Thoughts on Intel power limits.

[vick1000]

How many of you are forcing Intel's power limits in your BIOS? I find the 253w default limit too much. My B760 seems to handle it on the 13600K, and the Deep Cool AK620 keeps things between 85-90c, but don't like that range. So I enforce it to keep temps more reasonable in the 70s at 1.235 vcore (no undervolt on this mobo). I know Intel wants you to push the thermal limits to get more performance, but at such diminishing returns, I dislike the notion of that much wasted power.

 

[kirbyrj]

The tradeoff is that you'll probably experience slightly less performance. Usually, you have to waste power to get that last little bit of performance. But what you're suggesting is perfectly reasonable.

Occasionally, I'll limit my 13700k to 150W and under a load it definitely is cooler with an EK AIO 360.

 

[Down8]

I just noticed my BIOS is set to like 240-something, by default. I think a 12600K is 150W max, and I've seen 175W in Cinebench. Might try to drop it down this weekend and see if it gets unstable or just a bit cooler.

-bZj

 

[vick1000]

I have since done a bit more research, Intel apparently wants users to run the chips in the 90-99C envelope to attain max performance. Seems a bit silly to me to only gain a few percentage points. My B760 now allows offset, so I unlocked power limits, and use a -0.030v offset, with minimal load line, and 1.2 vcore. Seeing temps in the mid 90s under CBr23 multi 10 min run, with no performance loss (~2K ST, 24K MT), drawing 170-180w, vcore stays around 1.29v.

 

[kirbyrj]

I have since done a bit more research, Intel apparently wants users to run the chips in the 90-99C envelope to attain max performance. Seems a bit silly to me to only gain a few percentage points. My B760 now allows offset, so I unlocked power limits, and use a -0.030v offset, with minimal load line, and 1.2 vcore. Seeing temps in the mid 90s under CBr23 multi 10 min run, with no performance loss (~2K ST, 24K MT), drawing 170-180w, vcore stays around 1.29v.

Those percentage points sell systems.

 

[Marees]

potential instability issues during shader decompression in Unreal Engine when using a Raptor Lake/Raptor Lake Refresh chip. These stability issues can be so horrendous that Unreal Engine spits out an "out of video memory" error even though the problem is CPU-related.

Two months ago, we first reported on this issue when initial reports of 13th Gen instability rapidly increased. We discovered that Intel's motherboard partners were the culprit. Virtually all of Intel's board partners automatically set CPU power limits to 4096W (or infinity) out of the box. This behavior has been constant for several generations, but it is only now causing widespread problems with Intel's fast but hot and power-hungry Raptor Lake CPU architecture.

The problem with the 4096W power limit configuration is that it is not Intel's defined default specification for any of its CPUs. The actual Intel limit for most of its CPUs is well below 200W, usually at or around the CPU's specified TDP rating. Intel does not test its CPUs utilizing an "uncapped" power limit, and thus, any uncapped power limits should be treated like overclocking.

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-com...tm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter.com

 

[Carlyle2020]

"out of video memory" error - that issue i had to fix 6 times now.

And 6 out of 6 times the card or the pcie extension cable haven´t probperly been seated in the pcie slot.

So forgive me if i have troubles believing that a Korean youngling with lots of bling bling in his case and a too tightly packed pcie cable extension or missalligned motherboard anti-sag-brackt says it is the Cpu.

 

[xDiVolatilX]

I enforce the Intel recommended limit of 253 with the automatic setting in the BIOS because it limits the different power delivery settings also not just the peak 253w but other things like amperage and voltages etc which results in an overall cooler processor.
Besides most games even modern won't surpass 253w unless you're running like 500fps or more or an extremely demanding game perhaps if even that which I doubt.
On my Aorus board I set the BIOS limit and it still hits 5.6 or 5.7 stock all core.
On my MSI board I choose box cooler and it still hits it's stock boost of 5.3 full time.
I'll check more closely to see if any of my games hit the 253 limit. Anyone know of any games that hit the 253 limit and at that frame rate/resolution?

 

[TheHig]

So far it seems like some combination of the MOBO manufacturers having too many aggressive settings enabled in the bios by default as well as Intel just absolutely redlining the silicon out of the box to keep up. Or some manufacturing defect or batch issue?... Who knows.

Anyway,

I've been daily driving a nice z790 system with a 12600k for a while now and have yet to see an issue. Yes so far 12th gen and all the i5s seem like they aren't affected by this shader compile/ UE5 crashing issue but it has given me pause considering an upgrade on this board. My original idea was to chuck a 14700k or 14900k on this later this year and top it off but now I may or may not do that. I do set the bios to 'enforce Intel limits' and on a 12600k it runs super cool on air and performance is as expected. Truthfully I really haven't been playing anything that needs more than I have which also helps! I can say that if they fire sale the 13th and 14th gen i7s or i9s I'll probably get one for cheap and set the limits. If not maybe see what the next socket looks like from AMD and Intel.

 

[Auraka]

Modern processors are designed to run as fast as they can for whatever given load thrown at them. AMD will floor it until 95°C, but those are generally not real world loads. Compiling or photo/video editing and multi-threaded apps will get up there but won't stay at the wall. Regardless with good cooling the systems will run as fast as they can and essentially auto-overclock like we could never do. Attached is a pic of Prime95 to Doom 2016 for an example of extreme to real world load scenarios.