Throttling Mayhem

Eva_Unit_0

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 1, 2005
Messages
1,991
Okay, so I've been messing around with my 560J a bit more and unfortunately I've discovered some interesting throttling characteristics of this particular chip. It starts throttling FAR before it should. According to Intel's sSpec for this chip (SL7Q2 ) it has a thermal guideline of 72.8C. However, in actual practice it actually begins to throttle itself at about the 60C mark. See what I mean:

pic

As soon as the cpu breaks the 60C mark it goes completely throttle-tastic, and as we all know 60C is hardly anything for a prescott. 60C is a pretty normal operating temp for one of these, but mine goes nuts. Also note that I'm not even really oc-ing this thing...it's only oc'd by 200mhz, still at stock voltage, in this pic. The scenario doesn't change at stock speeds either. This is all on the stock cooler. Yep, that's right: stock speeds on the stock cooler and it goes throttle-tastic under a tough load. If I load up both virtual cores (two prime95's, for example) it just gets worse...peaking up towards 50% throttling.

Furthermore, I have an issue with Thermal Monitor 2 as well. This cpu supports TM2, as does the mobo (Abit IL8, 945P + ICH7) but if I enable the TM2 option in the bios the bios magically resets itself to default values upon the next reboot. Not just the TM2 option...EVERYTHING. It's like someone throws the clear CMOS jumper whenever I try to enable TM2 support.

Anyone got any ideas for how to tackle this problem?
 
Are you using the latest BIOS revision for your board? If so, see if there are any similar issues with your ABit board. Also check to see if other people are noticing throttling at the same temp range with the same CPU as you. I know my Prescott doesn't throttle at 60C but it's a 3.0E 478 so it's a diff chip all together.
 
Well, the first thing I would do is upgrade the cooling. My 640@4GHz tops out at like 58C.

Alternately, you could try using the RMClock utility:
http://cpu.rightmark.org/products/rmclock.shtml

I think it should let you disable the throttling function.

But it doesn't look like you're actually using the full CPU capacity. Try running two instances of prime and see if it maxes your CPU load.
 
Argh , no.

The thermal specification isn't the temperature at which it begins to throttle.Processors starts throttling when the prochot# signal is activated.The temperature at which prochot# is activated is individually calibrated for each CPU based on its thermal dissipation.

As a rule , Prescotts throttle at 68C.
60C on yours means actual temp is 8C higher.
 
Also, keep in mind that the BIOS of motherboards these days still do not (I think) read the temperature directly from the CPU, but from a health logic chip on the motherboard (i.e. Winbond, etc.). These chips almost always read either too cool (Asus) or too hot (Abit).

Just upgrade your cooling to something like a high-end Zalman or the like, and you should be fine.
 
I'm running the latest bios on my board (abit IL8), I can't find any indication that this is a common issue with this board.

Looks like better cooling is the first place I'll turn. Today I picked up a Tt Big Typhoon, but once I got it home I was delighted to find that it was missing half of the installation hardware :( So I have to run back tomorrow and exchange it for another. Today I also reseated the stock cooler with some AS3...it was making good contact the first time around, and so far I haven't seen any change in throttling behavior.

Also, I know that BIOS temp readings are not entirely accurate but I find it hard to believe that it is really that far off. Today I was doing some more testing with the cpu at stock settings and right at 57C is when the first bits of throttling begin to appear in throttlewatch. This simply does not seem right. I mean, I know that when I'm OC'd I should be using some improved cooling on this cpu, but I most certainly should NOT be seeing heavy throttling at stock speeds on the stock cooler. Something's not right there.
 
update:

Alrighty well I exchanged the Big typhoon for a zalman CNPS9500 and everything's good to go. Now at 4.0ghz, 1.425V, it's topping out in the high 40's for temps. That's much better. I'm still a bit perturbed that it was throttling at stock speeds, but whatever. It's doing great now.
 
Eva_Unit_0 said:
update:

Alrighty well I exchanged the Big typhoon for a zalman CNPS9500 and everything's good to go. Now at 4.0ghz, 1.425V, it's topping out in the high 40's for temps. That's much better. I'm still a bit perturbed that it was throttling at stock speeds, but whatever. It's doing great now.

Great, that's good to hear. It's also a good thing you got that Zalman. You'll be best pleased with it!!! :)
 
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