TDP and Power Limiting (Haswell)

I hope this post will help with some questions about TDP and power limiting.

TDP and power limiting are not the same thing. TDP is a specification while power limiting tries to control maximum power. In just about every Intel CPU data sheet you will see

TDP is a specification used by manufacturers to provide a minimum power and cooling solution for a CPU under worse case scenario where power values are based on Intels own testing. For instance worse case might be based on a maximum room temperature of 35C and rise in localized temperature of 15C to give a local ambient temperature of 50C.

Intel seems to add more and more ways of throttling the CPU each new generation. Quite a few of these methods are undocumented but with some trial and effort can be sometimes worked out. The most common CPU power limits are PL1, PL2 and PL3 and possibly PP0 and PP1.

PL1 is the long time power limit and usually set to the CPU SKU. PL2 is usually the short time limit and set to 1.25x PL1 with shorter time. Unless the clamp bits are set, which they usually are not then PL1 and PL2 only operate on turbo bins. PL3 is a little different to PL1 and PL2 in that it operates using a duty cycle. From testing it seems if PL2 is also used then it should be set at a lower power than PL2. Doesn't seem to be many softwares reporting PL3 including Intel XTU last time I looked but it's been a while since I last used XTU so maybe that has changed.

Some CPU's can have their power limits changed. For instance using HWinfo32 this is what it reports for my i7-4700MQ

As can be seen both power and time limits are unlimited Unlimited in this case meaning to be able to program more power than could possibly be used, about 4kW and time up to about 42 days.

So why is it that programming the PL1 and PL2 MSR's to much higher powers than the SKU value of 47W does not seem to work for those CPU's that support it.

Well, no. We have just shown in the case of my i7-4700MQ that power limits are programmable and unlimited. It is indeed the manufacturer setting the limits. There are a least 2 other ways to program power limits other than through MSR's, those being memory mapped addresses and PECI and it does not matter if the MSR is locked, seems lowest setting wins. For instance PL1 and PL2 can also be programmed via MCHBAR+0x59A0 and MCHBAR+0x59A4 while PP0 and PP1 can be found at MCHBAR+0x59A8 and MCHBAR+0x59AC. The PECI ones though are generally controlled by the Embedded Controller (EC). If you are lucky the manufacturer might provide access to the relevant registers. If not, then an EC firmware mod would be required.


Some examples

Setting primary plane power PP0 to 48W, used for core power control


Setting secondary plane power PP1 to 16W, used for graphics core.


Here's PL3 in action. Turbo in yellow, real-time, sampled one thousand times a second.

Note how for the first 1 or 2 milliseconds full power is used before averaging. Could be very useful for a bursty application that does not use more than a few million clocks at a time. Although PL3 is a power control throttling is not reported as TDP throttling but EDP (Electrical Design Point) throttling. Here's what it looks like using fast power measurement sampling.


Using just PL3 on it's own set for 48ms 50% duty and 50W with a constant 80W load



Some results modifying the EC firmware.

I have tricked the CPU into believing it is using about twice as much power than it really is for demonstration as my laptop is only good for about 70W max. I use to trick the CPU into believing it was only using half the power it really was to overcome power throttling issues but this can possibly have some bad effects if running of battery, not that I use the battery that much, from life reduction, HW shutdown or even possibly fire.

XTU stress test for a few minutes.


One of my favorite stress tests, Linpack.

No power throttling at 140W (70W real) but looks like I need a new repaste


Interestingly if bclk straps were used to push the HFM to 3GHz or 4GHz then possibly PL1 and PL2 would not have any effect as the clamp bit is not usually set however PL3 uses clamp without option to disable it.

 

Glad to know that it's the manufacturers limiting things when Intel leaves them at least partially flexible.

That CPU tricking is beyond me though XD

 

Really it's quite an old trick. Basically the CPU has no way of measuring current internally, it relies on the external VRM to report it and how it is scaled. By changing the scale the CPU can be tricked into thinking it is using a lot less or even more current than it really is. Since the power/energy estimations are based on this current then they will be calculated lower or higher depending which way the scale is changed.

