The massive image: Intel has lastly recognized all of the underlying culprits behind the instability points plaguing its Thirteenth- and 14th-gen processors. Whereas the corporate beforehand acknowledged the foundation trigger, it didn’t present a complete evaluation. Now, alongside the outcomes of its prolonged investigation, Intel can also be rolling out a second microcode replace to hopefully put these points to mattress as soon as and for all.
The basis of the issue, as Intel explains, lies in a clock tree circuit throughout the IA core itself that turns into liable to failure when subjected to excessive voltage and temperature circumstances. This failure causes a shift within the clock obligation cycle, which then manifests as system instability.
Intel zeroed in on 4 key working situations that have been triggering this. First is the motherboard energy supply exceeding Intel’s steerage, offering the chips with an excessive amount of voltage. The answer for that is making use of Intel’s Default Settings, which the corporate really useful again in June.
There’s additionally a problem with the eTVB microcode algorithm that enables the CPUs to spice up into high-performance states even at excessive temperatures. The SVID microcode algorithm requesting greater voltages at sure frequencies/durations than the silicon might deal with was additionally singled out as a set off. The ultimate offender is the microcode and BIOS requesting elevated voltages throughout idle/gentle workloads.
The mitigations are being rolled into a brand new 0x12B microcode replace that encompasses earlier 0x125 and 0x129 patches. 0x125 addressed the eTVB algorithm situation, whereas 0x129 tackled the excessive voltage requests. 0x12B builds on these by implementing stricter voltage management throughout idle and/or gentle exercise intervals.
Motherboard makers are actually working to combine 0x12B through upcoming BIOS updates, based on Intel. The rollout might take weeks.
It is vital to notice that this microcode can solely stop the Vmin shift instability from occurring and can’t repair CPUs which might be already affected by the problem. These will should be changed by Intel below the guarantee extension program (tell us in the event that they refuse). As soon as swapped for a recent chip, putting in the newest microcode replace turns into essential to keep away from a repeat scenario.
Intel assures that there can be no vital efficiency impression from the 0x12B patch. The corporate additionally reiterated that its cellular CPUs and upcoming Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake desktop elements are unaffected by this flaw.