An early version of Intel's 0x114 microcode update has surfaced for the ASRock Z890 Taichi OCF motherboard. While it's unclear what changes this update brings, it's likely related to improving the performance of Arrow Lake CPUs.
The microcode was shared on the Overclock.net forums by user Nickshih, and another user reported applying it to an ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Apex motherboard. However, initial reports haven't shown significant performance gains in benchmarks yet. One user even reported lower Cinebench R23 scores due to reduced clock speeds on a Core Ultra 9 285K processor.
Interestingly, one user maintained over 10,000 MT/s memory speed with two DDR5 RAM modules on the ASRock Z890 Taichi OCF after applying the patch. This aligns with recent reports of the motherboard achieving record-breaking memory speeds.
It's suspected that the full benefits of the microcode update might not be realized until an official BIOS update is released. The performance uplifts could also be minimal, as initial testing with the 0x114 microcode alone hasn't shown noticeable changes.
It remains to be seen how much the 0x114 update, and the subsequent official BIOS release, will improve the performance of Intel's Core Ultra processors. Hopefully, it will bring them closer to the performance levels Intel originally promised.