 

Ah I see. Makes sense I suppose. It's a lot simpler to think of it like that. In other words, it's a way to trick the TDP throttle in machines that don't allow full power to be drawn from the system, so this is in effect a way to get around locked-TDP, locked-BIOS systems? But how would you change this in a locked BIOS system? This is the only thing I can think of that would hold this back from being somewhat universally beneficial.

 

If it's hard coded then a BIOS mod, otherwise an NVRAM setting. My concern would be that used inappropriately it could possibly result in damage.

 

Hey guys,

About my laptop (Asus N550JV, 4700hq, gt750M, 16 gb ram), i experience that when i stop cpu throttling with throttle stop; Gpu massively throttles. If i dont stop throttling Cpu with Throttle Stop; Gpu doesnt throttle but Cpu massively throttles. So can i fix this with İntel XTU? Keep in mind that the throttling of both cpu and gpu are not related to temperature because by running the fans %100 both gpu and cpu temperatures never goes above 70 celsius even while its throttling.

Thanks.

Edit, note: you can find the main thread about this issue : http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...-gt-750m-throttle-80-celsius.html#post9860501

And here is the Throttlestop discussions about the issue in several pages: http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...t-upgrades/531329-throttlestop-guide-253.html

 

I responded in your other thread.

I can understand the performance being compromised if the PSU is only 90W.

John

 

@ifmyn, extract the files in Test.zip into your TS folder, shutdown the laptop and then power on to start fresh and run the 2 extracted programs. Click on Core, UnCore and Ring buttons to clear old flags. Run both CPU and GPU to experience throttling without any other monitoring programs running including TS then post back a snapshot of LR0101.

Or if the adapter supply is becoming disconnected perhaps, check that you are on AC the whole time during throttling. The battery should not discharge while on AC. You could also try running on AC without the battery.

 

Thank you master. I will test this when i go home as soon as possible. My adapter is 120 watt and always connected that i have checked. I also tried with different power points and got the same. My theory is that mainboard or BIOS software cant handle high CPU + High Gpu power both high load at the same time. because if Gpu throttle; cpu is ok and if cpu throttle; gpu is ok. But this is an engineering fault/shame from Asus. Because you sell a product but it dont work what you advertise. Is teher any possibility to return this product?

 

What I mean by disconnected is that the adapter is not providing power or enough current to the laptop. This could be a fault with the DC cable, the connector, the laptop connector or the adapter itself. Testing with the battery removed may help identify if this is the case but do be aware that the laptop may just switch off.

 

If you have a 120W PSU then there's no need for performance throttling with your hardware configuration on account of the PSU power capacity.

However, that requires my other point, that the system is clever enough to know the PSU capacity is sufficient. Some notebook manufacturers include a centre pin on the PSU power plug so that the BIOS can read a chip in the PSU which indicates the power rating. Does your notebook include this (in which case the BIOS info may also include the connected PSU rating)? Also, what the the DC power rating on the bottom of the computer.

Your ability to return a product that doesn't perform as expected is likely to depend on the consumer legislation in the country you are in. If you in UK then the Sale of Goods Act would apply.

John

 

Unfortunately this models battery is inside and removing it breaks the warranty. If this information helps: If i unplug the adapter while in game; fps drops massively; maybe that mean adapter and the related components are ok.

I will check BIOS if there is such informations/setting about power/adapter. And inform you with the related information.


Thank you masters, i will inform you about what happens.

 

Dear master,
I have did like you said, here is the SS:

Temperature was nearly 70 celsius but as you see gpu throttles very very bad.



Dear John,

I have checked what you said: There is no any setting or information on BIOS I have checked laptop bottom and like the adaptor laptop is 120 w same with adaptor.

Thank you all.

 

Perhaps you should ask Asus technical support why the computer appears to have a built-in power limit which is throttling the CPU when the GPU is under load in order to keep the total power consumption way below the PSU power rating (I wonder if someone carelessly copied some code from a system with a 90W power limit). One possible reason that Asus might respond with is that they leave an allowance for battery charging. However, that's a poor excuse because other manufacturers manage the charge rate to keep within the system power limit.

