AMD has advised motherboard vendors to wait until its next firmware update gets rolled out for inclusion in their BIOS updates. The request follows a chain of events that began when users reported that their Ryzen 7000 X3D series CPUs were burning up and images of damaged motherboards and CPUs surfaced online. Investigations ensued, including a lengthy and detailed video by Gamers Nexus who explored in depth the root causes of these incidents.
It didn’t take too long for a new AGESA 1.0.0.7 BIOS firmware to be released to address these issues and motherboard vendors were quick to get their own fixes rolled out to limit voltages, and other measures, to prevent more CPU/Motherboard casualties. ASUS, who while not alone with these issues, was at the center of attention in GN’s investigation, rolled out its own BETA BIOS release of AGESA 1.0.0.7 firmware.
From HKEPC (via WccfTech)
“In response to the Ryzen 7000X3D CPU burnout incident, AMD released the AGESA 1.0.0.7 firmware to save lives. According to the motherboard manufacturer, it does not simply limit the SOC voltage to 1.3V, but also modifies the PROCHOT Control and ‘PROCHOT Deassertion Ramp Time is two mechanisms related to thermal safety, .7000X3D users must update to AGESA 1.0.0.7 BIOS as soon as possible
It is understood that PROCHOT Control is a function related to CBS and SMU COMMON. It is a thermal safety function used to prevent the processor from overheating. When the temperature of the processor reaches a critical value, the CPU or other system components will send a PROCHOT signal. The processor The power is then reduced to lower the temperature and prevent possible damage. PROCHOT Deassertion Ramp Time is the time definition for the processor to return to normal power again after the PROCHOT overheating signal occurs. The time interval required for the processor to gradually increase its power and return to normal operating conditions when the temperature drops back below the critical value.
AGESA 1.0.0.7 obviously becomes conservative in the definition of PROCHOT, the voltage and temperature thresholds related to PROCHOT and SOC / IMC will be greatly reduced, and the interval time between power consumption recovery will be longer, which means that this CPU burn event is not a single cause, On the one hand, the SOC voltage is too high, coupled with the imperfect thermal management, but it will take time to verify whether the problem can be really solved.“
AGESA 1.0.0.7 PROCHOT and RAM issues
However, that is unfortunately not the end of this tale as it has been discovered that AGESA 1.0.0.7 has its own issues and is being called a buggy mess. According to a known hardware leaker, this AGESA update only supports up to DDR5-4400 while the previous 1.0.0.6 can support up to DDR5-6000. Additionally, it turns out that the current firmware does not include PROCHOT Control & PROCHOT Deassertion Ramp Time functions.
From sources:“PROCHOT Control” and “PROCHOT Deassertion Ramp” in AGESA 1.0.7.0 (internal testing ver.) is NOT avaialable in AGESA 1.0.0.7.
— chi11eddog (@g01d3nm4ng0) May 4, 2023
Also rumored RAM compatibility of 1.0.0.7 is worse than 1.0.0.6. Eg. 192GB stable frequency: 6000MT/s (1.0.0.6) -> 4400 (1.0.0.7) w/SOC 1.3v.
It is now being reported that AMD has advised motherboard vendors to wait until AGESA 1.0.9.0, which is currently in internal testing and expected to correct these and other issues, before rolling out their own BIOS firmware updates. Meanwhile, users are advised to stick with AGESA 1.0.0.6 and avoid any BETA BIOSes until after this all gets sorted out.