9800x3d tdp modes

[Brando]

So I happened to notice my 9800x3d was hitting the mid 90's while gaming. Thinking I must have screwed up the thermal paste I took my noctua d15 off and the paste looked spread just right from edge to edge without any extra. Just right. I went into the bios to look for an "eco mode" or lower tdp mode and saw it was on auto with the next choices down being 170w then 120w and 65w iirc. I tried 120w tdp mode and restarted then fired up oblivion remaster to play for a few minutes. Now my max temp was around 76c but the cores still show 5200mhz max in hw monitor like nothing had changed. I googled it and apparently 120w is actually the normal tdp? I guess that means that msi had it defaulting to melt without water cooling mode unless I'm not getting it. Am I on crack?

EDIT: I did a cpu-z benchmark in 120w tdp mode and did a submit and compare on their website. My cpu was right where it was supposed to be compared to the other 9800x3d on the chart in single and multi threaded scores at 5200mhz per core. Something about the default settings on my motherboard was adding 20c to load temps for no apparent reason Looks like I have to learn more about amd. Glad I noticed it!

 

[Woomack]

These CPUs are designed to boost up to 95°C. If you use better cooling, then they will still try to go up to 95°C, but will keep a higher average frequency. There is a point at which they won't set any higher frequency and keep lower temps, but I'm unsure what cooling is required for the 9800X3D.
Either way, it's safe and normal even when you see 95°C.

 

[Dolk]

I do not see anything past 60s with my WC setup when playing or doing anything. Highest I've seen with my Optimus block is 85C when torture testing.

Like Woomack says, air cooling will let these chips run to their thermal limit before reaching their frequency limit.

 

[Brando]

I re-ran the cpu-z benchmark with tdp "auto" vs "120w" and somehow got a slightly higher score with a lower tdp. I ordered in some arctic mx-6 to replace my old tube of mx-4. Will retest to see if anything changes.

Auto
single core 802.2
multi core 8474.2

120w mode
single core 804
multi core 8544.6

 

[EarthDog]

I mean, it's negligibly higher, technically..... but it's obviously within run variance (0.2% and 0.8%).

I'd gather the CPUz benchmark just isn't pushing that chip much past 120W.......which makes sense as that's already its TDP in the first place.

 

[freeagent]

VSOC actually plays a big part in temps. Once you cross 1.2v or so then the heat comes. I tried to run 4 dimms and noticed VSOC was in line with Zen 3, so 1.1x. Temps were low at full boost (58xxMHz)

 

[Brando]

I'll try some other test to see if the 2 modes make any difference. Maybe fps in a cpu heavy game at low resolution or a different benchmark. Ideas welcome. I'm behind the times as far as benchmark software.

 

[EarthDog]

I'll try some other test to see if the 2 modes make any difference. Maybe fps in a cpu heavy game at low resolution or a different benchmark. Ideas welcome. I'm behind the times as far as benchmark software.

Feel Free...but thinking further, I don't believe you're going to see a difference as you're testing. 'auto' is typically stock/default........ then you set it manually to stock/default TDP anyway.

3DMark FireStrike or TIme Spy are older, lower res benchmarks.

 

[Brando]

The main reason to check is that auto seems to get the same score as 120w mode but at 20c higher temps and presumably higher power usage. if I can get the same results with 76c as 96c then why not. I just need to test it more to make sure it's not a mistake on my side.

 

[freeagent]

120w.. I am a little envious. With the right software this thing will do 250w on the CPU alone. 260 if I was using liquid

 

[Brando]

120w tdp mode looks like it won't work. Even though everything looked good numbers wise oblivion remaster was stuttering like crazy in the over world despite being fine in caves and sewers. FPS was fine but it felt like I was on a really laggy server. Stuttery movement for mouse and keyboard and the screen was jerky. Maybe something big was trying to load from the hdd but when I switched back to auto tdp mode it was smooth again. I'll double check later and try some other games as well.

 

[Brando]

Everything I've read online seems to agree that 9800x3d will boost until 95c. I really thought something was wrong lol. I guess I'll just let it run how it is. I thought red lining for maximum speed was an intel thing that I had escaped but this is even crazier. At least none of the temp readings are turning red in HWmonitor since I reinstalled the cooler with mx-6 with the recommended X pattern so maybe it helped a little I'm not sure.

I think I'm gonna finally put a second fan on the D15 and play with the speeds to see if I can get good results without the annoying resonance that made me remove the second fan in the first place. I heard having them at different speeds might help. Maybe also mess with voltage like freeagent said.