ASRock's AM5 BIOS Updates Arrive To Fix Stability Issues And Boot Failures

There have been some reports of AMD Ryzen 9000 CPUs being roasted in their sockets recently, but motherboard manufacturers like ASRock are working to correct any actual problems. ASRock has the most well-documented incidences of AMD AM5 X3D CPUs being killed, but it isn't the only one—many other manufacturers, including MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, Colorful, and even Biostar have also been named.

For boards and CPUs already damaged, this may feel like "too little, too late" without replacements being offered, but for users who have yet to experience any problems, this latest series of BIOS updates is a welcome development.


According to AMD, the reason behind some of the reports of roasted CPUs is that AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D and AMD Ryzen 9 9800X3D are particularly sensitive to voltage and current limits, which motherboard manufacturers often subvert to improve performance. Because many BIOSes were not abiding by these limits, some Ryzen 7 7800X3D and Ryzen 9 9800X3D CPUs were damaged. Hopefully, other motherboard manufacturers heed AMD's advice and tweak the default power profiles in their respective BIOSes accordingly.

This ASRock blog post on the subject highlights fixes for boot failures, optimized memory compatibility, and an updated AGESA (to ComboAM5 PI 1.3.0.0a). ASRock claims that this update should further enhance overall system stability, and touted "multiple rounds of collaboration" with AMD to produce the update. ASRock recommends users update their motherboards as soon as possible.