ASUS is under fire following multiple postings by hardware testers regarding its handling of the recent reports about AMD 7000-series processors and motherboards self-destructing. Reports about AMD 7000X3D-series processors burning up in motherboards from various manufacturers, including ASUS, began surfacing about a month ago. Not long after hardware testers from around the globe began their own investigations into the matter which resulted in a common conclusion involving voltages reaching beyond recommended specs for the 3D-cache processors. In at least one instance it was also discovered by Der8auer that non-X3D 7000-series processors could also be affected.
ASUS is under fire
Now following all of these reports and investigations both AMD and manufacturers have been rolling out new BIOS and firmware to address the issue but one in particular is still getting negative attention. Both Gamers Nexus and JayzTwoCents have come out swinging at the manufacturer and the ladder has even “fired” it as a sponsor.
“The last several years have proven that ASUS is anti-consumer and lack serious quality control. Enough so, that we can no longer support the brand or allow them to be one of our trusted sponsors.”
Steve Burke (Gamers Nexus) has also been extensively investigating the matter with no-less-than three videos, so far, delving into it that now span hours of viewing content and go into great detail with them. The latest puts ASUS squarely in its sites in calling the company out for its anti-consumer approach but also questions its strategy for dealing with these events.
“ASUS’ actions relating to the Exploding Ryzen CPU debacle are disgraceful and abrasive to the trust that the brand has earned. ASUS has demonstrated clearly it wishes to not only avoid supporting users, but actively engineers ways to abandon them. ASUS’ updates haven’t even fixed the problems, yet they posture as if they have while simultaneously suggesting that users ‘just run defaults’ on their $700 motherboards, as if that makes any sense whatsoever. So, to accommodate ASUS’ request, we ran defaults and re-benchmarked the Ryzen 7000 series. It sucks. Big surprise. They also don’t support their own BIOSes for the ASUS ROG boards.”
Millions are watching
Now while some folks may not wish to view the posts from either it should be noted that each has millions, yes millions, of subscribed viewers, and at some point that will affect sales. As such, someone at ASUS, who manufactures many other PC components, may want to look into how its motherboard division is handling all of this. Meanwhile, as if this all isn’t enough bad press for the company, KitGuru has published a story of its own claiming it has over 30 emails from a UK ASUS PR representative stating that it believes buying positive reviews is legal.
“Now in our 14th year as an independent technology publication, KitGuru has never been more shocked than when the person responsible for PR samples and budget for the UK posted publicly on one of our channels that they believed it was legal to buy positive reviews. The same sentiment has been expressed in a previous call with several ASUS personnel – followed by confusion on their part as we tried to explain that positive messaging was something that they would do with their advertising and promotions, but that we valued editorial integrity above everything else. This was not the behaviour and mentality that we had come to believe existed in ASUS, since it started to make big waves in the motherboard sector back in the mid-1990s, so we filed it away.”
KitGuru said that ASUS requested proof of its claims and while having provided them over four months ago it still has not heard back. While legality may be questioned issues of ethicality for paid positive reviews don’t paint a good picture at a time when the company is under the spotlight for anti-consumer practices. As ASUS is under fire from multiple directions now, KitGuru has said that it too has a monthly subscribership in the millions so the audience for all these events only grows.