One other piece of evidence would the the power drain from the mains socket as indicated by a plug-in mains power meter (such as this). Observations of the power used under different operating conditions would strengthen the argument with technical support.

John

 

@ifmyn, I can see no real attempt of your laptop trying to limit the CPU.

Did you check that the laptop indicated it was never running on battery?
What nvidia driver are you using, have you tried the latest one?

Try downloading "furmark" and running that in windowed mode to give a fairly constant GPU load and try setting the the nvidia control panel 3D global settings to use high performance nvidia processor, power management to prefer maximum performance, and vertical sync off.

 

Ok masters, i have solved gpu throttling:

Just downgrade the BIOS to older versions. I have done it to 206 and Gpu doesnt throttle, performance is nearly what it should be. But Cpu still throttle although temperature is not above 60 celsius. Throttle stop software still needed for cpu throttling, but this solves gpu throttling. So;

1- This is not a hardware issue, just a BIOS software issue.
2- This issue is with BIOS version 208.
3- This is a poor engineering from Asus engineers that laptop cant give the performance which it should. Meanningless throttling kills performance %50 and more.
4- I have spent more then 1 month of my free time to solve this poor software engineering.
5- I have not tried older then 206 BIOS versions but with older versions maybe also meaningless Cpu throttling does not exist.
6- I have to still use throttle stop software to stop Cpu throttling (if i try older BIOS versions maybe i dont need)
7- Shame on Asus engineers.
8- Shame On asus Enginers.
9- Shame On Asus Engineers.
10- SHAME ON ASUS ENGİNEERS.

 

Hello, I'm new here. If you don't mind, could you point me to some resources on how to go about doing this. I have a haswell tablet that is power limit throttling very heavily and I would like to trick the CPU into believing it is using less power than it really is. I have modified my bios to unlock hidden pages and have access to the EFI variables, but I have not seen any variables in the decompressed bios file which define the power units.

Any pointers?

 

What is the CPU temperature when under load and can you see any thermal rules in the BIOS?

Temperature is the the way I would manage the throttling if I were designing the tablet.

John

 

It seems the tablet was designed by utterly incompetent people.(It is a lenovo miix 2 11, btw) The CPU temperature under load is only 50C. GPU is similar.

In bios, the tablet is set to start throttling at about 90C, I have already tried stress testing with all thermal rules disabled and the results were the same.

Under medium to high load Intel XTU reports 100% Power Limit throttling. When throttling bit 9 is set in MSR 0x690 (MSR_CORE_PERF_LIMIT_RE
ASONS) and same bit is also set in 0x6B0 (MSR_GRAPHICS_PERF_LIMIT_REASONS). According to intel, this bit "When set, frequency is reduced below the operating system
request due to domain-level power limiting."

Any ideas on how to get around this? (Setting the turbo power limits manually in bios has no effect, none of the power limits that can be set in MSR have an effect at all, I have concluded)
It seems the engineers just figured they would limit the whole cpu/gpu package to 4.5W SDP and never be able to reach the 11.5W TDP.

Edit: I also tried disconnecting the tablet battery and running it straight with the 40W power supply, but the same power throttling behavior could be observed. Very strange as there would be more than enough power to run at the TDP of 11.5W.

 

It does appear that your tablet was excessively locked down to unnecessarily low power. I can understand this being done when running on battery (in order to keep the battery run time statistics looking better) but not for mains power.

After your post yesterday I ran wPrime 1024 on my Acer Iconia Windows tablet and observed slight throttling of one core when the CPU temperature exceeded 70C. However, that Z2760 CPU has a TDP of not more than 3W so it wouldn't need to be power limited. At 70C CPU temperature the back of the tablet was warm, but not hot which does suggest that Lenovo designers were being very conservative.

If you can't find any settings in the BIOS then perhaps the power limit is defined using components on the board.

