Bios A05 CPU not turbo boosting

Hey folks, after I update the bios to a05 on my Alienware 17 r2 core i7 4710hq and gtx 980m

Cpu throttle is fixed, CPU would stay at 3.3ghz while playing witcher 3 for about 10 minutes and it would go down to 2.4ghz and will stay there until I restart my PC. Is this another Dell crippled bios? Any one of u having this issue? How do I fix this if is not related to bios. (180W psu) temp when gaming
Gpu- around 60 to 65
CPU around 70

 

You must request an 240w psu from Dell.

 

Sad to tell you but I'm not from us or Canada. If I am to keep using bios A05, which will kill my battery because of the hybrid power, I don't even know what I'm supposed to do now.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/aw15-17-r2-bios-a05-cpu-fix.778072/page-2#post-10036223

 

I tried contacting porras, nth work out, he said try contacting ur local support and I did it, they don't even care what I'm saying, all they tend to do was buy it.

 

Th

You can call Dell support and request support for your Trottle problem. They have to come home to you and fix your problem. Your laptop don't function properly and they must come home to you and fix it. This is not your problem, this is Dell's problem. If they can't fix the problem they need to give you a new laptop or money back. Call Monday morning. Don't give up. Call...

 

It functioned well, after I updated to bios a05 from a00, temps r the same, but the problem is that, when CPU throttle to 2.4 ghz, it won't go back to 3.3ghz even if I quit the game, will work if I restart my PC, a00 has no issues like this other than CPU throttle to 1 ghz

 

See my previous post. This is Dell's problem.

 

Link?

 

Do what I said in post #6

 

I know I need the 240W power supply, what's the problem with my machine? Coz I didn't buy my laptop in my country. I thought this is bios issue, coz nth happened in my previous bios.

 

what score r u getting in xtu? Do u suffer any throttle during benchmark?

 

I wrote in a post to @Alienware-L_Porras
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/aw15-17-r2-bios-a05-cpu-fix.778072/page-10#post-10042009
I haven't the crippled Aw models. I have the last function Aw17.

 

I'm not sure if my machine is crippled or not, but running witcher 3 with Gpu 64C and CPU 67C and no thermal throttling, limit throttling or power throttling, the only thing that bother me is CPU throttle. The power received is only 15W on the CPU. Checked in xtu.
What bios r u using? Do u have a 240W psu?

 

As I said in earlier post; I don't have the crippled Trottle machine. I have the last function Aw17. The Aw17r1. See my hardware signature in the bottom of my post.
Maximum Tdp at 15 watts is the same wattage as Intel U processor. One of the weakest processors from Intel.

 

try throttlestop, report back.

use online chat feature and quote us & canadian support page re-replacement 240v psu.

sorted

 

Throttle stop running at 3.3ghz on all core, only in games, some demanding games like witcher 3, CPU would stay at 3.3ghz for abt 10 to 15 minutes, then would drop to 2.4ghz, doesn't go up nor go down. I also need to sleep and reopen or restart my computer to fix the issue that CPU stayed at 2.4ghz even after I quit the game, so I think is a bug

 

ahhh...the beauties of having the R1!

 

This is work for Dell support. It should not be so on a so-called modern" high end "gaming laptop in year 2015. What good is that the processor has turbo boost if you can not take advantage of this feature? 2.4 ghz processor speed is not exactly high end. Your processor run under stock clock speed which is 2.5ghz Base Frequency without turbo boost.

 

When using ThrottleStop, post screenshots of how you have the program setup. Is Set Multiplier checked and set to the highest value? Did you click on the Turn On button? Seeing some pictures helps me understand the throttling methods that are being used.

 

i cant post a picture, some bug by notebook review. when reaches 100%, it will always say error occured.

 

Go use www.imgur.com

It is an excellent site for free picture hosting and you do not need to sign up to use it.

Post the Direct Link it gives you.

