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The story
A Reddit post is making waves after a user who has already replaced their Core i9-14900K three times since launch reported an invalid memory access error (0xC0000005) on their fourth chip as well — this time in a system paired with an RTX 5090 and 64GB of DDR5-6000. The user said they’d already applied the degradation-related BIOS update and left all settings at Intel’s defaults. On 5ch’s hardware board, opinions split over whether this is a genuine product defect or self-inflicted damage from running the chip too hard, with some users chiming in that their 13900K or 13700 has run fine the whole time, and others praising how generous Intel’s warranty support has been.
Is the Core i9-14900K still degrading even after the BIOS update?
User who already swapped it three times reports yet another error
A user who says they’ve replaced their Core i9-14900K three times since launch is reporting on Reddit that errors have started showing up on the fourth chip too, in a PC paired with an RTX 5090 and 64GB of DDR5-6000 memory. The user had already updated their motherboard’s BIOS to guard against degradation and says they simply loaded Intel’s default settings — yet they’re still getting error code 0xC0000005, which indicates invalid memory access.
Source: gazlog.jp / Original article here
What people said
The current gen is Core Ultra 200S, right?
Re: #18
I mean, calling the 13th/14th gen problem "solved" is a stretch — it's more like they throttled things down to stop physical damage, which tanks performance. It's an awkward generation either way.
If you're buying now, you're better off waiting for next year's Nova Lake gen (Core Ultra 400S?)
If you treat them properly, memory and CPUs are basically built to last forever.
Normally a CPU doesn't degrade at all. Overclocking outside spec is a different story though.
No, it's an issue before that even comes into play. Intel itself acknowledged the problem — that's exactly why they went out of their way to extend the warranty period.
Honestly, safest bet is to just not touch it. It's not only the 14900K — both the 13th and 14th gen have this flaw. If you want to stick with Intel, you're better off going with something like the 285K.
Pairing a 14900 with a 5090 was never going to be an "ideal" setup to begin with.
Running it past 200W — or in some cases past 300-400W — is just absurd. If you keep it under 65W with a proper cooler, the CPU basically won't degrade.
True, but if that's all it takes, there's no reason to buy a high-end CPU at all — a 13400 would do just fine.
For someone who's only ever run 65W-class CPUs, that's a world I can't even picture.
Nah, the Zudah was still the fastest even so — that's different. Don't insult the Zudah.
For what it's worth, when you file an RMA with Intel they just swap it out right away without asking questions — pretty sure they know about this internally.
Can't tell if that's reassuring or terrifying.
Same here, zero complaints with my 9900K either. I've basically become a Coffee Lake old-timer at this point.
Someone actually show me a few of your setups.
I can post it once I'm home — I've actually posted it on Gaha a few times already. 13900K and a 4090.
There are a lot of people like you — guys who can't build a PC themselves and just want to believe every setup they can't afford is fake.
That said, I do think people with no PC knowledge should probably steer clear of these chips.
Prebuilt PCs that advertise i7/i9 chips are usually locked down to something absurd like 110W in the BIOS to begin with,
so there's nothing to worry about there in the first place.
Just pop open a prebuilt and look at the CPU cooler —
you don't even need to check the specs to know what wattage that machine is designed for.
Unless it's got liquid cooling, there's no way it's pushing past 200W.
The people saying "it broke on me" are either early self-build adopters or hardcore benchmark junkies.
Yeah, outside of self-built rigs it basically never breaks. Every prebuilt I've ever seen has nothing but a stock top-flow cooler.
Intel's handling the people whose chips actually broke in good faith, so what's the issue? Why are bystanders picking fights with the people reporting failures?
It's not fixed at this point. They've redesigned and updated the circuitry in other areas,
but the voltage/current design flaw itself hasn't been touched lol.
Though we won't really know for sure until the product's actually out in the wild.
Maybe yours is already broken and you just haven't noticed.
The original Xbox was a custom Pentium III + GeForce3 setup, I believe.
And there's apparently some new UMPC (ultra-mobile PC) that came out recently too.
Re: #80
Even with memory — a PC running fine, shut down normally, then BSODs over and over the next morning.
Checked it and found a ton of memory errors. Makes you wonder what happened overnight.
Turning off Turbo Boost on an Intel chip — are you serious? Base clock's gotta be like 2GHz then, right? lol
Don't post if you don't understand how it works lol. As long as your settings aren't causing massive power spikes, this isn't even a problem to begin with.
Because the CEO couldn't bring himself to admit Moore's Law was dead.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HRXBXf0aUAAjbqx.jpg:orig
Background and key points of the debate
The age-related degradation seen in Intel’s Core i9-13900K/14900K chips is known as the “Raptor Lake instability issue,” attributed to excessive voltage requests during idle states. Intel has issued several microcode updates (such as 0x129) to cap the voltage ceiling, and has also extended the warranty period to five years. However, these updates only slow the progression of degradation — they don’t restore chips that have already worn down. The thread split over whether the error reported this time is a genuine “product defect” or a problem with the user’s own power settings (overclocking, high PL2 limits). Those defending Intel pointed to environmental factors on the user’s end, like running without liquid cooling or pushing past 200W, while those reporting failures countered that it happens even at stock settings. There was also disagreement over the basic premise that “CPUs shouldn’t degrade in the first place” — some argued wear is inevitable under heavy use, while others insisted a properly run CPU should last essentially forever. One point not raised in the thread but worth noting: whether the next-generation Arrow Lake and Nova Lake architectures, which have been redesigned, have actually eliminated this same risk remains unconfirmed, since there isn’t yet enough real-world usage data to say for sure.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware / Industry (Gaha)) thread “[Sad News] Intel 14th-gen CPU degradation still occurring even after BIOS update [Sony Is Over]“.
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