Intel has confirmed that it is about to challenge one other microcode replace for its Thirteenth-gen and 14th-gen Raptor Lake CPUs, that means you will have to replace your motherboard BIOS once more. As with the raft of Intel CPU updates issued on the finish of 2024, this one once more addresses Vmin Shift Instability, the place the CPU voltage can fluctuate to unsafe ranges, regardless of Intel saying it had fastened the difficulty in 2024.
Whereas the efficiency of the Intel Core i9 14900K means it is nonetheless fortunately sitting on our information to the perfect gaming CPU, this vary of processors has been hit onerous by stability issues, significantly in video games based mostly on the Unreal Engine. Should you’ve been experiencing errors in video games saying your system is out of VRAM, regardless of having a great deal of reminiscence in your graphics card, then you definitely’ve very in all probability skilled this Intel stability challenge and might want to apply the most recent replace.
The brand new microcode replace is known as 0x12F, and shall be showing in a firmware obtain in your Intel LGA1700 motherboard shortly. Should you’ve by no means carried out this earlier than, then try our information on the right way to replace your BIOS, which takes you thru the entire technique of flashing the firmware in your motherboard.
In its assertion on the brand new replace, Intel insists that the discharge of this new microcode replace “doesn’t alter the basis trigger willpower for the Intel Core Thirteenth and 14th Gen desktop processor Vmin Shift Instability challenge,” and that the brand new microcode merely addresses “a restricted variety of stories concerning programs constantly operating for a number of days with low-activity and lightly-threaded workloads.”
Intel additionally says that you will expertise “no measurable efficiency affect” in your system after making use of the replace, based mostly on its checks utilizing a Core i9 14900K in quite a lot of video games, together with Cyberpunk 2077, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Hitman 2: Dartmoor, and Whole Battle: Warhammer III – Mirrors of Insanity.
Intel hasn’t lined itself in glory within the PC gaming house recently, with its Thirteenth-gen and 14th-gen Raptor Lake CPUs being tormented by stability issues and the necessity to apply a number of BIOS updates final yr, whereas its new Arrow Lake CPUs had been even slower in video games than their predecessors, as I discovered in my Core Extremely 7 265K evaluate. Even with the most recent Intel CPU worth drop, the corporate has a giant sport of catch-up to play with AMD now – you possibly can learn my Ryzen 7 9800X3D evaluate to see why that is the gaming CPU of the second.
Should you’re considering of upgrading to a brand new CPU, try my information to the perfect gaming motherboard to discover a good residence in your new chip, and take a look at my tutorial on the right way to set up a CPU to be sure you match it proper as nicely.
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