When you buy through affiliate links in our content, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn 
Intel has extended the warranty offered on its 13th- and 14th-generation CPUs from three to five years to address ongoing stability issues.
The first report about instability in Intel’s 13th-generation CPUs surfaced in December 2022. Since then, the company has received numerous complaints from users experiencing crashes and instability issues with both their 13th and 14th-generation chips.
This isn’t the first step Intel has had to take to address the ongoing chip issue. It has already tried to fix the problem with several updates. It’s also planning to release a microcode BIOS update in August. However, this update won’t repair processors that have already experienced crashing or BSOD issues. Instead, it will prevent chips that haven’t experienced these problems from encountering them.
What’s Causing the Issues in Intel’s 13th and 14th-Gen CPUs?
Ever since problems started to occur with these Intel chips, the cause has been the primary concern. Intel recently released an advisory indicating it had identified the reason behind the crashing and instability issues in their 13th and 14th-generation chips. According to the note, the problem stems from a microcode algorithm running on these chips that demands more power than the chips actually need. As a result, the chip is pushed beyond its safe operating range, ultimately causing the problem.
While Intel has developed updated microcode to address the problem, there’s a significant caveat to be aware of. If your system with one of these Intel CPUs has already faced the crashing or BSOD issues, the processor may have suffered permanent damage. No microcode update can fix it.
The update is designed to prevent the issue for users who haven’t experienced crashes yet. If you’ve already encountered the problem, there’s a high chance your processor is already damaged. In this case, Intel recommends contacting its customer support.
The problem is not occurring on mobile versions of these CPUs. You’re only likely to experience the issue if you have an Intel 13th or 14th-generation desktop processor using 65W or more of power, including K, KF, KS, and 65W non-K variants.
The issue first came to light when a user posted about it on Reddit, mentioning they were experiencing the “Out of Memory” issue on their system with a 13th-generation i9 CPU. Soon after, Reddit and other forums were flooded with similar reports from users facing crashes and Blue Screens of Death (BSOD) while playing high-end AAA games.
In April 2024, Nvidia clarified that the issue wasn’t related to its GPUs and instead stemmed from Intel CPUs. That same month, Intel acknowledged the problem and said it was investigating. Since then, Intel has released several statements about the issue.
