(Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)
Intel says it found the root cause of repeated crashes on 13th and 14th Generation Core desktop CPUs, but that isn’t stopping one visual effects animation studio from ditching Intel for rival AMD.
On Tuesday, Australian VFX studio ModelFarm provided more anecdotal evidence about the severity of the Intel crash bug. “For those curious, at work our failure rate for our 13900k and 14900k machines is about 50% so far,” tweeted Dylan Browne, an Unreal Engine supervisor.
In the same tweet, Browne also indicated he’s fed up with the crash bug, which has been a problem for the past year. To build new machines, ModelFarm plans to swap Intel for AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X processors, which are slated to launch on July 31.
That said, ModelFarm only operates about 10 to 20 systems built with Intel chips. Some of the Intel machines have been “completely fine,” but others have been “extremely unstable” despite efforts to fix them, Browne added.
Intel didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But the company says it traced the problem to a software bug that can trigger the CPUs to run at a higher voltage, resulting in the repeated crashes. To correct the problem, the chip maker is preparing a patch scheduled to arrive in mid-August. However, Browne wonders if the company’s fix will amount to a band-aid that'll be difficult for average consumers to install.
“I have never in my life needed to tune voltages to stop an issue with stock settings, that is not an ok thing for a consumer to have to do,” he tweeted.
ModelFarm joins at least two other game studios that have also publicly complained about the Intel 13th and 14th Generation desktop chips repeatedly crashing. One of the game studios, Australia-based Alderon Games, also plans on ditching Intel chips for AMD.