Intel’s woes with Core i9 CPUs crashing look worse than we thought – Staff Blue actually must act now to repair this mess

Intel’s issues with unstable 13th-gen and 14th-gen high-end CPUs seem to run deeper than we thought, and a brand new YouTube video diving into these gremlins will do little to calm any fears that patrons of Raptor Lake Core i9 processors (and its subsequent refresh) have.

Level1Techs is the YouTuber in query, who has explored a number of avenues in an effort to make extra sense of the crashing points with these Intel processors which can be affecting some PC avid gamers and making their lives a distress – extra so in some instances than others.

Knowledge taken from recreation developer crash logs – from two totally different video games – clearly signifies a excessive prevalence of crashes with the talked about newer Intel Core i9 chips (13900K and 14900K).

In truth, for one specific kind of error (decompression, a generally carried out operation in video games), there was a complete of 1,584 that occurred within the databases Level1Techs sifted by way of, and an alarming 1,431 of these occurred with a 13900K or 14900K. Sure – that’s 90% of these decompression errors hitting simply two particular CPUs.

As for different processors, the third most prevalent was an previous Intel Core i7 9750H (Espresso Lake laptop computer CPU) – which had a grand whole of 11 situations. All AMD processors in whole had simply 4 occurrences of decompression errors in these recreation databases.

In case you have been pondering that AMD chips could be actually underrepresented right here, therefore that very low determine, nicely, they’re not – 30% of the CPUs within the database have been from Staff Crimson.

These findings alone are a priority, however as ever, only one set of information is hardly the total image. What we additionally don’t know right here is that whereas it seems one thing goes critically wonky with these Core i9 CPUs, is it actually the fault of the chip? Or, as Intel has identified beforehand, does the blame lie with motherboards and their settings? (Intel has issued some advice issued in this regard).

Nonetheless, the YouTuber additionally brings up one other level right here: specifically that information facilities are noticing these points with Core i9s. Even 13900K and 14900K processors in W680 motherboards – that are constructed for stability, so you possibly can’t blame any points on low high quality elements – are experiencing these crashes. Neither are these boards constructed or used for overclocking, so these issues can’t be pinned on overzealous lovers pushing their Intel CPUs too laborious.

Level1Techs notes that one information heart provider is charging way more to assist the Intel CPU-powered techniques it’s deploying, in comparison with AMD, because it has seen an “unusually excessive” stage of issues that wanted to be tackled by taking measures comparable to disabling effectivity cores – and even having to exchange chips completely. So, assist for these Intel Core i9s now has a hefty premium hooked up.

The info heart supplier notes that 12900K chips weren’t problematic like this, and that “one thing isn’t proper with the 13900K and 14900K” briefly. Even after CPU replacements have been carried out, the problems don’t appear absolutely resolved, the corporate the YouTuber spoke to identified.

Recreation servers powered by these Core i9 chips are additionally crashing extra, main the builders to concern they could lose gamers who get annoyed and blame the sport, or the dev, when the {hardware} is (seemingly) at fault.

Evaluation: The specter of severe reputational injury

As Level1Techs makes clear, the confusion across the causation right here is making this a thorny mess. Intel has nonetheless not been clear concerning the root trigger, regardless that the corporate has provided numerous recommendation as already famous – and in addition issued a microcode replace to tune Enhanced Thermal Velocity Enhance with these processors (apparently not the basis drawback – however no less than a part of the problems right here).

Sure, we get that that is evidently a posh concern, however Intel actually must act extra definitively to pin it down. With information like this from Level1Techs coming to the fore, you may be positive we’ll see additional evaluation alongside these traces quickly sufficient, so the time for Intel to behave is now – earlier than actual reputational injury units in.

One nameless motherboard maker is already airing fears that this whole episode goes to place individuals off Intel’s next-gen Arrow Lake CPUs, and because the public notion round this debacle seemingly worsens, that solely amplifies these considerations.

Okay, so we don’t wish to soar to conclusions on what is occurring with these Core i9s – however one thing’s clearly unsuitable, and fanatic patrons of those CPUs shall be fretting about their costly buy at this level. As a result of one other key facet that the YouTuber’s information signifies is that these errors and crashes seem to worsen as time goes on – a scary prospect if it actually pans out like this.

Belief in Intel goes to fade quickly if this isn’t tackled in a extra thorough method than Staff Blue has managed thus far, and that’ll go away Arrow Lake in a really tough spot because it launches – and tries to safe its place in our rating of the best CPUs towards an apparently strong next-gen Ryzen rival.

On the very least, Intel ought to be giving out agency assurances that if Core i9 patrons do have a problematic CPU, it will likely be changed, no questions requested – however that is one thing else we’re not seeing. And once more, reticence on that entrance solely pours gas on the flames of the concept it is a larger drawback than all of us first imagined. We have contacted Intel for touch upon the claims raised by the video, and can replace this story after we hear again.

You may additionally like