Opteron clock throtting

I know that XP did not have any sort of hardware throttling.. Well maybe it did but not the type that Intel has to protect the CPU... I have seen the latest XP's fry without a heatsink... I have never seen a CPU hit 450f before!!! Man, I can cook marshmellows on that :D

It would be nice if AMD can release something as good as Intel as their throttling that is that effective... :)

EDIT:
I just wanted to add that by no means do I mean that AMD is crap :) I think they are good for what they are... I am too waiting to see how well the Op will be...

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Originally posted by Almost Famous
..."The AMD Opteron Processor provides a hardware-enforced thermal protection mechanism....

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Could the "hardware-enforced" part include the motherboard reading the temp. from the onboard thermal diode of the processor, then the motherboard tells the processor shut down or is the thermal protection part on the processor, like the P4. This is worded unclearly, IMO.

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Originally posted by marv
Could the "hardware-enforced" part include the motherboard reading the temp. from the onboard thermal diode of the processor, then the motherboard tells the processor shut down or is the thermal protection part on the processor, like the P4. This is worded unclearly, IMO.

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"The AMD Opteron Processor provides a hardware-enforced thermal protection mechanism.... "

Marv...I don't know how much clearer you can get. It says "The processor provides.......the processor is designed to protect itself from over temperature conditions by stopping it's internal clocks and asserting the THERMALTRIP_L output"

Not only is there no mention of "motherboard" in that statement, it's clear that the processor itself stops it's internal clock....not the motherboard ;)

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Originally posted by Almost Famous
"The AMD Opteron Processor provides a hardware-enforced thermal protection mechanism.... "

Marv...I don't know how much clearer you can get. It says "The processor provides.......the processor is designed to protect itself from over temperature conditions by stopping it's internal clocks and asserting the THERMALTRIP_L output"

Not only is there no mention of "motherboard" in that statement, it's clear that the processor itself stops it's internal clock....not the motherboard ;)

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So why use the term "hardware-enforced"? The Opteron appears to not throttle down, as the P4, but simple goes off at some temperature not stated in the link. Sounds to me as the on-die thermal diode tells the motherboard what the temp is and the motherboard, if the temp is to high, tell's the processor to shut down. Where's one of the guy's who understands this crap when we (at least me) needs 'em.....

PS I wouldn't be suprised if your right ;)

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Originally posted by marv
So why use the term "hardware-enforced"? The Opteron appears to not throttle down, as the P4, but simple goes off at some temperature not stated in the link. Sounds to me as the on-die thermal diode tells the motherboard what the temp is and the motherboard, if the temp is to high, tell's the processor to shut down. Where's one of the guy's who understands this crap when we (at least me) needs 'em.....

PS I wouldn't be suprised if your right ;)

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He He..while the first link wasn't too clear, the white paper is VERY clear. It states that the processor does it to itself. I'm not certain how much clearer it could be worded?? :confused:

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Originally posted by Almost Famous
He He..while the first link wasn't too clear, the white paper is VERY clear. It states that the processor does it to itself. I'm not certain how much clearer it could be worded?? :confused:

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The first link I found on AMD's web site, searching for "throttle" under the AMD Opteron page. The second link, locks the heck out of my computer, so I don't know what it is, or says. Think they know I'm running a Intel and have banned me from access :D

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Originally posted by marv
The first link I found on AMD's web site, searching for "throttle" under the AMD Opteron page. The second link, locks the heck out of my computer, so I don't know what it is, or says. Think they know I'm running a Intel and have banned me from access :D

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he he..umm i'm surfing on my intel lappy and it let's me...maybe the page senses your disbelief lol ;)

AF: Do you feel the throttling on the Operton will be as good as the P4????

I believe they had some kind of throttling in the XP but they fried at over 500f :D without a heatsink???

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Originally posted by Colossus
I know that XP did not have any sort of hardware throttling.. Well maybe it did but not the type that Intel has to protect the CPU... I have seen the latest XP's fry without a heatsink... I have never seen a CPU hit 450f before!!! Man, I can cook marshmellows on that :D

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I'm pretty sure it did, the problem was more that motherboard makers didn't support it. But it sounds like now that isn't an issue if it is enforced by the proc itself.

