There is no fix for Intel’s crashing 13th and 14th Gen CPUs — any damage is permanent
We got some answers from Intel, and more are on the way.
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Any solutions for avoiding the damage if you happen to get a new one?
What, if anything, can customers do to slow or stop degradation ahead of the microcode update?
Intel recommends that users adhere to Intel Default Settings on their desktop processors, along with ensuring their BIOS is up to date. Once the microcode patch is released to Intel partners, we advise users check for the relevant BIOS updates.
I destroyed my second CPU, a 14900KF, while having already been aware of that recommendation, and having disabled all of the settings like that that the motherboard vendor had enabled by default prior to ever inserting the replacement CPU, and only used the CPU with those settings; it still destroyed itself, like the first. I am very confident that you can still destroy a CPU having done that.
That isn't to say that using conservative settings is a bad idea (and maybe doing something further, like running memory at minimum frequency, not just using the Intel recommended default rather than the motherboard vendor defaults, might actually manage to reliably avoid CPU damage). But I am confident that just running standard Intel recommended settings is not, alone, enough to avoid damage.
Completely agree, that was just a quote ripped straight from the article. From everything I've heard it seems like people are having problems just running stock settings. Your best bet to absolutely avoid any damage is probably to literally shut your system down until the patches are available.
There's no 100% way until the new microcode is released next month. All affected CPUs are at risk of silicon degradation by the excessive voltage.
The are some power limits and July bios updates you can use that Intel says can help reduce the damage or prevent it entirely in some scenarios. I believe the damage is specifically caused by single threaded spikes, so reducing LLC and running something like prime95 in the background might hold the voltage low enough that it won't happen. But there is no fix yet, so if your CPU is susceptible, running it will degrade the CPU, at least until the fix is out.
If you can avoid using a new one, I would. I would not buy or use an unused 13th gen or 14th gen Intel CPU until Intel completes their updates.
In my case, there was a period of time where I had an old, damaged 13th gen CPU, and a new, unused 14th gen.
I was always able to use my damaged CPUs without problems as long as I booted up Linux and told it to use only one core (maxcpus=1 on the GRUB command line passed to the kernel). Even two cores enabled, and it couldn't even boot towards the end, but I never saw corruption with one.
If I could rewind time, I would continue to use my old CPU and avoid using the new one. I would add maxcpus=1 to my Linux command line (to do it every boot, edit /etc/default/grub, runsudo update-grub on Debian-family systems). And I'd use the damaged CPU on a single core until I know that Intel has a workaround in microcode, my motherboard has the relevant BIOS update applied, and then l'd swap in the replacement CPU).
If I didn't have a known-damaged CPU, just have a still-working 13th or 14th gen processor and could get by using an old desktop or laptop or something until the update is out, I'd probably do that if at all possible, so that I don't incur damage.
Warranty.