John

 

Thank you John for testing with your own tablet and confirming that the Power Limit throttling on this tablet is indeed excessive.

As I have limited knowledge of the hardware I'm struggling to understand where the power is being limited exactly, but there is definitely no BIOS setting(that is a part of the end-user OR manufacturer BIOS GUI) that is limiting the power. There may still be hidden settings that is not part of the BIOS interface.

I have had success with preventing throttling of the CPU - by setting the clamp bit in to '0' in MCHBAR at offset 0x59A0 (The PL1 clamp bit). This prevents the CPU from clocking down to less than the base clock(so I can stay at 1.6ghz!).

But the power limit throttle signal is still being sent in the system, so the haswell GPU will be throttled very heavily -- to the point that the windows GUI gets laggy. This does however let the combined cpu-gpu power dissipation go to 8W when using both CPU and GPU burn stress tests at the same time. So that means that the hardware is at least able to supply 8W without crashing! (and it wouldn't surprise me it was able to supply much more, the 4.5W limit seems like a completely artificial one set by Lenovo)

That leads me to think that using the technique of 'tricking' the CPU that the power usage is much lower than it is which Dufus used in his original post might be a way to avoid the excessive throttling Lenovo has put on this system.

If someone with technical expertise can give their input I would be willing to donate $50 worth of Bitcoin if the information given leads to a solution. (It would be a shame to have to sell the tablet since I just got it)

 

Hello Dufus,

I need help to trick my CPU to "think" just using 25Watt (instead of the real 51W) in Performance Profile1.
I will be happy to pay for a working solution.
I am aware of the risk, I am using Performance profile1 just on AC Adapter without battery and I will watch the temperatures.
Dell 7447 Pandora i7-4710HQ, GTX850M(4GBDDR3), FullHD IPS, 16GB DDR3L.

CPU is throttling if I stress CPU and GPU simultaneously. My guess = power restrictions (PP0) because of the AC Adapter 90Watt.
So I bought a new Dell AC Adapter with 150Watt, problem still exist.
I undervolted CPU Core & Cache by -70mV Offset, Problem less worse but still exist.
Use of throttlestop to stop CPU throttling (set multiplier to 35) works verry well BUT
if I do, the GPU is throttling verry bad (at just 60 Deg Celsius).
So I tested further and I saw, if CPU is using just 25Watt, the GPU is NOT throttling.
That is why I am confident that my Problem will be solved if the CPU can be tricked in thinking use just 25Watt.
May with that trick thermal throttling of CPU can happen but I will do a repaste and cooling pad if thermal throttling starts to kick in.

Thanks a lot

Marcus

 

bellow GPU throttling while stress CPU+GPU. Temperature CPU 81 Celsius, GPU 50 Celsius.

GPU Throttling Just 50Grad, CPU Near Fullspeed, Just 82Grad by MarcusC posted Aug 8, 2015 at 3:13 AM

 

I'm experiencing the exact same behaviour with my acer laptop, with an i5-4210u + Ge840M. Both components can work at 100% load for unlimited time, separately. But if used simultaneously, throttling occurs. I've done a lot of experimenting, but no success eliminating this behaviour. In my case, I'm kind of sure the PECI is responsible for this throttling. Since I have unlocked BIOS, i can set virtually any power limit and idling multiplier, wich works correctly, but as soon as the GPU gets utilized i got traces of something is mangling under the hood (looks like CPU goes to PL1, instead of the 2.4Ghz idling multi it instantly drops to 0.8 if not utilized) and after a short time (30-40s) throttling occurs. Temps does not even hit 70C for any component.

Could You try something out: Disable the nvidia GPU in device manager, and then try to stress the CPU. I've noticed if i do this, the 4210u-s capability to run @100% for unlimited time dissapears, and it throttles back to 15W after the short time limit expires. when the nvidia GPU is enabled, the CPU itself can consume 22W+ for unlimited time.

I would be very happy if i could utilize 100% the hardware what i've paid for, but according acer tech support "this is normal behaviour"... BS.

