Overview

Vmin Shift Instability Root Cause

Intel® has localized the Vmin Shift Instability issue to a clock tree circuit within the IA core which is particularly vulnerable to reliability aging under elevated voltage and temperature. Intel has observed these conditions can lead to a duty cycle shift of the clocks and observed system instability.

Intel® has identified four (4) operating scenarios that can lead to Vmin shift in affected processors:

• Motherboard power delivery settings exceeding Intel power guidance.
  a. Mitigation: Intel® Default Settings recommendations for Intel® Core™ 13th and 14th Gen desktop processors.

• eTVB Microcode algorithm which was allowing Intel® Core™ 13th and 14th Gen i9 desktop processors to operate at higher performance states even at high temperatures.
  a. Mitigation: microcode 0x125 (June 2024) addresses eTVB algorithm issue.

• Microcode SVID algorithm requesting high voltages at a frequency and duration which can cause Vmin shift.
  a. Mitigation: microcode 0x129 (August 2024) addresses high voltages requested by the processor.

• Microcode and BIOS code requesting elevated core voltages which can cause Vmin shift especially during periods of idle and/or light activity.
  a. Mitigation: Intel® is releasing microcode 0x12B, which encompasses 0x125 and 0x129 microcode updates, and addresses elevated voltage requests by the processor during idle and/or light activity periods.

Next Steps

For all Intel® Core™ 13th/14th Gen desktop processor users: the 0x12B microcode update must be loaded via BIOS update and has been distributed to system and motherboard manufacturers to incorporate into their BIOS. Intel is working with its partners to encourage timely validation and rollout of the BIOS update for systems currently in service.

Users can check their system/motherboard manufacturer’s website and/or the Intel® Product Compatibility Tool to see the latest BIOS versions for their Intel® Core™ 13th and/or 14th Gen-powered desktop systems: https://compatibleproducts.intel.com/.

1. Processor: Intel® Core™ i9-14900K, Motherboard: Intel Raptor Lake Reference Board (M40919), Memory: 64GB DDR5 at 5200MT/s, Storage: ADATA* SU360, Graphics: Intel® UHD Graphics 770, Graphics Driver Version: 32.0.101.5768, Display Resolution: 1280x800, Operating System: Windows 11 Pro (version 26100.712).
2. Processor: Intel® Core™ i9-14900K, Motherboard: Intel Raptor Lake Reference Board (RVP SR19), Memory: 32GB DDR5 at 5600MT/s, Storage: Samsung* 990 Pro 1TB, Graphics: MSI* RTX 4090 Suprim X, Graphics Driver Version: NVIDIA* v555.99, Resolution: 1920x1080, Operating System: Windows 11 (version 22631.4169)