While the upgrade will be available in mid-August, Tom’s Hardware claims the damage might already be done.

It says the issue stems from the CPU requesting elevated voltages, causing the processor to operate beyond safe limits and leading to irreversible degradation.

The forthcoming patch will prevent future occurrences of this high voltage, but the damage may already be done to affected processors. Alarmingly, this degradation might be symptomless, leaving owners unaware of any impact.

 Chipzilla has been asked how it plans to support affected customers but has said no recall is planned, and sales will continue.

When questioned whether the fix would aid chips that are affected but not showing symptoms, or if such CPUs are "living on borrowed time," the spokesperson expressed confidence in the patch as an "effective preventative solution" but avoided addressing the issue of invisible degradation.

The spokesperson added, "The patch may provide some instability improvements to currently impacted processors; however, customers experiencing instability on their 13th or 14th Generation desktop processor-based systems should contact Intel customer support for further assistance."

The spokesperson confirmed that any 13th or 14th Gen desktop CPU consuming 65W or more "could be affected," though not all processors listed are necessarily impacted by the elevated voltage issue. This includes potentially vulnerable models like the Core i5-14600.

Given the elusive nature of the problem, it is unclear if 13th—and 14th-generation part warranties will be extended and how lenient Intel will be with RMA requests.