I can share my observations with Dufus if it would help getting a solution.

 

@ Iakondas
I disabled the gtx850 GPU in device Manager, no effect.
My CPU is still able to run at full Turbo Speed under 100% load if just stressed without GPU.

However, may your AC Adapter is not powerful enough?
To power simultaneously 100% load on CPU i5-4210u (22Watt)+GPU 840m (30Watt) + Notebook Display, board, wlan, etc (20Watt?!)
= 72Watt total

With the following trick I have NO THROTTLING but my Notebook still don't wanne use more than 90 Watt out of the new 150Watt AC Adapter.
1. place the charged battery in the Laptop + connect the AC Adapter
2. deactivate wlan, bluetooth and connect Notebook HDMI to TV (use TV instead of Notebook Display)
3. stress CPU+GPU.
Less throttling with that trick, the battery is draining (more than 1%)??
Meaning: your AC Adapter is to weak = get a one with more watt and more ampere but SAME VOLT!!!
But be aware that you may stuck like me, with a powerful new 150Watt AC and the Notebook keeps using just 90 Watt.

May unlocked Bios will solve my Problem.
How to unlock a Bios? My Notebook is rare and I can't find preunlocked Bios because of this "unique" factor.

I got a original and new Dell 150Watt AC Adapter for 35 AU$ at batterymall.co.nz. So 60Watt more power than original 90Watt AC Adapter.
batterymall.co.nz ship even ACER AC's worldwide, parcel comes ussally from Singapore.

 

I use the laptop with external screen via HDMI all the time (without using built in), also i could stress the CPU 100% but keep the power consumption just a bit above 15W. My power brick is weak (60W) but since it can hold the simultaneous load without draining the battery for 30-40 sec (until the throttling kicks in), i guess the throttling is not induced by the weak brick. Maybe i will try to deactivate the wifi too, but i bet the cards consumption does not exceed 1W at all.

Regarding the bios mod, my machine is rare too and did not have modded bios available, but i've requested a mod at bios-mods.com, and BDMaster made it for me in a few hours. The bigger problem is, that nowadays laptop manufacturers tend to block the EEPROM from unathorized writing, just like in my case. Currently the workaround for that is to program the chip directly with hardware programmer, but that needs quite extra effort (Also i don't understand this restriction wither, because the official tool CAN write somehow, while FPT is unable to write it).

Any way i was lucky to find out that after a sleep-wake cycle in W8.1, the write protection is gone Maybe this will be useful for you too, anyways head over there and I'm sure he will help you too.

 

SOLVED TDP and Power Limiting (Haswell) SOLVED the easy way

big Thanks to throttlestop 8.0 and a more powerful 150 Watt Dell AC Adapter (60Watt more than original, just to be safe for experiments)
1. deactivate C1E
2. activate clock Modulation 100%
3. in TPL (Turbo Power Limits)
> higher package power Limits (my i7-4710HQ Package Power Long 54Watt, Package Power Short 68Watt)
> higher PP0 Current Limit (if possible), higher PP0 Power Limit lock and clamp it (just set the Maximum rated AC (PSU) power of you AC)
> tick Intel Power Balance and set Intel CPU and Intel GPU to 31
4. undervolting CPU Core & CPU Cache Offset Voltage by xy (my i7-4710HQ rockstable -70mV)

Best regards,

Marcus Conrad

TPL by MarcusC posted Aug 8, 2015 at 4:10 AM

FIVR by MarcusC posted Aug 8, 2015 at 4:10 AM

 

Dang, looks like I missed out on $500.


Only joking Tricking the CPU isn't a very elegant way to overcome power throttling. While your BIOS does support this trick without re-flashing I don't know if Dell have it locked down to prevent that. Glad you got it sorted by a much better method. Well done.

 

Elegant or not, I am willing to contribute if I get a solution for my new Problem.

