Inside Intel: Reasons Behind the Recent Spike in Desktop Processor Malfunctions

At least 24 Intel processor models have been crashing in PCs for months now. There are still no hints of an upcoming recall, but Intel has shed more light on the issue with a new official statement. The statement shares more details about the “mitigation” updates for the impacted processors.

According to Intel’s investigation, the 13th Gen and 14th Gen Raptor Lake processors are malfunctioning because of “incorrect voltage requests to the processor that are causing elevated operating voltage.” Intel’s plan is to correct these voltage requests with microcode updates as a preventative measure for working units. Since May, Intel has released three preventative updates for the instability issue.

The latest update targets the desktop variants of Raptor Lake K, KF, and KS processors. Intel didn’t mention the laptop versions. These updates were initially available for MSI and ASUS, and Intel is now sending them to all its design and manufacturing partners. The investigation is still ongoing, and another update is coming at the end of August.

Users can overclock unlocked Intel chips with this update installed. Intel does warn that “overclocking may void their warranty and/or affect system health.” Secondly, the microcode update shouldn’t affect the PC performance for gaming or regular workloads, at least according to Intel’s internal testing. Intel also confirmed that no other chips across its entire lineup will be affected by this issue in the future.

The patches aren’t automatically installed. As they become available, users will have to download the right update package for their hardware and manually update the BIOS with a USB stick. Unfortunately, these updates can’t do anything for defective CPUs that are already malfunctioning. Intel’s official recommendation is to just replace the processors that are showing symptoms (consistent app crashes or lag). It’s offering a two-year extended warranty on all 24 processor models, which makes for a five-year coverage plan.

Source: Intel via The Verge