Intel’s crashing 13th and 14th Gen Raptor Lake CPUs: all the news and updates

2 months ago

Many months ago, gamers began experiencing strange crashes with their 13th and 14th Gen Intel Core i9 CPUs — but that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Intel has now extended its warranty by two full years on 24 different 13th Gen and 14th Gen desktop chips, including Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9 models, after discovering that many CPUs based on its Raptor Lake architecture are susceptible to permanent damage. They were being fed too much voltage, and some have irreversibly degraded. Intel has not yet said if laptop chips are failing the same way.

As of August 2024, there is currently no fix for an Intel CPU that’s crashing like this — you need to exchange it, and that’s what the extended two-year warranty is for. But you can apply motherboard BIOS updates that may prevent damage to begin with, and Intel is explicitly addressing the excessive voltage issue in August updates for its partners’ motherboards.

There are many open questions, like how many customers are affected, why Intel isn’t recalling these chips, why it didn’t claw back existing inventory ahead of its August patch, how it will proactively warn customers, how lenient it might be when dealing with customers who want an exchange, and which other issues might be contributing to these chips’ instability. (Intel has suggested the voltage is a primary cause, but not the only one.)

The Verge is keeping track of the answers, and other news, in updates to the StoryStream you’ll find below. We’re also keeping track of which PC makers will honor Intel’s extended warranty in this story.

CyberPowerPC has decided to hop onto the Intel-warranty-respecting bandwagon.
It now offers a five-year warranty on Intel’s problematic 13th and 14th Gen CPUs, just like its closest competitors.
We also got a vague new statement from Dell/Alienware that suggests it might extend its own parts warranty, but doesn’t promise to do so.
Should we do a big screaming headline about Intel BIOS updates?
Falcon Northwest CEO Kelt Reeves tells The Verge:
Please help us get the word out to all Raptor Lake desktop users, especially i9 users, in big screaming headlines that they need to update their PC to the latest BIOS now to stop/prevent the CPU wear and hopefully avoid the need for an RMA. Don’t wait for the August microcode – that’s the last 5% (we hope) of the solution, but 95% of the fix is available now. Think of the new BIOS’ as the vaccine against this issue, but it will do no good unless people get shots in arms.
Intel spox Thomas Hannaford wouldn’t go as far as “95% of the fix,” but he says “Kelt’s PSA is a good one”. Besides, the August microcode is rolling out now:
Asus releases BIOS updates to address Intel CPU stability issues.
Asus is the first OEM to release BIOS updates for its range of Z790 motherboards. The latest beta BIOS includes Intel’s new microcode fix to address stability and crashing issues with its 13th and 14th Gen processors. This won’t fix chips that are already damaged, though. You’ll need to swap your CPU, with Intel or a PC maker, if it has degraded.
Intel’s crashing CPU warranty extends to OEM models.
Intel added two years of additional warranty coverage for its 13th and 14th Gen Core processors last week, and now it’s clarifying this will also apply to processors sold without a box to OEMs or system integrators. If you’re having crashing issues you can contact Intel if you purchased a boxed CPU, or your OEM or system builder otherwise. Intel has also supplied a list of processors that will get the warranty extension, found below.

The processors that get a two-year warranty extension.
Image: Intel
Intel’s crashing 13th and 14th Gen CPUs get two additional years of warranty coverage
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Although there’s no fix for Intel’s crashing 13th and 14th Gen Intel Core processors, the company is trying to make things somewhat better for customers who are stuck with potentially damaged chips by extending their warranty for two additional years.
“Intel is committed to making sure all customers who have or are currently experiencing instability symptoms on their 13th and / or 14th Gen desktop processors are supported in the exchange process,” reads a statement from Intel’s Thomas Hannaford to The Verge. “We stand behind our products, and in the coming days we will be sharing more details on two-year extended warranty support for our boxed Intel Core 13th and 14th Gen desktop processors.”
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There is no fix for Intel’s crashing 13th and 14th Gen CPUs — any damage is permanent
An Intel Core i9-13900K CPU, one of the first types that was identified to sometimes crash games this way.
Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge
On Monday, it initially seemed like the beginning of the end for Intel’s desktop CPU instability woes — the company confirmed a patch is coming in mid-August that should address the “root cause” of exposure to elevated voltage. But if your 13th or 14th Gen Intel Core processor is already crashing, that patch apparently won’t fix it.
Citing unnamed sources, Tom’s Hardware reports that any degradation of the processor is irreversible, and an Intel spokesperson did not deny that when we asked. Intel is “confident” the patch will keep it from happening in the first place. (As another preventative measure, you should update your motherboard BIOS ASAP.) But if your defective CPU has been damaged, your best option is to replace it instead of tweaking BIOS settings to try and alleviate the problems.
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Intel says it has found the issue causing 13th and 14th Gen CPUs to crash
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Intel says it has found the source of the widespread instability issues affecting its Core 13th and 14th Gen processors. In an update on Monday, Intel confirmed that CPUs are experiencing “elevated operating voltage” and that a patch is on the way.
“We have determined that elevated operating voltage is causing instability issues in some 13th/14th Gen desktop processors,” Intel employee Thomas Hannaford writes on the company’s forum. “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.”
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Complaints about crashing 13th, 14th Gen Intel CPUs now have data to back them up
Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge
Alderon Games, the maker of dinosaur MMO Path of Titans, says it's swapping out its Intel 13th and 14th Gen-based servers for AMD and urges others hosting the game’s servers to do the same. The developer has had “significant” instability issues that none of the fixes so far have reversed, wrote Alderon founder Matthew Cassells in a blog post last week.
Cassells wrote that Alderon has recorded “thousands of crashes” on gamers’ CPUs using its crash reporting tools and says the processors can also corrupt SSDs and memory. He added that in his team’s experience, 100 percent of the affected CPUs “deteriorate over time, eventually failing.” On the contrary, Unreal Engine decompression tool maker RAD Game Tools, which Cassells cites in the blog, says that “only a small fraction” of the processors are affected.
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Intel says it still doesn’t have the true fix for its crashing i9 desktop chips
One of the affected Intel processors.
Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge
For months, Intel’s highest-end desktop gaming processors have had a strange tendency to occasionally make games crash — and despite what you might have seen earlier today, Intel says it doesn’t have a final fix for its 13th and 14th Gen Intel Core i9 “Raptor Lake” and “Raptor Lake S” chips just yet.
“Contrary to recent media reports, Intel has not confirmed root cause and is continuing, with its partners, to investigate user reports regarding instability issues on unlocked Intel Core 13th and 14th generation (K/KF/KS) desktop processors,” reads a statement via Intel spokesperson Thomas Hannaford.
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Intel investigating games crashing on 13th and 14th Gen Core i9 processors
Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge
Owners of Intel’s latest 13th and 14th Gen Core i9 desktop processors have been noticing an increase in game crashes in recent months. It’s happening in games like The Finals, Fortnite, and Tekken 8, and has even led Epic Games to issue a support notice to encourage Intel Core i9 13900K and 14900K owners to adjust BIOS settings.
Now, Intel says it’s investigating the reports. “Intel is aware of problems that occur when executing certain tasks on 13th and 14th generation core processors for desktop PCs, and is analyzing them with major affiliates,” says an Intel spokesperson in a statement to ZDNet Korea.
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