Machine:
DELL 7447 (Pandora) Notebook with i7-4710HQ, GTX850m(4GBDDR3), 16GB DDR3L, FHD IPS
Current:
HWInfo64 deinstalled, registry cleaned, still unable to bug the tough fellow EC again.
PL2 is triggered until it consumes just 25Watt (max is about 55 Watt)
Problem:
Original Dell 150Watt AC (PSU) is just providing 90Watt like the old 90Watt AC (PSU), before reading from the EC (Embedded Controller) the AC (PSU) was providing max of 120 Watt.
100% sure, HWInfo64 was trickering this Problem through activaite and read the EC (Embedded Controller).
I just quess, somehow the trick above was triggering some kind of bug until HWINFO64 requested read from the EC (Embedded Controller).

I still can use 100%load on GPU+CPU without throttling. Thanks to Throttlestop 8.0 BUT just with combination of AC(PSU) + battery which is draining, last for 1 hour, 52 minutes.

May deactivate EC (Embedded Controller), may PL2 and or EDP modification help, may an other trick to suck more power out of the new 150Watt AC (PSU).
May a unlocked Bios help, what I don't have and probably I don't need because somehow I was triggering this kind of bug with the current BIOS.

Best regards,

Marcus Conrad

 

Best way to contribute would be to post in the Throttlestop thread with some screen shots. Unclewebb is very helpful and very experienced with throttling Dell laptops

Seem to vaguely recall there have been some strange problems with Dell adapters. How does it run if the battery is not present?

 

I use all my Laptops just with AC (at home) and with battery (mobile). Thats my way to extend batterylife

However, COULD YOUR EC, PL2 or EDP mod be a solution for my Problem?
Do I need a unlocked BIOS before?
(to modify values for maximum current in order to suck more Watt out of the 150Watt AC (PSU)?
Was your EC reprogramming done by a piece of hardware? (not included in my skillset)
Or did you use Software? (may I am able to do so as well, if you could share your secrets regarding which software, which tables to change and which values to set)

 

Dell adapters seem to be a problem, please discuss this with Dell users or Unclewebb first as suggested. It maybe your problem has already been solved.

If you want to modify the EC with untried firmware best you have a backup of the firmware, an SPI programmer and good soldering skills.

I don't know of any software for adjusting EC values, it certainly would make things a lot easier and much faster. To modify my own EC meant downloading the datasheet for the controller, finding out which registers are used for PECI commands then having to go through the code and work out where the limits were set. It wasn't a case of tables but part of the code.

You would need to find out which controller is used in your Dell then debug the firmware by understanding the underlying code.

 

Hi!
I've got an AW18 with the same 4700MQ mentioned in the first thread. Is there a way to stop it from throttling?
Right now it does this stupid thing:



Obviously annoying... And this is on stress test, -80mV on core, -50mV cache. It's obviously not heating up either, staying below 80!

Please help! Thank you!

 

It can run higher power if allowed to. Note that the external VRM switching components need to be kept in temperature spec as well.

You might check limit reasons either with TS8 or HWInfo for a more defined throttling reason.

Check the usual MMIO and MSR registers to see what limits are set in those, RWEverything is good for this or you can use the dump tool listed by Unclewebb.

Here's an example of an i7-4700MQ running the CB11.5 bench. The CPU was drawing about 100W, over double it's TDP spec.

Spoiler

 

How the hell did you manage 44x multi on that CPU? Mine only goes to 36x :/

 

He did some BIOS hack...

 

How far you can go with the 4700MQ will depend on firmware, hardware and the CPU itself. Scaling on my 4700MQ becomes poor at 4.2GHz and bad at 4.5GHz.

 

Heck, I'd be happy to reach just 3.8 or 3.9! Any known way to do so on AW18 (R3)?

 

You'd have to hack the EC as Dufus explained above.

For your power limit, you should just adjust your limit values in the BIOS or via XTU. You should have the ability to adjust the slider to at least 100W, which I highly doubt your CPU will cross.

 

@Rimas Certainly not much point trying to run higher clocks if already throttling.