 

http://i.imgur.com/atFfR7L.jpg

 

Use ThrottleStop 8.00 beta 2 that is in the signature to @unclewebb Trottlestop 6.0 is old. Don't use it. You can post a pic of fivr and Tpl in Trottlestop 8 in addition to the main page as well. Use high performance in windows power options and not balanced performance. Download and install the latest Trottlestop.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329/

 

What exactly do I have to do with the throttle stop, don't mind me, I'm a newbie

 

Better @unclewebb can give you the explanation. I'm not so good in English. But you don't run Trottlestop properly. Read the Trottlestop guide I linked.

 

I don't have time to read that long, I'll wait for @unclewebb, I need short version to understand how to use it properly.

 

Video from @Mr Fox http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329/page-288#post-9987036

 

lol I never had any throttling, in fact I could overclock my processor and it still would not throttle. I only had the 970M and wasn't an issue.

People that cry throttle all appear to have the 980M, which is likely 25-30 watts more on the same heatsink compared to that of a 970M. Not surprised if Dell have imposed throttle keep thermals within a certain envelope, but they will not ever tell you or admit that.

 

The flimsy heatsink and the idea to use the weak 180w psu is engineers faults. The same is the crippled bios. Can this be worse?

 

Dell should fire their "right now" engineers and hired some one who is "experienced" and "interested" in creating bios for us.

 

@ Kaung hlaing - ThrottleStop 8.00 should look something like this. Having Task Bar checked is not important.



The important stuff is to have Set Multiplier checked and set to the maximum value, SpeedStep should be checked, clear the BD PROCHOT box, and click on the Turn On button. This takes ThrottleStop out of Monitoring mode and into active mode. You also need to be using the Windows High Performance power profile.

Those are the basics. When you are more comfortable with ThrottleStop, open up the FIVR window and use some negative offset voltage for the CPU. Somewhere around -50 mV is a good place to start. Reducing power consumption while maintaining stability is the goal. Less power consumption can help reduce the onset of throttling.

Interesting observation. Deliberately crippling the CPU to free up a few extra watts for the GPU makes sense. There are always design decisions like this being made without anything publicly documented. Unless you are one of the original engineers on a project like this, the chance of finding out the real truth is about zero.

I am pretty sure in previous screenshots that ThrottleStop shows the TDP Throttle indicator is checked. This confirms that the CPU is being throttled based on power consumption and so far, there is nothing ThrottleStop can do about that. After you are finished gaming and your CPU is idle, if this is still checked then that confirms that a power limit was set very low and was never restored. That would be the sign of a big fat bug. Your CPU will continue to throttle indefinitely. If you need to reboot to reset the CPU then there is obviously something seriously wrong that needs to be fixed with an updated bios.

Everyone loves Intel XTU but I have found that the monitoring capabilities of XTU is consuming too much of the CPU's resources. When you are running into restrictive power limits like this laptop has, I would completely remove XTU from your system and at the very least, I would definitely not be running XTU while gaming. ThrottleStop is far easier on CPU resources so run that when testing. No fancy graphs but the numbers in the ThrottleStop Log File are extremely accurate and will tell you exactly what your CPU is doing.

Edit - To get a screenshot of ThrottleStop, highlight ThrottleStop or highlight the ThrottleStop window that you want a screenshot of, hold down the ALT key on your keyboard and then push the Print Screen button which is usually to the right of the function keys at the top. This puts a screenshot into the Clipboard. The reason I like imgur is that then I can go there and use the keyboard combo CTRL + V and immediately paste the image into imgur and a few seconds later get a link that I can post. No image editing software required. This makes my forum addiction much easier to manage.

Edit 2 - Another idea is that if too much power consumption is throwing the CPU into a low power mode then I would try using ThrottleStop to avoid crossing that threshold. You can use ThrottleStop to slow your CPU down a little and this might help avoid your CPU jumping off the cliff into super low power crippled mode. On a properly designed and well thought out product at this price point, no one should be forced to use third party apps like ThrottleStop but in this situation, it doesn't seem like Dell is leaving users any choice. Sadly, many manufacturers have laptops throughout their line up, year after year, that are unfinished products that never get properly fixed.

