TDP issue, serious or just annoying?

[krnmastersgt]

Today I was swapping my motherboard up to a newer one as well as some new DDR3 ram and came across an issue I thought wouldn't exist.

I've got a Q6600 G0 stepping so the TDP for the chip is supposed to be 95W, however the new motherboard seems to be reading it as 105W and therefore shuts down the system unless I tell it to ignore this. Everyone states that the G0 stepping lowered the TDP by 10W however the only official TDP listed for the Q6600 on Intel's site is 105W so I'm a bit unsure.

Seeing as how the processor itself should run around 95W, should I be concerned at all about always ignoring the boot-up warning or do I need to send this board back and try and find one that supports 105W?

 

[richierich1212]

TDP shows 105 at cpu-world as well.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Yeah official postings of the Q6600's TDP seem to show up as 105W, and while the G0 stepping seemed to lower the effective TDP I wasn't sure if it was officially lowered or not. Still not sure if this is something I need to change boards over or just an annoying F10 every boot-up.

Also would someone be able to tell me exactly what TDP is? All the "definitions" I've garnered have it pointing toward the estimated average heat dissipation. Sort of confused on why that would be limited by the board and not so much the cooling set-up that you have.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Also would someone be able to tell me exactly what TDP is? All the "definitions" I've garnered have it pointing toward the estimated average heat dissipation. Sort of confused on why that would be limited by the board and not so much the cooling set-up that you have.

It is not only the heat output, but the power input. (Both are basically equal.)

Mobos have VRM sections that are designed for certain max TDPs. If the CPU's TDP exceeds that, you can burn out the VRMs, regardless of how much cooling you have.

 

[GammaLaser]

ark.intel.com (click Ordering/SSpecs/Steppings) shows 95W for the SLACR (G0) stepping.

 

[3DVagabond]

Maybe check to see if there's a bios update for your board.

 

[krnmastersgt]

It is not only the heat output, but the power input. (Both are basically equal.)

Mobos have VRM sections that are designed for certain max TDPs. If the CPU's TDP exceeds that, you can burn out the VRMs, regardless of how much cooling you have.

Ah, thanks for the clearing that up.

ark.intel.com (click Ordering/SSpecs/Steppings) shows 95W for the SLACR (G0) stepping.

Never even noticed that, thanks for pointing that out! (This makes me even more confused on why the board tells me there's a TDP issue >_>)

Maybe check to see if there's a bios update for your board.

That was on my list of things I could do to fix it, just wanted to check in with all the knowledgeable gurus of AT to see if this was a fundamental hardware problem I'd have to change to resolve or just something more software related.

So I'm still left with the major problem; since the chip I have IS a 95W TDP processor, even if the board doesn't recognize it as one is it safe to have the system ignore TDP and proceed as normal? (Will be updating BIOS to see if that helps first)

 

[krnmastersgt]

Well updating the BIOS didn't seem to change the issue, posting again to see if anyone has new info to add.

The question remains, is it safe to just ignore the TDP issue and use the system normally?