> Or is it simply that delivering 200+W at load through a CPU socket can't be reliably done at consumer prices? It could be that the spike is the problem not t

> Or is it simply that delivering 200+W at load through a CPU socket can't be reliably done at consumer prices? It could be that the spike is the problem not the end load. The scenario in play here is going from entirely idle to maximum load in an instant. So the CPU is going to shoot straight from ~20-30w usage to 280w (or even higher if the power management is a bit sluggish at reducing the clocks). That's a pretty drastic swing if anything isn't entirely up to spec, assuming the spec even handles this properly. In theory the 3970X could even spike all the way up to 430w. The individual cores top out at 13.5w, so if they all end up running at single-core turbo frequencies even for a split second that's going to be brutal. > Anyone has had this problem with less high end CPUs? Something at 95-65 W? My 3700X in an old X370 board has been flawless. As has many others, Ryzen 5/7/9 are _widely_ recommended and have been for a while. Any systemic issues in the "regular" consumer end would have cropped up by now.