4100 Max - cpu temps

[michmoor]

Hello All,
Made the plunge and purchased a 4100 Max to replace a whitebox firewall that i must admit is still pretty good and powerful but i want to support the pf project and its continued support.

I noticed that the temps on the 4100 are slightly higher than my previous hardware. When moving between devices i did save my rrd graphs so i can compare performance and below is what im noticing.

I am using the 4100 rack mount kit and its is the same RU as was my previous hardware so cooling or spacing isnt an issue (was never an issue before).

CPU utilization is more or less the same which is a good sign although there are some dips but its not consistent.

So my question is...For this chipset, is it normal for it to be running a bit hotter?
Previous hardware had an Intel i3 7020U Dual Core with Hyperthreading at 2.3GHz.
Ran on average around 47 C very consistently.

Also I noticed the 4100 Max isnt as snappy as my previous device.

I am on 22.05 release and the latest Netgate firmware is installed.

[michmoor]

@michmoor @stephenw10 can you assist?

[AndyRH]

1. Did the previous system have a fan? The racks I am used to seeing do not have very good unforced airflow and the 4100 is fan-less.
2. When I moved from an i3 to a 7100 there was a noticeable difference in the Web UI snappiness.

[michmoor]

@andyrh previous unit is fanless.
So moving to the 7100 (Atom proc) you noticed that the responsiveness was slower? If so that lines up to my experience and yeah its due to a weaker chip which is normal then.
The main concern is the temp. Its steady at 53 so thats fine but then again the system isnt pushing much traffic at this time and its hotter than the previous

[AndyRH]

My 7100 with fans runs in the mid 40's (~20c above ambient) with ~20% CPU load so that may be normal for a 4100.

[michmoor]

@andyrh I hear what your're saying but i cant imagine an overall weaker cpu (i3 to atom) can produce that much heat.
Because the temps are not rising and have remained faily consistent at 53, i have to say thats the new normal but the trouble will begin if i start to switch traffic over to the new path through the firewall. Over 30 IPsec tunnels and Remote Access. Thats the worry with that much overhead what does that do with the temps?

[keyser]

@michmoor said in 4100 Max - cpu temps:

@andyrh I hear what your're saying but i cant imagine an overall weaker cpu (i3 to atom) can produce that much heat.
Because the temps are not rising and have remained faily consistent at 53, i have to say thats the new normal but the trouble will begin if i start to switch traffic over to the new path through the firewall. Over 30 IPsec tunnels and Remote Access. Thats the worry with that much overhead what does that do with the temps?

I don’t think you should worry. The ATOMS are fairly old designs made for predictable and steady performance - even under heavy load because they don’t “turbo” the frequency.
A modern i3 has a much better single core performance when it’s turbo’ing, but it cannot sustain the frequency due to heat, so it will throttle back after a while (depending on cooling, and if more threads are using other cores at load).
53 degrees is nothing for a CPU core. Usually they go to about 100 degrees, and you should not worry unless the sustain a 68 -> 75 degree temperature.

[michmoor]

@keyser Thanks! I appreciate the replies.
So basically an inefficient chip as compared to an i3 but still the overall performance should still be solid and temps shouldnt be an issue?
I feel more at ease now about it.

[stephenw10]

Looks absolutely normal to me. Here's one I have here:

Steve

[keyser]

@michmoor said in 4100 Max - cpu temps:

@keyser Thanks! I appreciate the replies.
So basically an inefficient chip as compared to an i3 but still the overall performance should still be solid and temps shouldnt be an issue?
I feel more at ease now about it.

Well No, not really inefficient. Sure compared to the latest 11th or 12th generation i3, they are less efficient due to Being manufactured on an older silicon die node, But thats evolution for you. Compared to “same age i3’s” i would rather use the Word different. I3’s and higher are made for high single core single performance - achieved by turboing the frequency. This can make cpu performance fairly unpredictable because sometimes its fast, sometimes its in a throttle back State due to heat. The atoms are made for all day predictable performance, and have some optimizations for network/server type workloads that they can do with hardware assist. So they are a fairly good cpu in a “lower power” envelope for this kind of work.