Intel says it has found the issue causing 13th and 14th Gen CPUs to crash

Now, Intel plans to address the processors’ troublesome ‘elevated operating voltage’ with a microcode patch.

By Emma Roth, a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.

Jul 22, 2024, 10:32 PM UTC

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Intel says it has found the source of the widespread instability issues affecting its Core 13th and 14th Gen processors. In an update on Monday, Intel confirmed that CPUs are experiencing “elevated operating voltage” and that a patch is on the way.

“We have determined that elevated operating voltage is causing instability issues in some 13th/14th Gen desktop processors,” Intel employee Thomas Hannaford writes on the company’s forum. “Our analysis of returned processors confirms that the elevated operating voltage is stemming from a microcode algorithm resulting in incorrect voltage requests to the processor.”

Intel says it’s working to release a microcode patch for motherboard manufacturers in mid-August and that anyone affected by the issue should contact Intel support in the meantime. The chipmaker first confirmed it was investigating the issue in April after receiving reports from Intel Core i9-13900K and i9-14900K owners experiencing frequent game crashes.

So far, guidance from Intel and motherboard BIOS updates haven’t fully fixed the instability issue. But the pressure on Intel to address the problem has only intensified in recent weeks. Path of Titans developer Alderon Games posted a YouTube video revealing “thousands” of game crashes impacting players with Intel’s 13th and 14th Gen CPUs, while a video from Gamers Nexus says they “can’t recommend Intel” processors right now due to the ongoing issues.