Intel processors crashing Unreal engine games (and others)

[coercitiv]

Here's a sample of the PR hell I talked about in my previous post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/1ei1zvm/intel_has_denied_two_of_my_14900k_rmas

At the end of the day, it felt like Intel was grasping at straws. They pounced at the opportunity to claim that one of the CPUs was a tray product, citing a serial number that was never even provided. Then when that didn't pan out, they pivoted to claiming it was re-marked. When I pressed them, giving several pieces of evidence for why each one was indeed valid, they stated I could continue with the RMA process but then turned to threatening me with confiscation or destruction of my property if it didn't meet whatever their validation process (that they won't disclose) is. The odds of both of these being re-marked or not genuine seem extremely low. It's definitely a scare tactic. And even knowing this, it worked on me! This feels like extortion, scamming, you name it.

Even if Intel was right and both CPUs are re-marked, the way they handle the process in the light of the current situation is very bad to say the least. And keep in mind they had months to prepare for this, they don't get to claim this issue took them by surprise, with support needing more time to adjust.


[Later Edit] Oh look, they're at it again with the sneaky reddit info dissemination!

Oxidation Issue

The Via Oxidation issue currently reported in the press is a minor one that was addressed with manufacturing improvements and screens in early 2023.

The issue was identified in late 2022, and with the manufacturing improvements and additional screens implemented Intel was able to confirm full removal of impacted processors in our supply chain by early 2024. However, on-shelf inventory may have persisted into early 2024 as a result.

Minor manufacturing issues are an inescapable fact with all silicon products. Intel continuously works with customers to troubleshoot and remediate product failure reports and provides public communications on product issues when the customer risk exceeds Intel quality control thresholds.

So they just admitted a full year worth of CPUs produced in at least one location was subject to manufacturing defects. This is getting worse and worse, they knowingly sold faulty CPUs for an extended period of time. All of this feels surreal to me.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

This bomb has had an odd mushroom shaped cloud rising up from it since the beginning.

They know the oxidation issues are about to be fully revealed by GN's investigation. So now they are revising their statements to include the fact those CPUs were still for sale in '24. Latent defects with strict liability is probably going to be served up along with a laundry list of others.

Stock is at $23 or so after hours. Chickens are coming home to roost.

 

[igor_kavinski]

The 12900KS was unique by offering a 3-year warranty.

And it was also discontinued early!

 

[Steltek]

Stock is at $23 or so after hours. Chickens are coming home to roost.

That drop was solely due to the disastrous 2nd quarter earnings report alone. These chip issues aren't really even on the radar of most investors yet -- the company is playing it off with the analysts as a problem with a coming fix being cited every time in the same sentence.

I think their Come to Jesus moment will be the earnings reports for 3rd and 4th quarters of this year once their "fix" is released and the company can't hide the truth any longer from the greater media, i.e. that it doesn't actually fix any of their liabilities (just maybe prevent future ones, IF it even works).

Personally, I suspect that Intel as a company is done. Every major customer they've ever casually insulted by their high-handed, obnoxious past behaviors now have no reason not to remember every slight that Intel ever put them through. Intel's reputation for product quality was the only thing keeping them in the game before, but that is long gone at this point.

I predict bankruptcy is on the not too distant horizon, with a their money pit foundries either being spun of ala AMD and Global Foundries or sold outright.

 

[lakedude]

Stock is at $23 or so after hours. Chickens are coming home to roost.

 

[igor_kavinski]

@gdansk! Sell your shares now and buy them at a lower price later if you wanna make some profit!

 

[Turbonium]

So silly question, but once I get my Alder Lake CPU in, should I wait for the mid-August microcode update before I swap it into the board? I'd imagine I don't have to, given it's not a 13th or 14th gen. Still, I am unsure.

 

[adroc_thurston]

So silly question, but once I get my Alder Lake CPU in, should I wait for the mid-August microcode update before I swap it into the board? I'd imagine I don't have to, given it's not a 13th or 14th gen. Still, I am unsure.

It's safe.

 

[H433x0n]

Puget Systems published a blog about this issue.

However they set up their systems must work since their internal data shows 13th/14th gen reliability is similar/better than 11th gen.

Edit: These systems are based off of i7/i9 SKUs so it’s not artificially boosted by the presence of low clocking SKUs.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

While this isn't the thread GN chose to reference (for good reason, Kocicak's is much older) here is the first takedown vid-

Nothing we don't already know, as I presumed. The good stuff will come when the FA lab and the deeper dive are shared.

Perfect closing statement about how Alder Lake was a promising return to form, and they blew it and failed hard.

 

[gorobei]

While this isn't the thread GN chose to reference (for good reason, Kocicak's is much older) here is the first takedown vid-

Nothing we don't already know, as I presumed. The good stuff will come when the FA lab and the deeper dive are shared.

Perfect closing statement about how Alder Lake was a promising return to form, and they blew it and failed hard.

the big standout to me was the talk about the wafer FOUP carriers getting held up between stations for too long leading to oxidation.

that seems like a fundamental failing in operations. which i guess jives with the leaks about the fab side running on skeleton crew levels of staff.

