Stay up to date with the latest desktop PC hardware—CPUs, RAM, storage solutions, and GPUs—all broken down in one comprehensive resource.
Power Draw, Cooling, and Efficiency: Intel Core Ultra 200S
In this article, we examine the power draw and efficiency of the new Intel Core Ultra 200S series processors.
Power Draw, Cooling, and Efficiency: AMD Ryzen 9000 Series Processors
In this article, we examine the power draw and efficiency of the new AMD Ryzen 9950X and 9700X.
Power Draw and Cooling: Intel Core 14th Gen Processors
In this article, we examine the impact that power limits and large coolers have on content creation performance for the 14900K.
Intel Core i9 13900K: Impact of MultiCore Enhancement (MCE) and Long Power Duration Limits on Thermals and Content Creation Performance
Intel’s 13th Gen processors bring terrific performance across the board, but many modern processors have been criticized for their high power draw and heat output. However, we have found that most CPUs only operate at these high temperatures when the motherboard BIOS is allowed to automatically overclock the processor above the official Intel specifications. Does running them at reference speeds impact performance, and how much of a difference does it make for thermals?
AMD Ryzen 7950X: Impact of Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO) on Thermals and Content Creation Performance
The new AMD Ryzen 7000 Series of processors bring terrific performance across the board, but have been criticized in many reviews due to the fact that they often hit CPU temperatures of 95 Celcius under heavy loads. However, we have found that they only operate at these high temperatures when the motherboard BIOS is allowed to automatically overclock the processor above the official AMD specifications. Does running them at reference speeds impact performance, and how much of a difference does it make for thermals?
Samsung 960 Pro vs 950 Pro Performance & Thermal Throttling
M.2 drives like the Samsung 960 and 950 Pro can give incredible performance, but under sustained loads they can get hot enough that the drive needs to throttle the performance to stay within safe temperature limits. In this article, we will not only compare the 960 Pro to the 950 Pro in terms of raw performance, but also in terms of how quickly each drive will throttle.
Samsung 950 Pro M.2 Additional Cooling Testing
M.2 drives like the Samsung 950 Pro can give incredible performance, but they can sometimes run hot enough that the drive needs to throttle the performance to stay under safe temperatures. For those that need a M.2 drive to run at full speed for longer periods of time, we decided to run some quick tests to compare a number of different M.2 drive cooling methods.
Samsung 950 Pro M.2 Throttling Analysis
M.2 drives like the Samsung 950 Pro can give incredible performance, but they can sometimes run hot enough that the drive needs to throttle the performance to stay under safe temperatures. To help you decide if it is something you need to worry about, we decided to benchmark a Samsung 950 Pro in a variety of M.2 slot locations with a range of system configurations to show how much a Samsung 950 Pro might throttle in your system.
Impact of Temperature on Intel CPU Performance
While we all know that modern processors need active cooling, there is actually very little official information on how temperature affects a CPU’s performance. Do you really need a high-end liquid cooled setup to get peak performance, or is the little stock cooler that comes with most CPUs enough? In this article we will examine exactly how temperature affects CPU performance.
