Alienware 17 r3 CPU throttling after updating bios to 1.3.10

Hi @rinneh @ZeneticX made a new thread for my problem. My CPU core have been throttling when I update my bios from 1.3.6 to 1.3.10. When I rolled back my bios to 1.3.6 my throttling issue have disappeared when I am playing The Witcher 3 and Overwatch but when I run OCCT, I get power throttling and my CPU core goes down to 2.97 ghz. It is just slightly below 3.10 ghz. When I first received the laptop I have ran OCCT before for 30 mins and there was no problems at all. Now after that bios update and rolling back I get power throttling and slightly a decrease of core clock speed. Would you consider this as acceptable and probably normal? Should I pursue to get dell to fix this problem and maybe a mobo replacement?

 

Maybe a problem with your power adapter resulting in lower power delivery? I dont know. Did u undervolt your cpu? If not try doing so and see whether it still throttles

Unless you still have warranty, it's not worth dealing with dell tech support especially when it involves a mobo replacement

 

Still in warranty.. Should I ask a new power adapter? I'll try undervolt as my 2nd last resort.. My last resort would be a mobo replacement.. The only thing that I don't like with replacing my mobo is the Unisys tech agent.. They tend to rush..

edit: oh.. forgot to mention I have already done the clrp chip reset / clearing bios as well and still power throttling..

 

What are your temps?

 

max temp on cpu core is 81 degree celcius and 70 degree celcius max on gpu.. when you updated bios to 1.3.10 what was tour previous bios? was it 1.3.9? or like me that jumped straight away from 1.3.6 to 1.3.10?

 

here's a screenshot:

 

That's a crazy looking graph. What are those spikes??

 

errrr what does that mean?

 

What's that Orange (or red?) colour graph that spikes all the way up and down? Can't really figure out from your screenshot and I'm on my phone currently

 

That shows its power throttling..

 

The processor have reached it's max 45w TDP

 

would that mean the bios update changed something and ruined the performance of my laptop?

 

It may well be Dell's contracted bios writers have made some changes to the firmware. Pretty comon. Not always newest bios is better than the last. Much that can become screewed. If the machine are dependent on improvements in newer firmware, can other settings becomes screewed up. Not nice if You must be stuck with old firmware who haven't needed improvement newer firmware can have for the machine or OS.

 

Bios update Improve user experience in Battery mode made me want to update the bios.. And most people here didn't have any problems when they updated to the latest bios.. Look like I got the short straw here.. T_T

 

@Papusan would it be a good idea to flash bios again but this time from 1.3.6 to 1.3.9 then to 1.3.10 and if there is still a throttling issue with 1.3.10, I will roll back again from 1.3.10 to 1.3.9 then to 1.3.6 and hopefully what ever the code in bios was missing or corrupt can be fixed.. What do you think? Or just leave it be?

 

I went from 1.3.9 tot 1.3.10. BUt I cannot replicate your issues. with or without -150mv undervolt. It can be a bad setting that is stuck in the nvram of your bios. So you can always reflash. But I am not a fan of flashing too often myself. Some people came across issues while flashing. You can go back to 1.3.9. Regarding the battery life. It didnt change a lot for me. Still around 5~8 hours depending on what I am doing.

 

Have you checked the power options to see if something in the High performance settings are causing it ?

I have a 17 R3 on 1.3.9 bios and I have never had it throttling at all lowest I get is 3.1G and highest 3.5G but I have a AGA so the on board GC is disabled & the CPU gets spoilt with both fans cooling it(controlled by HWINFO) plus I did a Conductonaut re-paste and the highest temp the CPU has got to in the last 9 hours is 48°C.

 

what cpu is this?

 

Be careful with new firmware. You never know what the new update contain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_that_glitters_is_not_gold

"All that glisters is not gold—
Often have you heard that told.
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold.
Gilded tombs do worms enfold.
Had you been as wise as bold,
Young in limbs, in judgment old,
Your answer had not been inscrolled
Fare you well. Your suit is cold—
Cold, indeed, and labor lost."

Re-flash down again. And Test.

The utter trash 6700hq
One of the worst low entry mobile i7 in history!!

 

All so I did go to 1.3.10 bios but after updating it and other drivers for some reason PotPlayer started to have a problem with audio sync and locking up in a loop and LatencyMon show it had problems with audio so I rolled back to 1.3.9 and did a clean install of video drivers and it is better but still have a latency problem sometimes.

 

All settings are I high performance. Should have not updated bios as this is the main culprit.. I might try going up to 1.3.9 and see what happens. As for temps I have already repasted my laptop when it first arrived to gelid extreme.. max cpu temp barely reaches 80 degree celcius and max gpu temp is around 70 degree celcius..

Yeah its the i7 6700hq.. This is my 2nd alienware laptop as my r2 was replaced to r3.. I would say I'm kinda new to this and still learning.. Thanks to this community I've learned alot and still is..

I'll flash to 1.3.9 later and reinstall gpu driver..

Thanks for all your help guys..

 

You can try a -50mv core and cache undervolt with throttlestop, keep reduce by 5mv if you see throttling by TDP.

