Adjust TDP in supermicro

[jeż]

I have a question for people who have practically encountered the need for a low TDP. I plan to buy a supermicro motherboard with power limit PL1 and PL2 for my new unraid and I wonder if it is possible to change the TDP power of each processor to  for example, 30W or 20W?

Can I come down with the power that low?

Will it then work stably?

Of course, I know that there are T or TE line processors that already have a reduced TDP from the factory, but they are more expensive and hard to buy second-hand, and besides - in the future I can always increase the power of the processor myself if necessary without buy new CPU...

[JonathanM]

2 minutes ago, jeż said:

people who have practically encountered the need for a low TDP

The only reason to enforce low TDP is thermal dissipation limits. Reducing processor TDP will NOT reduce overall power consumption, in fact many times it will increase total consumption over time as all the other pieces that consume power must stay active longer while the processor is artificially throttled.

 

Are you limiting the airflow or surface area of this build for some reason?

[jeż]

Yes - I know that every CPU has to do its work anyway and it will do it either quickly or for a long time so in terms of power consumption it will be the same, but in fact the biggest problem for me is temperature and airflow noise. I plan to pack the server into the 1U housing with 5 or 6 HDD and 2x SSD, because the housing will only accommodate 40 millimeter fans so I cannot install a large, quiet, slow-rotating propeller as before. Therefore, I wonder - can I make such large adjustments with the processor myself?

[Vr2Io]

9 hours ago, jeż said:

I wonder if it is possible to change the TDP power of each processor to  for example, 30W or 20W?

Those are BIOS feature, I use it in Unraid and desktop ITX, but I never try 30w, typically set PL1 to 6xW and not touch PL2. I usually won't buy a mobo without this feature.

Edited January 25, 2022 by Vr2Io

[jeż]

Ok, but what does 6xW mean, sorry to ask, but that MB will probably stay with me FOREVER and I would like to be sure that such functionalities are useful.

Is it possible to see the differences in the power consumption after the adjustment?

[Vr2Io]

4 hours ago, jeż said:

what does 6xW mean

It means set 60 65 67 etc.

 

14 hours ago, jeż said:

because the housing will only accommodate 40 millimeter fans so I cannot install a large, quiet, slow-rotating propeller as before.

What CPU power usage or TDP ? Are you surer above handle well for TDP 30w + system power draw ?  I have 1U switch, it use two noise 3cm fan and I change to one 4cm fan, not easy to cooling and balance with noise.

 

 

Below are some setting result FYR, it is 9700K ITX Windows build, they are Intel_XTU and smart plug reading ( whole system power draw )

 

Idle

 

PL1=30w, full load

 

PL1=65w, full load

Edited January 25, 2022 by Vr2Io

[jeż]

So  it really works :-))) Thank You!

 

On 1/25/2022 at 12:05 AM, JonathanM said:

The only reason to enforce low TDP is thermal dissipation limits. Reducing processor TDP will NOT reduce overall power consumption, in fact many times it will increase total consumption over time as all the other pieces that consume power must stay active longer while the processor is artificially throttled.

 

Are you limiting the airflow or surface area of this build for some reason?

 

On 1/25/2022 at 3:03 PM, Vr2Io said:

It means set 60 65 67 etc.

 

What CPU power usage or TDP ? Are you surer above handle well for TDP 30w + system power draw ?  I have 1U switch, it use two noise 3cm fan and I change to one 4cm fan, not easy to cooling and balance with noise.

 

 

Below are some setting result FYR, it is 9700K ITX Windows build, they are Intel_XTU and smart plug reading ( whole system power draw )

 

Idle

 

PL1=30w, full load

 

PL1=65w, full load