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Intel's New 'R0 Stepping' 9th Gen Processors Will Crash Windows 10 Without New BIOS Update

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There's been plenty of news about new Intel 'R0 stepping 9th generation processors hitting shelves soon, but anyone purchasing one of these new processors will need to take important steps to avoid their PC becoming unstable and Windows 10 going haywire.

A new stepping is essentially a revised version of a CPU, which may include performance tweaks such as slightly higher frequencies, better silicon and even offer better overclocking potential. It's nothing new for a CPU manufacturer to do this - we saw the likes of the Core 2 Q6600 gain a new 'G0' stepping back in 2007 and it too proved to be a far better overclocker than previous steppings of the same CPU and was highly sought-after as a result.

No one knows yet just what impact the new R0 stepping of Intel's 9th Gen CPUs such as the Core i9-9900K, will offer, but one thing is sure - you will need to update your motherboard's BIOS to use them as not doing so will cause Windows 10 to crash.

However, having spoken to motherboard manufacturers MSI and Gigabyte about the issue, it isn't as bad as I'd feared. Unlike a generational update, where you may not even be able to get into a motherboard's EFI when using a new CPU and old motherboard BIOS, this time it looks like you'll be able to at least boot your PC and enter the EFI to update the BIOS with one of the new R0 CPU stepping-compatible versions.

Antony Leather

This means that should you buy a motherboard - new or second hand - which is still equipped with an older BIOS version, you will be able to update the BIOS to a stable version using one of the new CPUs, and not have to borrow a CPU off someone else.

The list of CPU with the new stepping is below, but you'll need to check with your retailer as to which version you're buying - this may or may not be listed on the product page.

CPU Model Frequency L3 Core Name Process Stepping Wattage
Cache
Core i9-9900KF 3.60GHz 16MB Coffee Lake 14nm R0 95W
Core i9-9900K 3.60GHz 16MB Coffee Lake 14nm R0 95W
Core i9-9900 3.10GHz 16MB Coffee Lake 14nm R0 65W
Core i9-9900T 2.10GHz 16MB Coffee Lake 14nm R0 35W
Core i7-9700K 3.60GHz 12MB Coffee Lake 14nm R0 95W
Core i7-9700F 3.00GHz 12MB Coffee Lake 14nm R0 95W
Core i7-9700 3.00GHz 12MB Coffee Lake 14nm R0 95W
Core i7-9700T 2.00GHz 12MB Coffee Lake 14nm R0 95W
Core i5-9600KF 3.70GHz 9MB Coffee Lake 14nm R0 95W
Core i5-9600K 3.70GHz 9MB Coffee Lake 14nm R0 95W
Core i5-9400F 2.90GHz 9MB Coffee Lake 14nm R0 65W
Core i5-9400 2.90GHz 9MB Coffee Lake 14nm R0 65W
Core i5-9400T 1.80GHz 9MB Coffee Lake 14nm R0 35W

MSI has told me that the new BIOS versions will be available on 2nd April. At the moment, though, as I've already mentioned, no one knows what the benefits of the new R0 stepping will be, but once this is known I'll be back with an update to the story so make sure to follow me here on Forbes or using any of the links below.

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