Tuesday, July 23rd 2024
Intel Statement on 13th and 14th Gen Core Instability: Faulty Microcode Causes Excessive Voltages, Fix Out Soon
Long-term reliability issues continue to plague Intel's 13th Gen and 14th Gen Core desktop processors based on the "Raptor Lake" microarchitecture, with users complaining that their processors have become unstable with heavy processing workloads, such as games. This includes the chips that have minor levels of performance tuning or overclocking. Intel had earlier isolated many of these stability issues to faulty CPU core frequency boosting algorithms, which it addressed through updates to the processor microcode that it got motherboard- and prebuilt manufacturers to distribute as UEFI firmware updates. The company has now come out with new findings of what could be causing these issues.
In a statement Intel posted on its website on Monday (22/07), the company said that it has been investigating the processors returned to it by users under warranty claims (which it has been replacing under the terms of its warranty). It has found that faulty processor microcode has been causing the processors to operate under excessive core voltages, leading to their structural degradation over time. "We have determined that elevated operating voltage is causing instability issues in some 13th/14th Gen desktop processors. Our analysis of returned processors confirms that the elevated operating voltage is stemming from a microcode algorithm resulting in incorrect voltage requests to the processor."
Modern processor power management runs on an intricate clockwork of collaboration between software, firmware, and hardware, with the software constantly telling the hardware what levels of performance it wants, and the hardware managing its power- and thermal budgets by rapidly altering the power and clock speeds of the various components, such as CPU cores, caches, fabric, and other on-die components. A faulty collaboration between any of the three key components could break this clockwork, as has happened in this case.
Intel is releasing yet another microcode update to its 13th- and 14th Gen Core processors, which will address not just the faulty boosting algorithm issue the company unearthed in June, but also the faulty voltage management the company discovered now. This new microcode should be released some time around mid-August to partners (motherboard manufacturers and PC OEMs), who will then need to validate it on their machines, before passing it along to end-users as UEFI firmware updates.
Meanwhile, an interesting issue has come to light, which that some of Intel's processors built on the Intel 7 node are experiencing chemical oxidation of the die as they age. Intel responded to this, stating that it had discovered the oxidation manufacturing issues in 2023, and addressed it. The company also stated that die oxidation is not related to the stability issues it is embattled with.
Sources:
Intel Community, Intel (Reddit)
In a statement Intel posted on its website on Monday (22/07), the company said that it has been investigating the processors returned to it by users under warranty claims (which it has been replacing under the terms of its warranty). It has found that faulty processor microcode has been causing the processors to operate under excessive core voltages, leading to their structural degradation over time. "We have determined that elevated operating voltage is causing instability issues in some 13th/14th Gen desktop processors. Our analysis of returned processors confirms that the elevated operating voltage is stemming from a microcode algorithm resulting in incorrect voltage requests to the processor."
Intel is releasing yet another microcode update to its 13th- and 14th Gen Core processors, which will address not just the faulty boosting algorithm issue the company unearthed in June, but also the faulty voltage management the company discovered now. This new microcode should be released some time around mid-August to partners (motherboard manufacturers and PC OEMs), who will then need to validate it on their machines, before passing it along to end-users as UEFI firmware updates.
Intel is delivering a microcode patch which addresses the root cause of exposure to elevated voltages. We are continuing validation to ensure that scenarios of instability reported to Intel regarding its Core 13th/14th Gen desktop processors are addressed. Intel is currently targeting mid-August for patch release to partners following full validation. Intel is committed to making this right with our customers, and we continue asking any customers currently experiencing instability issues on their Intel Core 13th/14th Gen desktop processors reach out to Intel Customer Support for further assistance, the company stated.It's important to note here, that the microcode update won't fix the issues on processors already experiencing instability, but prevent it on chips that aren't. The instability is caused by irreversible physical degradation of the chip. These chips will, of course, be covered under warranty.
Meanwhile, an interesting issue has come to light, which that some of Intel's processors built on the Intel 7 node are experiencing chemical oxidation of the die as they age. Intel responded to this, stating that it had discovered the oxidation manufacturing issues in 2023, and addressed it. The company also stated that die oxidation is not related to the stability issues it is embattled with.
We can confirm that the via Oxidation manufacturing issue affected some early Intel Core 13th Gen desktop processors. However, the issue was root caused and addressed with manufacturing improvements and screens in 2023. We have also looked at it from the instability reports on Intel Core 13th Gen desktop processors and the analysis to-date has determined that only a small number of instability reports can be connected to the manufacturing issue, the company stated.If you feel your chip might be affected, you can file for an RMA.
215 Comments on Intel Statement on 13th and 14th Gen Core Instability: Faulty Microcode Causes Excessive Voltages, Fix Out Soon
By the way, Arrow Lake is a telling product that Intel is changing its ways. The chip is being made wholly on TSMC processes which are far better. The chip is being clocked down and buggy parts such as HT are being stripped out. I hope Intel continues to clean up its products so that it can make good on its claims that their chips are stable and high quality. This was not the case with Raptor Lake. The release of discrete graphics products with numerous day 0 driver bugs was also very disappointing.
The bios updates weren't AMD's fault, that was a motherboard maker fault because they decided to go cheap on UEFI chips, and literally didn't have enough room to store the extra AGESA code required for Zen 3.The part in bold is EXACTLY what Intel did, Intel decided to push their high end parts as hard as they could just to claim higher benchmark scores.
What AMD did has nothing to do with this, they took the blame for Asus and a few other motherboard makers setting voltages too high and offered everyone affected with a damaged or degraded CPU a full RMA, meanwhile Intel is trying to convince everyone a microcode update will fix everything and hasn't said anything regarding cpu's that have already been degraded needing replacement.
As with Intel today, Nvidia also didn't had to face hostile press and consumers, so nothing really happened to them. No recalls, or huge fines/refunds to pay. The same will happen with Intel now. While press and consumers are criticizing Intel, it's more like scolding a child that did a mistake.
All will be forgiven/forgotten in 6-12 months from now.
AMD, taking Intels junk and making it gold.
Intel don't have that luxury - the Dell's/HP's/IBM's will have to manage end-user warranty issues (maybe) for their products, but Intel will not be able to shirk direct buyer warranty claims
Once shame on me. Twice shame on you Intel.
In the second paragraph you contradict a little. When we are talking about Dell/HP/IBM/Any OEM, it doesn't really matter if the hardware problem is the CPU or another component, or even the software. They will have to deal with that problem themselves because companies like Dell not only sell PCs, they also sell their reputation of on site warranty.
If a PC/laptop with a (what is fairly standard these days) one year warranty fails within the warranty period then the OEM will need to fix it and will charge back to Intel / get the replacement part from Intel. Outside of this period though.... relying on good will.
Business customers will probably have better warranty terms generally but normal personal customers usually need to elect for a longer warranty package.
If you buy a CPU at retail and it has a 3/5 year warranty for example, then you're in a better position by default and can go direct to Intel.
They then left it to the motherboard makers to release BIOS update with either old or new CPU support which fit in the Mbit capacity limit.
Now, I'm not saying they definitely wouldn't, but historically Intel would probably not be that helpful - decision would be made, end of.... unless you can show me an official Intel 100 series chipset board running a Coffee Lake CPU....
Come on, let's not try to sugarcoat it.