Power Consumption & Temperatures

Power Consumption

In an IDLE state, a PC (motherboard / processor / GTX 1080 / memory / SSD) consumes roughly 90 Watts. This number depends and will vary per motherboard (added ICs / controllers / wifi / Bluetooth) and PSU (efficiency). Keep in mind that we measure the ENTIRE PC, not just the processor's power consumption. Your average PC can differ from our numbers if you add optical drives, HDDs, soundcards etc. 

* In red, Threadripper 2950X and, in blue, Threadripper 2990WX

I want to make it very clear that power consumption measurements will differ per PC and setup. Your attached components use power but your motherboard can also have additional ICs installed like an audio controller, 3rd party chips, network controllers, extra SATA controllers, extra USB controllers, and so on. These parts all consume power, so these results are a subjective indication. Next to that, we stress all CPU cores 100% and thus show peak power consumption. Unless you transcode video with the right software your average power consumption will be much lower.

BTW a recent MSI BIOS updated lowered the power consumption a bit overall, that is very nice to see.
  

 
So, the above screenshot tells us so much info - We use LCS. Threadripper is being stressed with a couple of 1024M Prime runs. You can see a reported max iof 52 Degrees C for the die temperature which is the true stress temperature. For the tCTL, look below. Below, you can read how that works. 

Threads and frequencies.

As you can see, once we stress all 16 cores, the frequencies start to get close to the base clock. A good temperature will allow XFR2 to boost a bit higher, and bad cooling lower and so onwards. We get a consistent 39 multiplier and thus 3900 MHz on all 32 cores when fully loaded under stress (1024M of wPrime). Mind you, four cores stressed can reach 4400 MHz per core.

Temperature Reporting

To keep a "consistent fan policy," AMD is forcing a 27C offset on all models Ryzen Threadripper processors. This makes them report the temperature a good 10C above what the sensor reads. The other models on the AM4 Platform have the same maximum tCTL value. The primary temperature reporting sensor of the AMD Ryzen processor is a sensor called “T Control,” or tCTL for short. The tCTL sensor is derived from the junction (Tj) temperature—the interface point between the die and heatspreader—but it may be offset on certain CPU models so that all models on the AM4 Platform have the same maximum tCTL value. This approach ensures that all AMD Ryzen and thus Ryzen Threadripper processors have a consistent fan policy.

In short, if you use any monitoring software, you need to look at the Tdie as temperature, it's the correct one to look at.