During the last few years, different events have kept testing the very solidity of the semiconductor industry. Intel has always maintained its leading role, both in some aspects of the manufacture of semiconductors and in the production of processors. That does not mean the company has stopped making powerful processors. However, problems keep appearing, and users along with industry experts continue to raise concerns. In this article, we take a look at some of the major issues with Intel processors that currently exist or may exist for users.
Thermal and Power Management Struggles
Among the most consistent Intel processor complaints as of late has been struggling with their generation of heat and power consumption.
Overheating Concerns
High-performance processors by Intel have been receiving criticism, especially the high-end enthusiast and workstation ones, because they run incredibly hot under load. These may lead to:
- Thermally throttling-off performance to prevent damage
- Increased strain on cooling systems, potentially leading to louder operation
- Reduced longevity for both the processor and surrounding components
Power Hunger
The high power draw of many Intel processors—especially when compared to competitors like AMD or ARM-based chips—means a number of knock-on effects:
- Increased electricity costs for users
- Reduced battery life of laptops and mobile devices
- This will require more robust power supplies and cooling solutions, increasing the overall system cost.
Security Vulnerabilities
In the last couple of years, Intel processors have found themselves at the center of a few high-profile security vulnerabilities that shook users and IT professionals alike.
Spectre and Meltdown
These vulnerabilities in processors made by Intel were uncovered in 2018 and affected nearly all of the company’s processors manufactured in the past decade. Patches were made available, but they have performance penalties, usually.
Ongoing Discoveries
Meanwhile, new issues, more recent in date, continue to pop up like ZombieLoad and RIDL. The consequence has been a drip-feed of security flaws discovered in their architecture, eroding trust in Intel and raising questions over the basic security of their processor designs.
Manufacturing Process Delays
Over the last few years, the task of advancing its manufacturing process has been highly challenging for Intel. It has caused them delays and competitive disadvantages.
10nm Struggles
Certainly, the delays associated with trying to transition over to its 10nm process during several years prevented Intel from catching up and, at the same time, being outcompeted by a few of its rivals in some processor technology fields.
Impact on Product Roadmap
Manufacturing missteps have disrupted Intel’s product release cadence, with stretched life cycles of older architectures and delays in introducing and ramping new technologies.
Performance Stagnation
While Intel processors continue to show great performance, some critics have claimed that in recent years, improvement rates have slackened.
Incremental Improvements
Recent generations of Intel processors have indeed received criticism for modest performance increases compared to predecessors; on top of that, their rate of improvement seems noticeably slower when compared to the pace set by the competition.
IPC (Instructions Per Clock) Concerns
That’s because the struggles of Intel to meaningfully move the IPC bar have given competitors an opening to first close the gap and at times outperform Intel in some workloads.
Platform Longevity and Upgrade Paths
Intel would be criticized for its strategy regarding platform longevity and upgrade paths for consumers.
Frequent Socket Changes
One thing that has long annoyed users with Intel CPUs is their propensity to change socket designs more than their competitors, which often means motherboard upgrades in addition to CPU upgrades.
Limited Backwards Compatibility
Sometimes some Intel platforms are only partially backward-compatible with previous processors, limiting the upgrade options the end user may have.