For the previous few months, customers with desktop PCs working Thirteenth- or 14th-generation Raptor Lake Intel Core CPUs have been plagued by crashes and instability issues.
Though a repair is now being pushed out, and warranties extended for affected processors, the effort and confusion for impacted prospects continues, as does the injury to Intel’s fame.
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The underside line: Whereas Intel communicates by way of its PR and neighborhood channels, these messages are aimed largely at hardcore fans; there’s little info trickling right down to mainstream prospects.
I’ve spoken to some customers of Raptor Lake chips who had no concept — till just lately — that these points existed, and one consumer who’s had an ongoing battle with the corporate that bought them their PC as a result of tech help believed the injury had been attributable to overclocking.
Beneath, I am going to distill what customers with desktop PCs working Thirteenth- or 14th-generation Raptor Lake Intel Core CPUs want to pay attention to, and what they should do.
Beneath is an inventory offered by Intel. In line with the corporate, solely the desktop variations are affected and never the cellular/laptop computer variations:
| Thirteenth Era Intel Core | 14th Era Intel Core |
|
i9-13900KS |
i9-14900KS |
|
i9-13900K |
i9-14900K |
|
i9-13900KF |
i9-14900KF |
|
i9-13900F |
i9-14900F |
|
i9-13900 |
i9-14900 |
|
i7-13700K |
i7-14700K |
|
i7-13700KF |
i7-14700KF |
|
i7-13790F |
i7-14790F |
|
i7-13700F |
i7-14700F |
|
i7-13700 |
i7-14700 |
|
i5-13600K |
i5-14600K |
|
i5-13600KF |
i5-14600KF |
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Intel describes them as instability points “generally skilled as constant utility crashes and repeated hangs.”
It relies on the way you acquired the PC or processor:
- Boxed processors (you obtain a processor for a PC you constructed) – Contact Intel Buyer Help.
- Tray processors (you are a system builder who buys a variety of chips) – Contact the place of buy.
- OEM/System Integrator Intel Core Thirteenth/14th Gen-powered desktop system (you obtain a pre-built PC) – Contact your system producer.
Intel has prolonged the guarantee for affected processors by two years.
Who covers the price of swapping out processors on a system you constructed your self or these smaller system builder corporations? Intel has been silent.
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Equally, there isn’t a steerage for customers who might have paid for repairs considering the difficulty was associated to components reminiscent of incorrect set up or overclocking.
The patch — known as “microcode 0x129” — prevents the elevated voltages from being despatched to the cores, and may forestall each the crashes and instability points, and cease the CPU from being broken by elevated voltages.
You will need to be aware that this replace won’t repair broken {hardware}. If the PC has crashed or been unstable resulting from this concern, the CPU is broken.
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However, Intel has mentioned that it’s investigating doable “mitigations” for techniques already displaying signs, and can have extra info by the tip of August. Nevertheless, Intel continues to advocate that affected customers get their processors swapped out underneath guarantee.
That is the place issues get messy.
It had been assumed that Intel and motherboard makers would make use of Home windows Replace to push the patch out to affected techniques. Nevertheless, customers will now have to obtain and set up BIOS updates from the related motherboard producer. To do that, it’s essential know what motherboard you might have (this guide will aid you establish your {hardware}), obtain the patch for the suitable motherboard, and appropriately set up it.
Up to now, on the time of writing, MSI and Asus have revealed info on BIOS updates. However there isn’t any phrase on when different motherboard producers will launch updates.
Whereas the replace won’t forestall unlocked chips, Intel recommends customers “proceed with warning when overclocking their desktop processors, as overclocking might void their guarantee and/or have an effect on system well being,” and likewise recommends “prospects with Intel Core Thirteenth- and 14th-Gen desktop processors make the most of the Intel Default Settings.”
In line with Intel’s investigations, future merchandise are all unaffected by this concern.
