Did they really think that they could get away with it?
On Jan. 12, 2023, Intel announced full details and availability for the new 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900KS. A photo shows the 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900KS Special Edition retail packaging. (Credit: Intel Corporation)
Apparently so. We’re talking about Intel and the fiasco over their latest chips. To cut a long story short, Intel launched its latest chips (13th & 14th Generation CPUs) to the usual fanfare & premium prices. Only for some users to find that these chips were, in some cases, slowly failing. What was happening is that the chip was not regulating its own electrical power properly, and bit by bit it was cooking itself. Intel quickly released a software patch that prevents this happening. But, crucially, if you have already experienced the problem then tough luck – the damage is permanent. And Intel announced that this was just on certain batches, your bad luck, so sorry, never mind. Which isn’t nice, as the i9 illustrated above is the wrong side of £600 – assuming you can get one.
Now, however, that have (in small part) backed down. You can read about it here.
Maybe the fact that Intel is laying off 15,000 staff might be connected in some way. Maybe not. But here is another product that clearly has not been rigorously tested before being flogged to the paying public.
And before you get too smug looking at your AMD chip, have a read here…