Optionally you can also enable "performance mode" in the bios, I believe this slightly increases the power limit allowance on the CPU.

 

I did try undervolting cpu before using intel xtu. The max undervolt that I was able to do was -20mv because when running OCCT at -25mv I did noticed my desktop icon was re arranged and the settings in intel xtu was automatically set back to default.. LoL.. I have also tried CPU performance mode in bios when I was on 1.3.10.. What I noticed the fans were more aggressive.. I guess I can try The Cpu performance mode in 1.3.6 later when I get home it might increase performance abit and cpu core speed wont go down below 3.1Ghz..

edit: forgot to mention I have left the settings back to default and didnt undervolt as I cant see any benefits from - 20mv undervolt.

 

This might sound as simple as it is but it might help. Try reflashing to 1.3.10 if you're not with it, go to your bios then load defaults, restart then go back again and enable cpu performance mode. See whether that changes anything

 

why man?, it's a nice cpu

 

Yooo kidding? [email protected] is fully locked. Intel does not bin worse than this i7 chips. Previous Intel's low entry mobile i7 chips had 2 bin OC possibilities. Only [email protected] is worse. Aka The metal in the bucket

 

Completely uninstall XTU.

Download throttlestop 8.40: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329/

I will give you my INI file or we can schedule a teamviewer session.

I'll let the bot speak for now




I dunno though, I like living.

 

The 6700hq is fine. You only cant overclock it. Not everyone wants to do that of you consider battery life.

And it runs everything i need it to run. On par with the desktop oc'ed ivy bridge i7's which needed a lot more of power.

 

Use TS and make @3.1GHz BGA clock speed if needed for extended battery life. Expect better binned chips who will manage better core voltage offset. A vin vin for both scenarios. And 6700hq is Intel's lowest binned i7 chips.

 

Thats just hearsay if the chips are better binned or not. Its still a good feat that a gaming laptop can survive 8 hours without a psu for normal daily productivity. That is the same as the more light ultrabook with half the cores and only a 30% smaller battery with just 1 ssd.

 

I have been in contact with a dell tech agent as well to help me with the problem. The solution he gave me was to uninstall Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework and then reinstall the latest version from dell website. After that I had to clear CMOS again by touching the CLRP1 pin using a flatscrew. Ran OCCT version 4.5.0 and I still get the power limit throttling and the max TDP goes more than 45W. So I have realized maybe OCCT might be the problem as it is just stressing CPU too much. I tried installing Prime95 v26.6. Ran Prime95 and no throttling at all. I uninstalled OCCT version 4.5.0 and installed my previous OCCT which was v4.4.2. Ran OCCT v4.4.2 and there was no throttling at all. My conclusion is that the latest OCCT is latest update
Changelog : OCCT 4.5.0

CPU:OCCT

• Revamped test : harder, faster, stronger

GPU:3D

• Fixed an issue where GPU:3D would take ages to start on newer cards

MAIN

• The testing part of OCCT ( UI ) has been revamped. First step in getting the whole app revamped

meant HARDER, FASTER, STRONGER killing my CPU. LOL Also when I cleared CMOS this time around and turned on my laptop I have noticed my laptop didn't turn on right away. There was a point that I thought it's now dead. So I am guessing that the first time I tried clearing CMOS I was not able to do it properly and this time I was able to do it. Lesson learned the hard way again. LATEST NEWEST IS NOT ALWAYS GOOD.
To the people who have been helping me and giving me ideas. Thank you very much. ^_^

 

Yes prime95 shows no throttling on my i7 6700hq, its OCCT that gives me trouble. @Mobius 1 said p95 pulls in way too much power than cpu can handle causing burnouts. Try AIDA64 with FPU stress test enabled.

 

See http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/omen-1070-laptop-100c.801645/page-2#post-10467634
I would bet Intel would have put on 2 bin extra like previous chips if this low entry chips was better binned

 

Thats not a reputable source in any way

 

Oh'well. Take it for what it is. Just a pointing stick for core voltage used. Then you have to take a look at results posted around if interested. 6700hq is fully locked with fixed clock speed, so it should be easy to compare the results you will find. Take a look at what core voltage people need to execute the benchmarks. You'll have to do the work yourself I have seen more than enough to draw my own conclusion

 

BUt those are individual cases, one can have a total lemon, the other a golden sample. My point is, you cant just pick one or 2 examples and base a whole statement on it.

I dont know what the average is. But I have a 150mv undervolt applied on my sample.

At least thats my point of view. I do think its kinda sad they disabled overclocking compared to the haswell 4720HQ for example. BUt these CPU's are used in machines far too often that arent suitable for overclocking. All those gaming ultrabooks already have temps that surpass the 85c mark. Overclocking would be a warranty nightmare.

 

It's the core voltage used in the ends, who count. Not the offset used although the cpu can pick its own.

Would be better if Intel not fully locked the chips. OEM's could lock out the chips from overclocking in firmware level for their thinnest models with awful cooling. Those with a golden 6700hq sample and laptops with better cooling could have used the 2 bin OC, Intel offered with previous models. No need to fully lock i7.