Intel had a promising breakthrough last week when it identified the cause of frequent crashes on Core i9 Raptor Lake computers. The company announced an impending update to resolve these CPU issues, but the situation is more complex than initially thought. Intel has acknowledged that the microcode bug affects a broader range of Raptor Lake CPUs, and the forthcoming patch won’t fix the already malfunctioning chips.
For the past year, owners of Intel’s 13th and 14th-generation CPUs have reported regular crashes during high-power activities like gaming. Intel attributed the problem to an elevated operating voltage caused by a faulty microcode algorithm. The company plans to release a fix in mid-August, enabling motherboard manufacturers to issue patches preventing high voltage from damaging CPUs.
However, the problem is more widespread than Intel previously indicated as Intel communications manager Thomas Hannaford revealed that the bug affects all Raptor Lake and Raptor Lake Refresh chips with TDPs of 65W or higher. This includes the enthusiast K/KF/KS CPUs with unlocked multipliers, as well as the non-K variants for mainstream use, covering Core i5, i7, and i9 CPUs.
Despite the large number of affected CPUs, Intel is not recalling the chips or removing them from retailers. Hannaford explained that the patch won’t repair CPUs already experiencing stability issues due to the voltage bug, as those are permanently damaged and need replacement. However, the patch will prevent the issue in systems not yet affected.
Intel is not extending warranties but encourages users experiencing problems to contact support. The company plans to handle the replacements case by case without estimating how many chips are impacted.
In the meantime, Intel advises Raptor Lake owners to use the Intel Default Settings and keep their motherboard BIOS updated. It’s best to avoid overclocking unlocked CPUs for now. Intel will provide more updates as the investigation continues.