ASUS adds “Intel Baseline Profile” to Z790 motherboard

Previously, reports indicated that Intel had commenced investigations into the gaming stability issues affecting its 13th and 14th generation Core processors, with a particular focus on high-end models such as the Intel Core i9-13900K/14900K. The issues were most pronounced in games powered by the Unreal Engine, typically manifesting as warnings of “insufficient VRAM,” instability, or random crashes.

Recently, ASUS introduced a new BIOS version for its Z790 series motherboards, incorporating a feature named “Intel Baseline Profile,” which resets all settings to Intel’s recommended defaults. Essentially, this limits power consumption to enhance system stability during gameplay, understandably at the expense of some degree of processor performance.

According to user-shared experiences, the new configuration profile enforces all restrictions, including the use of Intel’s fault-safety options for SVID behavior, and enables both IA CEP and SA CEP. After enabling these options, the Core i9-14900K’s score in the Cinebench R23 multicore test dropped from 40,998 to 35,851, a reduction of approximately 12.6%.

Although Intel has yet to issue any public statement or definitive solution regarding this issue, ASUS’s update of specific features after a considerable time reflects the underlying problems to some extent.

Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, expressed gratitude towards ASUS for adding the new options, acknowledging the long-standing headaches faced by many developers using the Unreal Engine to create games, for which satisfactory resolutions had been elusive.

Furthermore, numerous users have reported experiencing game crashes, stuttering, and black screens when using the GeForce Game Ready 552.12 WHQL driver, which also fails to fully support the RTX HDR feature. In response to these issues, NVIDIA officially attributed some of the problems encountered with the 13th and 14th generation Core processors to Intel.