Alienware 15 i7-4720HQ throttling problems

Hey guys.. Recently my Aw 15 I bought last year May 24th I think started throttling down in games like Overwatch or any game at really. GTA V, Hitman, Overwatch, it will go down to 0.78 Ghz or lower from 2.5-3.3

Please help!!! This computer means a lot to me and was a big investment.


If this is unfixable and just a crippled system, I would like to see if I can a replacement or something.

 

I had the same exact problem. Now it is almost completely gone (sometimes my CPU would throttle to 3.2 GHz from 3.4 GHz by reporting current throttling) and this is all with the 180W adapter!

Check out my thread on this: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/early-2015-throttling-some-info-id-like-to-share.787044/

 

If you have a 180w PSU is going to throttle heavily....
If you have a 240w PSU it will only throttle when the loads hit specific point. I assume this is when the CPU and GPU loads spike at the same time.
They have redesgined the BIOS to allow for some of the current to be pulled from the Battery which may or may not affect the over all health of the battery.
Based on their own admission (to me directly) and their behavior (time line of events), the 15R1 and 17R2 have a design flaw in their power system.
BIOS A06 has reduced the throttling significantly however it can reoccur depending on a ton of variables.
Perhaps new drivers changes things and cause throttling just from the way the hardware runs.
Perhaps games you already have get patched and also run differently.
Perhaps new more intense games come out.
So because of this their supposed A06 fix is not really a fix.

With that said the only real fix thus far is to get a 15R2 / 17R3.
(The 15" model and the 17" model have the same motherboard. For example the 15R1/17R2 are the same and the 15R2/17R3 are the same)
Even under unnatural conditions (Heaven + XTU at the same time) the newer revisions don't cause the throttle. I have tried several ways to try and make the new revisions throttle.
So then I made a video showing that under the same conditions the older ones throttled. They immediately offered me a refund 13 months after purchase for the older flawed one.

 

If possible I want to get this model exchanged for Alienware 15 R2. I got this 13 months ago too. Will they do this for free?

 

You must accept a battle with Dell. Dell does not give up and will come with lots of excuses for this.. More like... this is normal. Do not give up on this.

 

Exactly like Papusan said. If you don't give up and show them evidence they will do it. They did it for me. However they arn't going to actively offer this to people or even train their support reps to recognize the issue. For obvious reasons that would be a bad business decision for them. Feel free to PM me and I will tell you how to get it done.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

 

Just wanted to second going with the more powerful PSU...

 

How do I pm someone? Literally just made an account to make this thread.

 

Bump

 

You need minimum 5 post. Then try pm @Alienware-L_Porras Maybe he see he is tagged in this thread now!!

 

@DeeX where is he from ?? he can use my thread, videos, things ive posted. and show that to dell.. but its more than a year. I purchased on august 2015..

 

Ok. I'll talk to him.

 

Alienware answered me back, they said I need a new AC Adapter. 140 bucks for a new one... Also I'm out of warranty. I feel like I'm totally screwed.

 

It is tragic that Dell can escape from this mess, without have to clean up after themselves...!!

 

what do u mean, they suggested u to get a new 240w adapter, or just they think ur current adapter is dead.. they are suppose to provide u with 240w adapter for free, this is complete BS...

 

The machine is out of warranty and Dell will never fix this although the machine was shipped with the weak flimsy 180w. Hard enough to receive a 240w Psu even with ongoing warranty. This depends what support you talk with!!

 

Yeah it depends, for me i just got it on first time, one support guy denied saying 180w should be enough, then i talked to his senior forwarded alienware link, then he sent me a 240w for free.. and it costs around 100 dollars here if u buy from dell store.. he should really talk to senior person and force them, if they dont accept then no other choice but to buy.. but for me i think even 240w wont solve his throttling problem, its the headache 4720hq.. lets see

 

Jesus christ. It costs 430 bucks to do business with out of warranty department for Alienware... I can't afford that so I'm leaving this problem alone. I have to make this computer last 4 years so hopefully it can do just that

 

well screw the out of warranty, so called one time fix plan charge its around 300 dollars here.. btw get it from amazon 70 dollars or less with free shipping.. hope this helps you
https://www.amazon.com/Original-Dell-Notebook-Computers-Flextronics/dp/B005EMQFNU

 

i managed to realtive fix the throttling problem on my i7 4710hq. i think that if you make the changes that i made, you can have 3.2 Ghz on four cores without throttling.
for reference: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/i7-4710hq-throttling-fix.792133/
warning: dont try to use my intel xtu profile. just create yours with a undervolt on core, cache and integrated gpu... something arround -50mv on each one. and set 3,2 ghz on 4,3,2,1 cores and follow the instructions

 

long time @judal57 , first he needs a 240w adapter anyway, and the undervolting method works for CPU stress test, when both GPU and CPU load is high, it still drops.. but anway let him try.. I had 6 different motherboard, all behaved almost same. I'm talking about my old R1 4720Hq

 

well, i have 3 ghz on four cores under full load of both (gpu and cpu). 3 ghz is much better than 800mhz

 

well i got the 4980 and god it's **** i have to under-volt and unlock and it performs as slow as 4710 If not slow . It's a piece of scrap hopefully the have to replace my motherboard because of a sound issue so hope they mess it and i can get a new one 2000 box for a 800 MHz CPU thanks intel and alienware -_- .

