The recent saga of the AMD Ryzen 7000 CPU overheating problem continues as a new fix for the issue announced by AMD has proved to have problems of its own.
The AMD CPU overheating was first observed in late April 2023 and AMD and its motherboard partners have been quick to trace the problem, resulting in AMD announcing a fix just yesterday (May 4th). However, the new AGESA (AMD Generic Encapsulated Software Architecture) that had been released to motherboard manufacturers for them to implement into new BIOS/EFI releases has proved problematic itself.
Specifically, the new update has problems with RAM compatibility and overclocking. Reports suggest maximum RAM speed is limited to 4400MHz DDR5 rather than the typical 6000MHz DDR5, although the cited example is of a system running 192GB, which is obviously at the extreme end of memory usage anyway. Nonetheless, while a slower system and limited overclocking are preferable to an exploding CPU, it’s still not an ideal situation for customers.
Aware of these problems, AMD has confirmed it is working on an even newer AGESA version that will fix these issues but that more time is needed to iron out just these sorts of problems. It’s expected the new AGESA will roll out by mid to late May 2023.
The existing AGESA number that was allowing the overheating is 1.0.0.6 (although many motherboard manufacturers had implemented BIOS/EFI fixes of their own using this AGESA) while the quick fix update is numbered 1.0.0.7 and the final fix version is expected to be numbered 1.0.0.9.
Has the uncertainty surrounding these AMD CPU problems put you off buying one of its latest chips, or are you happily running a 7000 series chip without issue? Let us know your thoughts on the Custom PC Facebook or Twitter pages, or join the discussion on our 375,000+ member Custom PC and Gaming Setup Facebook group.
Meanwhile, if you’re in the market for a new CPU, check out our best CPU for gaming list for a range of our current recommendations, including older AMD AM4 chips and the latest Intel models.