It is unclear how Riot uniquely identifies processors. While CPUs report a hardware ID to the operating system, they only reveal which model it is. A Ryzen 7 5800X3D, for example, is not distinguishable from another Ryzen 7 5800X3D without further ado.

Intel’s Pentium 3 processors from 1999 untypically had unique identifiers. At the time, they caused protests: data protectionists feared that the readable serial number would act like a permanent cookie and make users trackable without gaps.

Riot could create hardware fingerprints for tracking, for example, with a combination of clock behavior and voltages. Each processor behaves slightly differently and can thus be identified.

Does the CPU have a serial number that's visible to the system?

"I didn't read the article that attempts to explain this and explicitly states CPUs don't have a unique ID."

However, from the studio’s perspective, it would be much easier to write identification hashes into the Trusted Platform Module. Because this TPM sits as a coprocessor directly in the CPU in most PCs, the hash remains when switching to a new PC.

ATPO.

And FPO apparently.