Good News for 13th and 14th Gen Intel Users: The Official Patch is Here

Several of Intel's motherboard manufacturing partners have announced BIOS updates aimed at fixing the microcode and "mitigating instability" in 13th and 14th generation Intel CPUs. Motherboard manufacturers ASRock and MSI have officially made announcements regarding this. Meanwhile, on the Asus ROG forum, a user named Safedisk, a well-known overclocker, shared links to Google Drive folders containing BIOS updates for affected Asus motherboards.

Many 13th and 14th generation Intel chips have encountered stability issues, which Intel attributes to a microcode bug leading to increased voltage. This has caused system freezes and blue screens of death (BSOD), especially when handling heavy tasks. Intel has stated that they would release a patch to address this issue by mid-August 2024.

Unfortunately, this update will not fix already damaged Intel chips. Affected users will need to go through Intel’s RMA warranty process to replace the damaged chips. To ease users' concerns, Intel has extended the warranty by two more years for 22 affected Raptor Lake and Raptor Lake Refresh chips, bringing the total warranty period to five years. However, despite this extension, some users still face difficulties in the warranty process, such as a user who encountered trouble while trying to replace two Intel Core i9-14900K processors.

If your Intel system is still running smoothly, it's advisable to download and install the new BIOS updates as soon as possible to avoid potential issues. MSI has announced that their motherboards, such as the MEG Z790 GODLIKE MAX, MEG Z790 ACE MAX, MPG Z790 CARBON MAX WIFI II, MPG Z790 CARBON WIFI, MAG Z790 TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI, and Z790M POWER, will be the first to receive BIOS updates. ASRock has also released BIOS updates for their H610M-HDV and H610M-HVS motherboards. For Asus ROG and ProArt motherboard users, BIOS updates can be found on the Asus ROG forum; however, they are currently in Beta. We recommend waiting until Asus releases official versions to ensure system stability.

Tom's Hardware has reached out to Intel to confirm whether these BIOS updates will allow affected chips to operate safely at normal voltage levels. We are also in the process of testing these BIOS updates to assess their impact on system performance. Stay tuned for the latest updates.