Intel 14th & 13th Gen CPU Instability Issues Are Now Solved As Blue Team Confirms “0x12B” As The Final Mitigation

Intel has announced the "0x12B" microcode as the final mitigation for the instability issues affecting its 14th & 13th Gen CPUs.

Intel 14th & 13th Gen CPU Owner Instability Woes Finally Come To An End As Blue Team Says That "0x12B" Microcode Fixes The Issues

Intel has finally offered a new statement regarding the 14th & 13th Gen CPU Instability issues & stated that will be a relief for users running these chips. According to the chipmaker, the newly released "0x12B" microcode patch, which is now being rolled out by motherboard vendors as a BIOS update, is the final mitigation against the instability issues and should resolve all issues as they were able to narrow down the root cause to elevated voltages.

Following is the statement Intel has provided to The Verge:

“Yes, we’re confirming this is the cause and that it is fixed,” Intel spokesperson Thomas Hannaford tells The Verge.

The Intel 0x12B microcode BIOS patch was announced last month on the 25th of September and marks the end of the instability woes that have been affecting the 14th and 13th Gen CPUs since their release. The root cause can now also be confirmed as the elevated voltages besides a range of other issues that were discovered by Intel such as eTVB bugs and unstable power profiles used by motherboard manufacturers.

Intel has identified four (4) operating scenarios that can lead to Vmin shift in affected processors:

1. Motherboard power delivery settings exceeding Intel power guidance. 
   a.  Mitigation: Intel Default Settings recommendations for Intel Core 13th and 14th Gen desktop processors.  
2. eTVB Microcode algorithm which was allowing Intel Core 13th and 14th Gen i9 desktop processors to operate at higher performance states even at high temperatures. 
   a.  Mitigation: microcode 0x125 (June 2024) addresses eTVB algorithm issue.  
3. Microcode SVID algorithm requesting high voltages at a frequency and duration which can cause Vmin shift. 
   a.  Mitigation: microcode 0x129 (August 2024) addresses high voltages requested by the processor.  
4. Microcode and BIOS code requesting elevated core voltages which can cause Vmin shift especially during periods of idle and/or light activity. 
   a.  Mitigation: Intel is releasing microcode 0x12B, which encompasses 0x125 and 0x129 microcode updates, and addresses elevated voltage requests by the processor during idle and/or light activity periods.  

Regarding the 0x12B update, Intel is working with its partners to roll out the relevant BIOS update to the public.

We have a timeline of all the events:

• [Dec 2022] The first instances of "Out of Video Memory" issues on 13th Gen Core i9 CPUs were reported back in 2022. (Source: Reddit). This is a few months after the release of Intel's 13th Gen CPUs & RTX 40 GPUs.
• [Throughout 2023] Several users have started reporting game crashes and issues in high-profile AAA titles such as Callisto Protocol and Hogwarts Legacy (among many others). Both tiles are based on Unreal Engine (released in 2023) and feature a shader compilation process at the start. There are currently thousands of such issues reported on Steam Community Forums and Reddit.
• [February 2024] A post by Sebastian Castellanos brings the issue to the limelight, highlighting the "worrying trend" of stability issues affecting 14th and 13th-gen CPUs.
• [February 2024] Our editor along with various other tech outlets start reporting the issue and bringing the matter on to the mainstream media. Quickly, it is pointed out that underclocking and undervolting the chips can result in better stability.
• [April 2024] NVIDIA Issued a formal statement that the stability issues are not related to its GPUs but rather Intel CPUs.
• [April 2024] Intel announces its investigation of the reports of instability issues affecting 13th and 14th Gen CPUs.
• [April 2024] Motherboard makers quickly roll out "Baseline" power profiles in new BIOS, which lower power limits on high-end 14th & 13th Gen CPUs but also lead to significant performance drops.
• [May 2024] Intel releases a statement, recommending motherboard makers to ship "Intel Default Settings" in BIOS by default rather than customized settings.
• [June 2024] Intel discovers a bug within its eTVB microcode while investigating the root cause of 14th and 13th Gen Instability issues. This doesn't fix the instability problems. Board makers quickly roll out BIOS with a new microcode fix.
• [July 2024] Intel denies an RMA to HardwareTimes editor who already RMA'd at least two CPUs which produced instability issues.
• [July 2024] Wendell from Level1Techs & Steve Burke from GamersNexus are the first big tech media outlets on YouTube to further highlight the instability issues, diving into additional details such as OEM frustration with the matter and a possible recall.
• [July 2024] GamersNexus highlights a potential "oxidation" defect being a problem with a certain batch of Intel 14th & 13th Gen CPUs that might lead to instability problems.
• [July 2024] Intel says the 14th & 13th Gen Mobile CPUs are not affected by the same instability issues as the desktop CPUs.
• [July 2024] Intel issues a statement confirming that they have found the root cause of the instability issues which happen to be elevated operating voltages and will be issuing a new microcode fix to its partners by mid of August
• [July 2024] Intel confirmed that oxidation issues existed in a previous batch and that there's no solution for CPUs that are already degraded.
• [August 2024] Law firm initiates a possible class action lawsuit against Intel CPUs facing instability issues.
• [August 2024] Intel announces an extended 2-year warranty for its 14th & 13th Gen CPUs including OEM and Tray variants.
• [August 2024] Intel confirms that Arrow Lake & Lunar Lake CPUs won't be affected by the same instability issues due to the new architecture design.
• [September 2024] Intel announces the 0x12B microcode BIOS patch to further mitigate elevated voltages affecting 14th & 13th gen CPUs.
• [September 2024] Motherboard vendors start rolling out their respective BIOS with 0x12B microcode.
• [October 2024] Gigabyte lists the 0x12B microcode BIOS as the final mitigation for 14th & 13th Gen CPUs
• [October 2024] Intel confirms that 0x12B microcode is the last mitigation for instability issues and will fix all the issues.

One thing to remember is that Intel is also offering extended warranties (+2 years) across all 14th and 13th-CPUs to ensure that users who have degraded chips can get fresh new ones & the patches can be applied over them to ensure stable performance. There's no fix for the chips that have been degraded and there are two options available for users, either get a replacement or a full refund. In some cases, we have seen users being upgraded to the Core i9-14900K as an RMA for their Core i9-13900K chip.

Users can finally take a breath of relief as this whole issue comes to an end. Surely, a lot of people became frustrated due to the frequency of crashes and various errors due to Intel's 14th & 13th Gen CPU instability issues but at least now we can expect the chips to perform as expected.