The instability issue with the 13th—and 14th-generation processors isn’t surprising, and Intel has been working to fix it by deploying various microcode BIOS updates in recent months. They started with 0x125 and then 0x129, but the latter didn’t do much to reduce the heat Intel was facing.
To put things into perspective, the scale of this issue was so big that they ran out of 13900K and 14900K replacements. Finally, they released the 0x12B microcode update, which, according to Intel: “encompasses 0x125 and 0x129 microcode updates, and addresses elevated voltage requests by the processor during idle and/or light activity periods.”
Is the 0x12B microcode update the last?
Considering the severity of the issue, many were expecting another microcode update in Q4 of 2025, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. In the notes for the latest BIOS update for the Gigabyte Z790 AORUS Elite AX motherboard, it says, “Introduce microcode 0x12B as the final mitigation of 13/14th Gen desktop processor Vmin Shift Instability issue according to Intel official.”
This means that Intel is most likely not going to release any more microcode updates and that they might’ve found a fix for the Vmin shift instability issues. Whether this works or not, we’ll have to wait and see as this update goes live across the board, as some other Z790 motherboards don’t have this update yet.
That said, the previous update didn’t seem to do much, so if Intel is banking everything on this, they must have a lot of confidence in this BIOS update to deal with this issue once and for all. Whether this is a Hail Mary or a permanent fix, we’ll know for sure when the test results and reviews come forward, but Intel can’t afford to drop the ball with this one.
While AMD might’ve given Intel some breathing room with the less-than-glamorous Ryzen 9000 series launch, the Intel 15th-generation processors are right around the corner, and they need to regain the confidence of their consumer base before they launch.
This is important because the 13th- and 14th-generation processors were a hit with many users. So, if Intel moves forward to the next big thing without taking care of the previous issues, that just paints a picture of the company not caring about its consumer base, and that will only lead to more distrust and uproar, which no company wants.
