A Reddit user showed off their damaged 9800X3D, but a closer look at the story points to a likely user error, rather than a design flaw.

A damaged AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU has garnered significant attention on Reddit. The issue was first reported by a user in the large PC Master Race subreddit. The user shared several images showing the compromised CPU,

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor and AM5 socket burned to a crisp, both physically damaged either due to a fault, or a user error during installation.

The Ryzen 7 9800X3D is the chip I recommend to most buyers, at least unless they're already using a 7800X3D. AMD boosted performance and efficiency here, and it's the new best CPU for PC gaming. However, its popularity means it's almost always sold out or being scalped for unrealistic prices.

AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D is devastatingly fast and not just in games. But should you buy it or the Ryzen 7 7800X3D?

We’ve seen Yu’s informative (and entertaining) videos before. Last year, Yu posted a clip to video sharing service Bilibili in which he ran an Nvidia RTX 4090 off the M.2 slot of a RTX 4060 Ti GPU. For the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, he broke out the liquid nitrogen and started putting up eye-catching numbers in Counter-Strike 2.

AMD has dominated PC gaming CPU performance for more than two years. Its X3D chips have provided a boost that Intel has been unable to match, and its new $479 Ryzen 7 9800X3D goes a step further to not only improve gaming performance but also day-to-day tasks and creative workloads.

AMD's new Ryzen 7 9800X3D tested against the 7800X3D, 9700X, and 7700X processors all at a fixed 4.8GHz frequency... check out the results!

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is the first X3D CPU in the latest Ryzen 9000 series to break cover and will go on sale starting November 7.