However, this is not how most motherboards functioned out of the box with XMP loaded.
“Andon the videoversion, part of the title read “Stock Power Limits Are Still A Mess!”
Setting aside weak VRM performance, the default power specsfor these Z790 boardswere inconsistent.
Asrock also customized their default behavior based on board quality.
They have explicitly told us and other tech media outlets in the past that this is within specification behavior.
Toward the end of this article, we’ll provide some evidence of this.
You might be wondering, though.
Why would Intel allow this?
Why would Intel let the board makers get away without enforcing any power limits?
It’s simple really.
This is the situation with power specifications, though there have been significant developments recently.
Shortly thereafter, Intel claimed an investigation was underway.
But first, how do you turn on the Intel Baseline Profile?
On Asus boards, it’s the very first option in the “Ai Tweaker” menu.
For Gigabyte boards, you have to navigate a bit more to find the Intel Baseline Profile option.
We’ll use the Asus StrixRTX 4090graphics card, focusing primarily on gaming performance.
Without any power limits, the14900Kscores 2,268 points, which is an impressive result.
This helped the 14900K avoid thermal throttling with a 360mm AIO cooler.
Pretty extreme stuff, but let’s see what it all means for gamers.
Cyberpunk 2077is a very CPU-demanding game, so we were interested in checking out these results.
So that’s a significant drop-off, but it’s nothing compared to the Gigabyte board.
Testing withHogwarts Legacy, we previously saw 137 fps using the 14900K on our MSI motherboard without power limits.
With the Baseline Profile enabled on the Asus board, performance drops by 5% using the ultra-quality prefs.
Then with the Gigabyte board, we’re looking at an 11% reduction in performance.
So the drop for Asus isn’t that significant, but it’s very problematic on the Gigabyte board.
ACC isn’t a very CPU-demanding game, but even so, we are seeing some performance loss.
They said the following:
GIGABYTE always prioritizes user experience, focusing on both performance and stability.
After enabling Intel Baseline, the performance will be expected to be limited due to the power setting adjustments.
CPU Crashes: Who Is to Blame?
We’re sure some of you have your own opinions on this matter.
The short answer is that everyone involved shares some responsibility Intel and their partners.
It seems to us that Intel is trying to have their cake and eat it too.
In doing so, they’re potentially compromising the silicon, causing it to degrade much faster than expected.
After all, with XMP and other overclocking practices, you could damage your processor.
Again, this isn’t a new issue.
This has been happening for the better part of a decade.
We’re going to be very crisp in our definition of what the difference between in-spec and out-of-spec is.
There is an overclocking ‘bit’/flag on our processors.
Any change that requires you to set that overclocking bit to enable overclocking is considered out-of-spec operation.
Motherboard manufacturers are free to execute the processor at maximum performance.
You’re only actually overclocking the CPU when you start changing the clock multiplier ratios.
In that same interview,Intel also saidthe following.
Both PL2 and Tau are configurable by the OEM and ODM, and are ‘in spec’.
In that same interview, Intel also clarified that there is no limit on PL2 and turbo timers.
They also addressed a major problem we’ve seen with desktop motherboards that occurs in the opposite direction.
Aswe’ve been saying for years,the entire situation is a messand is extremely anti-consumer.
Anything short of that, and they’ve misled customers.
So far it would seem as thoughIntel is blaming their partners with a recent statement.
Intel requests system and motherboard manufacturers to provide end-users with a default BIOS profile that matches Intel recommended controls.
This is the smoking gun, and it shows they’ve been caught lying.