 

Haven't posted in a hell of a while. Regained hope I guess to fix this problem? It just bugs me so much!! I got such good performance and games and I just want those frames again.

I have the 4720HQ i7, 970M and 8 GB ram, does these specs warrant the 240?
@judal57 Can you guide me a bit on what to do here? Don't want to screw up my pc.
Gonna tag the people that posted on this a while back
@edymola
@VICKYGAMEBOY
@Papusan

 

i can help you using team vieawer, testing your pc, updating some drivers and choosing the best undervolt and clocks ...
but i am not going to write all that **** (if you want, pm me )

 

Alright, I pm'ed you. If I get the 240 psu I think I can fix the problem but not with this 180..

 

The 180 watt is good enough for the 970. It is quite rare to have this throttling on the 970M version tbh.

 

maybe my cable is just screwed up?

 

Good luck with Alienware Friend.

 

Nah that wouldnt cause throttling. It might be a combination of intel drivers.

 

after a long battle and many calls they replaced mine with the r2 and they let me switch the screens so i have a glossy 4k panel on my r2

 

If he is out of warranty he is screwed.

 

the thing is that with the 240w ps you can overclock and get more fps.. thing that is impossible with the 180w ... is better to have more than needed ... 180w is really something like 150W or less ... and 240w is something like 190-200W. the power supplys arent 100% efficient

 

It is true they arent 100% efficient. But the power mentioned is the output. So 180watt is 180 watt. It pulls more than 180 from the wall though.

I could overclock my old 970m with the 4720hq.

 

@VICKYGAMEBOY confirmed, the throttling is caused by pch overheating .... i am able to run at 3,5Ghz on four cores more than 15min playing battlefiled 4

 

Yeah, And Dell saved 30/40 cents when they skipped the cooling on PCH chips. Very nice. Dell should be happy that Skylake run cooler than Hotwell in their AW Echo models. Lower temperature in the cabinet help the PCH chips run cooler. Going cheap isn't always the best

 

If it is actually correct.

Other users with this issue should test it as well. Because often the throttling cases are also because bad thermal management drivers.

 

Yes, all stones must be turned!! There may be various reasons for this throttling mess. But if any of this can be solved with better cooling of PCH..., Then should Dellienware kick some engineers out from their job. They shouldn't pay and use own engineers if they can't do their work properly. Also, Don't forget the other flaws from their engineers. The decision to use 180w psu!! And I haven't talked about the Bios mess!!

 

this is correct ... the pch of this machine can reach 100°C in minutes ... not only is without cooling, also is near to the cpu.

 

97c on mine (6700hq, 970m)

Glad I only "rented" the machine

And yea, pch heatsink is absolutely necessary

 

maybe i will make a mod to conect a little heatsink from pch to cpu copper pipes

 

And with the older Haswell BGA chips in your "rented" machine, would the max temp on PCH easily reached +100C degrees!! As I said..., Go cheap isn't always recommended!!

 

I would imagine it reach 100c quite easily, being hotwell and older gen too

 

How can i check the pch temp?

I already enabled PCH temp reading in HWinfo.

 

In the Dell diagnosis tool in Bios!! I mean I have read that Hwinfo can't read this temp from newer Echo machines. But remember this Dell diagnosis tool don't push your hardware.

 

Hmm then i have to stress it before measuring it.

But after googling many laptops have high PCHtemps including some clevo's a thin metal sheet isnt much of a heatsink either. So not sure what to think of it. Intel states that max tjunction is 105c.

 

the lower temp, the better

a simple metal plate would suffice for keeping chip under 85c (check my asus disassembly)

the asus with small plate have pch temp below 75c

 

Have a PCH temperature close to 100C degrees Shouldn't happen in any notebook. This with a completely new and clean machines. Afterwards will the laptop be filled up with dust and the temperature will rise. You haven't much limit to reach Max allowed temp by Intel's spec on that chips. And your processor/gpu can still work within their temperature limits and a lot of people don't do anything as long they haven't problems with cpu/gpu temp!! High pch temperature are normally a problem duo a not so good internal design... or in this case No cooling at all on that chips. Bad internal design duo that OEM's want thinnest possible design + No cooling at all isn't Ok. Either make the laptop thicker for better internal cooling or use proper cooling on the hardware!! Ps. This comments is for all ODM/OEM's notebook models. Not only from Dell!!

 

so even our guess on PCH were right, I found that on R2 version, but I need someone else to confirm this on R1, u have confirmed, who else got R1 with 980M.. and moreover.. the joining method is not the best solution, since the heat transfers are not that great.. because the PCH heats has to pass through the cpu so it may make more heat.. just my suggestion.. so a single best aluminium heatsink with 1mm thickness with good.. and also I would suggest the backcover I saw on some Chinese Website.. passive cooling atleast.. thx @judal57 see if u can do the heatsink mod.. pm me ur skype id.. and drivers plays important role along with BIOS.. I'm on latest BIOS 1.3.6.. it has higher PCH limit I guess.. and some DTPF drivers are broken.. beware... I had tested more than 10 drivers from station-drivers. so far the windows the one with august or sep 2015 signed is best.. it could be the dell one's.. EDIT : another discovery LOL, even the NVMe SSD temps are freakin high.. sometimes around 99c. and FYI it is close to PCH as well.. I tested with and without it.

 

another thing, the air flow of the fans are not afected by removing backcover, so making little holes like the chinense backcover will help