thermal throttles?

[Toastie]

what is that? i built a customer a nice pc. all within budget. everything he asked for. a custom cooling kit for the cpu, overclocking the cpu to 4900. when i went to collect the moeny, he gave me one star saying the custom water cooling for my cpu is great but as soon as i use it properly it thermal throttles. what the hell is that? can i fix it?

[🦊Λℚ𝓤ΛƑΛᗯҜᔕ🦊]

Processors have a maximum thermal limit (I think in-game it's 95c for processors). When the processor hits this thermal limit then it will reduce it's clock speed to prevent damage to the processor. This is called Thermal Throttling, it throttles it's self back because it's running too hot.

In-game you can run OCCT and it will tell you "Thermal throttle: YES". If it is showing you this then you need to improve the cooling in the system to reduce the temperature of the processor.

Install more fans with higher CFM rating. Install larger AIO. Install custom water cooling. Etc. Always run OCCT first before you turn in a computer for an overclock job to check for thermal throttling.

Also as part of the "Silicon Lotto", all processors are randomnly assigned thermal performance. 1 out of 500 9900K's may run at 60c for 4.9 Ghz, and then most may run at 95c for 4.9 Ghz for example. It's completely random. You may of had a bum processor that prefers to run hot. It's possible.

[Toastie]

I have installed a custom water cooling as thats what the customer wanted, but just for the cpu and not gpu. I have put extra fans in but it still happens :(

[🦊Λℚ𝓤ΛƑΛᗯҜᔕ🦊]

Originally posted by Punky:

I have installed a custom water cooling as thats what the customer wanted, but just for the cpu and not gpu. I have put extra fans in but it still happens :(

Is the processor hitting 95c in OCCT?

[rog55]

what size radiator did you use 120/240/360 as that would determine how cool the cpu is kept the bigger the cfm value the better the cooling effect is. and if you can afford it for the build use a 9900k the base clock with no oc is 5000 so all you have to do is use one of those and then any size radiator should (providing its not like one i just had that ran at 65c on idle) keep it cool enough to not throttle.

Again as Aquafawks said use OCCT but use infinite not auto run it and see if it has throttled.
as a rough guide in the bios if your temp is under 54c it shouldnt throttle any higher and it will throttle.

[BonPadre]

Originally posted by Punky:

I have installed a custom water cooling as thats what the customer wanted, but just for the cpu and not gpu. I have put extra fans in but it still happens :(

Just to clarify (and caps for emphasis, not shouting)
Extra fans = RADIATORS in the watercooled loop ?
or
Extra Fans = extra case fans ?

If you added extra case fans and not radiators in the watercooled loop, and your CPU is throttling, you need more radiators, and the more you physically add into the loop the better (so 2x 120mm are better than 1x 240mm), BUT if in the case you can't add more radiators, but have room to add a bigger radiator instead of a 120mm, then upgrade it.

Extra air case fans would help in your issue if you had an air cooled CPU.

Also take into account the SILICON LOTTERY Aquafawks told you in his first post. So maybe buying 2 or 3 of the same CPU you have installed, one can actually be overclocked to the speed you want without throttling.

Last but not least, depending on your level, there are better suited CPU for that specific OC.
Some very close by already in speed can be good, but also remember that if you don't have to hit a certain score, sometimes a "lower end" CPU with less cores is more suited to accept a higher Ratio OC than some CPU with more cores (if I'm not saying stupid things here... hopefully)

Example

I used a 4 cores i7-7700K factory speed @4500MHz, and OC it to 4900MHz with 3x 120mm Radiators
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1828605181
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1828621512
Here is the OCCT showing it's temp sitting at max 77.7°C
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1828605239

The I7-8700K with a 6 cores and factory speed of 4700MHz is probably also a very serious one for your build. Maybe the i5-9600K 6 cores with factory speed of 4600MHz

I hope it helps.

EDIT : also indeed the I9-9900K is a solution as maxtedroger suggest, but I believe you don't have it unlocked at your level.

EDIT 2 : just in case you don't know, Intel procaessors that can be OC are the K ones (I7-6700K CAN and I7-6700 CANNOT be OC), and you need certain Mobo to perform the OC as well, so any Mortoni or DFL mobo will not allow you to OC the processor, even if it's a K one.
Some lower end (cheaper) Mobo also don't allow OC for Intel. So always build with at least a mid level Mobo.

[Toastie]

looks like its gonna be another 1 star and an uphappy customer. I have no room in the budget for extra radiator fans. I cant upgrade the case because of no money in the budget. Am gonna have to collect the money and get a negative comment - again. Geez, at this rate I am never ever ever gonna get 5 stars.

[BonPadre]

Originally posted by Punky:

looks like its gonna be another 1 star and an uphappy customer. I have no room in the budget for extra radiator fans. I cant upgrade the case because of no money in the budget. Am gonna have to collect the money and get a negative comment - again. Geez, at this rate I am never ever ever gonna get 5 stars.

You know that if you post a pic of the job you have, we can better help you...

Your original post says this

Originally posted by Punky:

i built a customer a nice pc. all within budget. everything he asked for. a custom cooling kit for the cpu, overclocking the cpu to 4900.

We have no idea of your budget, if it's an upgrade or a new build, what you can change or not.

If it's a new build, I clearely don't see how you can't fit that in budget, as when I do my build, I'm usually able to get the requests and using mostly only 1/2 the budget.

If it's an upgrade, I would not say I use 1/2 the budget, but nearely only 2/3 of it.

So I'm fairly certain there is a way to fit all that within budget.

Could you share your save before you give back PC to customer ?

EDIT : Also by any chance... are you playing hard mode ? or normal mode ? Hard used to have a way tighter budget.

[🦊Λℚ𝓤ΛƑΛᗯҜᔕ🦊]

Originally posted by maxtedroger:

Again as Aquafawks said use OCCT but use infinite not auto run it and see if it has throttled.

Just a quick note for you: With PCBS, running OCCT on the quick/short test is to determine throttling, as temperatures in this game will instantly spike to maximum in this test. The slow Infinite test in OCCT, in PCBS, is only to see maximum power draw. In this thread to help the OP we're not interested in power draw because that's not their problem.

[Toastie]

next time i get a problem, ill post more details about it. I have given the pc back to the customer now with a 1 star and poor feedback, obviously.

[🦊Λℚ𝓤ΛƑΛᗯҜᔕ🦊]

Originally posted by Punky:

next time i get a problem, ill post more details about it. I have given the pc back to the customer now with a 1 star and poor feedback, obviously.

You may want to remember that if you're building custom loops for people with PCBS I have a few tips. With PCBS you get better cooling with multiple small radiators instead of one large one. Like 3 x 120mm would be better than 1 x 360mm for example. So if you have the ability in the computer case/chassis to mount multiple smaller ones, that will cool the chip better. Also if you loop in the video card in the same loop as the processor, it will make the processor run hotter.

[Toastie]

good advice guys. Thanks again