I'm putting together a gaming PC and have been considering the ASUS ROG Strix B850-F motherboard for a Ryzen 7 9800X3D. I've seen claims that some ASUS and ASRock motherboards have damaged X3D processors through unstable voltage, so I'm wondering whether this board is considered safe or if I should choose something else.
2 Answers
The issue wasn’t limited to one brand, and it appears to have involved unstable motherboard voltage settings rather than normal operation. It wasn’t widespread, and BIOS updates were released after the cause was identified. Make sure the board is running a current BIOS, and disable automatic overclocking or undervolting if you want the most conservative setup.
The B850-F should be fine for the 9800X3D as long as you keep the firmware up to date and avoid blindly enabling performance profiles that push extra voltage. Other boards such as the B850 Tomahawk may offer better value, but that’s a pricing preference rather than evidence that the ASUS board is unsafe.
You can also manually set a reasonable voltage limit or use the processor’s built-in eco and curve settings, but updating the BIOS and leaving aggressive auto-overclocking disabled should address most of the concern.