PC users who have a 12th, 13th, and 14th Generation Intel i7 or i9 Core CPU — including the i9-13900K or i9-14900K and any of the KS or KF varieties might have experienced Firefox crashes, Google Chrome crashes, or video game crashes.

The problem has been identified to be the motherboard manufacturers such as ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, and others. In May 2024, Intel demanded all of these motherboard makers to set an Intel Base Settings into their BIOS, following Intel’s recommended CPU power limits (i.e. the maximum watts and amps supported for a stable CPU).

The problem with these CPUs crashing is that motherboard makers exceed the Intel recommended maximum watts and amps to rank higher in benchmarks. However, over a period of time exceeding the maximum power recommendation might lead to damage to the CPU and/or components. as well as app crashes or bluescreens.

Personally, this affected me for the past 10 months. I have an i9-13900KF CPU and an ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Hero (motherboard). Firefox and Chrome were constantly crashing every few minutes, or tabs crashing and needing to be reloaded. As a guide writer, this was infuriating as I would lose work. I learned to write my articles in Notepad, and then copy/paste into the website.

But video gaming crashes are extremely bad when this might lead to temporary or final suspensions from GMs. I usually play Overwatch 2, Diablo 4, and World of Warcraft the most. The crashes would quit the client to the desktop.

Other consequences of motherboards exceeding Intel’s recommended power settings may be one of the reasons you have been affected the most — outside video games and internet browsers:

  • Windows Update would often download the latest drivers but refuse to install the update, or partially download and get stuck at 83% and then fail. I tried every single guru recommendation on how to fix Windows Update not wanting to install updates. It wouldn’t help much or at all.
  • Windows 11 had been going into bluescreens quite often every week and I couldn’t find a reason for this happening. I would update my SSD, graphics drivers, BIOS, and whatnot. The bluescreens kept creeping up on me.
  • Even the most common task on a monthly basis: updating the NVIDIA graphics drivers to the latest update would most of the time result in refusal to update now and then. I had used several methods. From DDU uninstaller which removes graphics drivers, to unzipping the Nvidia installer into a folder, then using the device manager to update graphics drivers from a source within my PC (the folder). Sometimes it worked, but most of the time it would fail, too.

If any of this sounds familiar to you, then it is not you. It is not the CPU. It is your Motherboard maker exceeding Intel’s recommended power settings.

After Intel demanded ASUS and others to create an Intel Base Settings in the BIOS, they did create the BIOS profile but still did not respect the recommended maximum watts and amps.

I updated my ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Hero’s BIOS to the latest update which introduced the Intel Base Settings — but the Watts and Amps were still above the recommended for my specific CPU. Bad ASUS. What’s the point of naming it Intel Base if you aren’t following Intel’s recommended power settings? I had to manually set the correct Watts and Amps. Still … all of the apps I mentioned before continued to crash, and I couldn’t update Windows 11 or the graphics driver. This means there is something else afoot here.

Tired of this crap, I went into the BIOS and methodically started to troubleshoot by disabling one or two things. Saving the BIOS, then rebooting. If that didn’t work, I would repeat the process and disable something else. This went on for two days straight, testing every possible choice.

In every instance, the crashes remained unchanged, or happened less often, or the PC wouldn’t boot at all if I disabled something important.

Tired of the two-day troubleshooting and running out of options, I disabled a feature that I had not even considered disabling before because it didn’t make sense to disable something that is core to a high-speed CPU.

The i9-13900 / i9-14900 (K/KS/KF) Temporary Fix or Workaround.

I disabled the Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 and Turbo Mode.

RESULTS

To test this workaround, I left my PC on for an entire week. These are all the benefits that immediately happened:

  1. Windows 11’s Windows Update began to work normally. All updates were downloaded and installed. No hiccups.
  2. NVIDIA’s latest graphic updates no longer gave me errors. I have installed two updates so far without issues.
  3. Firefox has not crashed once. Tabs haven’t crashed either.
  4. Google Chrome has not crashed once. Tabs haven’t crashed either.
  5. None of my video games have crashed to my desktop or frozen to date.

SETBACKS

Obviously, there are a couple of setbacks with disabling the Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 and Turbo Mode.

  1. Some of the video games show a sliver of lag for a second or two, but it is small and doesn’t happen often.
  2. I don’t get the 5.8GHz I paid for.

CONCLUSION

Overall, I am alright with these two setbacks as a temporary workaround until ASUS irons out its own mess and fixes whatever needs to be fixed in the Intel Base Settings. What matters is that life is back to “normal” in my daily PC routine without the hassle and stress of crashes, bluescreens, and errors with Windows Update and Nvidia graphics updates.