The Ryzen 7 9800X3D, hailed as one of the best processors for gaming, is now drawing concern following reports of over 100 premature failures. They are largely concentrated on ASRock motherboards.

The first reports of these failures emerged in November 2024, with ongoing user feedback surfacing periodically on platforms like Reddit. Many users have shared their unfortunate experiences, noting failures from just a few hours to several months of use. Some have even reported visible burn marks on the affected processors, further highlighting potential issues with the architecture.

A reddit user has maintained a list that mentions every failure related to the specific CPU. While motherboards made by ASRock, Asus, MSI, and Gigabyte are making up the bulk of reported incidents, ASRock's motherboards have proven particularly problematic. A couple of cases are related to the Ryzen 9 9950X3D. Of the 108 incidents related specifically to the 9800X3D, a staggering 82% were attributed to ASRock's hardware, and this has alarmed the gaming community about the reliability of these setups.

ASRock's entry-level models, such as the B850M-X, alongside higher-end rigs like the X870E Taichi, have been implicated. Despite ASRock having released new firmware claiming to address boot issues, the manufacturer has not confirmed any direct link between this update and the alarming processor failures. The failures occurred predominantly in motherboards with the X870 and B850 chipsets, which account for 45% and 33% of the incidents, respectively. Oddly, these chipsets are designed for high-performance, robust motherboards, making the increasing number of failures all the more puzzling.

ASRock had suggested that memory-related issues could be contributing factors, as investigations continue into the nature of the failures. The company had once mentioned that it had found debris in AM5 sockets, indicating that a thorough cleaning may have restored functionality in some instances. However, not all cases point to this as a root cause.

120 reports may not sound like a big deal compared to the thousands of units that AMD has sold, but it remains to be seen if these concerns are addressed, or if further action will be required to safeguard users' investments.

Source: Tom's Hardware