Intel admits damage to unstable 14th-gen and 13th-gen CPUs is permanent – incoming patch is a preventative, not a cure

Intel provided a statement earlier this week on the instability problems with 14th-gen and 13th-gen CPUs, but some further details have come to light since then – including a clarification that any damage done to high-end CPUs is permanent.

In case you missed it, Intel’s previous announcement pinned down ‘elevated operating voltage’ as a key cause (not necessarily the only one, mind) for these Core i9 processors (and lower-tier chips too) crashing and generally going awry.

Team Blue also assured us that a fix in the form of a microcode update is inbound for these chips and should arrive around the middle of August.

What’s been made clear now, however, is that this is a preventative measure, as opposed to a cure. By which we mean that it’ll prevent the instability issue with Raptor Lake and Raptor Lake Refresh processors, but it won’t reverse any damage already done to a CPU that has already been affected, and won’t make it stable – the misfiring chip will continue to crash.

Or so The Verge reports, having fired a bunch of questions at Intel, and received a fair few answers from an Intel spokesperson, Thomas Hannaford – some of which may not comfort you much. For starters, the tech site points to Tom’s Hardware’s recent assertion that degradation of an affected Intel CPU is irreversible, with The Verge noting that Hannaford “did not deny that when we asked.”

One of the key questions posed by The Verge was: “Does Intel anticipate the fix will be effective for chips that have already been in service but are not yet experiencing symptoms (i.e., invisible degradation)? Are those CPUs just living on borrowed time?”

Hannaford’s reply was as follows: “Intel is confident that the microcode patch will be an effective preventative solution for processors already in service, though validation continues to ensure that scenarios of instability reported to Intel regarding its Core 13th/14th Gen desktop processors are addressed.

“Intel is investigating options to easily identify affected or at-risk processors on end user systems.

“It is possible the patch will provide some instability improvements to currently impacted processors; however customers experiencing instability on their 13th or 14th Generation desktop processor-based systems should contact Intel customer support for further assistance.”

Analysis: More to worry about…

So, what do we make of that statement? While Intel might be ‘confident‘ the patch will work as a preventative, the issue of ‘invisible degradation’ for us is whether potential damage could have been done – which isn’t yet detectable – that could be a problem down the line. In other words, while the microcode update may well stop any further damage being caused to the chip, our concern is if some damage has already been done – but nothing that actually has an observable effect – this might, in the long run, mean the CPU doesn’t last as long as it otherwise would have done.

We find this whole episode a bit unsettling in this respect, and compounding these kinds of concerns, when it came to The Verge’s question on whether Intel might extend warranty coverage for 13th-gen or 14th-gen processors, the company didn’t supply an answer. The spokesperson simply declined to comment.

It’s also worth noting that the final paragraph of the above statement doesn’t completely rule out that the microcode update might just help out Intel processors that are already affected by instability issues – and that it is ‘possible’ the patch could ‘provide some instability improvements’ which would at least be something.

But really, if you have a processor that’s already exhibiting problems, the safest course of action seems to be to try and get it returned and replaced.

Other notable revelations from The Verge’s Q&A session with Intel include Team Blue admitting that any 13th-gen or 14th-gen CPU with a power usage (TDP) of 65W or greater could be affected by the issue with potentially damaging elevated voltages.

That includes not just Core i9 and i7 chips, but also Core i5 models, such as the Intel Core i5-14600 – and we have seen reports of Core i5 CPUs being hit. That said, it appears that the higher-end the chip, and the higher the TDP, the more risk there seems to be of a poor outcome with the stability blues.

Intel also said it won’t be engaging in any kind of recall over this issue, and the company hasn’t halted chip shipments or sales while the microcode update is being finished off and validated.

That microcode patch will roll out via motherboard vendors (in BIOS updates) next month as mentioned, and meanwhile, Hannaford confirmed to The Verge that Intel is still investigating possible other causes that may run alongside the uncovered ‘key’ problem with the voltage issue.

Intel’s problem here is that it can’t let this drag on – not with the battle of Arrow Lake versus Ryzen 9000 on the horizon. As this episode could be pretty off-putting for those looking to buy a next-gen chip, perhaps pushing them to favor Ryzen when they might not have done before all this happened.

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