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Intel confirms microcode patch to address 13th Gen and 14th Gen CPU stability issues

Intel has been investigating widespread stability issues with 13th Gen Core and 14th Gen Core CPUs for months now. Today, the company gave us a long-awaited update, pinning the issues on elevated operating voltage.

In a statement released today, Intel employee, Thomas Hannaford, who also penned the last update on CPU instability earlier in the year, said: “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.”

Hannaford goes on to add that a microcode patch will begin rolling out soon to address “the root cause of exposure to elevated voltages”. This patch is going through validation testing at the moment, assuming things go as planned, the update should be available to end users in mid-August.

To close out the update, Intel says that it is “committed to making this right with our customers”, so anyone having issues should continue to report feedback.

Recently, 13th and 14th Gen Core laptop CPUs were also called into question over stability problems, but Intel says that this is a separate issue that will need further investigation.

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KitGuru Says: Hopefully the microcode update arrives on time so we can get to testing.

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