Anonymous Portugal

AMD seems to believe that given the advancements in chip densities, the overall CPU temperatures will continue to increase with future Ryzen generations.

The AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs are single-handedly the most efficient chips available for client PCs. The Zen 4 core architecture which they pack delivers massive gains in single and multi-threaded performance which comes thanks to increased transistor density and various architectural changes. However, the increasing transistor density within a smaller footprint is also leading to a drastic rise in CPU temperatures.

The latest Ryzen 7000 CPUs codenamed Raphael run really hot at stock specs. They usually hit the peak Tjmax of 95C when running any CPU-intensive task and require a lot of cooling performance for overclocking. The CPUs can also be undervolted and retain almost similar performance while reducing temperatures by a bit though AMD expects that this trend is going to continue in future generations as chip density continues to increase.

In an interview with QuasarZone, AMD's VP, David Mcafee, states how they are working hard with TSMC to optimize the latest process technologies to deliver quality and stability of their chips but since modern CPU architectures are doubling or even going beyond that in terms of transistor count each generation and getting crammed within smaller die sizes, the heat output will either be the same as it is right now or continue to increase.

Q. One of the criticisms regarding AMD desktop products is CPU temperature. The CPU power consumption is clearly lower than that of competitors, but the temperature is higher. Will these temperature issues be resolved in the future? Wouldn't it be possible to induce heat dissipation by attaching a dummy die next to the CCD die?

A. We are working closely with TSMC to put a lot of effort into process technology. At the same time, we must be able to guarantee the quality and stability of semiconductors. As more advanced processes are used in the future, we believe that the current phenomenon of high heat density will be maintained or further intensified. Therefore, it will be important to find a way to effectively eliminate the high heat density generated by such high-density chiplets in the future.

Also, if you look at the TDP 65 W product, it has excellent overall performance. Through these product examples, I believe that this is an important factor to consider when planning a future roadmap to ensure a good balance between TDP and heat generation.

Following is also a thermal density chart which shows how much heat is being pushed out through the smaller surface area of the die: https://twitter.com/harukaze5719/status ... 2933792770

Intel also believes that heat output for CPUs is going to continue to see a rise. The latest 14th Gen CPUs from the company are some of the hottest chips around which can hit over 100C max. That's led motherboard makers to expand the thermal thresholds beyond 115C which allows the chip to hit temps of up to 121C.

But Intel Engineers believe that it is to be expected and modern chips are designed in a way to sustain the high temperatures while delivering the best performance. AMD's CPUs show that despite hitting the thermal thresholds, the CPU doesn't actually throttle that much, and in a way, it's like saying that if you want the maximum performance out of your chip then you need to actually hit the limit of the chip in thermals and power. The following interview with Intel's engineer (via Der8auer) explains the perspective of Chipzilla:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9TjJviotnI

So it looks like we can expect higher temperatures to be a trend in the coming generation of CPUs from Intel and AMD. We hope that the performance uplift will be significant enough to make up for the higher heat output. One thing is for sure, cooling equipment manufacturers will be going the more innovative route with new designs for both air and liquid cooling systems.