XPS 8960, Intel 13th Gen Core i7-13700K CPU

@RoHe​ Thank you for your summary of this situation and advice. 

I notice Dell's Pinned Post on this issue includes this statement: "If, after updating the BIOS, your computer experiences blue screens or application crashes, please contact support by clicking the ‘Get Help Now’ button located at the bottom right corner of the page."  Huh?  I know BIOS updates can occasionally cause problems, but coming across this statement in a Dell post urging customers to update their BIOS does not exactly inspire confidence in their recommendation to proceed with the update.  

I call that statement just a 'in case this doesn't fix it' sort of statement.

Dell BIOS versions on some models have caused other problems. You might even had a CPU problem that isn't connected to the BIOS update. Calling Dell Support is wise to do, when under the Support time period. Out of Support, well, depending on the problem, it might cost you.

No one knows for sure IF you even need the fix it seems from Intel's statement. Specifically this part, "analysis to-date has determined that only a small number of instability reports can be connected to the manufacturing issue." Well, if that is actually true and you so far have not had the problem, you'd probably fall under that category. In other words, Intel CPU is not the cause. Solution, if in Warranty period, call Dell. Note that Dell Support under Warranty doesn't cover Software/OS problems.

Don't take a chance though, apply the BIOS update.

From there, see what happens.

Dell uses a lot of 'boiler plate' statements in all d/l's as well. Such as there might be other fixes than those listed. Well, from experience, especially with discrete card owner's, many Dell BIOS updates have caused havoc for Nvidia and AMD card owners. However, that is another story.

All that media news regarding Raptor Lake does make me feel a bit of relief because I only had a choice of Alder Lake when purchasing a while back and I really felt I was missing out when the 8960/AW R16 were released.

BUT I think we also have to understand the % here is very small and my opinion is that a Dell tends to run conservative voltages so that should make a Dell even less likely to have issues.

The numbers suggest AMD CPU failure rate is even worse most of the time so go figure why the news is not really putting things into perspective (most of the time).

I'd do the BIOS update which probably fixes a ton of recent issues and might prevent any further potential chance of damage.

@fluxrev​ -That statement may be relevant to CPUs that have already been damaged by over-voltage, and may not work correctly after installing the latest BIOS update. 

In that case the CPU probably has to be replaced, so you'd have to contact Dell Tech Support for assistance.

To be safe, download the latest BIOS update .exe file onto a USB stick (not more than 8 GB; formatted FAT32).  Plug that into PC with power completely off, not a Restart from inside Windows. 

Power on and when you see the Dell splash screen, tap F12 to open the menu. Select the option to run a BIOS Flash Update. After you start the update, the PC will reboot itself several times and may look like it's completely off and not doing anything.  Just leave it entirely alone until it's safely back at your desktop.

And then, if you start getting BSOD etc, contact Support...

Thanks for the good advice and insights, guys!

You're welcome. 

Let us know how the BIOS update goes, and hopefully with no  BSOD afterwards...

@RoHe​ The BIOS update has now been done.  Successfully booted back to the Win Desktop.  No problems (so far).   Thanks again.

Glad the update went smoothly.  And hopefully no BSODs or other problems down the road...