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Why it matters: Intel recently began delivering what are hopefully the final remedies for the stability issues that have impacted its 13th- and 14th-generation processors for months. However, owners must still RMA their chips for the company to analyze them thoroughly. If a home test could be distributed, some users might be spared the trouble.
Intel recently told Tom's Hardware that it is investigating the possibility of developing and releasing a tool to help users detect the software errors that have been killing 13th- and 14th-generation Raptor Lake CPUs throughout the year. The company has addressed the problem with patches and a generous return policy, but diagnosis software could still help.
Everyone who owns affected processors with TDPs above 65W should install Intel's microcode updates regardless of their current status. Check with your motherboard manufacturer to receive the updates, which are delivered via new BIOS versions. Intel also advises using the company's default power settings.
Unfortunately, CPUs that have already begun crashing due to the errors, which Intel identified as originating from multiple problems in the microcode and IA core, must be replaced since the damage is permanent. Intel and various hardware vendors have extended their warranties for packaged processors and PCs with Raptor Lake chips, but the RMA program is somewhat of a lottery.
Still, crashes can happen for a myriad of reasons, and Intel must confirm whether the defective CPUs it receives are affected by the issues it designed the patches to mitigate. Meanwhile, customers are temporarily left without a working processor.
If a home-use tool could help users determine whether something else isn't crashing their CPUs, it might save some customers from an unnecessary RMA. Intel hasn't confirmed whether it could release such a test, but it might introduce an additional source of relief and potentially minimize the influx of defective products.
Fortunately, Intel confirmed that these microcode errors don't affect its latest generations of CPUs – Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake. Hopefully, the company can put the problem to bed, restore confidence in its products, and start digging itself out of its recent troubles.
In other Intel news, disappointing performance in the company's foundry division recently forced it to split the sector into an independent division and fend off multiple takeover bids. Intel also rejected an offer from Arm to buy its chip division, and sources claim that Qualcomm also tried to acquire a piece of Chipzilla.