Intel denies reports it identified root cause of Core i9 crash issues – investigation continues

Lina Portman3 weeks ago

0 2 minutes read

Intel confirmed Tom's material which reports that it has fixed the root cause of the Core i9 crashing issues is false. Intel's statement flies in the face of German publication Igor's Lab, which reported earlier today that Intel had discovered the root of issues affecting the stability of the 13th Gen Raptor Lake Refresh Core i9 and Raptor Lake processors. 14th generation refresh, sparking a wave of reports claiming a fix would arrive via a firmware patch.

“Contrary to recent media reports, Intel has not confirmed the root cause and continues, with its partners, to investigate user reports of instability issues on 13th and 14th generation Intel Core desktop processors ( K/KF/KS) unlocked,” Intel said in a statement sent to Tom's material. “The microcode patch referenced in the press articles addresses an eTVB bug discovered by Intel while investigating reports of instability. While this issue potentially contributes to instability, it is not the root cause .”

Igor's Lab claimed to have obtained an internal document, apparently under NDA, pointing out that the underlying cause of the instability was “an incorrect value in the microcode algorithm associated with the eTVB functionality.” If you're not familiar with eTVB (enhanced Thermal Velocity Boost), it's a feature that ingeniously overclocks CPU cores above the maximum turbo frequency when certain conditions are met. eTVB only intervenes when there is sufficient thermal and electrical margin.

eTVB technology is an exclusive feature for Intel Raptor Lake chips, particularly Core i9 SKUs, so ongoing instability issues do not affect the rest of Intel's CPU population. eTVB is a major plus for Core i9 processors because it gives them a burst of performance in games and applications that prioritize high clock speeds.

According to the purported fault analysis report cited by Igor, Intel detected a shift in the minimum operating voltage on Core i9 components due to exposure to high base voltages.

It appears that Intel may address this specific issue with a firmware update. However, the root cause of the instability issues has still not been identified.

Intel previously noted that motherboard vendors should enable required security features instead of tuning their firmware for maximum performance and operating processors outside of their specifications. This action forced manufacturers to release updated firmware with Intel base profiles that ensure all the chips' security mechanisms are enabled.