The gpu drivers for AMD Radeon video cards, through an error, modify the bios settings of certain Ryzen CPUs causing them to automatically overclock without the user realizing it. This is what Tom’s Hardware discovered and AMD confirms. That discovered Tom’s AMD is investigating the problem.and confirms AMD.

AMD’s confirmation comes after several users reported that their cpu was mysteriously overclocked without their consent, writes Tom’s Hardware. Igor’s Lab discovered that the problem arose in systems with AMD cpu’s and gpu’s using AMD’s Adrenalin gpu software. AMD now confirms this, and the company says it is investigating the problem.

Tom’s Hardware writes that AMD originally added support to gpu drivers for automatically overclocking processors in a Ryzen Master module in the Radeon Adrenalin gpu software to make it easier to overclock. Users with both an AMD processor and video card could then overclock both in one interface. Because Ryzen CPUs require the bios settings to be adjusted for overclocking, the driver had to do this through the bios, via the Precision Boost Overdrive feature.

What happens now is that the AMD driver can accidentally adjust bios settings and turn on automatic overclocking when a user turns on a gpu profile, without the user realizing what is happening. In addition, users do not get the warning they would normally get when overclocking, which states that overclocking violates the warranty terms of Ryzen CPUs and explains that overclocking is not appropriate on every system.

AMD has not yet said whether the warranty will also be voided if overclocking happens because of the bug or how they will fix the problems. The company says only that it is aware of the problems and is investigating the matter.

Source: Tweakers.net