the person in the videos above is steve burke from gamers nexus. steve is an incredibly respected name in the tech industry. steve does in-depth investigations into tech companies, and tries to help fix things up at a corporate level on behalf of customers who get fucked over. his investigations are amazing, and he is dedicated to improving the industry for everyone. seriously check out his past investigations sometime, he does not put up with bullshit.
the first video is talking with wendell from level 1 techs, who has been one of the first and main people to investigate these issues, and has been collaborating with gamers nexus to get to the bottom with this. the second video is further investigation and speculation because intel was refusing to admit to the problems while gamers nexus "cannot recommend intel CPUs right now", the third video was when intel finally admitted to some of the problems and what steve recommends affected people do, and the fourth video is largely about how badly intel is lying and trying to hide as much as they can for as long as they can.
as steve mentions in the 4th video at almost exactly 40 minutes in, he believes laptop chips are affected to some degree by the same issues as desktop chips, due to knowledge about how they are manufactured and reports of them failing in similar ways. gamers nexus is currently purchasing laptops thought to have an oxidizing CPU so they can investigate further. they are also interested in lower end vs higher end laptops, and how the potential problems might vary between them. ie: higher powered laptops might have a higher failure rate.
if you want to learn more about this situation, especially about laptops being affected and intel potentially lying about them not being affected, gamers nexus will have more information in the coming days. they are stopping all other activities to investigate.
I think a lot of people in the notes of this post are insisting that only desktop chips are affected because intel says so officially, but the entire fourth video is an extremely detailed overview of why you should take everything intel says right now with a grain of salt, because they have been trying to bulldozer every other part of this under the rug for as long as humanly possible. it really is very bad and intel has been extremely scummy about it, and the video even proves they have been rejecting RMAs for these problems despite knowing about it.
I have seen steve's work, I respect his expertise, and I find it responsible to defer to what he says. if someone has a better source than steve right now saying laptops are definitely not affected (other than intel), by all means throw it my way.
if you bought or built your computer before 2022, or you have a mac, your CPU is not affected by these specific problems.
for intel, you typically wind up with one of four prefixes for a CPU model: i3, i5, i7, and i9. take off the last three digits of the model number that comes after the prefix, and the first one or two digits indicate the generation number.
there are two factors to the current problems: bad code and bad manufacturing. the bad manufacturing makes the chips get damaged at voltages and temperatures that they should not be damaged at. the bad code in the chips makes them run at voltages and temperatures higher than they can handle, but makes the chips look stronger on paper compared to the competition. the bad code makes the chips unstable, and causes issues with computers. some of the instability in these chips is from the bad code.
but bad code also makes the bad manufacturing physically destroy the chip faster. the main bad code fix comes out in a few weeks, but there are some updates available now that you might be able to apply depending on your hardware. make sure all your components are as up to date as they can be. as for whether or not these chips can get destroyed without ever being in contact with the bad code, that is part of the investigation. but the stronger the chip, and the faster it runs, the more likely it may be to get damaged.
and once these chips get damaged, they are not fixable by code, because they become physically damaged by oxidation. once that CPU damage worsens to a certain point, the only way to make the computer work properly again is to physically swap out the CPU. while PCs are one story, not every laptop can have the CPU taken out easily by an average person without specialized equipment. so if this does affect laptops, I think we could all safely say, holy fucking shit.
officially, intel has extended the warranties on boxed CPUs, and is encouraging customers to send in potentially oxidized CPUs for repair. if you get denied, intel says you should keep trying to get it sent in. there are reports of them still rejecting broken devices for RMA, but it is still worth a shot. intel says (partial quote, check the "bloodbath" video to see all of the rest of what they have said as this situation has developed):
We stand behind our products, and in the coming days we will be sharing more details on two-year extended warranty support for our boxed Intel Core 13th and 14th Gen desktop processors.
In the meantime, if you are currently or previously experienced instability symptoms on your Intel Core 13th/14th Gen desktop system:
For users who purchased systems from OEM/System Integrators – please reach out to your system manufacturer’s support team for further assistance.
For users who purchased a boxed CPU – please reach out to Intel Customer Support for further assistance.
basically try to return it to the store or try to return it to intel.
here is what steve recommends. 3rd video at 19:50.
steve is concerned with people feeling a constant wave of anxiety about this, so he also said in this video if you have not noticed any instability yet, either apply any available updates, keep an eye out for the 'fix' in a few weeks and move on, or try to return it. the updates will help with some instability from bad code, but not if it has been affected by oxidation. if your device is new, steve says to consider returning it, but whatever you do, he says to make your decision and move on. try not to be overwhelmed by this, because you are absolutely not alone and this is just beginning.
he also recommends not buying devices with 13th and 14th generation intel CPUs right now.
if you experience trouble with intel related to this situation, especially in getting RMA for an oxidized CPU, gamers nexus wants to know about it. email: tips (@) gamersnexus dot net.
steve's audience is mostly people who build their own PCs. so here is rune advice
if you have a 13th or 14th gen intel CPU:
at the very least, BACK YOUR DATA UP. especially before updating.
storage is pretty fucking cheap these days. do not risk data loss. have a plan for what happens if your computer breaks suddenly, know where your most important data is, and stay tuned for the results of the gamers nexus investigation. they do fantastic work. hell, if you have a 13th or 14th gen mobile CPU in your laptop and your laptop is acting wonky, maybe they are still buying machines.
right now is a waiting game to find out more. if you are feeling frustrated, you are far from the only one. but knowing about these issues puts you ahead of the game, because intel has not even been straightforward about alerting potentially affected customers. this entire unstable CPU fuckery has damaged businesses, this has fucked over consumers, there will almost DEFINITELY be lawsuits about it, and this is not the last you will hear about this situation.
if you have a 13th or 14th generation intel CPU desktop or laptop, and are now aware of this issue, you now have a much better chance of being able to follow through with whatever happens next. I will be updating folks with the results of the investigation when they come out.
to support gamers nexus in their investigations and trying to protect consumers, consider checking out their store. they sell some great stuff!
