Intel’s 13th and 14th Gen Raptor Lake-S processors have been suffering from intermittent to repeated crashing in games, most notably Unreal Engine titles like “The First Descendant.” The problem is most pronounced on higher-end Core i9-13900K/14900K CPUs, followed by the i7-14700K/13700K. Intel has advised users to stick to the “Intel Default” power profile and install the eTVB firmware fix, but the issue has persisted, ranging from CTDs (crash to desktop) to BSODs (PC crashes).
Matthew Cassells, the Founder of Alderon Games (developer of Path of Titans) shares that Intel 13th/14th Gen Raptor Lake laptop CPUs also suffer from instability and crashes, albeit less frequently than their K-series desktop counterparts. This can have severe ramifications for Intel as mobility processors have a much wider user base, with Raptor Lake spanning 2-3 generations from the 13th, 14th, and the Core Series family.
The studio published a comprehensive report covering the widespread instability and failure rates of the 13th/14th Gen CPUs. The studio explains that despite the microcode, BIOS, and firmware updates, the 13th and 14th Gen K-series CPU remain unstable. Their findings indicate that these processors have a 100% failure rate, with working samples deteriorating over time, and eventually failing.
The crashing is most prominent in Unreal Engine-based games like Fortnite, The First Descendant, Hogwarts Legacy, etc. Users are also receiving misleading error messages about running out of video memory, despite having sufficient memory.
