Question AMD 5950X 90c temp when using back up software

[Steelbom]

Hi,

Got my new AMD 5950X w/ Noctua NHD-15. Temps have been great, even running say Cinebench at 100% load (<=70c with low fan speeds) but as soon as my Acronis backup software runs, using ~45% CPU the temps jump to 90c almost instantly and fans rev up.

I'm a bit confused as to what could be causing the temps to hit 90c at 45% load w/ high fan speeds in my backup software, but <=70c at 100% load in Cinebench with low fan speeds.

The only thing I've noticed about my backups is that Compression Level is set to Max. Maybe this is using some part of the hardware that gets hot real quick?

Any thoughts?

EDIT: Created a new backup with no compression and the CPU usage is around 30% and temps are under 45c. So somehow the compression is causing temps to hit 90c really quickly.

Cheers

 

[DrMrLordX]

Yeah probably the compression algo, though you haven't told us how many cores are engaged while performing the backup operation.

 

[Steelbom]

Yeah probably the compression algo, though you haven't told us how many cores are engaged while performing the backup operation.

16 cores. I'm guessing that's because there's 16 physical cores so the hardware that performs the compression is exactly 16 too?

 

[DrMrLordX]

16 cores. I'm guessing that's because there's 16 physical cores so the hardware that performs the compression is exactly 16 too?

You mean the software? Probably. Interesting that you hit temps like that. Which motherboard do you use, and have you checked Power Reporting Deviation yet?

 

[Steelbom]

You mean the software? Probably. Interesting that you hit temps like that. Which motherboard do you use, and have you checked Power Reporting Deviation yet?

I was thinking each core might have hardware for processing compression (could be totally wrong). Gigabyte Aorus Master B550. I have not checked that. Is that something I can find in Ryzen Master? EDIT: Looks like it's something in hwinfo?

 

[Accord99]

I'm a bit confused as to what could be causing the temps to hit 90c at 45% load w/ high fan speeds in my backup software, but <=70c at 100% load in Cinebench with low fan speeds.

It could be that the compression software can only scale to some cores, causing the CPU to heavily boost those cores to 4.9+ GHz (with high voltage) resulting in the high reported temperature. Cinebench scales to all cores, so at default power settings, all your cores end up running at modest clock speeds and modest temperatures.

If you use the latest version of HW Info (https://www.hwinfo.com/download/), it should report the individual core temperatures and power usage.

 

[DrMrLordX]

I was thinking each core might have hardware for processing compression (could be totally wrong). Gigabyte Aorus Master B550. I have not checked that. Is that something I can find in Ryzen Master? EDIT: Looks like it's something in hwinfo?

Zen3 doesn't rely on a lot of fixed-function hardware. It's probably a lot of AVX2. And it is something in hwinfo64. It tells you if your motherboard firmware is set up to violate AMD's power spec, and by how much.

It could be that the compression software can only scale to some cores, causing the CPU to heavily boost those cores to 4.9+ GHz (with high voltage) resulting in the high reported temperature. Cinebench scales to all cores, so at default power settings, all your cores end up running at modest clock speeds and modest temperatures.

I was sort of thinking the same thing, though the truth is that at least on Zen2, the hottest temps come from insane AVX2 workloads like some stuff you find on PrimeGrid. Zen3 is likely the same way. If all you do is load up a few cores, the boost algo will migrate threads sometime (unless you use something like thread lasso) and use other tricks to prevent hotspotting from getting out of control. When you slam all the cores, heat really has nowhere to go but up, which sometimes doesn't happen as quickly as we'd like.

 

[Leeea]

90 is fine.

Nice thing about noctua is you can pop it off easy if you want to check your paste job.

 

[moinmoin]

Yeah, no need to worry about the 90°C, your CPU won't cook itself even if you take off the cooler.

If you are worried about efficiency, max compression level is usual inefficient brute force. Most compression algos have the best balance between compression and throughput at the middle level or below (but throughput is better with compression than without, unless you got some old algo). Do you happen to know which algo is being used?

 

[Shmee]

Another thing you can do if you like, is to decrease the target throttle temp. I reduced mine on my 5900X to 85C. This will help the chip run cooler, and may help with performance in certain workloads.

 

[coercitiv]

Another thing you can do if you like, is to decrease the target throttle temp. I reduced mine on my 5900X to 85C. This will help the chip run cooler, and may help with performance in certain workloads.

Strongly recommend the above. This is how it's done with AMD. You set the maximum temperature you're comfortable with, then set the maximum fan speed you're comfortable with at that temperature. The CPU will boost at max clocks at first, then depending on temperature it may stay there or gradually come down in speed to meet the temp target.

 

[Steelbom]

Thank you all for your responses!

It could be that the compression software can only scale to some cores, causing the CPU to heavily boost those cores to 4.9+ GHz (with high voltage) resulting in the high reported temperature. Cinebench scales to all cores, so at default power settings, all your cores end up running at modest clock speeds and modest temperatures.

If you use the latest version of HW Info (https://www.hwinfo.com/download/), it should report the individual core temperatures and power usage.

I've got hwinfo installed so I'll check it out. It did appear the software was using 16 cores.

Zen3 doesn't rely on a lot of fixed-function hardware. It's probably a lot of AVX2. And it is something in hwinfo64. It tells you if your motherboard firmware is set up to violate AMD's power spec, and by how much.

Ahhh I see, that sounds familiar.

90 is fine.

Nice thing about noctua is you can pop it off easy if you want to check your paste job.

Oh good to know. Yeah it is easy to get the cooler off if I need to -- I don't want to because I put plenty of paste on so it's probably going to be a small mess taking it off. Also temps are great during gaming/cinebench and every other use so far, just not with compression.

Yeah, no need to worry about the 90°C, your CPU won't cook itself even if you take off the cooler.

If you are worried about efficiency, max compression level is usual inefficient brute force. Most compression algos have the best balance between compression and throughput at the middle level or below (but throughput is better with compression than without, unless you got some old algo). Do you happen to know which algo is being used?

Great! Ahh yeah, honestly I've just turned off compression (the difference was 170GB vs 250GB) which isn't a huge saving for a backup. No idea what algo it was.

Another thing you can do if you like, is to decrease the target throttle temp. I reduced mine on my 5900X to 85C. This will help the chip run cooler, and may help with performance in certain workloads.

That sounds like a great idea.

Strongly recommend the above. This is how it's done with AMD. You set the maximum temperature you're comfortable with, then set the maximum fan speed you're comfortable with at that temperature. The CPU will boost at max clocks at first, then depending on temperature it may stay there or gradually come down in speed to meet the temp target.

I'll look into this. I think it sounds like a good solution. 85c + maybe 50-60% fan speed.

 

[eek2121]

Are you able to reproduce these temps elsewhere? Hottest I have seen my 5950X is in the low 70s, but I have a 280mm AiO. Did you try running Prime95?

 

[Steelbom]

Are you able to reproduce these temps elsewhere? Hottest I have seen my 5950X is in the low 70s, but I have a 280mm AiO. Did you try running Prime95?

So far the only place I've seen these temps is running this backup software with "Max Compression". Cinebench (even after 10 mins) is 70~ and I think I tried the Ryzen Master stress test which was also from memory about 70.