Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder6.news.weretis.net!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!diablo1.usenet.blueworldhosting.com!feeder.usenetexpress.com!tr3.iad1.usenetexpress.com!69.80.99.27.MISMATCH!local-2.nntp.ord.giganews.com!news.giganews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2024 19:06:15 +0000 From: Spalls Hurgenson Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action Subject: Intel's High-End CPU Problem Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2024 15:06:16 -0400 Message-ID: <2jkl1jdq6oqce5a88od8k19s95ciasjj9j@4ax.com> X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 2.0/32.652 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 69 X-Usenet-Provider: http://www.giganews.com X-Trace: sv3-hmO082ngDvgpGKIDKPCfgO9BsVdZJaRJ0UZ5wODD/aZDyDDOBua4PDTsqGxdbUNfovIUdWRTUsdVEq9!XS9patfsY6ltZss1uyeyUuHNRrCA1sfhqbt5lpJZ5ye+ThDtFsIp22iQQ0vToWbxfX9mCiw= X-Complaints-To: abuse@giganews.com X-DMCA-Notifications: http://www.giganews.com/info/dmca.html X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.3.40 Bytes: 4607 This isn't really news - in fact, I posted about the problem being reported back in February - but the story* is gaining more traction recently. Specifically, a number of agencies are now writing stories about how the power-hungry Intel 13900K and 14900K CPUs keep crashing when revved up to full speed. It's still not entirely clear where the blame lies; certainly the motherboard manufacturers shoulder some of the blame for not following Intel's specs closely enough, and OCing the CPUs past their rated limits. But Intel also deserves some of the shame, since a) the -K processors are specifically sold as being overclocking tolerant, and b) the CPU is a disgustingly power-hungry design. Plus, where did all those mobo manufacturers get the idea that they could safely OC the CPU to those levels if not from Intel in the first place? Anyway, downclocking the CPU 'solves' the problem with minimal end-user effect. Still, if somebody paid a premium to get one of those chips, I bet they'd be pissed at having to do so. In fact, the return rate on these particular CPUs is unusually high. I wonder why? I, of course, have specific interest in the story since I was one of those affected by the problem. I purposefully bought a 13900K CPU, not because I wanted to overclock it, but I wanted that overhead as a 'safety net'. In essence, I paid the premium specifically to avoid issues like this. With a -K processor, I thought, even if there were power issues just like this, I wouldn't have to worry about it because - since I was running at stock - it wouldn't affect me. In general, I've had good luck with Intel chips anyway. I really like AMD CPUs - they're often the better design - but there have been compatibility issues and Intel was the 'safe' choice. Sure, it might not have been the 'best' or 'fastest', but a 13900K was still 'fast enough' and - I thought - was more likely to be problem free. And, in truth, for the first six months it /was/ trouble-free. But after a while, I started seeing odd issues. The most noticeable was that any ZIP files created by 7Zip ended up corrupt. But there were weird random crashes too and - ultimately - my computer stopped booting entirely. All the standard tests indicated everything was running normally, but Windows just wouldn't finish loading. It was only after I drastically disabled every single overclocking option in the BIOS (all set on by default; thanks ASUS) /and/ rate-limited the CPU to 5400MHz (from stock 5500MHz) that I got my PC back. The only way I can tell it's running slower is if I look at the clock-rates; functionally it's the same performance. But my 'safe choice' no longer seems so safe. So I'm glad that this story is getting more attention. Hell, maybe it'll even lead to a full recall of the CPU and I can get a new one from Intel for free (it wouldn't be the first time; Intel replaced the CPU for anyone who had an original Pentium CPU with the FDIV bug). I wouldn't turn my nose up at that either! But come time for me to build my next PC, I'm not sure that Intel will be my 'safe' and 'problem free' choice anymore. * read some of the articles here: https://www.pcgamesn.com/intel/cpu-instability-games-unreal-engine https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/intel-core-i9-cpu-crashes-returns/