Overclocking Peril: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D Faces Irreversible Damage
According to Igor’s Lab, one of the best gaming processors currently available, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, may become irreparably damaged when overclocked, seemingly due to an issue with OEM overclocking software.
Igor’s Lab initially discovered a flaw within MSI Center that enables players to continue overvolting and overclocking beyond the permissible limits, circumventing AMD’s established constraints without any abnormal alerts for the user. Consequently, unsuspecting users may inadvertently overclock their processors to the point of failure under seemingly normal settings within MSI’s software.
It is worth noting that not only MSI has this problem, as testing has revealed similar issues within OEM software provided by ASUS, Gigabyte, and ASRock, suggesting a widespread issue.
Upon attempting to overvolt the 5800X3D to 1.3V or higher, the processor immediately crashes. Igor’s Lab conducted two tests: the first overvolting to 1.3V appeared unproblematic, but the second instance of exceeding 1.3V resulted in a blacked-out computer that could not be restarted.
In reality, the rated voltage for the 5800X3D is 1.5V, and it can even be overvolted to 1.55V. However, the 5800X3D utilizes 3D V-Cache, incorporating 32MB of onboard cache and an additional 64MB of L3 cache, totaling 96MB.
Previously, AMD discovered that this auxiliary cache significantly impacts CPU cooling, causing the CPU to operate at lower frequencies and affecting overall performance. Consequently, AMD released a firmware that reduced the rated voltage from 1.5V to 1.35V, essentially confirming that the external L3 cache affects CPU cooling and cannot be resolved through software.
Hence, the current attempt to overvolt and overclock the CPU, resulting in catastrophic failure, is likely due to cooling issues. However, it should be noted that even at 1.55V, only frequency reduction occurred, not complete failure.
In the past two weeks, a YouTube content creator also experienced a failed CPU when attempting to overclock an AMD Ryzen 7950X3D. It remains uncertain whether the causes are the same, but in any case, AMD is expected to release firmware or guide OEMs to update their software, preventing the circumvention of AMD’s limitations.
