i9-3900K Max Temp

mhammann57

I purchased a PowerSpec B940 from MicroCenter and have not made any changes in BIOS etc. I noticed that the max temp reached on several cores during the rendering of video is 100C. (Equal to Tj Max) Is this temperature OK if a rendering takes an hour or more? Is there a way to lower it a bit if I would like to have the CPU run a little cooler just to preserve its lifespan? I know that lowering the max temp will cause increased throttling but I feel its a good trade off if it maximizes the lifespan of the processor. Thoughts/advice? Thanks!

PowerSpec_MikeW

@mhammann57

This is what the system is designed to do as configured. If the demand is there, it maximizes performance up to the TJMax of 100C, it will not exceed it. If you want to change this behavior the best way would be to set power limits, as there isn't one by default. Well, there is but it's 4096W.

1. Delete to enter the BIOS on startup.
2. Overclocking - Advanced CPU Configuration.
3. Set the Short and Long Duration power limits as desired.

The Intel max turbo power is 253W. Base power is 125W. If you want to do this, I would suggest PL1=PL2 at 253. Basically infinite run time up to 253W's of power consumption. PL1 is short duration power limits. PL2 is long duration power limits. When the demand is there and it exceeds PL1, there's a timer called Long Duration Maintained(s) in the MSI BIOS. Intel refers to it as TAU, then you'll drop back to PL1. Though this shouldn't be an issue with this processor on the Desktop. I would run PL1=PL2 at 253W. If you want to further reduce power consumption you can undervolt it with MSI's CPU Lite Load setting on the same menu.