Threadripper Overclocking Blows a Hidden Fuse, AMD confirms: Warranty not Voided

[AleksandarK]

According to Tom's Hardware, today we are finding out that AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 series processors, codenamed Storm Peak, including Pro and non-Pro SKUs, blow a fuse on the chip when overclocking is enabled. Modern microprocessors have dozens of fuses that are used to store information inside the chip. For example, the factory stores the per-processor default voltage information in the fuses. On downgraded graphics chips, the shaders get disabled through such fuses, too. These fuses are not like your household circuit breakers—they will blow only when a specific command is sent to the processor, there is no way for them to break accidentally through system crashes or power spikes. In the case of Ryzen Threadripper 7000, the BIOS code will blow a fuse when the user enables overclocking in the BIOS settings, it reacts only to the user-initiated UI change, not to any kind of measurement. Before that happens a warning is shown. AMD uses this mechanism to see any indications if any kind of overclocking has been done to the processor.

While the messaging might suggest otherwise, just enabling overclocking does not void all warranties. In a statement to Tom's Hardware an AMD representative confirmed: "Threadripper 7000 Series processors do contain a fuse that is blown when overclocking is enabled. To be clear, blowing this fuse does not void your warranty. Statements that enabling an overclocking/overvolting feature will "void" the processor warranty are not correct. Per AMD's standard Terms of Sale, the warranty excludes any damage that results from overclocking/overvolting the processor. However, other unrelated issues could still qualify for warranty repair/replacement," noted the spokesperson. Ultimately, overclocking and overvolting by themselves will not cause the owner of AMD's Ryzen Threadripper 7000 series CPU to lose the right to repair and seek AMD's help. Other factors, such as damages induced by overclocking, will be a warranty-voiding factor though. These can occur from constant overheating, which significantly lowers the life expectancy of the CPU.



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[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Think this is more clear than the first babel fest

A fuse is blown just to indicate to AMD that a user has been overclocking a CPU so the company knows if the users are eligible for a repair/replacement.

 

[bug]

Maybe so, but how can the user prove damage was or wasn't caused by overclocking/overvolting? You send in a defective CPU, AMD sees the blown fuse and claims it broke because of overclocking/overvolting. There's no way for the end user to argue.

And to be crystal clear, I'm not saying AMD plans to abuse that. I'm just saying that fuse opens the way for at least some distributors to go that route. At the same time, it's probably a useful tool in diagnosing, because users sending in defective parts are very unlikely to admit they overclocked before the damage happened.

 

[Squared]

Clever.

 

[Daven]

Maybe so, but how can the user prove damage was or wasn't caused by overclocking/overvolting? You send in a defective CPU, AMD sees the blown fuse and claims it broke because of overclocking/overvolting. There's no way for the end user to argue.

And to be crystal clear, I'm not saying AMD plans to abuse that. I'm just saying that fuse opens the way for at least some distributors to go that route. At the same time, it's probably a useful tool in diagnosing, because users sending in defective parts are very unlikely to admit they overclocked before the damage happened.

Going the other way, it prevents users from lying about overclocking. Also prevents companies that sell overclocked processors in OEM desktops to try and deny warranty repairs.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Likely just a quick sign so they don't have to dig deeper
Replace the fuse case over
Only question is will they charge for replacing the fuse or not.

 

[Vayra86]

Well that blows, honestly.

You don't really have to be a rocket scientist to see where this is going. That said, if you destroy chip with an OC, you're doing something pretty special, at least, IF AMD actually doesn't have a bug or no failsafe itself like we saw not too long ago...

Meh. AMD isn't getting bonus points here imho, especially given the lackluster initial delivery of their own product lines.

 

[Panther_Seraphin]

Hi,
Likely just a quick sign so they don't have to dig deeper
Replace the fuse case over
Only question is will they charge for replacing the fuse or not.

You realise the fuse they are on about is on one of the dies and is in no way replaceable.



TBH I think its just for those ones that show obvious damage from overclock/overvolt and gives AMD a quick double check to go "hey you melted the I/O die and you had Overclocking enabled.......WTF did you actually do?"

 

[TheDeeGee]

Why even bother getting 100 MHz more with all the risks.

Overclocking is a dying breed.

 

[bug]

Hi,
Likely just a quick sign so they don't have to dig deeper
Replace the fuse case over
Only question is will they charge for replacing the fuse or not.

Good one.

 

[mechtech]

I wonder if a psu failure or bad line power could blow it??

 

[ThrashZone]

You realise the fuse they are on about is on one of the dies and is in no way replaceable.



TBH I think its just for those ones that show obvious damage from overclock/overvolt and gives AMD a quick double check to go "hey you melted the I/O die and you had Overclocking enabled.......WTF did you actually do?"

Good one.

Hi,
You mean they can't just pop the hood damn lol

 

[bug]

I wonder if a psu failure or bad line power could blow it??

