AMD processors have become a favorite among PC users, especially gamers. Those who benefit most from processors like the Ryzen X3D series, which are the best-selling by a significant margin. Since CPUs like the Ryzen 7 9800X3D are the most popular, they also tend to be the ones that fail most frequently. It’s rare to see a Ryzen 9 9900X suffer the same fate, but it has happened, and curiously, it occurred with a combination of an MSI motherboard and an early 2026 BIOS.
When AMD launched its first Ryzen, Threadripper, and EPYC processors, it signaled the beginning of the end for Intel’s market dominance. Intel had completely controlled the market by releasing rehashed processors with only 4 cores that outperformed AMD’s 8-core CPUs. However, everything changed with Zen. Since then, AMD has had to increase core counts, frequencies, and power consumption, though not always with overwhelming success. AMD is capturing around 85% of global retail sales, and Ryzen X3D processors are leading in unit sales due to their impressive performance.
A Rare Case of a Ryzen 9 9900X Failing, Appearing with a Visible Bulge After Removal
The Ryzen 7 9800X3D can be considered the best-selling CPU currently available and also the one that fails the most among all AMD processors. Specifically, the combination of an ASRock motherboard and the 9800X3D appears to have the highest failure probability. Extensive testing has been conducted, investigations have been carried out, and various tests have been performed, yet 9800X3D processors continue to burn out on these motherboards. It’s not just these; now we have a Ryzen 9 9900X that has stopped working. If you look at the photos, it closely resembles other reported cases, as there is a bulge on the CPU’s surface.
This incident occurred suddenly on an MSI MAG X870E Tomahawk WiFi motherboard, which displayed the code 00, indicating a critical hardware error, in this case, the CPU. The components were not old; both the 9900X and the MSI motherboard were less than a year old.
The BIOS Used Was From Early 2026 and Only Had PBO Enabled
Regarding the other components, the system featured a DeepCool 240 mm AIO liquid cooler, which is more than adequate for this processor, and a CORSAIR RM1000X power supply. This setup would have been sufficient even with a high-end GPU like an RTX 5090. Furthermore, the user who owned this CPU stated that they did not perform any manual overclocking. The only setting that was enabled was Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO), which can be considered the automatic Turbo/overclocking feature of these processors.
Another detail provided is that the user was not using the latest BIOS but one from early 2026, specifically from late January or early February. The issue remains unresolved regarding what is happening with these Ryzen processors. Although it is a very uncommon problem affecting only a small percentage of users, such cases were not seen with processors from previous generations.
