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[winjer]

Holy crap. Intel CPUs crashing can now be used to tell the weather.

Firefox Crash Reports Reveal That Heat Wave Impacts Intel Raptor Lake CPU Stability

If you’ve ever wondered why your desktop browser seems to crash more often during a heat wave, there’s now a clear explanation backed by real‑world data. A Firefox engineer, Gabriele Svelto, noticed an unmistakable pattern: crash reports spike precisely from regions baking under intense summer heat.

www.guru3d.com

If you've ever wondered why your desktop browser seems to crash more often during a heat wave, there's now a clear explanation backed by real‑world data. A Firefox engineer, Gabriele Svelto, noticed an unmistakable pattern: crash reports spike precisely from regions baking under intense summer heat. It turns out that machines running Intel's 13th‑ and 14th‑generation Core (Raptor Lake) desktop CPUs are particularly sensitive to high ambient temperatures.

Svelto shared his findings on Mastodon, explaining that by simply looking at where Firefox crashes were originating, he could map out current heat wave zones. In fact, he pointed out that in the northern hemisphere—especially across Europe and the U.S.—systems with Raptor Lake chips were failing at a much higher rate than those in cooler areas. As a result, the Firefox team had to disable their automated crash‑submission robot to prevent it from drowning in reports during the worst of the heat wave.

So why are Raptor Lake processors so prone to overheating issues? The answer lies in known microcode bugs that Intel admitted to last year. On July 22, 2024, Intel confirmed that certain 13th and 14th‑gen Core chips shipped with flawed microcode that can cause voltage regulation errors under heavy load. When the CPU is pushed hard—say, loading dozens of browser tabs or streaming UHD video—those tiny voltage spikes become more pronounced if the ambient temperature is already high. At some point, the system can't compensate, leading to sudden crashes or freezes.

 

[Hudo]

Good to know that Intel still carry the spirit of the Pentium 4 with them.

 

[winjer]

Good to know that Intel still carry the spirit of the Pentium 4 with them.

As bad as they were, at least the Pentium 4s weren't crashing like 13 and 14th gen CPUs.
And although Intel has improved the UEFI, the problems with Intel CPU degrading and crashing are still happening.

 

[Zathalus]

Good guy Intel, mapping out climate change data for free in real time.

 

[Randall365]

It's a bit rich - they are probably partly responsible for them!

 

[Black_Stride]

Hahaha that thread title is my favorite kind of clickbait.


Is it really still as prevalent even after the microcode update or are people not updating their microcode?

 

[winjer]

Is it really still as prevalent even after the microcode update or are people not updating their microcode?

The microcode updates did help mitigate the issue, but it's still not fixed, and that is why Intel is still releasing updates. Still, they should extend the life for these CPUs.
But most people don't even update their UEFI, and most people don't know about the degradation issues, so these issues will continue for a long time, as Intel CPUs degrade further and further.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

Hot news indeed

 

[simpatico]

Ah Europe, the land where air conditioning is seen as an affluent luxury and any vehicle with a 4th cylinder is considered a dangerous muscle car. Crazy thing is you're nearly twice as likely to die from not having AC in Europe as you are from a getting shot in America. You guys know you can get a window unit from Aldi for a couple hundred bucks right?

 

[Kenpachii]

Ah Europe, the land where air conditioning is seen as an affluent luxury and any vehicle with a 4th cylinder is considered a dangerous muscle car. Crazy thing is you're nearly twice as likely to die from not having AC in Europe as you are from a getting shot in America. You guys know you can get a window unit from Aldi for a couple hundred bucks right?

Nobody has windows that fit those things.

 

[Black_Stride]

The microcode updates did help mitigate the issue, but it's still not fixed, and that is why Intel is still releasing updates. Still, they should extend the life for these CPUs.
But most people don't even update their UEFI, and most people don't know about the degradation issues, so these issues will continue for a long time, as Intel CPUs degrade further and further.

Jesus 0x12F came out last month?
Damn, i thought 0x12B was "The FIX" so I stopped even following the microcode updates.

 

[winjer]

Jesus 0x12F came out last month?
Damn, i thought 0x12B was "The FIX" so I stopped even following the microcode updates.

I also lost count. Just keep an eye out on the manufacturer of your motherboard for new UEFI updates.

 

[Lorianus]

That gotta be with the god awful standart cooler's right ? cuz even with pushing 31c ambient my 14th gen never goes above 65-70 with a Noctua d15 mounted to it.

 

[Draugoth]

Mine 14900K lasted 5 months, these things need to be used at artic temperatures in order not to melt.

 

[Draugoth]

Jesus 0x12F came out last month?
Damn, i thought 0x12B was "The FIX" so I stopped even following the microcode updates.

