ASUS & MSI have become the first motherboard makers to release the latest microcode BIOS patch to address Intel 14th & 13th Gen instability issues.
Intel's Latest Microcode Patch For 14th & 13th Gen CPUs Is Now Available In Latest BIOS For ASUS & MSI Z790 Motherboards
Update [8/10/2024] - ASUS has become the only motherboard vendor to roll out the latest update across its entire portfolio of products including Z790, B760, B660, Z690, W680, and the rest of the Intel 700/600 series stack. The details along with the full list of motherboards can be found below:
We have begun comprehensive deployment of these new UEFI BIOS releases, starting with BETA releases, and will soon have formal releases.
The current list of models issued the update is noted below. As the servers are updated, some boards will see the update quicker than others.…
— Juan Jose Guerrero (@ASUSTechMKTJJ) August 9, 2024
It looks like Intel and its partners have decided to roll out the newest microcode patch to address the 14th & 13th Gen instability issues a bit earlier as both ASUS and MSI are now offering new BIOS updates that ship with the latest "0x129" microcode patch. This new patch was expected to ship by mid of August but motherboard makers have decided to be swift and made it available for their Z790 motherboards.
Starting with ASUS, the motherboard maker now offers its latest BIOS for its entire Z790 board portfolio. The latest BIOS updates the microcode to "0x129, " the second major microcode patch following the release of the "0x125" update that addressed the eTVB bug. Do note that the BIOS being offered by ASUS is still a BETA release but should include the respective microcode fix for users to try out. Following are all the boards along with their respective links to the BIOS shared over at ASUS ROG forums by SAFEDISK:
- ROG MAXIMUS Z790 HERO Beta Bios 2503
- ROG MAXIMUS Z790 DARK HERO Beta Bios 1503
- ROG MAXIMUS Z790 HERO BTF Beta Bios 1503
- ROG MAXIMUS Z790 HERO EVA-02 EDITION Beta Bios 2503
- ROG MAXIMUS Z790 APEX Beta Bios 2503
- ROG MAXIMUS Z790 APEX ENCORE Beta Bios 1503
- ROG MAXIMUS Z790 FORMULA Beta Bios 1503
- ROG MAXIMUS Z790 EXTREME Beta Bios 2503
- ROG STRIX Z790-A GAMING WIFI Beta Bios 2503
- ROG STRIX Z790-A GAMING WIFI D4 Beta Bios 2503
- ROG STRIX Z790-A GAMING WIFI II Beta Bios 1503
- ROG STRIX Z790-A GAMING WIFI S Beta Bios 1503
- ROG STRIX Z790-E GAMING WIFI Beta Bios 2503
- ROG STRIX Z790-E GAMING WIFI II Beta Bios 1503
- ROG STRIX Z790-F GAMING WIFI Beta Bios 2503
- ROG STRIX Z790-F GAMING WIFI II Beta Bios 1503
- ROG STRIX Z790-H GAMING WIFI Beta Bios 2503
- ROG STRIX Z790-I GAMING WIFI Beta Bios 2503
ProArt Z790-CREATOR WIFI Beta Bios 2503 - Z790-AYW OC WIFI Beta Bios 1662
In addition to ASUS, MSI is announcing that it will be rolling out the latest BIOS for its Intel Z790 motherboards first. Interestingly, MSI states that the new BIOS will mitigate the instability which seems like the issues might persist but won't be as bad as before. The microcode patch will start rolling out in the coming weeks or by the end of August and should be a Non-BETA release that will hit the following motherboards:
- MEG Z790 GODLIKE MAX
- MEG Z790 ACE MAX
- MPG Z790 CARBON MAX WIFI II
- MPG Z790 CARBON WIFI
- MAG Z790 TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI
- Z790MPOWER
The motherboard manufacturer will also offer the respective BIOS updates for the rest of its 700 and 600-series Intel motherboards but the Z790 series takes priority as that's what most users are running with an Intel 14th Gen & 13th Gen Core i9 chip.
Intel 0x129 microcode Tested
Single-threaded performance drops a bit and 5.8 GHz is almost invisible.
Source: QQ pic.twitter.com/rCrRhJI3ci
— HXL (@9550pro) August 8, 2024
We will be testing out the new BIOS to see if it changes the behavior of chips in applications and games. More importantly, we will try to verify Intel's claims since it stated that overclocking will still be working and performance impact should be minimal.
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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