Intel motherboard partners begin to roll out Raptor Lake microcode updates to banish Vmin Shift Instabilities

September 29

Intel motherboard partners have started to roll out the first batch of microcode updates to address the issue known as Vmin Shift Instability. The iconic PC chipmaker blogged about this issue earlier this week, revealing the root cause, the four circumstances in which it occurs, and its 0x12B update to finally fix it. Hopefully, the release of BIOS files by Intel partners is going to draw a line under this long running saga which has caused instability, defects, and failures of 13th and 14th Generation Core ‘Raptor Lake’ processors.

It is now well established that motherboards fed Intel’s newest CPUs elevated voltage levels beyond safe limits. Microcode 0x12B is claimed to address all the circumstances which lead to Vmin Shift Instability. Thankfully motherboard making brands like Asus, ASRock, and MSI have already started to release BIOS updates for systems currently in service. It has taken just a few days for these updates to start trickling through, though Intel warned users the process “may take several weeks.” Let’s have a closer look at what has been made available, so far.

Asus Vmin Shift Instability Updates

We checked several Asus Z790 motherboards and they all seemed to have been “Updated with Intel microcode 0x12B to address elevated voltage requests during idle or light activity, further mitigating Vmin Shift instability issues.” However, these BIOS downloads still have a ‘beta’ flag.

Other Asus boards we checked, like those LGA1700 boards using the B760 or Z690 chipsets only seem to be up to Intel microcode 0x129 – the previous fix for instability, dated August 2024. It is understandable and common practice that the top enthusiasts boards get these kinds of updates first.

Asus BIOS update screenshot — (Image credit: Future)

ASRock Vmin Shift Instability Updates

Like Asus, ASRock has released Intel microcode 0x12B updates for its Z790 boards first – covering the Taichi, Riptide, Steel Legend families and more. Again we didn’t see these newest updates for LGA1700 boards with the B760 or Z690 chipsets. No surprise there – for the reasons mentioned above.

MSI Vmin Shift Instability Updates

Hunting through MSI’s BIOS updates revealed that some but not all of its Z790 boards had new (beta) BIOS files including the comment “Update CPU Microcode 0x12B.” Again no B760 updates to this microcode were found, and searching through Intel 600 series motherboard BIOS downloads drew a blank.

We haven’t mentioned Gigabyte / Aorus above, as searching through its BIOS updates was fruitless, concerning microcode 0x12B updates – even the most high-end Z790 boards don’t have a beta yet. The same applies to Biostar.

The good news is this ‘root cause’ fix is definitely on its way to Intel users, with updates now rolling out, and hopefully a lot more to come in the coming days and weeks.

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