ASRock Motherboards Keep Killing Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPUs – Another Dual Failure Emerges

Another Ryzen 7 9800X3D has fallen victim to an ASRock motherboard – for the second time on the same board. What sounds like a tragic déjà vu is quickly turning into a worrying pattern: users are repeatedly watching their high-end AMD chips burn out on ASRock motherboards, despite BIOS updates supposedly fixing the issue.

The latest case was shared by Reddit user u/ShendonZ, who originally bought a Ryzen 7 9800X3D along with an ASRock X870 RS Pro WiFi motherboard.

Everything ran smoothly – for about two and a half months. Then, the system suddenly failed, and diagnostics confirmed what users have now begun to dread: another dead Ryzen X3D. After securing a replacement CPU through AMD’s RMA process, he cautiously reinstalled it, this time making sure to follow every BIOS recommendation from ASRock, including version 3.25, which the company claimed addressed previous instability. Yet history repeated itself. Roughly two months later, the new chip also met the same fate.

He now regrets not switching boards after the first failure. ASRock has insisted that their BIOS updates resolve the power delivery issue previously linked to the X3D deaths, but mounting evidence suggests otherwise

. In fact, reports continue to pile up across enthusiast forums and Reddit threads. A user-tracked spreadsheet circulating online lists 122 out of 157 known Ryzen 9800X3D fatalities occurring on ASRock motherboards – a statistic that’s hard to ignore.

The problem isn’t new, either. Similar incidents were reported with earlier Ryzen 7000 and 9000 X3D processors, where voltage mismanagement on certain AM5 motherboards caused catastrophic CPU failure. The 3D V-Cache design, known for its heat sensitivity, makes these chips especially vulnerable to aggressive power delivery or PBO (Precision Boost Overdrive) misbehavior. While other motherboard brands like ASUS and MSI have faced their share of instability, ASRock’s frequency and consistency of failures have turned it into a running joke among enthusiasts – the so-called “Murderboards.”

Gamers Nexus and other independent reviewers have been collecting data and damaged hardware samples in hopes of identifying the root cause. Steve Burke from GN has reportedly reached out to buy ShendonZ’s dead CPUs and motherboard for analysis. The community hopes his team can uncover what ASRock seemingly can’t – or won’t admit.

Meanwhile, ASRock maintains that its latest BIOS versions (3.30 and 3.40) have fixed the problem, though many users remain skeptical. Some even refuse to update, citing new reports of instability on the newer firmware. For now, the recurring theme remains: ASRock motherboards and Ryzen X3D chips make for a risky combination. Until a definitive fix or recall emerges, enthusiasts advise avoiding ASRock’s AM5 lineup altogether – especially for anyone running AMD’s top-tier 3D V-Cache CPUs.

Whether this is an engineering flaw or a deeper architectural incompatibility remains unclear. But one thing is certain: no one wants to RMA a $450 CPU twice just to prove a point.