Intel's crashing issues have led to a flood of returns, and not every RMA story has a happy ending. Initial reports indicated that some users were denied RMAs, while Intel was unable to supply a replacement for others. However, a few of the latest RMA stories have ended on a happier note, with users claiming to have received either newer chips than they bought or a check for the full launch-day pricing for older chip models.
PK1 on X claims to have discovered a loophole in Intel's RMA system — Intel didn't ask for proof of instability for the Raptor Lake RMA request. Thus, the Core i9-13900K owner requested an RMA on his perfectly functional Core i9 Raptor Lake CPU and received a full $599 refund for the chip, the full value of what the chip cost when it launched in 2022.
Another Intel customer, SomeOrdinary_Indian, posted the details of their Core i9-13900K RMA story to Reddit. The RMA was legitimate this time, as the CPU suffered instability issues. But in this instance, he won the "RMA lottery," receiving a more up-to-date Core i9-14900K from Intel instead of the previous-generation Core i9-13900K.
The new 14900K owner showed the Intel customer support email he was sent. Near the end of the email, it reveals that Intel will go the extra mile to replace faulty chips by swapping 13th-gen chips for 14th-gen products when the 13th-gen supply is scarce.
These are two significantly different outcomes from the last time we examined Intel's RMA customer experience. Last month, we reported on an Intel customer who lost the "RMA lottery," during which Intel threatened not to replace his two 14th-gen chips due to the potential for both CPUs to be fraudulent. Thankfully, though, Intel looked at this customer's RMA again later and finally replaced the two chips.
Regardless, it appears Intel is now far more forgiving regarding Raptor Lake RMAs. At least some RMAs are also being accepted without proof of CPU instability, which is surprising.
