Intel officially responds to 13th and 14th Gen CPU instability reports

After many months of ambiguity, Intel believes it has identified the problem causing instability on its high-end CPUs.

Reports have been surfacing for many months now of users experiencing instability problems with 13th and 14th Gen Intel CPUs, of which the cause has alluded Intel, or at least the public, for quite some time. In April, Intel launched an investigation into the instability reports, and in May, the company issued guidance to motherboard partners to set new default settings for affected CPUs. These new settings restricted performance, particularly by restricting the maximum power draw of the CPU.

This bandaid fix appeared to work at first but later unfolded into more instability problems. The problem seemed to get worse when Alderon Games, an Australian-based developer, announced, "Intel is selling defective CPUs - specifically 13th and 14th Gen models". The developer claimed that affected Intel CPUs had a 100% failure rate over the 3 to 4 months of internal testing.

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Now, Intel has issued a public statement about the problem, saying it has discovered the root of the instability issues found on 13th and 14th Gen CPUs. The company explained in a community note that elevated operating voltages were a primary contributor to the faulty microcode algorithms that were being sent to the CPU. Within these issues lies the instability.

"Based on extensive analysis of Intel Core 13th/14th Gen desktop processors returned to us due to instability issues, 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 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," writes Intel

Intel states it's planning to release a microcode patch in mid-August that will hopefully fix the problem.