Monday, October 19, 2026

Intel 13th Gen CPUs can be tested for degradation

Intel 13th Gen CPU Instability and Degradation Test Checklist

Use this checklist to identify common instability symptoms reported on affected Raptor Lake desktop CPUs, especially K-series models. A failed test or repeated error can indicate a problem, but no single result confirms processor degradation on its own.

Before You Start

Testing can place the processor under sustained heavy load. Save important work, back up critical data, close unnecessary applications, and monitor temperatures throughout each stress test. Stop a test if temperatures exceed the safe operating range for your processor or if the system becomes unstable.

✅ Update to the latest motherboard BIOS containing Intel's microcode fixes. Intel has stated that microcode updates address the voltage-related instability issue affecting certain 13th and 14th Gen desktop processors. [community.intel.com],

Reset the BIOS to stock settings and disable XMP for the initial test sequence. If the system is stable at stock settings, repeat the relevant tests with XMP enabled to determine whether the memory profile contributes to the instability.

✅ Download:

· Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool [intel.com],

· HWiNFO64

· Cinebench R23 or Cinebench 2024

· Prime95

Before testing, record the CPU model, motherboard model, BIOS version, microcode version, memory configuration, cooling setup, Windows version, and whether XMP is enabled. Use the same configuration for every test so that the results can be compared consistently.

Step 1: Run Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool

Procedure

1. Launch Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool.

2. Allow all tests to complete (typically 3-5 minutes).

3. Save a screenshot of the results.

Pass Criteria

· All tests show PASS.

Fail Criteria

· Any FAIL result.

· Save screenshots for potential warranty claims. Intel's warranty extension covers eligible processors for up to five years. [community.intel.com],

Step 2: Check Idle Behavior

Open HWiNFO sensors and let Windows sit idle for 10 minutes.

Record

· CPU Package Temperature

· Vcore/VID

· Effective Clock

· WHEA error count

Healthy System

· Stable temperatures

· No WHEA errors

· No unexplained spikes to 100% CPU

Warning Signs

· WHEA errors occurring at idle

· Random system freezes

· Clock-speed fluctuations accompanied by errors

Step 3: Single-Core Voltage Test

The Raptor Lake issue is often most visible during lightly threaded loads because boost frequencies and voltage can be highest there.

Procedure

1. Open HWiNFO.

2. Run Cinebench Single Core.

3. Monitor:

o Maximum Core VID

o Vcore

o Temperature

Record

· Peak voltage

· Peak temperature

· Cinebench score

Warning Signs

· Frequent voltage excursions above ~1.5 V.

· Excessively high temperatures despite adequate cooling.

Step 4: Multi-Core Cinebench Test

Procedure

1. Run Cinebench Multi-Core.

2. Complete 3 consecutive runs.

Check For

· Crashes

· Application errors

· Score variation between runs

Healthy System

· Scores remain consistent (within a few percent).

Suspect System

· Scores continually decrease.

· Cinebench crashes or hangs.

Step 5: Prime95 Stability Test

Procedure

1. Launch Prime95.

2. Select Small FFTs.

3. Run for at least 1 hour.

Monitor

· CPU Package Temperature

· Clock speeds

· WHEA errors

Healthy System

· No worker failures.

· No BSODs.

· No system freezes.

Degradation Indicators

· Worker thread errors.

· BSODs.

· Reboots.

· Application crashes.

Step 6: WHEA Error Check

After testing:

1. Open Event Viewer.

2. Navigate to:

1 Windows Logs

2 └── System

Search for:

1 WHEA-Logger

Healthy

· Zero hardware errors.

Concern

· Repeated WHEA 18 or cache hierarchy errors.

Step 7: Real-World Gaming Test

Run a demanding game for 1-2 hours.

Examples:

· Unreal Engine 5 titles

· Shader compilation-heavy games

Watch for:

· Crash to desktop

· Graphics-driver recovery

· Stutters

· System reboots

Step 8: Compare Performance

Compare your results against typical scores for your CPU model.

For example:

CPU	Approx. Cinebench R23 Multi
i5-13600K	~24,000
i7-13700K	~30,000
i9-13900K	~38,000-40,000

A significantly lower score (10%+ below expected) while temperatures are normal could indicate a problem.

Final Assessment

Likely Healthy

✅ IPDT Pass
✅ No WHEA errors
✅ Prime95 stable for 1+ hour
✅ Cinebench scores normal
✅ No crashes in games

Potentially Degraded

⚠️ IPDT failures
⚠️ Frequent WHEA errors
⚠️ Prime95 worker failures
⚠️ Random application crashes at stock settings
⚠️ Instability persists after BIOS update
⚠️ Requires increased voltage or reduced clocks to remain stable

Thursday, October 15, 2026

10 checks to make your website visible to ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude

More and more people skip Google and ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude or Gemini "what's the best tool for X?". AI gives 3 to 5 names. If it can't read your site, it fills those spots with your competitors.

I spent the last months digging into why AI names some products and not others. Most of the reasons are boring, fixable things on your own website. Here's the checklist, with a quick way to test each one.

Part 1: Can AI read you?

1. Let AI crawlers in. Open yoursite.com/robots.txt. Make sure you don't block GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, PerplexityBot or ClaudeBot. Then check your CDN: Cloudflare has a setting that blocks AI bots, and some plans turn it on by default.

2. Serve real HTML. Test: open your homepage with JavaScript turned off (or curl yoursite.com). If the page is empty or says "loading", most AI crawlers see the same thing. They usually don't run JavaScript. Use server-side rendering or static pages for anything important.

3. Be in Bing, not just Google. Some AI search tools lean on Bing's index. Add your site to Bing Webmaster Tools and submit your sitemap. Takes 5 minutes.

Part 2: Does AI understand you?

4. Say what you are in one line. "X is a [category] for [who]." On your homepage, in plain text, near the top. Clever taglines like "Work, reimagined" tell AI nothing.

5. Show pricing as text. Not an image, not "contact sales" only. "Cheap" and "free tier" questions are common, and AI can't answer them about you if it can't read your price.

6. Add structured data. Organization, SoftwareApplication (or Product) and FAQ schema. Test with Google's Rich Results Test.

7. Answer the questions your customers ask AI. Write the pages people search for: "X vs Y", "best tools for [job]", "alternatives to [big competitor]". Be honest in them; AI quotes pages that read like real comparisons, not ads.

Part 3: Does AI trust you?

8. Keep your facts the same everywhere. Your site, G2, Capterra, LinkedIn, Crunchbase, Product Hunt. Same name, same category, same price. If they disagree, AI gets unsure and picks someone else.

9. Get on the lists AI cites. Ask Perplexity a question in your category and look at the sources. They're mostly "Top 10 tools for…" articles. Those are your targets: email the authors and ask to be added. Short, polite, with one real reason you fit.

10. Ask AI about yourself every week. Write down 10 to 20 questions your customers would ask. Ask them in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini every week. Track who gets named. It changes more often than you'd think.

Quick 1-minute test: ask ChatGPT "What does yoursite.com do?". If the answer is vague or wrong, start with points 1, 2 and 4.

Which of these have you already done? Curious what's worked for others, especially on getting into those "best tools" lists.