New ‘instability patch’ shaves 9000 points off Cinebench multi-core score in 14900K tests
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A new Beta BIOS has been released for ASUS motherboards that introduces microcode update 0x129 to fix the dreaded Intel 13th and 14th-generation self-immolation problem. The issue is that it seems to shave a lot of performance off of your CPU, in multi-core workloads. Voltages remain somewhat the same but do see a slight decrease overall. And core speeds seem to be less.
We tested both of these configurations with just XMP enabled to allow our RAM to hit 6800 MT/s. We wanted to emulate the “standard user” so rather than completely optimizing core speeds and tinkering around in the BIOS, we opted to leave it stock. The BIOS we tested first was version 1002 which introduced the 0x123 microcode, one thing we should mention is that we largely haven’t used our 14900K since the initial review on launch, so it’s unlikely that it is already damaged, but we never know.
If you want to get the ASUS BETA BIOS for yourself, VideoCardz has compiled a list of all of them for every affected ASUS motherboard.
Testing and results of latest microcode update
We used a Core i9-14900K on a Maximus Z790 Dark Hero for our testing rig, along with a set of Corsair Dominator Platinum that runs at 6800 MT/s.
Microcode 0x123 (BIOS version 1002) Synthetic results
These are the results that we found for the synthetic testing we did. We found that the voltage did creep over 1.4V but that’s generally fine for very quick spikes, it seems that our CPU may not be as affected by the issues as others.
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| Test | Voltage per core max (V) | Voltage per core average (V) | Max core speed (MHz) | Average core speed (MHz) | CPU temp AVG | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Idle | 1.405 | 1.245 | 1,065 | 666 | 38 | |
| Cinebench Multi | 1.414 | 1.232 | 5,512 | 5,114 | 86 | 39,783 Points |
| Cinebench Single | 1.431 | 1.39 | 5,528 | 5,490 | 56 | 2,226 Points |
| Blender monster | 1.393 | 1.277 | 5,150 | 5,477 | 97 | 238.583 SPS |
| 7 Zip Decomp | 1.38 | 1.332 | 5,627 | 5,107 | 95 | 53.422 sec |
| AVG | 1.4046V | 1.2952V | 4576.4MHz | 4370.8MHz | 74.4C |
Microcode 0x123 (BIOS version 1002) Gaming results
| Game | Voltage per core max (V) | Voltage per core average (V) | Max core speed (MHz) | Average core speed (MHz) | CPU temp AVG | FPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Days gone | 1.41 | 1.374 | 4,075 | 2,803 | 66 | 283 FPS |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 1.446 | 1.381 | 3,971 | 3,229 | 77 | 210 FPS |
| CS2 | 1.402 | 1.401 | 3,768 | 3,127 | 57 | 360 FPS |
| AVG | 1.4193V | 1.3853V | 3938MHz | 3053MHz | 66.7C |
Performance is pretty solid across all areas and what you’d expect the 14900K to achieve. We tried to keep the gaming benchmark results as repeatable as possible but as always there are many variables with gaming, especially CS2.
What we found when we switched over to the new microcode was surprising, we saw the performance of multi-core workloads take a big dip.
Microcode 0x129 (BIOS version 1503) Synthetic results
| Test | Voltage per core max (V) | Voltage per core average (V) | Max core speed (MHz) | Average core speed (MHz) | CPU temp AVG | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Idle | 1.304 | 1.232 | 1,322 | 643 | 36 | |
| Cinebench Multi | 1.419 | 1.303 | 3,657 | 3,199 | 79 | 30,660 Points |
| Cinebench Single | 1.376 | 1.367 | 5,804 | 2,286 | 58 | 2,276 Points |
| Blender monster | 1.415 | 1.3 | 3,481 | 3,206 | 79 | 186.150 SPS |
| 7 Zip Decomp | 1.412 | 1.308 | 4,577 | 3,878 | 82 | 57.766 sec |
| AVG | 1.3852V | 1.302V | 3768.2MHz | 2642.4MHz | 66.8C |
As you can see, and yes, we ran these tests a few times over several restarts just to make doubly sure that we had everything right. The multi-core performance after the update to microcode 0x129 takes a massive hit. We go from 39K points in Cinebench multi, to 30K points, which is close to a 25% performance loss.
From what we can see, the voltages and the clock speeds have been limited fairly substantially, and it seems the thermal velocity boost is just not engaging at all. On the singe-core side of things, we saw boosts higher than the pre-update 0x123 microcode. We have to make everyone aware that this is just a Beta BIOS for now, and that a full version is on the way. Presumably, Thermal Velocity Boost is broken in this version. But the good news is that gaming didn’t suffer at all.
Microcode 0x129 (BIOS version 1503) Gaming results
| Game | Voltage per core max (V) | Voltage per core average (V) | Max core speed (MHz) | Average core speed (MHz) | CPU temp AVG | FPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Days gone | 1.429 | 1.387 | 4,376 | 2,698 | 68 | 282 FPS |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 1.405 | 1.363 | 3,939 | 3,152 | 71 | 209 FPS |
| CS2 | 1.442 | 1.406 | 3,976 | 3,274 | 58 | 361 FPS |
| AVG | 1.4253V | 1.3853V | 4097MHz | 3041.3MHz | 65.67C |
As you can see, the gaming performance is virally unchanged, one big advantage to having reduced voltages and clock speeds is that the CPU runs much cooler on average. We’ve always had throttling issues with the 14900K when pushing it really hard, even with 420MM AIO coolers. But when we updated to the new microcode version brought by the BETA ASUS bios, we saw little to no throttling issues. The ring bus did throttle during more intensive workloads, however.
So what’s happening here?
I think that the thermal velocity boost isn’t working properly, as we didn’t see the 14900K hit advertised speeds once, firstly that was due to the 14900K being too hot, as we mentioned before, we always have trouble cooling it. TVB may have been working correctly the first time around, we just never met the parameters.
I think that TVB has been disabled, or is broken in this version of the BIOS, and maybe the temporary fix that ASUS deemed necessary to halt damage to the 13th and 14th generation CPUs. There seems to be a massive hindrance placed on the CPU, and the clock speeds reflect that. Like I said, this BIOS is only a BETA so the real thing may be a little more, usable.
JayzTwoCents made a video that showed virtually unchanged performance bar one or two results, but it did seem to fix the issues and boost to 1.6V. The difference is that J2C is operating on a full release of the BIOS update which is already available on MSI motherboards. We didn’t have that problem from the get-go, thankfully, but we still saw an overall reduction in voltage, performance, and clock speeds across multi-core scenarios.
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