Can Intel® Xeon® W Processors Run AVX Loads Without Thermal Throttling?

When running using 8 cores, the temperature it will intermittently spike up to 100°C.

Normally, under normal workloads, it will be around ~60-70C, then, suddenly, spikes to 100°C, for a few seconds.

Running Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions (Intel® AVX) loads without thermal throttling on Intel® Xeon® W Processors can be challenging due to the high power consumption of AVX instructions, which can lead to increased heat generation.

According to the Architecture documentation:

1. Intel® AVX and AVX2: Utilizing these instructions may cause parts to operate below the base frequency and may prevent some parts with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 from achieving any or maximum turbo frequencies due to varying processor power characteristics.

2. Intel® AVX-512: These instructions can provide significant performance improvements but also require more power to run. As a result, the processor may run at less than the marked frequency to maintain TDP limits.

To mitigate thermal throttling, consider the following steps:

• Enhanced Cooling Solutions: Improved cooling solutions can help manage the thermal output more effectively and extend the duration of higher performance states.
• Optimized Power Management Settings: Adjust BIOS settings to optimize power and thermal management, such as configuring the CPU to run at specific operating points or profiles.
• Workload Management: Distribute AVX workloads to prevent sustained high-power usage that can lead to thermal throttling.

Despite these measures, complete elimination of thermal throttling under high AVX loads may not be possible due to the inherent power and thermal demands of these instructions.

For more details, refer to:

• Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer Manuals
• Intel® Architecture Instruction Set Extensions Programming Reference