 

But I like fancy graphs...
In relevance to the CPU not turbo boosting, here's my test case...

Witcher 1.06 at 4K resolution, unlimited fps, ultra preset with AA off:
(@ Alienware 15 - A05, 240w, 4710HQ, 980M, High Performance power plan)


Intel XTU ( undervolted: cpu -65mv, cache -65mv, igpu -95mv)
Only thing observed was slight current limit throttling,
and occasional dips as seen above.

Nvidia Inspector reports 99% gpu load, min 59'C, max 72'C.

 

Asking +500 euros/dollars for the 4980HQ and doing that is just fraudulous.

 

Nope, I have the same cpu/gpu as the OP albeit it's undervolted and overclocked with XTU, Nvidia +135 GPU core through inspector and sit 100% @ 3.6Ghz CPU core using Throttlestop 6.

It sits at that all day long gaming Pcars, never dipping below. This is with the 240v PSU and A00.

XTU benchmark taken just now @ 3.6Ghz max



XTU settings idle now @ 3.7Ghz



Op, get the 240v PSU free from Dell then follow my XTU settings by cranking the multipliers to max and incrementally undervolt both the Dynamic CPU voltage and Processor Cache Voltage Offset -10mv until c.-50. Also set the Processor Cache Ratio to max.

Hope this helps

 

@unclewebb
Thx I'll try

 

@unclewebb
I don't know much about how to under volt or oc my CPU, would be an honor if u can help me with this , I set all the options from the picture u showed me.

 

I would not recommend overclocking yet. First you need to find out if your CPU can run properly at its rated speed.

Most people prefer Intel XTU to adjust their voltages but you should be able to do the same thing using ThrottleStop 8.00. Fancy graphs are nice but I prefer lean programs so the CPU is not bogged down monitoring while you are trying to game. I am obviously biased so try both programs individually to see which one works best for you.

If you are using ThrottleStop 8.00, click on the FIVR button. For the screenshot, I changed a few of my usual 4700MQ settings so your 4710HQ should look similar to this.

http://i.imgur.com/k6txzpE.png

On the left side, Overclock is not checked. I think the default CPU ratios for a 4710HQ are 35, 34, 33, 33.

In the middle, click on CPU Core and then go down and check Unlock Adjustable Voltage. Adaptive should already be selected.

Go down to the slider that is below Offset Voltage and drag that slider to the left to reduce your CPU voltage. -40 mV should be OK to get you started. You can fine tune this later.

For the moment, leave the Cache Ratio as is and leave the Cache Ratio Min/Max as is. Click on the Apply button and it should show in the top right corner that your CPU Core voltage is now using a negative offset. The VID voltage reported by ThrottleStop should also be lower. After that click on OK to exit the FIVR window, minimize ThrottleStop to the system tray and then go play a game and see what happens.

@Xenow is also using a similar negative offset voltage for the CPU Cache as well as the Intel GPU. I like changing one thing at a time and then I go do some testing. Some people like to change a handful of things at the same time and then they hope for the best. Whatever works for you. If your laptop crashes while gaming or when lightly loaded then that is a sign that you have reduced the CPU voltage too much.

Edit - @ Kaung hlaing - I noticed in your previous screenshot that your VID voltage is quite low compared to some of the other 4710HQ CPUs that I have seen. That is a good thing and usually means that your CPU will need less negative offset core voltage. The other thing to watch is the C0% reported by ThrottleStop. When your laptop is idle, this should be less than 1.0% and preferably down around 0.5%. The less crap running in the background, the better gaming performance you will achieve. Some antivirus programs are brutal when it comes to loading your CPU.

 

@unclewebb
Do I have to set excatly the same you did it in the picture?

 

@unclewebb
This is what I did, do I need to change anything?

http://i.imgur.com/QrXKgak.jpg

 

You do not need to check Overclock because you are not overclocking your CPU. At this stage, you are just lowering the CPU voltage a little bit.

