TDP reference for i7 9700F It typically has a power delivery of around 65W to 75W under load.
TDP reference for i7 9700F It typically has a power delivery of around 65W to 75W under load.
Hello! Welcome to the forum. I’m just starting out, so I need some clarification. I have an Asrock B360 Pro4 motherboard paired with an i5 8400. About a week ago, I upgraded my BIOS to the latest version (P4.3) and switched to an i7 9700f. Before making any changes, I know upgrading probably won’t really help for gaming—especially since I’m using an Asus ROG Strix GTX 1060. But the main point is that I mainly play World of Warcraft, stream occasionally, and do light video editing with Sony Vegas. I’ve noticed a big FPS improvement, especially during raids and when streaming at low percentages. Everything runs smoothly—no crashes or errors. However, I’ve observed that my CPU draws between 130-140W for about 10 to 15 seconds, then drops to around 65W. This causes the frequency to drop from 4.5GHz to 3.4-3.5GHz across all cores. When I play games, the clocks usually stay at 4.5GHz, but during streaming it drops to 4.2-4.3GHz to fit the 65W limit. I also use a Noctua NH-D15 fan with one in the middle and a second as backup. It’s not overpowered, giving good airflow to the VRM on the bottom. Temperatures never exceed 60°C during stress tests, even though my room gets warm. In the BIOS, there are options for long TDP, short TDP, Tau, and Current Core Limit—all set to Auto by default. Since the board supports up to 95W, I increased the long TDP to 90W (leaving 5W unused) instead of the default 65W. This adjustment helped stabilize frequency during streaming and gaming.
My question is: am I missing something or not understanding correctly? Is it safe to keep this setup for regular use? Also, I’ve noticed my core voltage stays around 1.35-1.38V at 4.5GHz with the 90W long TDP setting. Thanks for your help!
If your VRM temps stay below 100°C, you shouldn’t face issues letting your CPU use extra power. You might even raise the long TDP limit, provided VRM temps remain acceptable (they usually do at those power levels).
I was adjusting the settings for my NOK K 9700 and decided to undervolt it to around 1.38V because the Cinebench results at 4.5GHz seemed too high. I checked various forums and found that many users managed to achieve a -100mV offset. Initially, I tried -80mV but the program crashed immediately and the PC restarted, possibly due to faulty hardware. Eventually, I settled on -60mV, which resolved the issue. I left Prime95 running overnight, followed by OCCT, and performed multiple Cinebench R15, R20, and Realbench + Stress tests for about two hours. I also tested several AAA games like Battlefield V, Shadow of Tomb Raider, and Witcher 3, all without issues.
However, something unusual happened after undervolting to -60mV: my Discord kept reconnecting repeatedly—sometimes every 30 minutes, other times every 5 to 10 seconds. It was extremely frustrating. I eventually lowered it further to -40mV and the problem disappeared.
Could someone clarify why a -60mV setting could handle benchmarks and stress tests yet cause such disruptions with Discord?