[SOLVED] PC/CPU is 100% without a doubt faster below 40c even with the same clock speed, with significantly lower delays between loading things ?

[Paulie walnuts1888]

this is a thing I'm getting more and more interested with as time goes on, there definitely are factors the pc utilizes beyond clock speed that determine the speed / length of delay between processes, it requires tremendous amounts of airflow and in my observation is basically impossible if the ambient temperature is above 75 but I cant be the only one who notices these effects. i also notice the rate of how quickly the cpu is able to go from 40 to say 25c or even lower is directly correlated to this effect as well.

There's a VERY noticeable difference in basic pc responsiveness if the CPU idles at 32c vs 25c, windows boots far faster, etc even though 30-40c is well within its safety limit the cpu 100% puts a throttle on some parameters to some extent at even that temperature. this is so fascinating to me. even on older hardware ive seen this effect very blatantly, the only thing i could compare this effect to is how animal's metabolisms work, cooler temperature involuntarily creates movement and thats more or less the same exact thing here. physics is awesome

 

[dorsai]

It's well established that electrical resistance rises with temperature, though the effect varies on different types of materials. It's one of the primary reasons behind super computers like IBM Blue Gene being housed in what essentially amounts to a giant walk in freezer.

 

[drea.drechsler]

this is a thing I'm getting more and more interested with as time goes on, there definitely are factors the pc utilizes beyond clock speed that determine the speed / length of delay between processes, it requires tremendous amounts of airflow and in my observation is basically impossible if the ambient temperature is above 75 but I cant be the only one who notices these effects. i also notice the rate of how quickly the cpu is able to go from 40 to say 25c or even lower is directly correlated to this effect as well.

There's a VERY noticeable difference in basic pc responsiveness if the CPU idles at 32c vs 25c, windows boots far faster, etc even though 30-40c is well within its safety limit the cpu 100% puts a throttle on some parameters to some extent at even that temperature. this is so fascinating to me. even on older hardware ive seen this effect very blatantly, the only thing i could compare this effect to is how animal's metabolisms work, cooler temperature involuntarily creates movement and thats more or less the same exact thing here. physics is awesome

Many things in the system can have temperature related performance curves, including drives and memory, VRM's as well as the CPU and GPU itself.

But also be alert to 'dead zones' inside the PC case. Those are areas where air movement might be limited. Like a vortex behind a rock in the middle of a rapidly moving stream where you see some floating leaves circling around, warm air just circles in the dead zones. When ambient temperature is low they have no effect but even slight heating in the case may mean the dead zones are much warmer. Cranking up the fans to get that tremendous airflow might be the time a dead zone is getting enough air movement to make an effect.

 

[Paulie walnuts1888]

Many things in the system can have temperature related performance curves, including drives and memory, VRM's as well as the CPU and GPU itself.

But also be alert to 'dead zones' inside the PC case. Those are areas where air movement might be limited. Like a vortex behind a rock in the middle of a rapidly moving stream where you see some floating leaves circling around, warm air just circles in the dead zones. When ambient temperature is low they have no effect but even slight heating in the case may mean the dead zones are much warmer. Cranking up the fans to get that tremendous airflow might be the time a dead zone is getting enough air movement to make an effect.

im surprised ducts havnt been used in cases yet, outside of those dell server fans with like 4 60 watt fans in a tunnel the concept of 16+ 120mms in a chimney-type duct seems incredible.

and yes, youre right, little known fact PSUS thermal throttle incredibly hard, they are rated for 45c at 100%! past that it goes down down down. vrms are obnoxious as well, they are harder to cool than the cpu or gpu lol.

 

[drea.drechsler]

... vrms are obnoxious as well, they are harder to cool than the cpu or gpu lol.

The CPU VRM is annoyingly tucked right underneath the rear case fan, many times even shrouded by a cosmetic plastic cover over the I/O connectors. It's almost like they tried to build a deadzone to block any cooling of the very hot devices hiding underneath. Using liquid cooling only makes it worse since there's no fan on the nearby CPU now.

Luckily....or maybe not so luckily....it's effect isn't subtle at all. When the CPU VRM overheats it's usually like hitting a brick wall, with CPU clocks being pulled back from upwards of 5000Mhz to just a few hundred Mhz.