Will my MB die if CPU is running over the Recomended TDP?

[Dragos Serenity]

I recently got a M5A78L-M LX MB, and a Phenom II X4 960T, well supposedly the maximum TDP for the board is 95watt, but when i installed the cpu, and CPU-Z was reading it as 107w, is that dangerous? could it pull to much power and basically kill my Motherboard?

Also i decided a while back to Unlock the extra cores. (its a AM3+ MB, so i figured since it could support the new Bulldozer cpus, it would support a Phenom ii x6) so when i went to unlock the other two cores, it did it fine without any problems and booted to windows just fine.

so i open CPU-Z and it read it as a Phenom ii X6 1605T, but then i realized its running at 161watt!!!!!!!!!, is that REALLY dangerous???? (even thought i ran with the 2 other cores unlocked for 5-6 hours, and it didnt crash or anything?)

fyi, i did lock the other 2 cores for safety, but was it really dangerous to have been running it? and if so howcome? or is it safe since it ran for 5-6 hours without no problem?

Thnx for your help thnx

 

[realmadrid12]

Common sense tells me yes that is bad. But I do not know for sure. If I were you I would press f5 to run optimized defaults . That board is pretty entry level.

 

[Dragos Serenity]

Common sense tells me yes that is bad. But I do not know for sure. If I were you I would press f5 to run optimized defaults . That board is pretty entry level.

ok thnx lol, i set it back to normal a long time ago., also im still wondering why its running at 107tdp? isnt it supposed to run at 95w?

 

[pwnmachine]

Perfectly fine just as long as the cpu is operating within safe operating temperatures and voltages.

 

[realmadrid12]

ok thnx lol, i set it back to normal a long time ago., also im still wondering why its running at 107tdp? isnt it supposed to run at 95w?

yes according to this link But I believe there is an option to give more power to the cpu. i forget what option it is unless im mistaken. Take a peek in your mobo book.

 

[trents]

I would not give more "power" to the CPU on that board. You are already pushing the envelope with regard to the TDP. Have you tested it for stability as in running Prime95? I almost hesitate to ask that because it will put the board under real stress and the power circuitry is low end.

 

[RGone]

I think NCIX sells that board for about 58.00 Canadian. It has to be a very entry level motherboard and in that light, would not buy one to overclock with. There are any number of posts around the net about that board and the 95watt rating and even sometimes depending on the bios there is warning that the cpu does not match the mobo when it is rated at 125watts.

 

[Dragos Serenity]

I think NCIX sells that board for about 58.00 Canadian. It has to be a very entry level motherboard and in that light, would not buy one to overclock with. There are any number of posts around the net about that board and the 95watt rating and even sometimes depending on the bios there is warning that the cpu does not match the mobo when it is rated at 125watts.

i really dont really know what your trying to say excatly, but everwhere i look the MB supports 95w, and the Retail 960T says its 95w, but for some reason it says 107w instead, oh and also, for some reason the box says that the cpu has 6mb cache, but it really has 8mb cache? why is that? did i get a different version of the 960T?
oh lol also ive been wondering what the T stands for... ive looked it up but havent found a answer.

 

[pwnmachine]

What are your overclocking settings?

 

[RGone]

Retail 960T says its 95w = how many cores is the cpu sold as? Four core for 95watt. When you add more load from more cores...well it is no longer 95 watt. Exactly how many watts is not firmly established.

There is a thread in here somewhere over just the last few days about trying to calculate how much the TDP changed with unlocking of cores. It was more than 107 watts as I remember, but will try to locate that thread.

 

[RGone]

Took some digging but I found the thread I was looking for where it was supposed the
power draw was calculated for 960T.


Phenom II 960t power consumption? See last post #6 for his results and they are with
only 5 cores unlocked since the 6th core was bad and only 5 good.

 

[odin_611]

This is for anyone who happens upon this thread in the future so they don't have to keep hunting the internets expanses for a solid answer .

TDP is Thermal Design Power, which essentially means the amount of heat requiring dissipation, not necessarily the limit of the number of watts to your CPU. As mentioned above as long as your cooling is keeping your temps down (watch all of them, not just the core temps) and you don't go psycho on your VCore, you should be fine.

Google "TDP Wikipedia" and you'll get the more technical definition of TDP.