Capping off an intensive (and costly) week for Intel, the corporate has additionally introduced that they’re taking extra steps to handle the continued chip stability points with desktop Raptor Lake chips – the 13th and 14th Generation desktop Core processors. In order to maintain homeowners complete, Intel will probably be extending the guarantee on retail boxed Raptor Lake chips by two years, bringing the cumulative guarantee for the chips to 5 years altogether.
This newest announcement comes as Intel remains to be within the strategy of making ready their main Raptor Lake microcode replace, which is designed to mitigate the problem (or quite, additional harm) by fixing the elevated voltage bug of their current microcode that has led to the problem within the first place. That microcode replace stays scheduled for mid-August, roughly a few weeks from now.
But till then – and relying on how shortly the replace is distributed, even afterwards – there may be nonetheless the matter of what to do with Raptor Lake desktop chips which are already too far gone and are consequently unstable. Intel’s retail boxed Raptor Lake chips ship with a three 12 months guarantee, which given the October 2022 launch date, would have the oldest of those chips coated till October of 2025 – a bit over a 12 months from now. And whereas the in-development repair ought to imply that that is loads of time to catch and exchange any broken chips, Intel has opted to take issues one step additional by extending the chips’ guarantee to 5 years.
Overall, that is much-needed bit of harm management by Intel to revive some religion of their current Raptor Lake desktop processor lineup. Even with the deliberate microcode repair, it stays unclear at greatest about what the long-term repercussions of the voltage bug is, and what it means for the lifespan of still-stable chips that obtain the mounted microcode. In the best-case state of affairs, an prolonged guarantee offers Raptor Lake homeowners a bit extra peace of thoughts, and in a worst-case state of affairs, they’re now coated for a few years longer if the chip degradation points persist.
One vital factor to notice, nonetheless, is that the prolonged guarantee will solely apply to boxed processors, i.e. Intel’s official retail chips. Intel’s free chips which are offered by the tray to OEMs and sure distributors – generally known as “tray” processors – will not be coated by the prolonged guarantee. While Raptor Lake tray processors do technically include a three-year guarantee of their very own, Intel doesn’t present direct, end-user guarantee service for these chips. Instead, these warranties are serviced by the OEM or distributor that offered the chip.
With the majority of Intel’s chips going to OEMs and different skilled system builders, Intel will undoubtedly have to settle issues with these teams, as nicely. But with OEM dealings sometimes remaining behind closed doorways, it’s unlikely we’ll hear about simply what’s agreed there. Regardless, no matter Intel does (or doesn’t do) to assuage OEMs and distributors, these teams will stay accountable for dealing with guarantee claims for tray chips.
Finally, it ought to be famous that whereas right this moment’s announcement outlines the two-year guarantee extension, it doesn’t ship the complete particulars on this system. Intel expects to launch extra particulars on the prolonged guarantee program “in the coming days.”
Intel’s full assertion is beneath:
In the meantime,…
