Intel guarantees that stability issues in the 13th and 14th generation Intel Core Raptor Lake desktop processors have been completely resolved. The company does not yet have a solution other than an extended warranty for already damaged chips. In the summer, Intel admitted that increased operating voltage caused unstable operation of 13th and 14th generation Intel Core processors. The microcode algorithm causes incorrect voltage requests to the chips. An error threatens irreversible degradation of processors.

At the end of last month, the company released another microcode update to protect against failures of Raptor Lake processors. The 0x12B microcode patch for motherboard manufacturers prevents one of the main causes of chip damage.

The company has announced four sets of mitigation measures so far. Intel representative Thomas Hannaford said that the cause of the problems has been resolved. According to the company, chip failure may occur due to exceeding the power parameters of the motherboard recommended by Intel.

The eTVB microcode algorithm enabled the 13th and 14th generation Intel Core i9 processors to operate with higher performance even at high temperatures. June 2024 microcode 0x125 fixed the eTVB algorithm issue.

The microcode of the SVID algorithm requests high voltages of frequency and duration that can cause instability due to a drift in the minimum operating voltage indicator or Vmin Shift Instability. Microcode 0x129 in August 2024 eliminates high voltage demands from the CPU.

Microcode and BIOS code require increasing the core voltage; this can lead to Vmin Drift Instability, especially during periods of idle or low activity. Intel has released microcode 0x12B, which includes updates to microcode 0x125 and 0x129 and addresses overvoltage issues.

Intel believes that if users download the latest BIOS updates for their motherboards, it will prevent premature failure of chips. In case of problems, the manufacturer recommends returning the processors under warranty. Intel now has a two-year warranty for these chips that nearly every computer manufacturer promises.

Intel has not yet released the batch numbers and serial numbers of the Raptor Lake chips affected by stability issues. Additionally, the company still doesn’t provide an estimate of how many chips will likely be irreversibly damaged by degradation. The manufacturer assures that its chips for laptops and future processors for desktops are not prone to this problem. Source