What, if anything, can customers do to slow or stop degradation ahead of the microcode update?
Intel recommends that users adhere to Intel Default Settings on their desktop processors, along with ensuring their BIOS is up to date. Once the microcode patch is released to Intel partners, we advise users check for the relevant BIOS updates.
I destroyed my second CPU, a 14900KF, while having already been aware of that recommendation, and having disabled all of the settings like that that the motherboard vendor had enabled by default prior to ever inserting the replacement CPU, and only used the CPU with those settings; it still destroyed itself, like the first. I am very confident that you can still destroy a CPU having done that.
That isn’t to say that using conservative settings is a bad idea (and maybe doing something further, like running memory at minimum frequency, not just using the Intel recommended default rather then the motherboard vendor defaults, might actually manage to reliably avoid CPU damage). But I am confident that just running standard Intel recommended settings is not, alone, enough to avoid damage.
There’s no 100% way until the new microcode is released next month. All affected CPUs are at risk of silicon degradation by the excessive voltage.
The are some power limits and July bios updates you can use that Intel says can help reduce the damage or prevent it entirely in some scenarios. I believe the damage is specifically caused by single threaded spikes, so reducing LLC and running something like prime95 in the background might hold the voltage low enough that it won’t happen. But there is no fix yet, so if your CPU is susceptible, running it will degrade the CPU, at least until the fix is out.
Any solutions for avoiding the damage if you happen to get a new one?
I destroyed my second CPU, a 14900KF, while having already been aware of that recommendation, and having disabled all of the settings like that that the motherboard vendor had enabled by default prior to ever inserting the replacement CPU, and only used the CPU with those settings; it still destroyed itself, like the first. I am very confident that you can still destroy a CPU having done that.
That isn’t to say that using conservative settings is a bad idea (and maybe doing something further, like running memory at minimum frequency, not just using the Intel recommended default rather then the motherboard vendor defaults, might actually manage to reliably avoid CPU damage). But I am confident that just running standard Intel recommended settings is not, alone, enough to avoid damage.
There’s no 100% way until the new microcode is released next month. All affected CPUs are at risk of silicon degradation by the excessive voltage.
The are some power limits and July bios updates you can use that Intel says can help reduce the damage or prevent it entirely in some scenarios. I believe the damage is specifically caused by single threaded spikes, so reducing LLC and running something like prime95 in the background might hold the voltage low enough that it won’t happen. But there is no fix yet, so if your CPU is susceptible, running it will degrade the CPU, at least until the fix is out.