Following Intel’s run of economic woes and Raptor Lake chip stability points, the corporate may use some excellent news on a Friday. And this week they’re delivering simply that, with the primary model of the eagerly awaited microcode repair for desktop Raptor Lake processors – in addition to the primary detailed clarification of the underlying challenge.
The new microcode launch, model 0x129, is Intel’s first stab at addressing the elevated voltage challenge that has seemingly been the reason for Raptor Lake processor degradation over the previous 12 months and a half. Intel has been investigating the problem all 12 months, and after a gradual begin, in current weeks has begun making extra vital progress, figuring out what they’re calling an “elevated operating voltage” challenge in high-TDP desktop Raptor Lake (13th & 14th Generation Core) chips. Back in late July the corporate was focusing on a mid-August launch date for a microcode patch to repair (or relatively, forestall) the degradation challenge, and simply forward of that deadline, Intel has begun transport the microcode to their motherboard companions.
Even with this new microcode, nevertheless, Intel will not be finished with the steadiness challenge. Intel remains to be investigating whether or not it’s doable to enhance the steadiness of already-degraded processors, and the general tone of Intel’s announcement could be very a lot that of a beta software program repair – Intel received’t be submitting this particular microcode revision for distribution by way of working system updates, for instance. So even when this microcode is profitable in stopping ongoing degradation, plainly Intel hasn’t closed the ebook on the problem fully, and that the corporate is presumably working in the direction of a repair appropriate for wider launch.
Capping At 1.55v: Elevated Voltages Beget Elevated Voltages
So simply what does the 0x129 microcode replace do? In quick, it caps the voltage of affected Raptor Lake desktop chips at a still-toasty (however in spec) 1.55v. As famous in Intel’s earlier bulletins, extreme voltages appear to be at the reason for the problem, so capping voltages at what Intel has decided is the right restrict ought to forestall future chip injury.
The firm’s letter to the neighborhood additionally outlines, for the primary time, simply what’s going on underneath the hood with degraded chips. Those chips which have already succumbed to the problem from repeated voltage spikes have deteriorated in such a approach that the minimal voltage wanted to function the chip – Vmin – has elevated past Intel’s authentic specs. As a outcome, these chips are now not getting sufficient voltage to function.
Seasoned overclockers will little question discover that it is a acquainted story, as this is without doubt one of the ways in which overclocked processors degrade over time. In these instances – because it seems to be with the Raptor Lake challenge – extra voltage is required to maintain a chip steady, notably in workloads the place the voltage to the chip is already sagging.
And whereas all indicators level to this degradation being irreversible (and lots of RMAs in Intel’s future), there’s a ray of hope. If Intel’s evaluation is appropriate that degraded Raptor Lake chips can nonetheless function correctly with the next Vmin voltage, then there’s the opportunity of saving no less than a few of these chips, and bringing them again to stability.
This “Vmin shift,” as Intel is looking it, is the corporate’s subsequent investigative goal. According to the corporate’s letter, they’re aiming to offer updates by the “end of August.”
In the meantime, Intel’s keen motherboard companions have already begun releasing BIOSes with the brand new microcode, with ASUS and MSI even leaping the gun and sending out BIOSes earlier than Intel had an opportunity to correctly announce the microcode. Both distributors are releasing these as beta BIOSes, reflecting the final…