It's not a circuit breaker, so it's probably not in the path of the current/voltage feeding the CPU. If I had to design it, I would put it on a dedicated circuit that, when it detects freq or voltage are set out of range, would send an intentional voltage spike to blow it.
Plus, with all the VRMs, it's really, really hard for fluctuations to ever reach the CPUs anyway.

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

It's not a circuit breaker, so it's probably not in the path of the current/voltage feeding the CPU. If I had to design it, I would put it on a dedicated circuit that, when it detects freq or voltage are set out of range, would send an intentional voltage spike to blow it.
Plus, with all the VRMs, it's really, really hard for fluctuations to ever reach the CPUs anyway.

So if ASUS or someone like them decides to continue sending obscene over-voltage at stock, it will blow just because I installed it in a board that lies about voltage?

Also, what about EXPO and PBO? Are these going to blow it?

 

[Crackong]

As a Threadripper user personally I would never overclock my Threadripper.
It isn't about warranty, but for the intended use case, as a working machine, stability is priority No.1 and everything should run according to Spec.

 

[bug]

So if ASUS or someone like them decides to continue sending obscene over-voltage at stock, it will blow just because I installed it in a board that lies about voltage?

Also, what about EXPO and PBO? Are these going to blow it?

I'm guessing no, but I don't have the technical knowledge to explain it further.

As a Threadripper user personally I would never overclock my Threadripper.
It isn't about warranty, but for the intended use case, as a working machine, stability is priority No.1 and everything should run according to Spec.

As I have said before, overclocking made sense back when you could buy a $200 CPU and essentially turn it into a $500 CPU. These days, you will get 300MHz more on a CPU that already runs at 4-5GHz, while usually throwing idle power under the bus. Just not worth it, imho.
The way CPUs are built these days, you'd be better off investing in better cooling that will let the CPU boost for longer. That would net you more additional performance than manual overclocking.

 

[LazyGamer]

In other words, AMD will just see the blown fuse and say in 100 out of 100 cases that any malfunction in CPU is caused by overcloking. And no replacement will be given.

 

[W1zzard]

I wonder if a psu failure or bad line power could blow it??

No, this is not possible, we've updated the article accordingly

So if ASUS or someone like them decides to continue sending obscene over-voltage at stock, it will blow just because I installed it in a board that lies about voltage?

Also, what about EXPO and PBO? Are these going to blow it?

The BIOS code will blow the fuse when the user selects "overclocking: enabled" in the BIOS and saves, it does not measure anything or react to system parameters

 

[natr0n]

Imagine blowing a gasket while blowing a fuse.

 

[john_]

Going the other way, it prevents users from lying about overclocking. Also prevents companies that sell overclocked processors in OEM desktops to try and deny warranty repairs.

For ....decades I read in sales of computer hardware (CPUs, GPUs, RAM), in the description the phrase "It was never overclocked". And I talk about sales in forums (not talking about TPU, but Greek forums) from members that are known that they overclock even their coffee making machine. And I am also talking about the past mostly, when CPUs and GPUs where not coming pre-overclocked from factory with extra logic in them do try to overclock even more if the conditions are favorable. Not to mention people burning their own hardware just weeks before the warranty expires to try to get their money back, to buy the newer model.
We can say many things about (multi billion) companies and retailers, but some consumers aren't better.

I wonder if a psu failure or bad line power could blow it??

That's why it is crucial to buy a PSU that is of good quality. Of course someone can always have the luck of buying a bad unit of the best possible PSU model in the market, that just wasn't discovered from the manufacturer's quality check. But those cases are probably less than the (real) number of burned 4090's out there.

 

[ir_cow]

RIP future overclocking.

 

[thesmokingman]

RIP future overclocking.

It's been dead for a while now.

 

[Vya Domus]

Warranties usually go through whatever retailer you bought the thing from not through the manufacturer directly, would they even check this ?

 

[evernessince]

The onus would be on AMD to prove that overclocking is the root cause of failure in any RMA case. Simply citing the fuse's state would not be sufficient evidence to void a warranty because the fuse in and of itself is not a sign of customer mishandling but rather a feature implemented by AMD. The fuse itself doesn't even indicate that overclocking took place, only that the end user enabled a BIOS option or simply navigated to the overclocking options. I know that my X670E Taichi BIOS requires me to accept acknowledgement of the dangers of overclocking to even view the overclocking settings. It's also possible to enable overclocking options without actually overclocking or the end user might set an overclock and then disable it. It all depends on how it's implemented. In any case, I only see this being used by AMD to help determine the cause of a non-functioning processor and potentially routing out extreme and obvious cases where processors were clearly abused by the end user. Using it to disqualify warranties en mass to customers would be a mistake both reputationally and legally as I don't see how having a case rely on such a fuse is remotely a good idea.

 

[Super Firm Tofu]

Warranties usually go through whatever retailer you bought the thing from not through the manufacturer directly, would they even check this ?

Not in the US. 14-30 days for exchange/refund with the retailer, and then you're on your own with the manufacturer.