ASUS is in hot water for some time but for May 2023, it is extremely hot and I don’t know if they can recover from this one since it is on such a global scale.
For a quick recap, the problem with AM5 motherboards offered by various manufacturers including ASUS comes down to the availability of “dangerous voltage” ratings for the CPU, particularly the AMD Ryzen 7000X3D series with some non-X3D chips chiming in at times as well.
Over the course of April, brands have started offering BIOS updates to help remedy the problem, but the problem is the remedy isn’t remedy. According to Hardware Busters, some brands’ update just straight up keep the high numbers intact, essentially not solving the issue one bit. But ASUS has done the “pro gamer move” that no one expected – voiding warranties of updated motherboards.
Tracing back to a footnote attached to the BIOS update’s download page, ASUS argued that the BIOS updates are technically “beta” versions, and thus not covered within the warranty legal ground. If that explanation would be enforced, it basically means that someone who just wants to quickly solve the problem or prevent it applies the BIOS update and then subsequently burns the motherboard because the insane voltage range is still unchanged, is basically out of luck.
As expected, this event stirred the entire community into a rage by denouncing their support for ASUS and ROG. And don’t get me started on the “buying positive review is legal” drama. The month of May basically spelled doom for ASUS in terms of destroying the relationships between both the consumer and the media.
What now?
The latest update comes from a post released by official ASUS Technical Product Marketing Manager Juan Jose Guerrero where he addressed a new announcement (Official announcement here) and it is a good one. Finally, ASUS seems to come back to its senses and actually exert effort into putting out the flames it burned itself in the first place. Not only that, they further address the warranty covering AMD EXPO, Intel XMP, and DOCP RAM configurations just so you know.
As an end user, rest assured that your privileges are not taken advantage of by people that probably don’t know what they are talking about.