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Could the "hardware-enforced" part include the motherboard reading the temp. from the onboard thermal diode of the processor, then the motherboard tells the processor shut down or is the thermal protection part on the processor, like the P4. This is worded unclearly, IMO.

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I guess, but maybe a little more strongly. As everyone knows, a cpu doesn't control its own clock speed - it runs at whatever speed the motherboard tells it to run at or fails trying. So the motherboard is what ultimately has to slow it down if there is a problem. My guess would be "hardware-enforced" is just the processor's way of demanding to be slowed down.

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"The processor provides.......the processor is designed to protect itself from over temperature conditions by stopping it's internal clocks and asserting the THERMALTRIP_L output"

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This (I think) is different from throttling. The processor can shut itself off, just not throttle itself.

It looks to me like they are two separate features.

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AF: Do you feel the throttling on the Operton will be as good as the P4????

I believe they had some kind of throttling in the XP but they fried at over 500f without a heatsink???

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Only way to tell is with testing - but again, if it wasn't implimented when the Tom did his XP test, it can't be said that the throttling failed to protect the chip.

edit: THIS followup of Tom's heat death article should help. (Note the date)

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So, let's set the record straight: through our video, we revealed the Palomino's major flaw when it is used with modern motherboards. AMD responded to our video and will be setting new guidelines for all motherboard manufacturers. These consist of a modification for all upcoming Socket A motherboards, which are to be integrated with a special electronic switching mechanism to protect the CPU from overheating.

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Originally posted by russ_watters
It looks to me like they are two separate features. Only way to tell is with testing - but again, if it wasn't implimented when the Tom did his XP test, it can't be said that the throttling failed to protect the chip.

edit: THIS followup of Tom's heat death article should help. (Note the date)

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Yeah...like nothing has been done since 2001?! That article is about as useful as tits on a bull!> LOL

Granted... But I have seen chips that were released after 2001 that did fry if you did not enable the thermal shutdown at x degrees on the motherboard... So I know its not nearly as good...

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Originally posted by Almost Famous
And here you go straight out of the Opteron white paper here:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/cont...docs/23932.pdf

When the processors temperature exceeds a specified temperature, the processor is designed to protect itself from over temperature conditions by stopping it's internal clocks and asserting the THERMALTRIP_L output."

Is that proof enough? The whitepaper on the proc? I doubt if you saw it with your own eyes you'd believe it, but there it is for ya ;)

edit: that quote was taken from 3.6 on the whitepaper.

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That sounds to me like the thing STOPS when it hits a certain temp threshold...which makes it useful for not burning up your processor, but isn't very useful for saving your work before shutting down to fix the problem. Should be called clockstopping rather than clockthrottling.

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Originally posted by steppy76
That sounds to me like the thing STOPS when it hits a certain temp threshold...which makes it useful for not burning up your processor, but isn't very useful for saving your work before shutting down to fix the problem. Should be called clockstopping rather than clockthrottling.

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Like I said - two separate features.

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But I have seen chips that were released after 2001 that did fry if you did not enable the thermal shutdown at x degrees on the motherboard... So I know its not nearly as good...

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As a Sharky member, you shouldn't think that way. 'Its AMD's fault I didn't install my processor correctly...'

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Originally posted by russ_watters
Like I said - two separate features. As a Sharky member, you shouldn't think that way. 'Its AMD's fault I didn't install my processor correctly...'

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But yes it is AMD fault for not having some sort of protection on their processor... What happens if I transport the case and during the knock around the heatsink/fan falls off...

They claim to have some protection, but it is their fault if the protection is not good enough to handle a lack of a heatsink.. Sorry there is no if and or butts around that...

So Opteron has clock 'throttling' (more like stopping) capabilities comparable to Intel's during the P3 era.

Cmon AMD, you can do better than that!