Intel 14th & 13th Gen CPU Instability Issues Are Now Solved As Blue Team Confirms “0x12B” As The Final Mitigation

Hassan Mujtaba
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Oct 5, 2024 at 06:10am EDT
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Intel 14th & 13th Gen CPU Instability Issues Are Now Solved As Blue Team Confirms "0x12B" As The Final Mitigation 1

Intel has announced the "0x12B" microcode as the final mitigation for the instability issues affecting its 14th & 13th Gen CPUs.

Intel 14th & 13th Gen CPU Owner Instability Woes Finally Come To An End As Blue Team Says That "0x12B" Microcode Fixes The Issues

Intel has finally offered a new statement regarding the 14th & 13th Gen CPU Instability issues & stated that will be a relief for users running these chips. According to the chipmaker, the newly released "0x12B" microcode patch, which is now being rolled out by motherboard vendors as a BIOS update, is the final mitigation against the instability issues and should resolve all issues as they were able to narrow down the root cause to elevated voltages.

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Following is the statement Intel has provided to The Verge:

“Yes, we’re confirming this is the cause and that it is fixed,” Intel spokesperson Thomas Hannaford tells The Verge.

The Intel 0x12B microcode BIOS patch was announced last month on the 25th of September and marks the end of the instability woes that have been affecting the 14th and 13th Gen CPUs since their release. The root cause can now also be confirmed as the elevated voltages besides a range of other issues that were discovered by Intel such as eTVB bugs and unstable power profiles used by motherboard manufacturers.

Intel has identified four (4) operating scenarios that can lead to Vmin shift in affected processors:

  1. Motherboard power delivery settings exceeding Intel power guidance. 
    a.  Mitigation: Intel Default Settings recommendations for Intel Core 13th and 14th Gen desktop processors.  
  2. eTVB Microcode algorithm which was allowing Intel Core 13th and 14th Gen i9 desktop processors to operate at higher performance states even at high temperatures. 
    a.  Mitigation: microcode 0x125 (June 2024) addresses eTVB algorithm issue.  
  3. Microcode SVID algorithm requesting high voltages at a frequency and duration which can cause Vmin shift. 
    a.  Mitigation: microcode 0x129 (August 2024) addresses high voltages requested by the processor.  
  4. Microcode and BIOS code requesting elevated core voltages which can cause Vmin shift especially during periods of idle and/or light activity. 
    a.  Mitigation: Intel is releasing microcode 0x12B, which encompasses 0x125 and 0x129 microcode updates, and addresses elevated voltage requests by the processor during idle and/or light activity periods.  

Regarding the 0x12B update, Intel is working with its partners to roll out the relevant BIOS update to the public.

We have a timeline of all the events:

One thing to remember is that Intel is also offering extended warranties (+2 years) across all 14th and 13th-CPUs to ensure that users who have degraded chips can get fresh new ones & the patches can be applied over them to ensure stable performance. There's no fix for the chips that have been degraded and there are two options available for users, either get a replacement or a full refund. In some cases, we have seen users being upgraded to the Core i9-14900K as an RMA for their Core i9-13900K chip.

Users can finally take a breath of relief as this whole issue comes to an end. Surely, a lot of people became frustrated due to the frequency of crashes and various errors due to Intel's 14th & 13th Gen CPU instability issues but at least now we can expect the chips to perform as expected.

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