American chipmaking giant Intel claims to have identified the cause of widespread instability issues affecting its Core 13th and 14th Generation processors.
The company confirmed that the problem is related to “elevated operating voltage” in these CPUs. The issue was traced to a microcode algorithm that is causing incorrect voltage requests to the processor.
Intel employee Thomas Hannaford announced the findings on the Intel Community forum. Following extensive analysis of the returned processors, Intel has determined that the elevated operating voltage is responsible for the instability issues reported by users.
To address this, Intel is developing a microcode patch designed to correct the voltage discrepancies. The semiconductor manufacturer is continuing its validation process to ensure that the patch resolves the instability problems.
Intel plans to release the patch to partners by mid-August, after completing full validation.
Hannaford wrote: “Intel is committed to making this right with our customers. We continue asking any customers currently experiencing instability issues with their Intel Core 13th/14th Gen desktop processors to contact Intel Customer Support for further assistance.”
Intel first acknowledged the issue in April 2024, following reports of frequent crashes experienced by owners of Intel Core i9-13900K and i9-14900K processors. At that time, the company indicated it was investigating the problems and working with major affiliates to address them.
Intel’s Core 13th Generation processors, known as “Raptor Lake,” were launched in October 2022 and feature a hybrid architecture combining performance and efficiency cores.
On the other hand, the Core 14th Generation, or “Meteor Lake,” was introduced in late 2023, advancing with a 7nm process and multi-chip module design. This generation continues the hybrid approach and improves graphics and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.
