Key Takeaways
1. ASRock faced increasing reports of CPU malfunctions linked to their AM5 motherboards, prompting an official response during Computex 2025.
2. The company initially denied that BIOS issues caused motherboard failures, but later removed an earlier BIOS version without explanation and released a new version with limited transparency.
3. ASRock acknowledged three potential causes for failures: user mishandling, memory compatibility problems, and incorrect Precision Boost Overdrive settings.
4. The warranty policy requires customers to handle CPU replacements through AMD, while ASRock’s motherboards may still be sold with outdated firmware.
5. Despite the official statement, many concerns remain unresolved, including reports of failures with default settings and the company’s limited investigation into other potential causes.
Following several months of increasing reports from the community about CPU malfunctions tied to ASRock AM5 motherboards, Gamers Nexus took the initiative to question the company during Computex 2025. Their unexpected discussion with Chris Lee, ASRock’s VP of the motherboard division, provided the first official response from the company, which had previously given only ambiguous and unconvincing statements.
Issues with BIOS Updates
In March, ASRock stated that the returned boards with burn damage on Ryzen 9800X3D and 9950X3D CPUs did not show any fault from their end. The firm claimed that a simple cleaning of the socket could restore functionality and denied that the BIOS versions were responsible for the issues. However, shortly after this claim, BIOS version 3.20 was removed from various product pages without any explanation. A new version (3.25) was released during Computex, but again, the transparency was quite limited.
Acknowledging the Causes
During the interview, Lee recognized three potential reasons for the failures: user mishandling (like thermal paste contamination), memory compatibility problems that they say have now been fixed with BIOS 3.20, and incorrect Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO) settings within ASRock’s firmware. He mentioned that the 3.25 update reduces the thermal and electrical current thresholds (TDC/EDC) for PBO, which he believes should help to avoid further failures.
Nonetheless, ASRock’s position is still troubling. The company insists that not one motherboard has been identified as defective, claiming that all failures stem from CPU issues, user mistakes, or BIOS configurations. For those customers who faced shutdowns or noticeable CPU pad damage even without activating PBO, this rationale feels unconvincing. When asked, Lee acknowledged that ASRock has not looked into other possible causes like VSOC misbehavior, nor did he offer any specific details on changes to current values for any particular board.
Warranty and Customer Responsibility
Lee stated that ASRock’s warranty policy includes round-trip shipping for motherboards but directs customers to AMD for CPU replacements. He also confirmed that boards currently available in retail may still have outdated firmware, which places the responsibility of performing BIOS updates on the customers themselves.
While it is a step forward that ASRock finally provided an official statement, many crucial concerns still remain unresolved. The communication from the company up to this point has been quite lacking, and the root causes of the failures might go beyond just aggressive PBO tuning. Reports of failures occurring even with default settings, lightly scorched sockets, and inconsistencies in CPU performance all imply that ASRock’s explanations are, at best, incomplete.
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