XPS 15 9550 Throttling

Hi,

i have been experiencing this Power Limit Throttling issue for some time now when ever i do anything intensive mainly some CAD rendering and gaming, so i researched a lot and found out that it is very common problem with XPS so i did some repasting and undervolting and put some Thermal pads on the VRM according to some guides which helped reducing the temps a lot from 45C-48C to 33C-38C for CPU in Idle and under load i get 70C max,also the Ambient temps are now fairly low 75C max (before adding thermal pads temps reached 93C)

After all that the issue remains i have some picture to show my temps while gaming cs:go medium setting when i am in game cpu throttles i tab out to desktop everything goes back to normal no throttling ????? (note that this happens only with IDPTF installed, when it is not installed cpu just stays capped for a few mins even though temps are not very high ) can anyone tell what is wrong with my XPS, i can't do anything but IDLING!!!, browsing and some coding without it throttling.

Everything is updated to latest i even did fresh windows install, i have the i7, FHD, 960m configuration.

the blue highlighted text (Fuses Limit,..) kicks in some times randomly and always when i stress test the system specifically with Aida64 what is the reason for this limit ? is it normal ?

some info and temps while gaming: (with intel dynamic platform and thermal framework installed)


info and temps while gaming: (without intel dynamic platform and thermal framework):



ThrottleStop:







Note: all the issues mentioned above started after i got my xps back from repair, dell replaced the motherboard because of a defective GTX 960M. before that i was able to play the witcher, gtav, csgo at high settings for hours without any throttling whatsoever. is it a software or hardware problem ?

 

That PL1 limit at 7W is very very very low.
You are probably constantly hitting that power limit.

Perhaps you installed the wrong version of IDPTF?

Do you have the DELL power management in some sort of Quiet mode?

 

i have this version 8.2.10900.330, A03 installed which is ccording to dell command | update the latest for my 9550 system

https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=NWWR5&lwp=rt

DELL power management is set to ultra performance

 

I guess it is PL1 throttling due to the first Ambient on Dell EC (which is the VRM sensor near the narrow grille between the exhausts) in the seventies.

> the Ambient temps are now fairly low 75C max (before adding thermal pads temps reached 93C)

Probably not enough? Did you try disabling turbo when gaming?

There is also the PL4 flag which is not clear to me.

 

i didn't try disabling turbo i will but can anyone tell me what are the temps (CPU,GPU, Ambient) for throttling to start ?

 

A few comments.

1. I think the -170 undervolt for the CPU core & cache are too aggressive for the 6700HQ. Search the forum but I think around -150 was about the best people could do without strange problems. Also, if the undervolt is too high the CPU will just ignore your request. The 6300HQ could be undervolted to -170 but that is a different beast. It has been a long time since I looked so do some research to confirm.

2. Your SpeedShift does not seem to be set. The main ThrottleStop screen shows you have checked SpeedShift with an EPP of 64. But I don't think that is set (you would see the letters "EPP" in green on that first screen and TurboFIVR screen would show SST EPP with a number in the upper right hand chart). One way to set SpeedShift when you open ThrottleStop is to check the two boxes in the TurboPowerLimits screen.

3. Why did you choose 64 for EPP? 0 is highest performance. 255 is lowest energy consumption. Around 75 (but you need to test on your CPU) will permit max turbo clocks but also ramp down CPU. There is a detailed thread called XPS SpeedShift here for more info.

4. In ThrottleStop main screen, I think you can uncheck BD Prochot & C1E

5. In ThrotttleStop TurboPowerLimits screen, there is a section called "Intel Power Balance". I don't think it is super well documented but you can find some information in the ThrottleStop guide. I boosted power to my CPU (I checked the box and set intel CPU=31 and intel GPU=13). You might try messing around with that. Frankly I can't remember many details there.

6. FYI - If you are running ThrottleStop, you can not run XTU at the same time or there will be conflict writing some registers. XTU is rather buggy with the 9550 for some reason.