No need to be timid. Click on Apply, check to make sure the voltage changes in the monitoring panel on the right hand side and away you go. Click on OK and go use your laptop and see if there is any improvement.

On the main ThrottleStop window you can check off the Log File option so you have a record of your CPU's performance while gaming. By default, this log file will be saved in a folder called Logs that is within the ThrottleStop folder. You can also click on the Options button and then at the bottom you can click on the Log Folder button and save this information wherever you like. When finished gaming, Copy and Paste the log file data to somewhere like www.pastebin.com and then post a link here so I can see if your CPU is throttling or not.

It is possible that these laptops are right on the edge of throttling. Some laptops might work just fine while other laptops go over the edge and start to throttle way too much. Hopefully a little bit of under volting will help keep your laptop running at its rated speed.

 

@unclewebb This is groundhogs day from the M15x in 2010 isnt it
This system is actually much worse then that one. Sigh

 

@unclewebb
CPU still throttle to 2.5ghz while gaming

 

As far as I know, this is power limit throttling. There are many different ways to limit the power consumption of a 4th Gen CPU. When the power limit is set very low, Intel Turbo Boost becomes disabled and your CPU is left running at its default speed which is 2.5 GHz for a Core i4-4710HQ. This trick allows Dell to say that your CPU is running at its rated speed and nothing is wrong so you cannot return your laptop. Obviously something is very wrong. Intel designs their CPUs to use as much Turbo Boost as possible right up until they reach the 47 Watt TDP limit. That is not happening on your CPU. It is being limited to far less than that.

My Lenovo Y510P does the exact same thing but the method Lenovo used to disable Turbo Boost was easy to fix using ThrottleStop. It is not yet possible to fix this new Alienware feature.

Other users in this forum are saying that their CPU does not throttle Turbo Boost when using bios A00. Can you go back and try that one?

When I started working on ThrottleStop way back then, I thought manufacturers would get smarter and would stop all this throttling nonsense. They got smarter alright. They do a much better job of hiding their throttling schemes now. Alienware is not on my things to buy list. Their latest laptops are targeting a different segment of the market these days. Buyer beware.

 

@unclewebb The problem will still be throttling... As long as he has only the 180w psu it does not help if he try/use bios A00. But it is allowed to try anyway.
Bios A00 = 240w - Ao1=180w. Bios A00 is the version that has the best fan profile of all.
Dell has crippled the performance, both with bios and the choice of PSU. Almost impossible to make this worse.
There are also several that do not have such a big problem as he if they use other bios versions than A00.

@Kaung hlaing Can you post a picture of main page, Fiwr and Tpl? You use max performance in Win power plan ? And what is the max CPU temp under maximum load?

 

I was in a similar boat to you with my 17r2.

Dell support told me outright that these CPUs will throttle down to standard clocks when gaming or when the GPU is also used. I guess it is by design so it does not overheat. Not much you can do im afraid.

 

Temperature on his GPU is around 60 to 65 and CPU around 70. Although the solution to Dellienware is by design; The processor is far from overheating. Then there is no reason to reduce down to standard clocks and 15w when gaming or when the GPU is also in use.

 

@unclewebb
A00 is far more worse, therma throttle in that bios for some reason ", (not in a05)

@Papusan
I'm using high performance.

 

If you still shall/want have your Aw17R2, then you need the 240w psu. Call Dell again and recommend that 240w psu. If not; buy it on EBay or Amazon. Then you can use bios A00. Call Dell. You Shouldn't have a crippled laptop. You paid a lot of money on this. Maybe ask if Dell want this crapp back and you can get your money back... The laptop don't function properly. Don't give up now...

 

@Papusan
I noticed the CPU not throttling yesterday, I started doing this
First, I play witcher 3 then I realized I didn't plug in my ac adapter, so I did it, the performance is flawless, is running CPU at 3.3ghz, so I run valley and throttle stop benchmark at the same time, sadly CPU would throttle.