6700HQ not able to reach 3.5ghz, always stuck at 3.1ghz

Before anyone says that its only supposed to reach 3.5 during single core use, I'm aware of this. Even if I put it a stress test like from Throttlestop to 1 thread, then I tried Prime95, both times my clocks never moved from 3.1ghz and they all were 0% before the test. The throttlestop author told me in another thread that my C states must be disabled, but as I read, c-states are power saving modes? In any case, there was no advanced processor options in my BIOS and no options for power saving things in the BIOS. Intel Speedstep was on but I don't know what that is. My power options in Windows are all set to 100% max performance. This is quite frustrating because I feel like I'm being cheated out of performance.

https://i.imgur.com/53AFDrX.png

I notice that in this picture, the 1 thread test seems to evenly spread throughout all my cores, why is this? What does use a single core then, ever?

EDIT: Just tried disabling speedstep and very oddly my processor was stuck at 900mhz and would not power up or down, it just crippled it.

 

@unclewebb

 

Have you tried to uninstall Intel Dynamic Platform & Thermal Framework Driver and testing without? This trash can hamper your CPU power / performance and clock speed. OEM's love to put this trash into their machines.
See also DPTF

 

If your CPU is only using the 31 multiplier during the single thread TS Bench test then you probably have your C states disabled in the bios. Open up the C States window in ThrottleStop with your CPU fairly idle and see what C States are being reported. Post a screenshot of that. You need either core C3, C6 or C7 available so your CPU can use the maximum multiplier when lightly loaded.

You can use the Task Manager Set Affinity option to force a single thread of Prime95 to only run on a single CPU core but there is no reason to do this. Even when a task is bouncing around from core to core, the maximum multiplier will be used the majority of the time and ThrottleStop will report this multiplier. Turn off any other monitoring programs when testing.

Edit - Here is an example from my 4700MQ while running a single thread of the TS Bench test.



36 is the maximum multiplier for this CPU when a single core is active and you can see that it is getting within a hair of that. There will always be Windows background tasks waking up additional cores while any test is running so you will rarely see the full 36.00 multiplier during testing. You would need to go into the bios and disable the other 3 cores to force the CPU so it could only run with a single core active. Then TS should report the full 36.00 for this CPU.

 

https://i.imgur.com/fWHl2EW.png here is my cstates. I see your processor is running at 3.4 or around there which would make sense its able to reach that most of the time during a 1 thread test. Mine definitely does not budge off of 3.1, not even a little bit.

https://imgur.com/a/hCMyS this is some pictures of my bios to prove I have no c state settings or anything really that I can do with my processor at all.

https://i.imgur.com/58tizmt.png and this is mine during a 1 thread throttlestop bench.

 

See my previous post. Try it. Also try fan performance mode in bios.

"Intel DPTF is a power and thermal management solution for device and chassis temperature and managing power delivery. Often the key to extended life is lower power usage, limited power means lower operating frequencies. Something that is not an issue with common applications, but in rare cases may have an impact on game performance"

 

Yup I uninstalled that and it did the same, but thanks for the idea. My thermals are great so fan performance mode wouldn't do anything special.

 

The maximum multiplier is being reported as 35.96 which means the CPU is using the 36 multiplier the majority of the time. The 4700MQ allowed a +2 overclock on the maximum multiplier. Intel got rid of that feature so the 6700HQ has zero overclocking available.

Your C States screenshot shows what your problem is. All of your C States are disabled. Did you take that screenshot when the CPU was idle? When the C States are disabled, a locked CPU like a 6700HQ cannot use the maximum multiplier. If you want your CPU to use full turbo boost, you have to get your C States working. Are you using the latest bios version? If that is OK and other users with the same laptop and same bios version have their C States working then the problem is with Windows. There is software available on the internet that lets a person disable all of their C States and some people think this is a great idea but on a laptop with a locked processor, it is a big mistake. It kills maximum turbo boost when you do this.

If you run regedit and open up the registry, have a look for this key.

Code:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Intelppm

Within this key is an item called Start. Default value for this is 3. If this is set to 4, it will disable all of your C States and make your CPU run single threaded tasks slower. After changing this, you will need to do a full reboot. Do not use Windows 10 hybrid boot or it will not reset your CPU.

The problem could also be with your Interrupt Response Limit settings. These are not setup at all which makes it look like this is a problem with the bios version you are using. Either that or someone decided to change the IRL settings in ThrottleStop without understanding what they were doing. If that is the case, exit ThrottleStop, delete the ThrottleStop.INI configuration file, do a full reboot and restart ThrottleStop and it will read the correct IRL values from your CPU. My 4700MQ uses settings of 66, 106, 145 for C3/C6/C7 IRL and the time unit is set to 2 which shows 1024 ns. Valid is checked for each one.

 

This is all very strange. In that registry key it is set to 3 so that's ok. I have never set my throttlestop settings to anything it was a fresh install of throttlestop essentially, I had just started using it so the IRL settings are just what they are. I have the latest version of my bios. I have no idea however if anyone else with an Alienware 17 R4 is able to reach 3.5 with the 6700HQ. I tried your IRL settings and it seemed to do nothing. This all boils down to Dell then I suppose? They must have disabled it in their bios for some unknown reason. Ugh. I very much appreciate your help though you seem to know more than anyone else on the internet and I'm sure this topic will be at the top of Google searches whenever they come across this issue.

