Thursday, September 12th 2024
Intel Z890 Chipset Motherboards to Launch with Default Power Profile Out of the Box?
Intel is expected to launch its next-generation Core Ultra 200 "Arrow Lake-S" desktop processors on October 24, 2024, and since these chips introduce the new Socket LGA1851, they launch alongside new motherboards. The first wave of Core Ultra 200 series processors will be "K" or "KF" SKUs targeting gamers and enthusiasts, and the first compatible motherboards will be based on the premium Intel Z890 chipset. Intel is reportedly being extra careful not to repeat the "Raptor Lake" fiasco that saw motherboards power its 13th- and 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" processors with elevated voltages, causing their irreversible physical degradation over time. To this effect, Intel is reportedly getting its motherboard partners to ship their Intel Z890 chipset motherboards with Intel Default Power Profile out of the box.
A motherboard-level Power Profile dictates the processor base power (PL1), maximum turbo power (PL2), and IccMax values. We don't know these values for "Arrow Lake-S," particularly its top Core Ultra 9 285K part; but to illustrate what Default Power Profile out of the box means, we have to look at "Raptor Lake-S." For a Core i9-14900K, the Performance Power Profile—which is what Intel Z690 and Z790 motherboards enable out of the box—provide a PL1 of 125 W, PL2 of 253 W, and IccMax of 307 W, which is what Intel considers stock for this processor model.
The Extreme Power Profile, which can be enabled in the UEFI setup program, holds PL1 and PL2 at 250 W, and unlocks 400 W IccMax (something that requires two 8-pin EPS power connectors to be plugged in, each capable of 225 W). The Insane Power Profile, available on select motherboard models, completely unlocks PL1 and PL2 to "4096 W" (i.e. anything that the motherboard VRM is capable of providing), and IccMax to 511 W (the socket's design limit). The Intel Baseline Power Profile (aka Default Power Profile) runs contrary to these three.
On the Core i9-14900K, the Default Power Profile gives the processor a PL1 of 125 W (which is also the chip's base power value), but the PL2 maximum turbo power is limited to 188 W, and the IccMax is capped at 249 W. These severely reduce the processor's boost frequency residency even at stock settings.
If the rumors of Intel getting motherboard vendors to ship Z890 chipset motherboards with Default Power Profile out of the box are true, then out of the box, these processors will likely not perform as Intel intended, and the company's guidelines to reviewers and end-users would be to manually enable at least Performance Power Profile in the UEFI setup, to at least get stock performance out of these processors.
Sources:
Benchlife.info, VideoCardz, Hardware Busters
A motherboard-level Power Profile dictates the processor base power (PL1), maximum turbo power (PL2), and IccMax values. We don't know these values for "Arrow Lake-S," particularly its top Core Ultra 9 285K part; but to illustrate what Default Power Profile out of the box means, we have to look at "Raptor Lake-S." For a Core i9-14900K, the Performance Power Profile—which is what Intel Z690 and Z790 motherboards enable out of the box—provide a PL1 of 125 W, PL2 of 253 W, and IccMax of 307 W, which is what Intel considers stock for this processor model.
On the Core i9-14900K, the Default Power Profile gives the processor a PL1 of 125 W (which is also the chip's base power value), but the PL2 maximum turbo power is limited to 188 W, and the IccMax is capped at 249 W. These severely reduce the processor's boost frequency residency even at stock settings.
If the rumors of Intel getting motherboard vendors to ship Z890 chipset motherboards with Default Power Profile out of the box are true, then out of the box, these processors will likely not perform as Intel intended, and the company's guidelines to reviewers and end-users would be to manually enable at least Performance Power Profile in the UEFI setup, to at least get stock performance out of these processors.
16 Comments on Intel Z890 Chipset Motherboards to Launch with Default Power Profile Out of the Box?
Can't wait to see what Intel can do with TSMC 3N - AMD will probably be rushing out 9000X3D very fast afterwards... AMD going with 4N might bite them in the A
According to this image, which is still referenced in the latest news about the Raptor Lake issue in the Intel forums, and as far as I know is exactly what still is in the datasheet, the baseline profile is not the default, and shouldn't be unless required. At least when talking about current CPUs Intel was also somewhat clear in saying "Intel is not recommending motherboard manufacturers to use ‘baseline’ power delivery settings on boards capable of higher values. Intel’s recommended ‘Intel Default Settings’ are a combination of thermal and power delivery features along with a selection of possible power delivery profiles based on motherboard capabilities."
My guess is that the default profile will simply be the Performance one, with the baseline and extreme profiles being there as alternatives, together with possible custom profiles by motherboard manufacturers. Which would be avoiding the situation of some motherboards defaulting to PL2=4096W and ICCMAX=500A like it was happening.
Even if in my opinion it should be lower, with the PL2 of the i7 range around 180W and the i9 around 200W, it doesn't really make sense in most cases to have the default be higher than that.
I'm prepared to give them a go. I want to move beyond 8 cores and don't want to deal with AMD's dual ccd design even more so that non-X3D models get core parking nonsense now. Intel 265KF is looking like a nice update from my 5800X.
I don't see why people constanly need to pull in all these allegations. Errors happen in products that haven't been rushed as well. Processor testing is (surely) highly automated, they might not have had a test case for that, maybe some engineer disabled it in a fat-fingering accident, who knows. They’ve had quite some time after release to find the issue, so even if you wish to imply the release was rushed beyond good conciousness, there were lengths of time after that to pick up any loose ends. Had they quietly released a microcode update with “fixes for voltage regulation in transitional operating states”, probably nobody whatsoever would have batted an eye.
It just doesn’t make sense to believe Intel sat on their knowledge for over a year, which is also why they themselves didn’t know what’s up for the first stretch of time.