AMD reversed a warranty rejection for a swollen Ryzen 9 7950X3D after Hardware Unboxed called it out publicly

AMD has agreed to replace a damaged Ryzen 9 7950X3D after initially rejecting the warranty claim. The change in decisions came only after Hardware Unboxed publicly called out the company on X. The case was first reported by Reddit user VINCENT199411, who said their system shut down with a loud pop while idle on April 28, 2026.

The user added that the PC would no longer boot after the incident, and inspection revealed visible swelling on the back of the CPU's substrate. The system used a GIGABYTE X670E AORUS MASTER motherboard, Kingston Fury Beast DDR5-6000 memory, and a be quiet! Dark Power 13 1000W Titanium power supply. EXPO was enabled, but no manual CPU overclocking or SoC voltage tuning had been applied.

Both the motherboard and power supply were cleared of faults. GIGABYTE reflashed a corrupted BIOS, adjusted the CPU socket pin alignment, and the board passed over 64 hours of stress testing. Be quiet! ran the PSU through 12V, load, dynamic, and burn-in testing with no issues found. With both components cleared, the CPU was the only remaining candidate.

Despite this, AMD initially reviewed photos of the damage and rejected the claim, classifying the swelling as physical damage not covered under warranty. Hardware Unboxed then tagged AMD on X, warning that if AMD didn't make it right before the end of the week, it would become "another marketing disaster." AMD reversed its decision shortly after.

AMD has since confirmed that a replacement CPU will be provided. The company has not explained what specifically changed its position, but the timing makes the answer fairly obvious. That said, the swelling in this case developed on the back of the CPU package substrate rather than from a scratch, dent, or mishandling, so classifying it as standard physical damage was always going to raise some eyebrows. Luckily for the user, those eyebrows brought plenty of public pressure.