Recent reports have surfaced regarding stability issues with some of Intel's high-end processors, including the Core i9 and Core i7 series. These issues, which manifest as crashes and erratic behavior in certain games, have prompted an investigation by Intel. The company is now concluding its investigation and has identified potential causes linked to the practices of enthusiast motherboard manufacturers.

Intel's findings suggest that the issues predominantly occur with unlocked and overclock-capable motherboards. According to a statement obtained by Igor's Lab, these motherboards often have BIOS settings that disable essential thermal and power delivery safeguards. These settings are designed to prevent processors from being exposed to prolonged high voltage and frequency, which can lead to instability.

Intel has pinpointed several specific BIOS settings that may be contributing to the system instability:
- Disabling Current Excursion Protection (CEP)
- Enabling the IccMax Unlimited bit
- Disabling Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) and/or Enhanced Thermal Velocity Boost (eTVB)
- Other risky settings include disabling C-states, using Windows Ultimate Performance mode, and increasing PL1 and PL2 beyond Intel's recommended limits.

In response to these findings, Intel recommends that motherboard makers issue BIOS updates that revert to Intel's recommended default settings for these parameters. The company is also planning to release a public statement and detailed guidance on recommended BIOS settings in May 2024.

The instability primarily affects high-end unlocked Core i9 CPUs like the i9-13900K and i9-14900K, as well as KF and KS variants. There have also been reports of similar issues with the i7-13700K and i7-14700K processors.

These chips, which are advanced variants of Intel's 12th-generation Alder Lake processors, are designed to cater to overclockers and enthusiasts. However, the minimal performance headroom left in these chips suggests that Intel is already maximizing their potential through increased clock speeds and voltages.

Intel is expected to provide more detailed recommendations for safe power settings in the upcoming weeks, which should help motherboard manufacturers and users ensure better stability and performance of these high-end processors.

As Intel wraps up its investigation into the crashing issues of its high-end processors, the spotlight turns to motherboard manufacturers to align with Intel's standards to prevent further user frustrations and system instabilities.