 

its disabled on your Bios, boot into the bios menu and go to advance and then "performance" I believe is the name, then enable cpu performance and you should be good to go

 

Did you read post #5 ? https://imgur.com/a/hCMyS this is some pictures of my bios to prove I have no c state settings or anything really that I can do with my processor at all.

 

Thank you for this @unclewebb. I've been very curious about this as well for my 7700HQ (XPS 15). During normal tasks all four clocks do hit 38x occasionally, but when running benches it locks at 34x and sometimes hitting 35x. Also, at idle the clocks on all four multipliers do dance around 38x.

Would you be able to please confirm and/or correct the following settings that I currently have? I too am trying to get my multipliers to lock or stay at 38x as much as possible.

---

TS Main Menu:

Clock Modulation 100% -> Checked
Set Multiplier -> 38T Checked
Speed Shift - EPP -> Set to 0 and has SST to the right.
BD PROCHOT -> Blank
SpeedStep -> Checked

FIVR:

Turbo Ratio Limits are all set to 38x

TPL: (This is where it starts to get fuzzy, as I'm not sure if changing these values even does anything since it's a locked chip.)

Package Power Limits:
Set all to Max?
Clamp -> Checked?
Lock -> Checked?

Primary Plane Power Limits:
Set all to Max?
PP0 Current Limit -> Lock?
PP0 Power Limit -> Checked?
Lock -> Checked?
Clamp -> Checked?
PP0 Turbo Time Limit -> Max?

Miscellaneous:
Speed Shift -> Checked?
Min. Value -> Tried setting it to 0, but defaults back to 1.
Max. Value -> Keep at 255 or set to 38?
Enable Speed Shift when TS starts -> Checked? Optional eh?
Disable and Lock PL3 -> Check?
TDP Level Control -> Check?
Lock -> Check? (To the right keep value at 0?)
Intel Power Balance (0..31) -> Check?
Intel CPU -> Keep at 0?
Intel GPU -> Keep at 0?

C8 Menu:

C3 Interrupt Response Limit:
C3 / Valid -> Checked / Time Limit is 0 / Time Unit is at 2.
C6 / Valid -> Checked / Time Limit is 118 / Time Unit is at 2.
C7 / Valid -> Checked / Time Limit is 148 / Time Unit is at 2.

C State Demotion:
C3 Auto Demotion -> Checked
C3 Undemotion -> Checked
C1 Auto Demotion -> Checked
C1 Undemotion -< Checked

----

Thanks for everything.

 

Uncheck Clamp( in primary power limits and package power), Intel Power balance and TDP control as well. @iunlock I'm not sure of C3 IRL limit, because my values are:
C3 / Valid -> Checked / Time Limit is 78 / Time Unit is at 2.
C6 / Valid -> Checked / Time Limit is 118 / Time Unit is at 2.
C7 / Valid -> Checked / Time Limit is 148 / Time Unit is at 2.
Maybe @unclewebb can help to debunk C state values.

 

Sorry didn't really read anything just posted what i thought it was a solution

 

I need assistance with my own. I have a HP Omen with the i7-6700HQ as well. Here is some screens of my settings.

When I do a TS Bench with 8 threads it's stuck at 3.1Ghz



However when I do a single thread test I get 3.4Ghz.













I really need some help setting this up correctly. Thanks.

 

Load on 4 cores or 8 threads = 3.1GHz . No point in put all 4 cores to 35 on a fully locked down 6700hq.

 

Don't undervolt iGPU.
Your CPU is running as per specs. Even mine is same. Check out the link given by papusan.

 

I have reset them to this:




Are you saying that I cannot achieve more than 3.1Ghz using more than 1 thread?

 

So there's no reason to use ThrottleStop at all then? I mean there's no benefit I'm getting from it at all?

 

Read... How to Lower Temperatures, Stop Throttling TS guide.

FYI.

 

Ok so keep the settings I've got with the undervoltage of the CPU as that's an advantage?

 

Lower temp and lower power consumption is never a bad idea on a fully locked down chips. The CPU can run it's rated max Turbo Boost without throttle <if power consumption don't reach 45W limit>. Undervolt = lower heat - lower power consumption.

 

ok cool. I have done something and now it's stuck at 3.2Ghz no matter what.

How do I reset ALL values?

 

Exit ThrottleStop and delete ThrottleStop.ini file in TS FOLDER and then reboot. Take notice of what settings used <if> needed (sceenshoot). This will force ThrottleStop to create a new configuration file when it starts and it will read the current state of your CPU for its default values.

 

I've done this however now even on a single thread bench it wont go above 3.2Ghz...

 

Are you using Win 10 FCU (Fall creators update)

 

ThrottleStop don't alter bios settings. Post pict of current TS settings. And WinCrap X is a trash OS. Newer the worse!!