Both scenario are terrible for intel
Scenario one they knew it was an issue and did nothing.
Scenario two they didn't know there was an issue and are completely incompetent with their own silicon.
I think its the latter personally and they probably thought making more strict power limits and fixing the oxidation issues was enough.
Yeah, they've created a huge issue with RMAs that'll likely negatively affect those with real issue due to getting RMAs over non cpu issues.
I think its a bit of both honestly, you don't arrive here because you didn't know, that just doesn't exist in this corporate space.
I think they knew it was an issue, but they took a calculated risk. Except their calculations were already skewed by several generations of pushing the boundaries and optimizing every bit around the CPU itself (generally not with the greatest results, think of the IHS changes, and it warping, etc.) to allow more power to be pulled through. Its a similar fiasco, to me, as the 12VHPWR cable.
In theory the cable is fine and the connection is fine, but because the tolerances are so thin now, even the slightest deviation from the design (and 'optimal user care') is straight up trouble. With their CPUs they went for the edge of tolerances before they outright degrade out of the box, but obviously every chip is different and apparently different enough to cross that edge.
Its a sign of a company that has clearly ran out of good ideas. Its a sign of desperation, and an arrogant unwillingness to lose a perceived leadership position. The benefit of the doubt doesn't exist here, in my book. Its a big company. There MUST have been voices, a lot of them, mostly from the experts in the field, that certain moves in the recent generations/designs were not safe or good moves forward. And those voices have been silenced or weren't deemed important enough. Its unimaginable that Intel didn't know, just no. They even
fab their own shit!