7. That PL1 limit of 7W is wonky. ThrottleStop can not change that as it can not access third registers but XTU can. Close ThrottleStop. Open Intel XTU and reset to factory defaults. Close Intel XTU. Restart computer and see if that worked. If not, open Intel XTU and manually set your PL1 and PL2 and save. Close Intel XTU and restart. Don't use Intel XTU afterwards if possible.

8. Your short/long turbo time limits are also too short.

9 You can set windows power options to "high performance" if that is available on your version of W10. SpeedShift should override this but you never know.

10. One you get sorted you can use XTU to boost watts & turbo time limits. Close out XTU Make sure the settings match in ThrottleStop. I run a 6300HQ at 65W PL1, 65W PL2 with max turbo time available in XTU and that kills virtually all throttling; you will have less headroom with a 6700HQ due to poor heatsink in the XPS.

That is all I can think of for now.

 

That first ambient sensor starts throttling around 76-77C. That may show as a power limit flag rather than a temp flag so is a bit tricky.

I think the DIMM might throttle things when temps hit around 62C on these. That is a big gate for the 9570 but I think I saw it happen on the 9550 also as a "backup" gate which people rarely hit.

For sure the Intel starts locking down the CPU around 100C.

Dell has plenty of other gates but they are not so problematic on the 9550.

More details in the forums.

 

I know this suggestion doesn't sound appealing We could also suggest you to do the iunlock's mod to take care of the temperatures in the VRM area more properly. But I understand many gamers are happy with simply turning off CPU turbo, so that the GPU more likely can run unthrottled. Or maybe you find your problem is different.

 

i tried same result with turbo disabled it get throttled
i have already put some thermal pads on the VRM which is why the ambient and dimm are about 30C lower compared to before padding (93C)
can you tell me what are the problematic temps :

 

@pressing thanks i will test with these and report

this is XTU default what should i change here:

 

I don't see any issues. PL1 and PL2 are correct at stock watts of 56 and 45, respectively. I don't see any undervolt registered here. Exit XTU and restart computer. Don't touch XTU again for now.

Next you can look at the other ThrottleStop comments I made.

Once you get everything sorted you can try increasing turbo long/short watts/time in XTU; don't do that now.

 

i reset everything to zero offset to see if this was causing the issue but nah it is never that easy

actually where i am now the temperature reaches 35C so it is hot (even i start throttling )

i will check your other comments and report not today though it is late for me now

 

@pressing i did -160 undervolt for core cache and enabled speedshift like you said it was not enabled, as for intel power balance i didn't want to mess with theses values because i have no idea what is this and which values for 6700HQ are best, here are some pictures, the min temps while Idle and max gaming for 30 min cs:go medium setting: what are the problematic temps ?







which components should i put thermal pads on ?



this what i did, it is messy but i wanted to cover everything where the small label PL is written

 

I don't see sth obvious, except if it happens to be the DIMM at 62?
You could open graphs of some relevant sensors and check what goes on at the moment when PL1 power limit throttling kicks in. Tell HWinfo64 to save the log file, then you can open and analyse with log viewer. If you can produce multiple logs in different conditions it should be possible which temperatures are at the same level when the problems start in different runs.

There is also the on-line method - get the open laptop to the point of throttling, then see if local cooling at particular points with a straw gets it out of throttling.

 

Your Throttlestop says "Monitoring", I believe that means the undervolt is not actually turned on. Try pressing the "Turn on" button below.

 

You might remove some of the excess blue thermal pads you placed on top of components. Some people had benefits with thermal pads in the vrm area but I don't know if padding other areas is hindering rather than helping.

The PCH is an exposed die near the battery. I can't see it in your picture above, but it is closer to the battery on the right hand side. You might pad that to the casebottom

 

thanks guys for your help i will try out your tips and log the temps in different condition and analyse them, it will take some time