The CPU has effectively been ruled out from no other issues in other programs, and from testing I have been doping with Intel.

And if the CPU had some damage, the update would prevent any more from the same source from happening. As I have said, if even 1 other program was experiencing issues or crashes, or even causing event viewer entries to occur I would engage Intel for a CPU swap. But the issue is only with FF14, and even people with AMD setups are having this issue (or the resulting error boxes and symptoms) so it appears more likely to be with the game than the hardware.