- Joined
- Jan 5, 2006
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| System Name | AlderLake |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel i7 12700K P-Cores @ 5Ghz |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master |
| Cooling | Noctua NH-U12A 2 fans + Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme + 5 case fans |
| Memory | 32GB DDR5 Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 6000MT/s CL36 |
| Video Card(s) | MSI RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio |
| Storage | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Evo 500GB + 850 Pro 512GB + 860 Evo 1TB x2 |
| Display(s) | 23.8" Dell S2417DG 165Hz G-Sync 1440p |
| Case | Be quiet! Silent Base 600 - Window |
| Audio Device(s) | Panasonic SA-PMX94 / Realtek onboard + B&O speaker system / Harman Kardon Go + Play / Logitech G533 |
| Power Supply | Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 750W |
| Mouse | Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Laser wireless |
| Keyboard | RAPOO E9270P Black 5GHz wireless |
| Software | Windows 11 |
| Benchmark Scores | Cinebench R23 (Single Core) 1936 @ stock Cinebench R23 (Multi Core) 23006 @ stock |
Motherboard vendors, as a group, do not have the best relationship with honest benchmarking. For decades, board manufacturers have used various tactics to improve performance, including overclocking the FSB by a few percentage points, overriding Intel’s per-core Turbo settings to implement all-core maximum clocks when XMP was enabled, and setting Intel PL2 and Tau values far in excess of anything Intel recommends to maximize benchmark results.
Now, it seems some vendors have developed a new method of accelerating AMD CPUs — one that runs counter to AMD’s explicit guidelines and that could be shortening the lifespan of your CPU without your knowledge. HWInfo’s latest version is capable of detecting this behavior and informing you whether it’s happening.
Here’s what’s going on: AMD uses a highly sophisticated technique called Adaptive Voltage and Frequency Scaling (AVFS) to control performance and thermal characteristics across the Ryzen die. Properly calibrating and tuning values depends partly on data sent over from the motherboard VRM controller. If the motherboard sends the proper value, the Ryzen CPU will be able to properly calculate its own current draw.
What happens if the motherboard doesn’t send the proper data? What happens if the motherboard sends values that are up to 50 percent too low? The CPU would effectively misunderstand its own power configuration, bypassing safety checks intended to keep the chip performing normally.
AMD already offers overclocking support and features like PBO, but this kind of current draw increase isn’t something the end-user would even be aware of. You can have your CPU configured to use 100 percent stock AMD settings — if your motherboard UEFI is deliberately miscalibrated to misunderstand your CPU’s amperage, the chip may be allowed to draw significantly more current than it otherwise would. Over time, this could damage the CPU or shorten its effective lifespan.
According to HWInfo, the reason they added this capability is that “two of the largest motherboard manufacturers still insist on using this exploit to gain an advantage over their competitors despite being constantly asked and told not to.” The AMD motherboard I’ve spent the most time with — the MSI X570 Godlike — is actually called out as a relatively good citizen, with just a 7 percent departure from expected power readings. Other boards from unnamed vendors apparently score up to 50 percent out of spec.
www.extremetech.com
Some motherboard manufacturers intentionally declare an incorrect (too small) motherboard specific reference value in AGESA. Since AM4 Ryzen CPUs rely on telemetry sourced from the motherboard VRM to determine their power consumption, declaring an incorrect reference value will affect the power consumption seen by the CPU. For instance, if the motherboard manufacturer would declare 50% of the correct value, the CPU would think it consumes half the power than it actually does. In this case, the CPU would allow itself to consume twice the power of its set power limits, even when at stock. It allows the CPU to clock higher due to the effectively lifted power limits however, it also makes the CPU to run hotter and potentially negatively affects its life-span, same ways as overclocking does. The difference compared to overclocking or using AMD PBO, is that this is done completely clandestine and that in the past, there has been no way for most of the end-users to detect it, or react to it.
www.hwinfo.com
Now, it seems some vendors have developed a new method of accelerating AMD CPUs — one that runs counter to AMD’s explicit guidelines and that could be shortening the lifespan of your CPU without your knowledge. HWInfo’s latest version is capable of detecting this behavior and informing you whether it’s happening.
Here’s what’s going on: AMD uses a highly sophisticated technique called Adaptive Voltage and Frequency Scaling (AVFS) to control performance and thermal characteristics across the Ryzen die. Properly calibrating and tuning values depends partly on data sent over from the motherboard VRM controller. If the motherboard sends the proper value, the Ryzen CPU will be able to properly calculate its own current draw.
What happens if the motherboard doesn’t send the proper data? What happens if the motherboard sends values that are up to 50 percent too low? The CPU would effectively misunderstand its own power configuration, bypassing safety checks intended to keep the chip performing normally.
AMD already offers overclocking support and features like PBO, but this kind of current draw increase isn’t something the end-user would even be aware of. You can have your CPU configured to use 100 percent stock AMD settings — if your motherboard UEFI is deliberately miscalibrated to misunderstand your CPU’s amperage, the chip may be allowed to draw significantly more current than it otherwise would. Over time, this could damage the CPU or shorten its effective lifespan.
According to HWInfo, the reason they added this capability is that “two of the largest motherboard manufacturers still insist on using this exploit to gain an advantage over their competitors despite being constantly asked and told not to.” The AMD motherboard I’ve spent the most time with — the MSI X570 Godlike — is actually called out as a relatively good citizen, with just a 7 percent departure from expected power readings. Other boards from unnamed vendors apparently score up to 50 percent out of spec.
Is Your AMD X570 Motherboard Secretly Overclocking Your CPU?
Motherboard vendors have apparently been manipulating AMD's power management design to effectively overclock motherboards without end-user awareness. HWInfo is now designed to detect this behavior.
Some motherboard manufacturers intentionally declare an incorrect (too small) motherboard specific reference value in AGESA. Since AM4 Ryzen CPUs rely on telemetry sourced from the motherboard VRM to determine their power consumption, declaring an incorrect reference value will affect the power consumption seen by the CPU. For instance, if the motherboard manufacturer would declare 50% of the correct value, the CPU would think it consumes half the power than it actually does. In this case, the CPU would allow itself to consume twice the power of its set power limits, even when at stock. It allows the CPU to clock higher due to the effectively lifted power limits however, it also makes the CPU to run hotter and potentially negatively affects its life-span, same ways as overclocking does. The difference compared to overclocking or using AMD PBO, is that this is done completely clandestine and that in the past, there has been no way for most of the end-users to detect it, or react to it.
IMPORTANT - Explaining the AMD Ryzen "Power Reporting Deviation" -metric in HWiNFO
Ryzen CPUs for AM4 platform rely on external, motherboard sourced telemetry to determine their power consumption. The voltage, current and power telemetry is provided to the processor by the motherboard VRM controller through the AMD SVI2 interface. This information is consumed by the processors...
www.hwinfo.com
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