norm.
It's pennies worth of material to help prevent RMAs and User Complaints. Who cares if most people would end up with more than one?

 

[Chrispy_]

I remember. That's why I said substantially less were non-ASRock. They still exist though. Also, like the article even mentioned, these are just reports from Reddit. There are likely other occurrences from all vendors that haven't been reported on Reddit (as not everybody uses that or any other forum/site when they do an RMA).

Edit: I'm still betting there's a voltage spec that's too loose and ASRock is letting their boards run right at the edge of it while others have theirs dialed in better. I'm betting the failure rate per motherboard sold is still quite low (in relative terms), but at over 100 failures, it's too high for my liking lol. I hope they figure it out for everyone who has or wants one of these.

Oh lol, didn't realise it was you I replied to last time...

This is still only a cross section of the bigger picture, since it's only tracking Reddit posts, right? I'll assume the data came from this thread which has 157 dead CPUs to date and was updated 8 days ago.

 

[Bobaganoosh]

Given the evidence presented and my own experiences w/ AM5's socket flexing...
This CPU 'popped' out of place in its socket while under load; or, pin shifted slightly. Probably, a combination of PCB warpage / cooler torque and thermal expansion.

IMHO, start including a socket reinforcing bracket with CPUs, coolers, and boards as a norm.
It's pennies worth of material to help prevent RMAs and User Complaints. Who cares if most people would end up with more than one?

This is an interesting theory. It made me curious if there are differences in the sockets and backplates and I did notice some:
Backplates:
Asus Prime X870-P:

Gigabyte Aorus X870E:

ASRock Taichi Lite X870E:

SO two use a machined plate while the other uses a stamped steel plate. I would think that stamped plate is pretty damn stiff based on the channels they stamped into it, but it would be interesting if there's some warp in some of them that causes twisting of the board.

Front side of the socket:
ASUS:

Gigabyte:

ASRock:

Again, the ASUS and Gigabyte look very similar but the ASRock is slightly different. I don't think you can really tell anything from the bracket differences, but it's interesting.

 

[_roman_]

I wonder if it is not socket related. That AM5 socket is flimsy.

I would be surprised if my cpu ever moved in that aftermarket socket. Part is the original ASUS mainboard socket. Part is a ~10€ Thermaltake Socket.
I had to remove parts of the original socket. That socket construction was not something i really liked. one of the motivations to ditch that.

note: 2x be quiet bracket on the picture. 1x noctua bracket on the picture.

That is the other stuff I removed from The ASUS Prime X670-P mainboard. that is not a proper construction. Picture was taken just now
Thermal grizzly and therrmal take shows there are better solutions for am5. Especially with those joke prices for 230€ or more for AM5 mainboards in the low end.
I estimate the top part moves, without measuring at least 7 mm at the end from left to right. I could take pictures. Not every argument needs a picture as a proof. the top cover reaches left edge of the socket, and reaches right edge of the socket. I'm quite sure the top cover should be in the middle with the same 3mm spacing on the left and same 3mm spacing to the right. All dimensions were not measured. Only valid measurement would be with a OGP machine, which i do not own. In the other dimension the top part can be also moved a few millimeters.

 

[rv8000]

View attachment 398730
Hmmmmm....

Charring means arcing.
Arcing means high voltage.
There are no HV sources in or around a CPU. However, when a loaded circuit is severed, the voltage rises intensely, causing arcing (and charring).

Given the evidence presented and my own experiences w/ AM5's socket flexing...
This CPU 'popped' out of place in its socket while under load; or, pin shifted slightly. Probably, a combination of PCB warpage / cooler torque and thermal expansion.

IMHO, start including a socket reinforcing bracket with CPUs, coolers, and boards as a norm.
It's pennies worth of material to help prevent RMAs and User Complaints. Who cares if most people would end up with more than one?

If it were flexing you’d expect more interior pins/pads to have been the arc point/burn point; overtightened coolers are probably the most common issue in which the central portion of the socket would be flexed furtherest away from the cpu. The pads showing damage are on the outer edge, and also correlate to memory channel and ground pins exclusively. I think it’s a really slim chance it’s due to the socket and cpu being flexed away from one another, and just a bad tolerance in voltage (manf. or something set by user inadvertently).

 

[freeagent]

Congrats to making it to number one AsRock!

The walk of shame for you.

That mount setup you have looks janky AF brotha.

 

[LabRat 891]

If it were flexing you’d expect more interior pins/pads to have been the arc point/burn point; overtightened coolers are probably the most common issue in which the central portion of the socket would be flexed furtherest away from the cpu. The pads showing damage are on the outer edge, and also correlate to memory channel and ground pins exclusively. I think it’s a really slim chance it’s due to the socket and cpu being flexed away from one another, and just a bad tolerance in voltage (manf. or something set by user inadvertently).

