The large image: As Intel prepares a patch to deal with crashing points in its Thirteenth and 14th-generation Raptor Lake CPUs, extra details about the processors’ failure charges is rising. Some firms have opted to modify to AMD, and a retailer lately disclosed that Intel CPU return charges have risen dramatically in recent times.
An unnamed main European on-line PC retailer lately knowledgeable the French outlet Les Numeriques that it receives roughly 4 occasions as many returns of Raptor Lake processors in comparison with Alder Lake (Twelfth-gen Intel Core). This means that Intel’s latest RMA charges could also be considerably larger than AMD’s.
The retailer reported that return charges for the Thirteenth-gen Core i9 13900KF, 13900KS, and 13900K are quadruple these of the Twelfth-generation CPUs. In the meantime, the 14th-gen Core i9 14900KF, 14900KS, and 14900K at the moment have triple the RMA charges of Alder Lake.
The distinction is probably going as a consequence of age. The retailer confirmed that the Thirteenth-gen processors skilled related return charges after they had been in the marketplace for so long as the 14th-gen chips have been now. This means that Intel CPUs might degrade over time and means that returns for the corporate’s most up-to-date lineup might improve.
Estimates from Les Numeriques are possible conservative. The numbers from one retailer do not account for failing processors that weren’t returned, have been returned to different retailers, or have been despatched immediately again to Intel.
Nevertheless, extrapolating from Mindfactory’s 2020 RMA charge stories for Espresso Lake Refresh (Ninth-gen Intel Core) and AMD’s Zen 2, would put Intel’s Thirteenth-gen chips between 4 and 7 p.c and the 14th-gen processors between three and 5.25 p.c. Absolutely the variety of failing Raptor Lake CPUs stays unclear, however the knowledge means that one thing is mistaken.
Customers have reported instability with Intel’s final two desktop CPU generations all year long. A sport developer and a VFX studio reported disastrous failure charges for Thirteenth and 14th-gen i9s, prompting each emigrate to AMD.
Intel traced the issue to a microcode algorithm error that resulted in incorrect energy supply values. The corporate plans to launch a patch in mid-August, but it surely is not going to repair CPUs which might be already failing.
Customers with processors at the moment experiencing crashes or instability might want to RMA them. These with high-end Raptor Lake CPUs which might be nonetheless functioning properly ought to preserve their BIOS up to date, preserve Intel’s default voltage settings, and obtain the corporate’s replace as quickly because it turns into obtainable from OEMs.