 

[maddogmcgee]

I wonder if Slayer Steve will ever get another Intel product sampled again. Luckily we can turn to User Benchmark and Tom's Hardware if we need unbiased coverage of the issue.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I wonder if Slayer Steve will ever get another Intel product sampled again. Luckily we can turn to User Benchmark and Tom's Hardware if we need unbiased coverage of the issue.

I think the loserbenchmark dude is on suicide watch.

 

[Ranulf]

Saw this mentioned over at OCUK's forum on this stuff.. From the GN video, about 35m40s in, talking about reddit moderator dropping that game dev's post to the intel subreddit asking questions last week or so. Allegedly this reddit mod also works at Tom's Hardware, I can't confirm that though. GN's video mentioned that the post gets taken down there but the mods let an anti-amd post stay in, not being off-topic.

Edit: Albert Thomas, freelancer at TH is the guy apparently.

 

[Hitman928]

While this isn't the thread GN chose to reference (for good reason, Kocicak's is much older) here is the first takedown vid-

Nothing we don't already know, as I presumed. The good stuff will come when the FA lab and the deeper dive are shared.

Perfect closing statement about how Alder Lake was a promising return to form, and they blew it and failed hard.

Intel acknowledging the oxidation issue started in 2022 and telling partners it wasn’t fully addressed until April 2024 was new to me.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Intel acknowledging the oxidation issue started in 2022 and telling partners it wasn’t fully addressed until April 2024 was new to me.

Post 1526 at the top of this page ^

GN did a good job of laying out the chronology of all the anti consumer and dirtbag moves. I expect the next video to have juicier stuff from sources. Intel employees mostly stonewalled and refused to answer questions. I was stoked Steve said Intel can pound sand now. I have been SMDH at Intel failing to control the narrative for months, now they have lost the most trusted platform in the enthusiast space for getting their propaganda...um statements out.

 

[poke01]

Intel acknowledging the oxidation issue started in 2022 and telling partners it wasn’t fully addressed until April 2024 was new to me.

WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Hitman928]

Post 1526 at the top of this page ^

GN did a good job of laying out the chronology of all the anti consumer and dirtbag moves. I expect the next video to have juicier stuff from sources. Intel employees mostly stonewalled and refused to answer questions. I was stoked Steve said Intel can pound sand now. I have been SMDH at Intel failing to control the narrative for months, now they have lost the most trusted platform in the enthusiast space for getting their propaganda...um statements out.

Those sneaky edits, lol.

 

[AdamK47]

I truly hope Intel comes out of the many messes it's in as a strong competitor in the CPU market.

You may not like them, but we still need them. The enthusiast landscape would be bleak otherwise.

 

[gdansk]

I truly hope Intel comes out of the many messes it's in as a strong competitor in the CPU market.

You may not like them, but we still need them. The enthusiast landscape would be bleak otherwise.

Sure. We don't want them to die.

But I'm not optimistic about their QC/validation for a while - they might even be hit by these layoffs.

 

[maddie]

I truly hope Intel comes out of the many messes it's in as a strong competitor in the CPU market.

You may not like them, but we still need them. The enthusiast landscape would be bleak otherwise.

We need competition, not necessarily Intel.

 

[RanFodar]

We need competition, not necessarily Intel.

No no. Intel is a necessity no matter how fallen will they be.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I truly hope Intel comes out of the many messes it's in as a strong competitor in the CPU market.

You may not like them, but we still need them. The enthusiast landscape would be bleak otherwise.

This has nothing to do with liking them or not. They are like an addict; this is the intervention. Running with the analogy:

once they payback everyone they begged, borrowed, or stole money from to support their habit, get the help they need, and come out the other side clean and ready to rejoin society, I will welcome them with open arms. Until then it's tough love as the expression has it. I will always be on the side of my fellow consumers vs corpo scum.

We need competition, not necessarily Intel.

ARM is rising. My psychotic... um I meant psychic, yeah that's the ticket, psychic powers tell me, all Nvidia gaming boxes are coming. It'll even have it's own OS like the Steam Deck.

Doesn't matter really, Intel sitting in the backseat until AMD is at least 50% market share in every segment, is the best thing that could happen. Then and only then will we have true competition. Because Intel has been anti competition and anti consumer for far too long. They need to get back to understanding the customer is the boss, not them. I am going to have schadenfreude if Dell is hit hard by this. They have been doing the Predator arm wrestling meme with Intel for far too long.

 

[RanFodar]

They need to get back to understanding the customer is the boss, not them.

They need a giant plaque of "The customer always comes first" in their executive offices, ala Asian style. AMD stood by it, NVIDIA pffft, but Intel... It ain't so funny anymore.

 

[Nothingness]

We need competition, not necessarily Intel.

Agreed. But what company could replace Intel as an x86 CPU maker? Intel has behaved evilishly for too long, but they have great engineers and a lot of accumulated knowledge. On top of that if Intel collapses, predatory patent houses might get hold of parts of the Intel porfolio and attack all other CPU makers, including outside the x86 world. That could be a disaster.

There is competition on the Arm front in some segments. But at least one is missing: the gaming market. Sure it might change, but we're far from being there. And I don't think having AMD as the sole player would do any good to us.