In recent days, there has been more talk of instability and game crashing problems affecting Intel Core 13th and 14th generation processors, especially the 125W models and the Core i7 and i9. It seems more and more likely that this is a hardware flaw in their 7nm Raptor Lake chips, so it’s notable that Intel is now introducing new processors based on this silicon, aimed at the embedded market where reliability and longevity are required .
14th generation Core desktop processors based on the Raptor Lake Refresh family have quietly appeared in Intel’s offer, differing from the classic models by a numerical designation ending in 1 and the suffix E. So, for example, Core i5-14401E. Many of you probably guess that the letter E in Intel’s nomenclature does not mean reduced consumption (35W or 45W TDP) as with AMD, but that these are processors for the Embedded sector. These CPUs have a desktop design and will probably work in many LGA 1700 desktop boards if they are not somehow blocked (or not supported) by the BIOS. But their target market is devices based on PC hardware, not the PC itself for ordinary consumers.
Reliability requirements?
There are several interesting things about this. First of all, it is surprising that Intel is releasing Raptor Lake Refresh processors at a time when for several months the number of reports has been increasing that these desktop processors are unstable and that the circuits in them may be subject to degradation, so that they gradually fail. The problem has been widely known since February, and Intel likely had it on their radar even before that, but still hasn’t announced the cause or solution plan yet. Only a few partial countermeasures, which, according to the official statement of the company, are not yet a solution.
All this indicates that this is a very serious problem. As we mentioned in a recent update, we recommend avoiding 13th and 14th generation Intel Core processors for now, with the exception of the 65W Core i5 and i3 models (which are likely safe) until all is clear.
The Embedded market requires good hardware reliability and long life as these devices tend not to be changed as quickly as PCs. Products that are suspected of having their silicon self-degrading and their failure rate gradually increasing go directly against these principles, so this leads to the assumption or hopes that perhaps Intel has already caught the problem internally and the newly manufactured chips are no longer in order. However, it is quite possible that these products were simply planned a year in advance and we are just witnessing inertia. Then the risk of problems with these processors would be similar to that of desktop ones, and Intel could only decide to deal with the possible consequences when they come.
Without E-Core?
According to the ARK database, there are at least nine of these processors on offer: six-core Core i5-11401E, Core i5-14501E, eight-core Core i7-14701E and i9-14901E with 65W TDP and Core i5-11401TE, Core i5-14501TE, Core i7-14701TE and Core i9-14901TE (45W TDP version) and finally the 125W octa-core Core i9-14901KE. Here you can see their complete parameters.
Neither of these processors have any active E-Cores, so they have abandoned the hybrid concept. Although their specifications are based on the related desktop processors (i9-14901KE is the default i9-14900K model), they always have E-Core cores removed. However, they will still be on the chip and have only remained deactivated.
This again leads one to wonder if what is going on the Raptor Lake processors has something to do with the E-Core cores. It may not be a failure directly in them, but perhaps on the ring bus and in the L3 cache adjacent to these cores. We know that turning off the E-Core cores is not a reliable help for faulty processors, but in theory, deactivating them could perhaps prevent degradation at all, which is perhaps the original cause of instability for the processors in question.
14th generation Core embedded processors (Raptor Lake) that Intel shows publicly in the ARK product database
However, these are just guesses, because the absence of E-Core from the embedded version of the processor may have other explanations. Intel may be applying this to chips with a manufacturing defect, or in the case of the Core i5 “E” and “TE” models, Alder Lake generation H0 silicon that doesn’t even contain E-Core cores. It is possible that E-Cores are inactive because a big.LITTLE processor may have different performance characteristics on different cores, including latencies, which may be unsuitable for real-time applications requiring consistent QoS and predictable response latency. Thus, E-Cores may be missing purely for this reason.
Embedded and overclocking?
The third interesting thing is that Intel allows overclocking for the Core i9-14901KE processor, so it has an unlocked multiplier (which will probably require a Z690 or Z790 chipset). It is true that the frequency is slightly reduced, so the maximum boost is only 5.8 GHz (including Turbo Boost Max 3.0 and Thermal Velocity Boost) against 6.0 GHz for the Core i9-14900K. But still – overclocking and high frequencies are exactly what is suspected as a possible cause or contributing factor to those instabilities or even silicon degradation at Raptor Lake.
That this might be an “eyebrow-raising” impression in the current situation may have been sensed by Intel, as this processor cannot be found in the Intel ARK database, unlike the 65W and 45W models, although it is listed as being released in Q3 2024. On its you can only get the specifications if you know the link directly. This probably indicates that it is not a processor offered as part of the standard offer, but an “off roadmap” model that is only offered in a limited way or could have been requested by a specific customer.
Intel Core i9-14901KE processor in the Intel ARK database
You probably won’t normally come across these processors unless you work in a company that develops, manufactures, sells or uses embedded devices. However, it is possible that in the future they will appear individually on E-bay and similar auction servers, similar to what is often the case with originally “OEM-only” processors.
If you are dying to get a processor with the same architecture as Raptor Lake, but without the hybrid technology and E-Core cores, you currently have an opportunity in the server processor menu. Intel produces Xeons E-2400, which are processors for socket LGA 1700 based on Raptor Lake silicon, but also with disabled E-Core cores (unfortunately, this does not mean that Intel has turned on AVX-512 for them). But you will need a special board.
Another opportunity – and this time it will be processors that also work in regular desktop boards of the LGA 1700 platform – are supposed to be Bartlett Lake processors. According to leaks, Intel will release a special chip derived from the Raptor Lake processors, but it will be a new silicon without E-Core and instead with added P-Cores (large cores), of which there will be up to 12 (ie 24 threads). So in this case, the E-Cores on the chip won’t even be in a disabled form, unless you particularly hate them. But these processors will not be released until a year from now, in the summer of 2025.
Resources: JaykihnIntel (1, 2), VideoCardz
Source: www.cnews.cz
