SP and cooler score

[sl910]

Hi,

After several days using my new setup (Strix Z790-E + 13900K), I get a SP of 104 and a cooler score fluctuating around 140-150 as shown in the BIOS ? Is this good or not ? My cooler is a Noctua NH-D15S and I use the Enforce all limits (90°C) fir the MCE setting. Everything else at default values.

Regards

sl91

[JohnAb]

From what I can tell, 13900K SP scores can be anywhere from 95 - 130, but they mostly seem to fall in the 100-110 range. So I'd say your SP score is fairly typical.

People do say that the SP score can change with different BIOS versions, so best not to take it too literally. The number doesn't really have a real world meaning by itself, but it's supposed to indicate how 'overclockable' a particular CPU is. So, it's more useful for comparing CPUs quickly so you can select higher scoring ones if overclocking is your thing. Not many of us have the luxury of being able to test and select from several CPUs of course. My 12900K scores 82 which is slightly below average for that type of CPU, but I'm not interested in overclocking and it does what I need, so I'm happy.

I think your cooler score is OK as well. I get a bit higher - 185, but I use a 360mm AIO so I would expect it to score higher than an air cooler. It has no trouble keeping my CPU cool and I'd say it is better than I need. At the end of the day, as long as your cooler does its job and keeps the CPU at sensible temperatures under load, then again the score doesn't mean a lot by itself. Just like SP, higher scores are 'better'.

[sl910]

JohnAb wrote:
From what I can tell, 13900K SP scores can be anywhere from 95 - 130, but they mostly seem to fall in the 100-110 range. So I'd say your SP score is fairly typical.

People do say that the SP score can change with different BIOS versions, so best not to take it too literally. The number doesn't really have a real world meaning by itself, but it's supposed to indicate how 'overclockable' a particular CPU is. So, it's more useful for comparing CPUs quickly so you can select higher scoring ones if overclocking is your thing. Not many of us have the luxury of being able to test and select from several CPUs of course. My 12900K scores 82 which is slight below average for that type of CPU, but I'm not interested in overclocking and it does what I need, so I'm happy.

I think your cooler score is OK as well. I get a bit higher - 185, but I use a 360mm AIO so I would expect it to score higher than an air cooler. It has no trouble keeping my CPU cool and I'd say it is better than I need. At the end of the day, as long as your cooler does its job and keeps the CPU at sensible temperatures under load, then again the score doesn't mean a lot by itself. Just like SP, higher scores are 'better'.

Thank's for the answer. Unlike my previous setup (11900K/ Maximus 13 Hero), the scores seem to be stable and are not changing with Bios updates, even if the CPU microcode version changed. I already made two updates on the new setup, i.e. unboxing with version 0401, then version 0502 and now version 0703.

Regards

sl91

[JohnAb]

Thanks, good to know 🙂

[Bukov_]

I have 103 sp and 165 cooler score on mine.

Bios says this about the scores: Aircooled= 130 | AiO = 150-160 | Custom water loop = 170+

So that 185 is quite up there. 😉

[JohnAb]

I think it fluctuates. The last time I went into the BIOS I think it had fallen back to 160 or 165. I think I have also seen it it at about 180 several times as well, so yeah, seems to be a good cooler 🙂