We're not seeing 'heating' marks on the pads, we're seeing char. I could-maybe see a catastrophically failed VRM do that.
Though, I'd wonder if ESD elsewhere in the system could be at fault. TBQH, 'seems like an extreme 'stretch' to blame ESD, with so many reports, and a higher-percentage of ASrock boards being at the center.

https://en.wikichip.org/w/images/2/2d/Socket_AM5_pinmap.svg

After looking @ the pinout (assuming I have the orientation correct), it looks like the charring is around/about the VDD_18 or VDD_18_S5 pads.

 

[efikkan]

Early on this was portrayed as a X3D issue, but I assume that may be confirmation bias, as the cases we see reported in the forums/Reddit are only the ones shouting the loudest, and is probably only the tip of the ice berg.

As always when trying to get to the bottom of such problems we need to separate out all the noise in the data, like overclocked units, user error, and other unrelated issues (Like the AsRock BIOS issue where CPUs got too little voltage to boot, and don't let the CPU manufacturer gaslight us into thinking it's the same issue.).

If there is an underlying common issue (and not a collection of random unrelated failures), whether it's a pending defect in the CPU, motherboard or firmware, I'm pretty sure AMD is fully aware of it. So I would like for AMD to make a public statement about the real cause, even if it turns out to be something like "this falls within the normal 0.xx% random failure rates, we will refund any failing products within the warranty period".

I don't like when we are left hanging for months wondering; Why are there seemingly more failing on AsRock boards? Are there quality issues on certain motherboards?
(I'm just wondering, not an owner.)

 

[evernessince]

This is an interesting theory. It made me curious if there are differences in the sockets and backplates and I did notice some:
Backplates:
Asus Prime X870-P:
View attachment 398733
Gigabyte Aorus X870E:
View attachment 398734
ASRock Taichi Lite X870E:
View attachment 398735

SO two use a machined plate while the other uses a stamped steel plate. I would think that stamped plate is pretty damn stiff based on the channels they stamped into it, but it would be interesting if there's some warp in some of them that causes twisting of the board.

Front side of the socket:
ASUS:
View attachment 398737
Gigabyte:
View attachment 398738
ASRock:
View attachment 398739

Again, the ASUS and Gigabyte look very similar but the ASRock is slightly different. I don't think you can really tell anything from the bracket differences, but it's interesting.

How does it compare to say X670/X670E AsRock boards? From what I see, most reports on are the "newer" chipsets so perhaps a part change is responsible.

 

[rv8000]

We're not seeing 'heating' marks on the pads, we're seeing char. I could-maybe see a catastrophically failed VRM do that.
Though, I'd wonder if ESD elsewhere in the system could be at fault. TBQH, 'seems like an extreme 'stretch' to blame ESD, with so many reports, and a higher-percentage of ASrock boards being at the center.

https://en.wikichip.org/w/images/2/2d/Socket_AM5_pinmap.svg

After looking @ the pinout (assuming I have the orientation correct), it looks like the charring is around/about the VDD_18 or VDD_18_S5 pads.

Pin based on the grid should be 34AB and 35AA area. The main page shows the gold arrow orientation when looking at the bottom of the cpu and a grid system to correspond; those pads are for VSS (black/ground) or mch0/1 (green).

 

[Alan Smithee]

It should be noted that Tech YES City always does extensive BIOS tweaking and is not running at stock (or even stock PBO) settings. I'm not blaming the victim at all, just pointing this out as an atypical case.

 

[Athena]

Bilowol did not personally experience the moment of catastrophe—instead, a friend was borrowing an affected PC build.

I need more info, that suggests that it was moved, and who knows how well it was packed up

that said, there does seem to be some kind of an issue that the OEMs are trying to fix

 

[JustBenching]

AMD pushed it too far to compete, they need to reduce the power.

 

[blinnbanir]

In one of his live tests. He had the single stick of RAM in the last slot. I thought AMD starts at the 2nd slot?

 

[kondamin]

AMD pushed it too far to compete, they need to reduce the power.

Was it made on intel 10nm?

 

[JustBenching]

Was it made on intel 10nm?

No TSMC

 

[Redwoodz]

LMAO! How sad do you have to be to claim you have proof only to find it's all complete hearsay. Grain of salt.

 

[ymdhis]

Disable turbo clocks so the CPU doesn't run at 1.5V and 90C, and this probably won't happen.

 

[PowerBuilder]

This is a picture I got from another forum, but it looks like it's a combination of bad luck, like dust getting in, imperfect contact, etc.