The situation with “burnt out” Ryzen processors is being investigated

AMD is investigating the circumstances under which two Ryzen 9950X processors failed during testing. The failure occurred while performing “intensive” tasks.

Details about the testing

The GMP project is a library of precise arithmetic operations. Its developers reported damage to two processors over several months of testing.

GMP tests require a lot of computing power, and the lengthy testing process could have led to thermal damage to the silicon. The publicly available images show color changes, indicating obvious overheating.  The project's publications warn users against intensive use of GMP on Zen 5 processors. At this stage, cooling systems are ineffective because Zen 5 cores consume much more energy than indicated in the specifications.

Asus motherboards were used in the two systems that stopped functioning. At this time, the company has not commented on the current situation.

The lead author of GMP stated that in his long career, processors have never failed. He also mentioned a possible problem with the cooling system. It is also reported that the new testing system will have a higher-quality case with a larger heat sink.