This episode of Ask GN (#56) revisits the topic of AMD's Temperature Control (TCTL) offset on Ryzen CPUs, aiming to help demystify why the company has elected to implement the feature on its consumer-grade CPUs. The topic was resurrected with thanks to Threadripper's imminent launch, just hours away, as the new TR CPUs also include a 27C TCTL offset. Alongside this, we talk Threadripper CPU die layout diagrams and our use of dry erase marker (yes, really), sensationalism and clickbait on YouTube, Peltier coolers, Ivy Bridge, and more.
For a separate update on what's going on behind the scenes, our Patreon backers may be happy to hear that we've just posted an update on the Patreon page. The update discusses major impending changes to our CPU testing procedure, as Threadripper's launch will be the last major CPU we cover for a little while. Well, a few weeks, at least. That'll give us some time to rework our testing for next year, as our methods tend to remain in place for about a year at a time.
Timestamps below.
Timestamps
00:49 - “I call bs, that’s permanent marker”
04:45 – Karl: “#AskGN - Some custom graphics cards, such as the Zotac 1080ti Amp Edition, don't have wide support for full sized waterblocks from third party vendors. Is there a large variant in cooling with a die block such as the EK VGA Supremacy?”
07:22 – TheNexusAvenger: “Question for Ask GN: Something that has been grinding my gears a lot recently is a lot of large tech based channels have moved to using clickbait exclusively for video names and thumbnails. One that quickly pops to mind the (no longer named this way) video named "Ryzen R3 and R5 TESTED" by LinusTechTips with a more fitting name of "AMD Ryzen Emulated On R7". Do you guys plan to switch in the future to get more views, and thus more ad revenue, or stay with the current format and selection of videos?”
12:10 - Harrison Glenn: “Question for ask GN: I have recently gotten very into video editing, but I feel like my PC (6700k, GTX 1070, 32gb ram) is being severely bottlenecked when editing 4k footage due to my lack of an SSD. I am currently reluctant to purchase an SSD for editing, for the fact that it would be constantly reading/writing at 100+ MB/s, and I would hate to have the SSD die after just a few months due to me reaching the maximum TBW of the drive. Is this a legitimate concern for people like yourself, who are constantly editing high bitrate video, or should I not be concerned about this at all. And if this is a legitimate concern, would a better solution be to edit off of a pair of hard drives in raid, in order to increase the longevity of the solution? Thanks for reading my question, and keep up the amazing work :)”
15:58 - Anona Mouse: “Why, oh why did AMD decide to use a 20 degree offset on the 1700X and 1800X cpus? They could have just asked people to set an aggressive fan curve instead. I see the confusion STILL lingers all these months later.”
19:02 – Otterwise: “@Steve Burke have you guys ever tried any of the low-end exotic coolers like this one? [Phononic cooler] I'd love to see how they stand up against AIOs, as some of the customer reveiws say it beats or rivals them, and the fins even stay cool to the touch”
21:26 – contractor316: “As an Ivy Bridge owner, I've always wondered why the 3570K and 3770K are rarely featured in Gamers Nexus benchmarks. Is it because previous testing has shown no significant difference from Sandy Bridge, or is it a question of resource constraints (time, labor, available motherboards etc.?)”
22:51 – rarson: “10:40 PM @Steve Burke Why are there so damn many pretzels in Chex Mix? I always end up with a bag of nothing but pretzels.”
Editorial: Steve Burke
Video: Andrew Coleman