Website Igor’s Lab reported that Intel has discovered the root of the stability problems with 13th and 14th generation Core i9 processors (Raptor Lake) with unlocked overclocking. Intel has prepared a corresponding microcode patch, but reported Tom’s Hardwarethat the update improves the consequences but does not solve the problem.
«Contrary to recent media reports, Intel has not confirmed a root cause and is continuing to investigate user reports of instability issues with unlocked 13th and 14th Generation Intel Core (K/KF/KS) desktop processors with its partners. The microcode patch mentioned in the press reports fixes an eTVB bug that Intel discovered while investigating the instability reports. While this issue potentially contributes to instability, it is not the root cause,— Intel said in a statement.
Igor’s Lab claimed to have obtained an internal document indicating that the main cause of the instability was a «incorrect value in the microcode algorithm associated with the eTVB» function. Enhanced Thermal Velocity Boost — a function that overclocks processor cores above the maximum frequency when certain conditions are met. eTVB only starts to work when there is sufficient power and TDP. eTVB technology is an exclusive feature of Intel Raptor Lake. It maximizes acceleration in games and applications that require it, but new data shows that it can increase stress on some components
As a reminder, in April it became known about the problem of joint operation of Intel Core i9 13 and 14 K-series chips with NVIDIA video cards, which has been reported since the beginning of the year. Motherboard manufacturers added Intel recommended settings mode to the BIOS. However, the processor manufacturer called this mode incorrect and suggested the correct parameters. As you can see, these and further efforts by Intel and its partners have improved the performance of the processors, but have not led to a final solution.