Asus points out that AM5 motherboards capable of accommodating AMD Ryzen 7000 processors are covered by the warranty, even when using beta firmware and profiles for RAM overclocking.
Hardware components like the motherboards they are not, especially in recent years, immutable devices over time. Manufacturers release frequently firmware updates to improve performance, extend support for new device models, and fix any bugs.
The warranty coverage for motherboards may vary depending on specific manufacturer policies. For example, beta BIOS/firmware releases are released as a preview and may contain features or fixes under testing. These versions may be prone to problems or instability, as they have not yet been fully validated or optimized for general use.
Usually, motherboard manufacturers provide warranty for their products according to stable versions and officially supported BIOS/firmware. However, it is important to note that warranty policies can vary between various manufacturers – some of them may offer limited support or partial for beta versions, while others require you to use only officially supported versions to get full warranty coverage.
In mid-May 2023 it is Asus to take a decisive position: the Taiwanese company wanted to reassure its customers by clarifying that BIOS updates for socket AM5 based motherboards, both beta and fully validated ones, are fully covered by the manufacturer’s warranty. In addition, the Asus warranty for AM5 motherboards also covers all AMD EXPO, Intel XMP, and DOCP memory configurations.
Asus warranty: what are the reasons for the position statement
By publishing an official press release in various languages, Asus wanted to clarify that AM5 motherboard owners enjoy the widest possible support and that they can contact the customer care at any time to receive assistance on the products purchased.
As confirmed by the company itself, the clarification came after the heavy accusations that some Youtuber had launched in recent days against Asus.
The scandal stone dates back to the last ten days of April 2023 and has to do with the numerous reports of AMD Ryzen 7000 chip failures mounted on the new Asus AM5 motherboards. Downstream of an activity of overclocking allowed by Asus itself and carried out by some users, there was a damage to the motherboard socket and pins. The cause of the problem has been traced to the use of tensions working too high so that the Asus technicians then released a new version of the official firmware which imposes a limit to 1.3V.
Second Gamers NexusAsus would have published firmware versions that integrated private versions of the AGESA code and that should not have been released: these changes would have helped to push up the tensions on the Ryzen 7000 processor bringing them to unsafe levels.
Il AGESA code (AMD Generic Encapsulated Software Architecture) is a software component developed by AMD that acts as an interface layer between the motherboard firmware and the processor: it contains a series of instructions and functions that allow the firmware to communicate and interact correctly with the processor, ensuring correct initialization and management of hardware features.
Asus wanted to respond to criticism by reassuring users and informing them that even the use of profiles AMD EXPO it’s actually covered under the motherboard warranty. This is a very important clarification because EXPO profiles, and their Intel XMP counterparts, are technically synonymous with overclocking and therefore traditionally excluded from the manufacturer’s warranty.
AMD EXPO (Extreme Performance Profiles), for example, allows you to optimize memory performance automatically configuring i timings and the operating frequency in order to achieve the best possible performance. This is possible thanks to the communication between the memory controllers of the processor and the SPD module (Serial Presence Detect) found on the memory modules.
To support the EXPO memory overclocking profiles, it is necessary to slightly increase the system voltages to maintain stability: an uncontrolled increase of the values involved can lead to burnout (the same process can burn out).
AMD’s stance, which ensures maximum warranty coverage on AM5 motherboards designed for Ryzen 7000, clears the field of a controversy that has held the table over the last few weeks.