$5,000 Corsair pre-built keeps on frying Intel CPUs due to lack of BIOS update, tech alleges — kills three Intel Core i9 chips because latest version still doesn’t have fix for Intel crashing issues

A YouTuber and computer technician went on their channel to complain about Corsair’s pre-built, as his customer went back to his shop three times in the past year just to RMA the Intel Core i9-14900K on their $5,000 gaming PC. According to Matthew Wieland of Matt’s Computer Services, he is certain the processor on the gaming PC is suffering from instability after he ran several tests on both the motherboard and CPU. This should have been an easy fix, especially since Intel has released the 0x12F update that fixed the Vmin instability issue once and for all. Turns out, Corsair hasn't updated its custom BIOS to include the fix.

The Intel instability issue first exploded in early 2024, with the company blaming the custom BIOS installed by motherboard manufacturers that disables thermal and power protections. Eventually, the chip maker acknowledged that there was an issue with the processor, but it took Team Blue around five months from when the first reports surfaced for it to find the root cause and release a patch that fixed the problem. However, it wasn’t until May of this year that Intel released a final fix for the issue, which is deployed via a firmware update.

Unfortunately, six months after Intel dropped 0x12F, Corsair has yet to release a BIOS update with this fix for the motherboard in question. The gaming PC sports an Asus Prime Z790-P WIFI motherboard, and the latest BIOS on the Corsair website only has the 0x12B update. When Matthew downloaded the latest BIOS version from the Asus website and tried installing it on his customer’s gaming PC, it refused to recognize the file. He said that this is likely because most pre-built systems have a locked-in BIOS to prevent customers from tinkering under the hood. So, he needs a BIOS with the 0x12F fix directly from Corsair, but it’s not yet available.

Corsair’s customer service was pretty helpful, but their hands were tied because Corsair’s engineers have yet to release a new BIOS. Thankfully, Intel extended the warranty for all chips affected by the instability, allowing the tech to RMA the damaged CPU. However, going back three times in a year to get the issue fixed is mighty inconvenient, and unless Corsair comes up with a BIOS update by the time he gets the replacement processor, he has no choice but to recommend a motherboard replacement to avoid destroying the new CPU as well.

Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.