Motherboard makers must implement new Intel power spec defaults by May 31

[zohaibahd]

Recap: Since their release last fall, Intel's 13th-gen Raptor Lake and 14th-gen unlocked K-series desktop CPUs have been making waves – but not always in a good way. While offering top performance, these chips have also been plagued by stability issues for many users due to overly aggressive power settings. Intel is now cracking down, demanding that board partners implement new, more restrained defaults by the end of May.

The news comes from reports at saraba1st.com and Igor's Lab, citing sources familiar with Intel's plans. While not officially confirmed by Intel itself yet, the details have been corroborated from multiple angles, so we can likely take it that changes are coming down the pipeline.

Intel is asking that a new "Intel Default Settings" power profile become the out-of-box standard BIOS configuration on all LGA1700 motherboards. This profile will reportedly lock the CPUs' PL2 (maximum turbo power limit) to 188W – far lower than the 253W allowed by the Performance and Extreme profiles many vendors currently enable by default.

Also see: Intel CPUs Are Crashing and It's Intel's Fault: Intel Baseline Profile Benchmark – Intel is Now Paying the Price for Power Spec Mess

The move follows in the footsteps of recent BIOS updates from Asus and Gigabyte that incorporated Intel's recommended "baseline" settings. Those updates were successful enough at improving stability that Intel now feels emboldened to enforce the same approach industry-wide.

But don't worry, while reining in the extreme power limits, Intel's defaults will still keep key performance-enhancing features like Current Excursion Protection, ICCMax Unlimited, Turbo Velocity Boost, and Enhanced TVB enabled. The change is a targeted strike at the over-the-top overclocking and power delivery settings some vendors had been using out of the box in pursuit of benchmark wins.

According to sources, Intel specifically recommends not increasing PL1 and PL2 power limits beyond their stock ratings, nor pushing ICCMax current over 400A. So those 4096W PL2 and 512A limits some boards were configured for will be history.

Late last month, a leaked Intel notice obtained by Igor's Lab suggested the stability issues stemmed from motherboard makers disabling safeguards for higher performance. It listed settings like Current Excursion Protection and thermal limits being disabled on many 600/700-series boards, along with excessive power and voltage limit increases beyond Intel's specs.

The new defaults should provide a much-needed dose of stabilizing medicine for the 13th- and 14th-gen CPUs, even if it comes at some performance cost versus the extreme power profiles. By making it the mandatory baseline, Intel ensures even less experienced users can enjoy a smooth, reliable experience right out of the gate without having to dig into BIOS settings – though hardcore overclockers may lament the loss of those higher power limits.

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Motherboard makers must implement new Intel power spec defaults by May 31

 

[MSIGamer]

This post makes no sense. Hardcore overclockers can still tweak the power limits after this change is pushed through right?
Intel delivered these processors unstable. Their new baseline will take 10-30% off your performance. That's ENORMOUS.
It also means that basically all review benchmarks are lies, because the CPUs are overclocked and, as proven now, not stable for the long term. Intel should've enforced the base profile from the start so at least the system is 100% stable and leave overclocking to anyone who wants to tweak at their own risk.

Instead, Intel royally screwed over their customers to appear to beat AMD in one or two games. Few months later and everyone fried their cpu and is looking at a significant performance loss if they want to keep a stable system.

It's outrageous.

 

[Skjorn]

Intel delivered these processors unstable. Their new baseline will take 10-30% off your performance. That's ENORMOUS.

I don't believe that. Not a bit.
Show me anything where they've lost 10-30%.
TPU always does reviews at stock settings and power limits removed. Nothing shows anywhere near that amount of loss in their reviews.

 

[daffy duck]

I don't believe that. Not a bit.
Show me anything where they've lost 10-30%.
TPU always does reviews at stock settings and power limits removed. Nothing shows anywhere near that amount of loss in their reviews.

Those original so-called stock settings were not what Intel had in their documentation for the cpu's. It's been shown even at new stock baseline of 400A and PL1=PL2 = 253W some 14900K's are still unstable if you got average sample. Stability comes at 307A. It was also shown that Asus which implemented these new baseline settings lost 5-11%. Gigabyte lost up to 30% but their profile was not Intel baseline at all as it has PL1=125W, PL2=188W, which is ridiculous.

TPU musyt redo some tests and show us exactly what settings were used prior it current, PL1, PL2 etc and compare it to these new stock baseline settings to put the issue to bed one way or other. But already shown 14900KS on Intel baseline only clocks to 5.1GHz, down from the advertised 6.2GHz.