[LINK] Intel Core i9-14900K and Core i9-13900K major stability issues

[Stephen Loosley]

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Intel denies RMA requests for its faulty 13th Gen, 14th Gen CPUs with instability issues

Intel Core i9-14900K, Core i9-13900K major stability issues are forcing game server companies to switch to AMD, creating major headaches for gamers, too.


By Anthony Garreffa  Jul 11, 2024  https://www.tweaktown.com/news/99306/intel-denies-rma-requests-for-its-faulty-13th-gen-14th-cpus-with-instability-issues/index.html


Intel's flagship Core i9-14900K and Core i9-13900K processors and their ongoing instability issues aren't just causing problems for gamers but data center operators, too... with some of them switching to AMD Ryzen CPUs because the issues with Intel are so bad.

We're talking about system crashes, blue screens, and intermittent errors on Intel's highest-end processors.

We're not just talking about BIOS and microcode updates to fix these issues, but there seems to be something far deeper -- into the hardware -- with Intel's 13th Gen Core and 14th Gen Core CPUs.

In a new video from Level1Techs, the team dives into game telemetry data (from Oodle) that shows Intel CPUs represent 70% of the error logs compared to AMD with just 30%.

In one instance, one of the databases had 1431 decompression errors out of 1584 total errors across a 90-day timespan, both linked to the 13th and 14th Gen Core CPUs from Intel. In comparison, AMD had just 4 instances of errors... that's a chasm of a difference.

Intel's high-end processors aren't just seeing gamers with issues, but data centers that use these CPUs for game servers are reporting high crash rates, even when used on high-end motherboards that are designed for maximum stability.

Data centers are noticing a large increase in the rate of errors as time goes on, even on the higher-end W680 chipset.

Because of the issues, data center operators are spending more on support and swapping out CPUs, with Intel 13th Gen and 14th Gen Core CPUs impacting multiplayer gaming experiences -- might explain the server issues I get on the daily with Overwatch 2 -- with some developers fearing big losses of player engagement due to server crashes, and I'm one of them.

One of the data center server providers told Level1Tech: "we had good luck with the 12900KS, and have always had good luck with Xeons. Something isn't right with the 13900K and 14900K. We already replaced a lot of customers' 13900K and 14900K and the issues don't seem fully resolved... been steering customers toward 7950X systems instead. They're almost always faster anyway".

HardwareTimes reports that in one incident, they talk about how Intel denied the RMA for a "plagued" Intel Core i9-13900KF processor. The outlet had two units they wanted to RMA, the Core i9-13900KF and Core i7-14700KF, with Intel accepting RMA for the 14700KF, but not the 13900KF processor.

The issue that HardwareTimes had with their Core i9-13900KF processor was with a PCIe fault limiting bus utilization; where the outlet used the PCIe Gen5 lanes, the system did not work AT ALL and went into BSOD. If the interface was changed to PCIe Gen4x4, the issues were gone, but the bandwidth was much, much lower.


HardwareTimes explained the issues to Intel, with the company replacing the 13900KF with a new CPU, but that also had the same issues within two months, with the event view logger showing an astounding 44,242 errors in four months. Intel denied the RMA request for the second 13900KF processor, even after initially agreeing to a refund.


Read more: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/99306/intel-denies-rma-requests-for-its-faulty-13th-gen-14th-cpus-with-instability-issues/index.html