Nope, mine still degraded with the 0x12B, but i think it was ASUS default factory settings fault.

 

[Black_Stride]

That gotta be with the god awful standart cooler's right ? cuz even with pushing 31c ambient my 14th gen never goes above 65-70 with a Noctua d15 mounted to it.

The spikes wouldnt show up on your monitoring software.
Your software is showing you an average.
The spikes happen fast enough to cause degradation or a crash but not for so long that you could consciously counter them.

Nope, mine still degraded with the 0x12B, but i think it was ASUS default factory settings fault.

Damn that sucks.
Did you get it RMA'd or move on to AMD?

I also lost count. Just keep an eye out on the manufacturer of your motherboard for new UEFI updates.

Im still on a 12400 but was planning on going to a 14700 or 14900 non-K towards the end of year cuz I was planning on sitting on LGA1700.
Full rebuild is only planned around the RTX60s.............assuming they are on a node shrink.

 

[Draugoth]

The spikes wouldnt show up on your monitoring software.
Your software is showing you an average.
The spikes happen fast enough to cause degradation or a crash but not for so long that you could consciously counter them.



Damn that sucks.
Did you get it RMA'd or move on to AMD?



Im still on a 12400 but was planning on going to a 14700 or 14900 non-K towards the end of year cuz I was planning on sitting on LGA1700.
Full rebuild is only planned around the RTX60s.............assuming they are on a node shrink.

Moved to AMD and had issues with ASUS again lol, got a refund from Intel and i'm honestly thinking of suing ASUS.

But new CPU seems to be working fine, it's considerably colder than the 14900K, which would trigger my MOBU Post Light because it would always reach above 100C at Shader Compilation. That thing was insanely hot.

 

[winjer]

Im still on a 12400 but was planning on going to a 14700 or 14900 non-K towards the end of year cuz I was planning on sitting on LGA1700.
Full rebuild is only planned around the RTX60s.............assuming they are on a node shrink.

If you have waited this far, another year won't make that much of a difference. And you avoid the issues with 13th and 14th gen.
By 2026 there will be new CPUs from Intel and AMD.
There are even rumors that Intel will bring their bLLC (big Last Line Cache), to 2 SKUs of the Nova Lake range of CPUs.
This will be similar to AMD's 3DVcache, for improving gaming performance.

 

[simpatico]

Nobody has windows that fit those things

Hundreds of thousands are dying every year and no one has spun up the thriving industrial sector to produce a slightly smaller window AC? On one hand the EU will bend over backwards and change their entire way of living to ease the suffering of complete strangers, but when home grown elders are dropping like flies on balmy days in the high 80s, nothing can be done. Thwarted by non standardized window sizes.

 

[Breakfast at Noon]

As some who is retarded, I read that "pcs during a heatwave overheat and can crash" and my thoughts are "no shit"

 

[Black_Stride]

Moved to AMD and had issues with ASUS again lol, got a refund from Intel and i'm honestly thinking of suing ASUS.

But new CPU seems to be working fine, it's considerably colder than the 14900K, which would trigger my MOBU Post Light because it would always reach above 100C at Shader Compilation. That thing was insanely hot.

Thats really bad luck with ASUS who are usually pretty strong with their MBs.

If you have waited this far, another year won't make that much of a difference. And you avoid the issues with 13th and 14th gen.
By 2026 there will be new CPUs from Intel and AMD.
There are even rumors that Intel will bring their bLLC (big Last Line Cache), to 2 SKUs of the Nova Lake range of CPUs.
This will be similar to AMD's 3DVcache, for improving gaming performance.

NovaLake is Q4 2026?........can I hold out another year point five.........yeah probably.
I probably will if im being honest.
It just depends if non-K finds me, I wont go hunting for one (that christmas bonus is gonna tempt me)
I was never supposed to get a 40 series GPU but a super cheap 4080 fell off a truck and I couldnt resist.

Looking at the rumored NovaLake specs.
The u5 8P-12e sounds right up my alley if its priced like an i5 should.......hopefully Intel is humbled after ArrowLake and decides to do a price cut (wishful thinking) on the lower tiers u5s.

 

[winjer]

NovaLake is Q4 2026?........can I hold out another year point five.........yeah probably.
I probably will if im being honest.
It just depends if non-K finds me, I wont go hunting for one (that christmas bonus is gonna tempt me)
I was never supposed to get a 40 series GPU but a super cheap 4080 fell off a truck and I couldnt resist.

Looking at the rumored NovaLake specs.
The u5 8P-12e sounds right up my alley if its priced like an i5 should.......hopefully Intel is humbled after ArrowLake and decides to do a price cut (wishful thinking) on the lower tiers u5s.

Could be sooner. Maybe first half of 2026.
We'll have to wait and see.