There is no fix for Intel’s crashing 13th and 14th Gen CPUs — any damage is permanent

I updated the last one on 4/23/2025 because I was getting a popup warning message about my CPU whenever I launched Avowed.
The popup message went away after the BIOS update.

I've yet to see any weird issues with my Intel 13700F. I imagine one day it simply won't turn on.
 

Corsair gaming PC kills third Core i9-14900K in a year, thanks to locked OEM BIOS with old microcode

Repair shop "Matt's Computer Services" has reproted on a repeat failure issue with a $4799 Corsair Vengeance i8200 gaming PC, after the system came in three times within a year with nearly identical problems and three dead Core i9-14900K CPUs.

The system reportedly showed constant game crashes, especially during shader preloading, and later could not install NVIDIA drivers, throwing a 7-Zip CRC error during package extraction. By the way, many consider this a great test for Intel Core "Raptor Lake" instability issues. Swapping the customer's CPU for a known-good test chip allowed the NVIDIA app and drivers to install without errors, confirming the original processor had failed again.
The shop links the issue to the ongoing instability saga around Intel's 13th and 14th Gen Core i7/i9 parts. Early microcode on these CPUs allowed motherboards to push too much voltage, leading to premature degradation and crashes. Intel has since extended CPU warranty coverage to five years and released newer microcode (0x12F) that is meant to address the problem.

In this PC, the CPU sits on an ASUS Z790-P WiFi motherboard, but the board runs a Corsair-specific OEM BIOS. That firmware is listed by Corsair as version 9046 with microcode 0x12B, one of the older Intel updates. ASUS's own public BIOS for the same board, version 1820 with microcode 0x12F, cannot be flashed, as the OEM BIOS blocks it. The custom firmware also forces XMP memory profiles back on even if a user tries to disable them.

On Fire GIF
 
I have one of the supposed bad chipsets in my laptop so my goal was to just run the absolute shit out of it and see if I could destroy it within the warranty. High end VR, AAA games at 4k, the thing just eats whatever I throw at it to the point I've given up. The previous iteration was supposedly a tank and that one burned up in 4 months.
 
I have one of the supposed bad chipsets in my laptop so my goal was to just run the absolute shit out of it and see if I could destroy it within the warranty. High end VR, AAA games at 4k, the thing just eats whatever I throw at it to the point I've given up. The previous iteration was supposedly a tank and that one burned up in 4 months.
"Unfortunately" you got a good one
 
If you buy one of these new today, you still is at risk?

Sadly they are on my "upgrade" path.

Supposedly no. There is a firmware fix and also hardware fix. My 14900k has been running fine two years now. My 13900k did die but we did not have bios updates before it degraded beyond repair. Intel does also have good guarantee for the issue atm.
 
My 13600k still has the old bios and other than some crashes (that could very be game dependent) it's still going strong...
 
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My 13600k still has the old bios and other than some crashes (that could very be game dependent) it's still going strong...

If the CPU is affected and degraded already running it on old bios might be whats keeping it alive as it forces higher voltage. The safe bioses run default on lower voltages and can cause instability with a bad chip. Lowering the multiplyer does help in all cases. Also its the 13900k and 14900k that are the most common problem childs.
 
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