Intel is still trying to localize the root cause of failures in the Core i9 processors of the Raptor Lake and Raptor Lake Refresh families, offering intermediate solutions that do not completely eliminate it, and among game developers there are already those who are openly calling on the manufacturer to recall all these processors from the market, paying compensation to buyers.
Image Source: Intel
At least that’s what Alderon Games did after it encountered numerous problems trying to get its Path of Titans game running on systems using 13th and 14th generation Intel Core processors. Problems with stability occur not only on client PCs, but also on servers that are needed to organize the multiplayer mode in this game. All microcode updates released by Intel do not ensure 100% stability of the specified processors, according to the game developers. At the same time, switching computers and game servers to AMD processors reduced the frequency of system reboots by an average of a hundred times.
Due to sudden reboots of systems based on these processors, as noted by the developers of Path of Titans, information stored in memory and on solid-state drives is damaged. As the processors in use age, the frequency of problems only increases. None of the systems operated by Alderon Games based on Intel processors of these two families escaped problems with stability. The authors of the game even began to display notifications for users of potentially unstable PC configurations about possible sources of the problem. As representatives of Alderon Games explained, “the recall of these processors with the payment of compensation to customers is in the interests of Intel itself.”
In the history of Intel, there has already been an example of recalling an entire family of defective processors – in 1994, it had to buy back from customers all batches of Pentium processors suffering from the so-called FDIV bug, which did not manifest itself in the real life of most users. However, the company was forced to spend and write off $475 million to buy back all the defective processors. Under current conditions, Intel’s losses could result in a much larger sum.