Intel Releases First Microcode Update for Raptor Lake Stability Issue, BIOS Now Available

After Intel’s financial woes and stability issues with its Raptor Lake chip, the company could use some good news on Friday. And that’s exactly what it’s delivering this week, with the first release of the long-awaited microcode patch for its Raptor Lake desktop processors, along with the first detailed explanation of the underlying issue.

The new microcode version, version 0x129, is Intel’s first attempt to address the high-voltage issue that appears to be causing Raptor Lake processor degradation for the past year and a half. Intel has been investigating the issue all year, and after a slow start, has started to make more significant progress in recent weeks, identifying what it calls a “high operating voltage” issue in its high-TDP (13) Raptor Lake desktop processors.^th & 14^th 1st Gen Intel Core chips. In late July, the company had scheduled a mid-August release date for a microcode patch to fix (or rather prevent) the degradation issue, and just before that deadline, Intel began shipping the microcode to its motherboard partners.

However, even with this new microcode, Intel has yet to address the stability issue. Intel is still investigating the possibility of improving the stability of already degraded processors, and the general tone of Intel’s announcement is that of a beta software fix – Intel will not submit this specific revision of the microcode for distribution via operating system updates, for example. So even if this microcode does succeed in stopping the ongoing degradation, it seems that Intel has not completely closed the issue, and that the company is likely working on a fix suitable for wider distribution.

1.55V Cap: High Voltages Beget High Voltages

So what exactly does microcode update 0x129 do? In short, it limits the voltage of affected Raptor Lake desktop chips to a still-high (but within spec) 1.55V. As noted in previous Intel announcements, excessive voltages appear to be the root cause of the issue. So limiting voltages to what Intel has determined to be the appropriate limit should prevent future damage to the chips.

The company’s letter to the community also describes, for the first time, what’s going on under the hood of the degraded chips. Chips that have already succumbed to the repeated voltage spike problem have deteriorated in such a way that the minimum voltage required to operate the chip (Vmin) has increased beyond Intel’s original specifications. As a result, these chips no longer benefit from enough operating voltage.

Seasoned overclockers will likely run into this story, as it’s one of the ways overclocked CPUs degrade over time. In these cases, as seems to be the case with the Raptor Lake issue, a higher voltage is needed to keep a chip stable, especially in workloads where the chip’s voltage is already degraded.

And while all indications are that this degradation is irreversible (and many RMAs are planned for Intel in the future), there is a glimmer of hope. If Intel’s analysis is correct and the degraded Raptor Lake chips can still function properly with a higher Vmin voltage, then it may be possible to salvage at least some of these chips and bring them back to stability.

This “Vmin change,” as Intel calls it, is the next target of the company’s investigation. According to the company’s letter, it plans to provide updates by “the end of August.”

In the meantime, Intel’s motherboard partners have already started releasing BIOSes with the new microcode. ASUS and MSI even went ahead and shipped BIOSes before Intel had a chance to properly announce the microcode. Both vendors are releasing these BIOSes as beta versions, reflecting the early general nature of the microcode patch itself. And while we suspect most users will want to implement this microcode as soon as possible to limit further damage to affected chips, it would be prudent to treat these beta BIOSes as such.

Along the same lines, as previously stated, Intel is only distributing the 0x129 microcode via BIOS updates at this time. This microcode will not be available on other systems via OS updates. At this point, we still expect distribution via OS updates to be the endgame for this fix, but as of now, Intel is not providing a timeline or other indication of when that might happen. So for PC enthusiasts, at least, a BIOS update is the only way to get it for now.

Performance impact: usually zero, but not always

Finally, Intel’s post also provides some insight into the performance impact of the new microcode, based on their internal testing. The company had previously stated that they did not expect any significant performance impact, and based on their extensive testing, that remains broadly the case. However, some workloads will suffer performance regressions as a result.

So far, Intel has identified a few workloads where it’s seeing regressions. This includes PugetBench GPU Effects Score and, on the gaming side, Hitman 3: Dartmoor. Otherwise, pretty much everything Intel has tested, including common benchmarks like Cinebench and major games, doesn’t show any performance regressions. So the overall result of the patch isn’t a completely perfect recovery, but it doesn’t cause widespread performance losses either.

As for AnandTechWe’ll be digging deeper into this in our own benchmark suite when time permits. We have another processor launch scheduled for next week, so there’s no shortage of work in the coming days. (Sorry, Gavin!)

Intel’s full statement