3 ms·

I’m out of the loop. If I bought a 13700KF last week, is there anything I need to know or do? BIOS update when one is available soon?

LegitShady 2y ago
return it and buy amd
- TillE 2y ago
  A decent motherboard isn't cheap.
sosodev 2y ago
The microcode update will probably be automatic but it might also be distributed as a bios update. Realistically there’s no way to tell if you have an affected unit or not (Intel hasn't provided any information that would help). Nor is there any guarantee that the microcode update will prevent future issues. It appears that there is both microcode and manufacturing issues at play here.
xyst 2y ago
Maybe just return it. Microcode “fix” is more of a band aid
- ytch 2y ago
  and the microcode fix could means another performance impact.
  - xyst 2y ago
    like heart bleed?
    - ToniCipriani 2y ago
      You mean Spectre? Heartbleed was the SSL bug.
TheDauthi 2y ago
Try to avoid using it until the microcode fix in a week or two. If you bought it last week, you probably haven't used it enough to permanently damage anything from the voltage issue yet. Keep careful watch of problems in the future: the oxidation issue for the 13th gen is a physical defect not fixable by the microcode update, but we don't know how widespread it is yet (and Intel is keeping mum). If possible, it might well be worth returning and getting a 14th gen chip, which doesn't suffer from the latter problem and the former will be fixed by microcode.
- Waterluvian 2y ago
  Is there a safety issue like fire or just a “I need to buy a new CPU” issue?
  - qingcharles 2y ago
    No fire. It just ruins some of the micro-electronics inside so that it won't run reliably (or at all).
  - TheDauthi 2y ago
    No known safety issue. Both issues (the overvoltage in both 13 and 14 gen chips, and the oxidation that's limited to 13th gen) lead to system instability. How quickly these occur is unknown from the Intel reports. Claims are as little as a few weeks, but independent verification is needed on that one.
nottorp 2y ago
Good question, if you set any obvious power limit in the BIOS to say 10-20% below the advertised TDP*, would that bring the actual voltages down or would it just underclock the CPU but still use the same dangerous voltages? Or do you need to go through every obscure voltage setting and bring it down? Will even that be obeyed? * which has no connection to the real TDP but at least it will tell the CPU ... something ...

LegitShady 2y ago

return it and buy amd

TillE 2y ago
A decent motherboard isn't cheap.

sosodev 2y ago

The microcode update will probably be automatic but it might also be distributed as a bios update. Realistically there’s no way to tell if you have an affected unit or not (Intel hasn't provided any information that would help). Nor is there any guarantee that the microcode update will prevent future issues. It appears that there is both microcode and manufacturing issues at play here.

xyst 2y ago

Maybe just return it. Microcode “fix” is more of a band aid

ytch 2y ago
and the microcode fix could means another performance impact.
- xyst 2y ago
  like heart bleed?
  - ToniCipriani 2y ago
    You mean Spectre? Heartbleed was the SSL bug.

TheDauthi 2y ago

Try to avoid using it until the microcode fix in a week or two. If you bought it last week, you probably haven't used it enough to permanently damage anything from the voltage issue yet. Keep careful watch of problems in the future: the oxidation issue for the 13th gen is a physical defect not fixable by the microcode update, but we don't know how widespread it is yet (and Intel is keeping mum). If possible, it might well be worth returning and getting a 14th gen chip, which doesn't suffer from the latter problem and the former will be fixed by microcode.

Waterluvian 2y ago
Is there a safety issue like fire or just a “I need to buy a new CPU” issue?
- qingcharles 2y ago
  No fire. It just ruins some of the micro-electronics inside so that it won't run reliably (or at all).
- TheDauthi 2y ago
  No known safety issue. Both issues (the overvoltage in both 13 and 14 gen chips, and the oxidation that's limited to 13th gen) lead to system instability. How quickly these occur is unknown from the Intel reports. Claims are as little as a few weeks, but independent verification is needed on that one.

nottorp 2y ago

Good question, if you set any obvious power limit in the BIOS to say 10-20% below the advertised TDP*, would that bring the actual voltages down or would it just underclock the CPU but still use the same dangerous voltages? Or do you need to go through every obscure voltage setting and bring it down? Will even that be obeyed? * which has no connection to the real TDP but at least it will tell the CPU ... something ...