Question Alder Lake - Official Thread

Page 90 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,582
10,785
136
There you go. Be surprised. 5950X sucking 331W. 2nd highest overclocked power draw after Rocket Lake. (From the Forbes 12900K review)

That's got to be system power draw, since a stock 5950X will never draw 217W. Based on napkin math, that looks like ~250W for the OCed 5950X, which is 30W more than I expected. No idea how you would cool N7 at that power draw but hey, good for them!
 

Det0x

Golden Member
Sep 11, 2014
1,027
2,953
136
To a point. It's still on N7, and N7 CPUs hit a wall eventually. My 3900X hit at wall at around 4.4 GHz, for example, where power draw wasn't the enemy so much as out-of-control hotspot temperatures. Plus there's the whole unsafe voltage thing (which may be less of an issue on Vermeer; I honestly haven't researched it).

I think with a 12900k you can just put heavy watercooling on it and ramp up power to the moon. With a 5950X I would honestly be surprised to see anyone pushing more than 200-220W through it.
We have @Det0x in these forums, i think he has been courting 300W package draw all the time :)
Please note i overclock for maximum performance, not performance/w.
(these runs are at overvoltage just to be sure for stability)

Cinebench @ ~300 ppt (which is pretty close to what all highly overclocked Alder lake system runs at)
1645104923870.png

Linpack Xtreme @ ~330 PPT (i know i can get a higher score at same ppt / or reduce the ppt at same performance level
(workload is basically just as hot as prime95... massive avx usage)
1645105042009.png

Y-cruncher @ 343 ppt (async mem settings)
1645111222081.png
With custom watercooling and a waterblock made for zen3 chiplet design, 300+ PPT is no problem :)
 
Last edited:

biostud

Lifer
Feb 27, 2003
18,193
4,674
136
Basically if you run software that that does not put the processor on full load, like gaming the power draw of ADL and zen3 is quite similar while ADL is a bit faster, but if you run all cores on full load zen3 is far more efficient. So it all comes down to what kind of software you run the most, and what is most important to you as an end user. For my usage ADL would probably make most sense, if I had to choose right now, but with zen4 around the corner, neither seems really interesting in the long run, as AM4 is EOL and Intel is always pushing new sockets with new Cpu's.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ozzy702

dullard

Elite Member
May 21, 2001
24,998
3,326
126
Basically if you run software that that does not put the processor on full load, like gaming the power draw of ADL and zen3 is quite similar while ADL is a bit faster, but if you run all cores on full load zen3 is far more efficient. So it all comes down to what kind of software you run the most, and what is most important to you as an end user. For my usage ADL would probably make most sense, if I had to choose right now, but with zen4 around the corner, neither seems really interesting in the long run, as AM4 is EOL and Intel is always pushing new sockets with new Cpu's.
The thing with Alder Lake is that it is heavily dependent on power settings. Meaning you can get great performance OR great efficiency. This has more flexibility than most people are accustomed to seeing in the past on other chips. If you want pure performance Alder Lake might be the best chip for you (suppose you have a coming deadline, or if you have expensive employees doing the work where power costs are negligible in comparison, or your profit depends on being the absolute fastest such as high-frequency trading on the stock market). See the Rendering chart below where Alder Lake could be set to give the best performance of any desktop CPU.

Or maybe you need great power efficiency. In that case, Alder Lake can do it too (despite the many, many negative comments about allowable high power consumption). See the Energy Usage chart below for an example where Alder Lake could be set to give the 2nd lowest energy use of any desktop CPU to complete a multithreaded task.

The main issue against Alder Lake though, is that it is an either/or choice. With Alder Lake you get either great performance OR great efficiency. However, the AMD Ryzen 5950X gives you both great performance AND great efficiency. So, if you are after that combination, then Alder Lake is not for you. It doesn't make Alder Lake a bad chip, or a joke chip like some people here claim, it just means you have to determine your typical use case and what you actually value most. Alder Lake might not be for you or it might be the best chip for you.

1645115072624.png1645115081791.png
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: igor_kavinski

deasd

Senior member
Dec 31, 2013
513
724
136
Response to KS model from AMD? Maybe, but since AM4 is about to EOL and Zen4 rumor, also KS model is a niche market, release 5800x3d just for a 'response' is silly.... X3D would be released for sure, and just for fun which being AM4's final SKU, nothing else....
 

Hulk

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
4,191
1,975
136
Tiger Lake 4 core at 15W vs Alder Lake 2+8 at 15W?

It's going to be interesting to see how these compare generation-to-generation within the same power envelope.
 

Abwx

Lifer
Apr 2, 2011
10,847
3,297
136

Thoses two slides are not logical at all in respect of the 5800U.

In the first one it s supposed to have 10% better perf from 15W to 32W, wich is false, and the perf difference with the 1280P is way higher than what is displayed in the second slide.
 
Last edited:

Hitman928

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2012
5,177
7,628
136

Maybe a little more than average, but they still bought Intel way more during the Bulldozer days.

tVPNi9NRZWRhnY4gZjKvdj.png

gRwVfykqaM6L2RV3tSB4B8.png

 

dark zero

Platinum Member
Jun 2, 2015
2,655
138
106
Saw the U tier processors and saw the Celeron... they didn't had 6 threads instead of 5?
If is only 5... is DOA
Alder Lake -N is gonna eat without any mercy.
Even the Pentium can manage to be somehow strong with their dual Thread single P core and the turbo boost which is respectable.
 

IntelUser2000

Elite Member
Oct 14, 2003
8,686
3,785
136
Seems like ADL-P(U) is a little better up to 35W versus ADL-P(H)


I asked if the P and the H silicon is the same after saying that at least until Tigerlake, the U series have a harder time especially at the higher frequencies than the H parts.

It's not as you can see from the graph. The P curve is in a way that it shows advantages in the 25W power envelope, but flattens out near the 35W where it starts intercepting the H. The H should pull ahead at the default 45W.

It seems to be the same is true for U vs P but with less of a difference.

Notice the steepness of the curve. Generally it indicates a better process node as the focus is usually advantages at lower power, but sacrifices frequency. Intel realigned their process in the Tigerlake generation, so it scales well in the higher power envelope to reach 5GHz+.