Note: The information contained herein apply equally to all of the 8 Series Intel(R) Desktop Boards...
The Cooling Assistant offers you nine different automatic settings that you can choose from. You can choose to use one of these settings or you can go into the Advanced Cooling scene and manually set all of the parameters yourself.
The nine settings can be broken up into three sets of three. The three at the "Quiet" end of the spectrum (I will call them "Group A") utilize a PID algorithm, with Slow, Normal and Aggressive levels of responsiveness applied to it. The middle three (I will call them "Group B") utilize a piece-wise linear algorithm (again with Slow, Normal and Aggressive levels of responsiveness applied). Finally, the three at the "Cool" end of the spectrum (I will call them "Group C") also utilize the piece-wise linear algorithm, but in this case we (also) lower the control/limit temperature by an additional 10 degrees (below the processor's Tcontrol temperature).
In the case of the PID algorithm, it is tasked with keeping the temperature at or below the control temperature. By their very nature (you can look up PID algorithms online for more information), if the temperature rises very slowly, the algorithm will allow the temperature to rise all the way up to the control temperature without increasing the fan speed (this is what LimitingFactor is seeing). This is perfectly alright since the processor can run at its Tcontrol temperature constantly without any negative affects on its lifetime (we guarantee this). LimitingFactor is *NOT* seeing throttling as a result of this, however. The Tcontrol temperature is typically in the vicinity of 80c whereas the Tjmax temperature -- which is where thermal throttling is applied -- is typically in the vicinity of 100c. If the temperature goes above the Tcontrol temperature, the PID algorithm will aggressively apply fan speed to pull it back down (the higher the temperature, the more aggressive it will be). In addition, we set an All-On temperature threshold (typically 8 degrees above Tcontrol). If this threshold is exceeded, the fans are taken to 100%. Bottom line, it will not ever get to the vicinity of the Tjmax temperature -- nor result in any throttling occurring -- unless the physical cooling solution (i.e. heatsink and fan) is inadequate or improperly installed.
Many people find the PID algorithm a bit disconcerting -- or think it is not working properly -- because they don't understand it. They think that the higher temperatures are a problem, but they are not. Still, if you truly want to see a lower temperature maintained, you can choose from the Group B or Group C settings or you can switch to using the discrete thermal response and fan speed control parameters to choose an alternative. The PID algorithm offers a lot of other acoustic and psychoacoustic benefits. If you want to retain these benefits but want the temperature that is maintained to be lower, then use the discrete parameters to select the PID algorithm but lower the control temperature for the processor to something below its Tcontrol setting...
...Scott
P.S. For the Group B and C automatic settings, there are other threads where I have detailed how the piece-wise linear algorithm works, so I didn't waste time detailing it here again. As I said earlier, if you don't like how any of the settings work, you can always choose to set the parameters discretely. In LimitingFactor's case, this is probably a good idea anyway, not because it isn't working properly but more because it sounds like the default minimum duty cycle setting for the fan need to be adjusted (increased) for this particular cooler anyway...