Intel confirms that even 65W Raptor Lake CPUs are impacted by instability and crashing

Intel confirms that even their 65W and non-K Raptor Lake CPUs can be affected by crashing and instability

Earlier this week, Intel confirmed that an “elevated voltage issue“, was the cause of the crashing and instability issues affecting the company’s 13th/14th generation Raptor Lake CPUs. Thankfully, a microcode update is in the works that will prevent this issue moving forward. That said, this fix is only a “preventative solution“. Beyond that, Intel has confirmed that event relatively low-power 65W 13th/14th generation CPUs are affected. This means that Intel’s Raptor Lake woes are not exclusive to high-end CPU users.

Below is Intel’s confirmation to The Verge that 65W non-K 13th/14th generation Raptor Lake CPUs can be impacted by crashing and instability. Note that not all Intel 13th/14th generation CPUs are affected by this issue.

How many chips does Intel estimate are likely to be irreversibly impacted by these issues?

Intel Core 13th and 14th Generation desktop processors with 65W or higher base power – including K/KF/KS and 65W non-K variants – could be affected by the elevated voltages issue. However, this does not mean that all processors listed are (or will be) impacted by the elevated voltages issue.

Unfortunately, already unstable Intel CPUs are unlikely to become stable again after Intel’s BIOS updates. Intel CPU users with “instability symptoms” should reach out to Intel Customer Support. While Intel did not directly state that unstable CPUs are irreversibly damaged, they did not deny this claim.

Initially, many thought that Intel’s Raptor Lake instability saga was a high-end/high power CPU problem. Now, we know that this isn’t the case. While lower-power CPUs appear to be less affected, they can become unstable nonetheless.

You can join the discussion on Intel’s 65W+ 13th/14th gen CPUs being affected by Raptor Lake instability issues on the OC3D Forums.

Mark Campbell

Mark Campbell

A Northern Irish father, husband, and techie that works to turn tea and coffee into articles when he isn’t painting his extensive minis collection or using things to make other things.

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