 

the weirdest damn thing was that after a crash my clocks reset, so I put them back to 36 multi and looked at the stress test. No more throttling, didn't eve have to undervolt so much!
weird!

 

Hi MarcusC. I'm also using the 7447 with later CPU i7-4720. I'm also really tired of the throttle problem, looking for solution for months. Finally found this topic and I can know the reason is the power limit. So the only soution is touching the bios to unlock power limit?

 

The proper solution is to properly modify EC and/or BIOS while working within the constraints of the hardware.

It can be possible to trick Haswell with regards to power levels without a BIOS mod, just software. The problem is battery operation. If a small battery tries to deliver much more power than it was designed to do then that could lead to explosion/fire if the hardware limits are not sufficient in such cases.

 

Hi Dufus.
I have read your first post, but I really didnt got it But if you can raise TDP on Haswell, is it also possible on Skylake i7-6560U ? I would really need to raise it up 5W, since I have in full load 70°C.

 

The jist is to properly raise power levels usually an EC firmware mod is required as well as having the settings available to change.

Maybe some of the techniques work to bypass power limiting but without data for Skylake I couldn't tell you off hand. I've never owned Skylake.

 

Hi Dufus,


I have even i7-6650. It seems very powerful and is equipped with quite powerful GPU in comparison to Intel HD, but PL is really suffering. It even doesn't allow Iris GPU only to run at full speed once PL1 applies, and if runs with CPU cores simultaneously they are throttled down to just 1,2GHz (max. freq. is 3,4GHz) with less than 70°C. I think there is lot of space for 5 to 10W power increase.

HWinfo showed PL settings unlocked thus I tried Intel Extreme tuning utility to set up higher values. Even ET utility successfully updated PL values (I verified settings in HWinfo as well) PL still behave exactly same - PL2 25W and after 28 sec. just 15W.

Hence I think the only way to circumvent CPU to work harder is to tweak information from core voltage regulator about current power consumption as you mentioned here before. I don't think it's necessary to modify BIOS if such option is not available there (unfortunately Dell is not tweaking friendly) - modifying bootloader is much easier and there is lot of space to configure any registers before OS start there even if configuration is impossible from OS user space as well.

But your help will be very welcomed. First how to identify core voltage regulator model without notebook disassembly? It’s connected via I2c and many utilities communicate with it to setup voltage or voltage parameters so it must be possible to identify it somehow. Second question is how to access registers or where to find information how to access them?


Thanks for help.

 

Hi

I came across this thread after searching around for some solution for enabling a higher CPU TDP on my system (Aorus X7 V2). A lot of the work I do on the computer is not graphically intensive and requires a powerful processsor, however I noticed that this system throttles the power very aggressively and it will not reach anywhere near TDP under load. The 4860HQ benchmarks worse than the 4702HQ in my Razer Blade.

I'm not really concerned about the battery performance or anything like that on this system, the battery pack has built in protections should the current exceed safe levels. The 200W adapter included with this laptop appears to be more than sufficient to power the CPU to TDP or maybe a little above.

Modding the BIOS/firmware seems like a tedious job, as it seems like it's write protected when I tried to flash it with AFUWIN after editing in AMIBCP. In there there does not seem to be very many useful options that might help this issue either.

I'm very interested in trying the software-only mod mentioned previously in this thread, as it seems like it would allow this system to run to its full potential. The CPU heatsink doesn't even heat up under load right now. I'm willing to take the risks in order to get this extra performance.

It also would seem like increasing the throttle threshhold to 100C would help perhaps. Not sure if there is any way to do this, since the Retina MacBook Pro I was using before this had it set to 104C and that actually performed quite well.

Thanks!

 

If the heat sink isn't getting hot when the CPU is loaded, it's not doing its job for some reason (poor contact, manufacturing defect, terrible paste job).


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The heatsink isn't getting hot because the fan speed is high and the heatsink is designed to dissipate 2 GPUs worth of heat as well which are't being loaded at all.

 

What are your core temps on the CPU? If the heat sink is dissipating all the heat it's making, it shouldn't be (temp) throttling.


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