12900K operating conditions
12900K operating conditions
Hey there. I’m trying to figure this out. My wife and I just installed two brand new systems with identical specs, but we’re seeing different temperatures and performance levels. On her side, idle temps are around 27°C with a 360AIO, while mine hit 38-41°C using the same AIO. Both have the same case, fans, cooler, and were built by the same store. The motherboards match exactly—12900K ASUS Z690-P, MSI 12GB 3080, 16GB DDR5 5200V from HWMonitor. Another curious thing is that her system only reaches 5.2GHz, whereas mine briefly hits 5183MHz before dropping. I’ve been away from hardware for about ten years, so my understanding might be a bit outdated. Are these temperature variations normal for the same CPU and cooler? Should there really be a difference in clock speeds between the two setups? Since I didn’t configure anything myself, I’m unsure what BIOS settings should look like. Any advice would be greatly appreciated before I go back to the store. Thanks.
CPUs vary slightly, so you don't need to worry unless they get too hot under stress. It's possible your machine runs a bit more than another. The clock reference isn't always precise at exactly 100 MHz; it's usually around 99.98 MHz or similar. Companies round up for simplicity and consistency. Your PC benefits from a stable clock, while your setup adjusts to different component speeds.
@JCCLCreations Employ HWiNFO to analyze the low power C states of both machines during idle time. I'm using ThrottleStop for this data, though it doesn't fully cover your 12900K model. It can still offer some clues about any variations. If both systems perform similar background operations, you should observe comparable C state activity on each device. Differences in BIOS settings might suggest one machine has distinct C states enabled versus the other. A variation in clock speeds also points to differing BIOS configurations between the two computers.
I'm really struggling to figure out what you're asking about, but I think this might be a bios-related question. If one of the options appears significantly more powerful at 17 MHz, would it be necessary to compare both displays together? Are there any obvious differences that jump out? Thanks for your help. She seems to have higher voltages, slower clocks, and cooler temperatures compared to my setup. These components tend to overheat a lot, so 10°C might seem like a big improvement.
I believe you're using HWMonitor which doesn't provide C state information. You should use HWiNFO instead. My individual cores are operating at 99.0% of the time in the low power C7 state. When idle, temperatures should remain very low. If a BIOS setting suppresses certain C states, it can raise idle temps noticeably. The share of time spent in core C7 best reflects background activity. There could be significant differences between the two systems due to constant background tasks on one but not the other. The VID voltage shown in your screenshots isn't reliable for actual CPU power delivery. In HWiNFO, check the VCore voltage instead. When HWiNFO launches, ensure the Sensors Only option is selected.
Your machine is displaying an unusually elevated average time in C7. Look at both of your systems while they're not running tasks. Open Task Manager and check the Details section to identify background processes. A CPU core should be in a low state when idle, and you should aim for a high C7 value.