7700HQ Power Limit Throttling

TL;DR: Even if you have a locked CPU (6700HQ/7700HQ), make sure you enable "CPU Performance Mode" in your BIOS. Otherwise, you will get power limit throttling when/if your CPU requires anything over 45W. Manual settings in XTU will not override this. Dell/Alienware are retards for not making this setting default, and they are aware of it since at least March, according to this Dell Knowledge Base article (SLN305033).

I've never overclocked before, and therefore never had to screw around with undervolting and power limits. I hope this post may help anyone who finds out their CPU is running crippled at less than 85% potential (2.8GHz vs 3.4 GHz).




Original post below
________________________________________________



Hi all, been lurking for the past few weeks, first post. I am working with two 17 R4 7700HQ/1070/QHD G-Sync, from Best Buy. One is mine, one is my wife's. Long story short, we tried MSI Stealth Pros with garbage screens and both freezing during League of Legends, then had a few 17 R4 (had to exchange one for faulty keyboard and more freezing during League for wife?), beginning with 1080 screens, but when price went down recently, returned them for a "free" upgrade to the QHD G-Sync model. Holy crap... how hard is it to just get a decent gaming laptop, right?!

Anyway, I have repasted my laptop with Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut, bent the heat sink arm, and replaced the factory thermal pads with Fujipoly. Thanks @iunlock , Team LHz, and everyone else who has contributed all the helpful information in these forums. I have read hundreds, or maybe thousands of posts on i7 6700/6820/7700/7820 core temperature differentials and fixing heat sinks, and all that fun stuff. I went from >20 C core temperature differential, with temps hitting the 90s, down to much more acceptable numbers.

I don't have much experience overclocking and such, but I managed to undervolt -150mV to lower temperatures... then I also realized that the undervolt allowed my CPU to hold at 34x without budging a single time during a long OCCT test. Holy crap! I did notice before the undervolt that my CPU would hit power limit throttling, but didn't think much of it before trying to get temps stable. Then, it was just fixed, anyway. Please see below:







Seems to be working fine, to me. Not a single throttle, holding steady at 34x!

In contrast, just tested my wife's system, which I haven't repasted, yet. Temperatures seem alright, so I thought maybe she won the silicon lottery, but I noticed the power limit throttling. It was originally throttling her system down to 28x, so of course temps were okay...

I tried undervolting her system to -150mV... it crashed before I could get setup for testing. Okay, then. Took the undervolt to -140mV, then tested and seemed stable (EDIT: wife just got a blue screen playing Black Desert Online, so I took the undervolt to -130mV). Temps seem stable running small data sets. But it is still being power limit throttled. Please see below:







Her voltages look to be the same as mine, but her system is going above the 45W PL1 and still being throttled to 33x as a result. Soo... what do? How do I get her clocks stable like mine if I can't undervolt any further than -130mV? Can I just raise the turbo boost power max higher than 45W? If so, what is a safe power (or does the short power max of 60W keep things in check)?






Side note:

Why in the HECK does this not work properly from the factory?! What a load of bull... I feel like I should have built a couple of desktops, but Best Buy had their sweet 24-month free financing so that's why we got these laptops. For ****s and giggles, I overnight tested my old, cheap Dell desktop I use as a Plex server (Core i3 2120 using integrated graphics and 8 TB hard drive storage, original Intel heat sink and paste). For 12 hours it was locked at 33x, Core 0 ran 64-69 C, Core 1 ran 65-70 C, super stable, all flat monitor curves, and I couldn't tell if the CPU fan ever even ramped up... it's in a cabinet! It was run for countless hours over the years before that, with a GTX 550 Ti that used to be in it. Tested my super-thin HP Omen 15 (first gen, aluminum chassis) for comparison purposes (I did repaste with AS5 awhile back), core differential of only a few degrees, temps under 80 (once fans ramped up) but THAT system was being power limit throttled, too! I find it unacceptable that these machines are unable to run the specified multipliers on LOCKED PROCESSORS (4710HQ could be bumped up a couple of multipliers... but for all intents and purposes I'm still going to consider it locked). After all the reading I've been doing in these forums recently, I think I'm becoming a BGA hater, too...

 

I forgot: we are both on BIOS 1.0.8. Is this the kind of limiting people speak of after 1.0.2? Will downgrading stop this?

Edit: I lied, we are on Kaby Lake BIOS 1.0.5.

 

I learned a couple of new things. I moved the slider up in XTU for turbo boost turbo max, up to 50W. When I started the test, it looked like the CPU was holding steady at 34x. I went to eat, then came back, and much to my dismay, it wasn't holding at all. The wife's CPU was still power limit throttling, even though PL1 showed to be less than 50W. Actually, it even dipped to 32x a few times!









So... she's playing Black Desert Online and I probably won't be able to mess around with her laptop for a couple of hours; I started poking around on my own system. I got in the BIOS and enabled "CPU Performance Mode", even though we have 7700HQ. Upon getting back into XTU, I found THIS!



So, CPU Performance Mode actually DOES something on the 7700HQ systems. PL1 and PL2 are raised to 92W. Just to check that no funny business is going on, I tested my own system. It pretty much ran the same 34x steady.







Excuse the dip on CPU frequency... I guess OCCT wasn't quite stable at 34x on four cores before I reset HWInfo.

Now, obviously testing my own system doesn't help anything, since apparently I won the silicon lottery, and my wife's CPU is more power hungry. I will report back here once I get the chance to enable her BIOS "CPU Performance Mode" and run a new test.

 

Welp, problem solved! Even if you have a locked CPU (6700HQ, 7700HQ), make sure you enable "CPU Performance Mode" in the BIOS, so your CPU can actually perform at its full, unthrottled potential. Here are the results on my wife's laptop, unopened, factory paste, CPU Performance Mode enabled, undervolted -130mV:







Look at that sweet, flat frequency graph! 34x all day!

 

After seeing your post I was worried. I'm glad you were able to solve the problem

 

Hello,

You are "De Man!!! I have same R$ 17 from Best Buy. Could not understand WHY it throttled. Ran across your post and had to go learn a little to understand what you were saying. Finally, I went to BIOS and enabled PERFORMANCE MODE as you suggested.

Worked like a charm! I should have done that first but then I would not have seen or understood what I did.

Thank you

P.S. What LINK did you follow for your Re-Paste? Thanks!

 

@koharatx Use large data set and check the temps. Maybe I think you have Clamp option enabled in ThrottleStop(if you're using it).

 

using cpu performance mode : max PL1 PL2 limit 92W, also increased FAN speed from normal max of 5200rpm to 6200rpm, more like Jetblast

 

@Vasudev @Papusan @hmscott @iunlock i wrote a long mail to alienware.. explaining them my situation, and the problems ive faced in past 2 years with all the 15R1 and R2, the list goesss like a scroll, now lets wait and see what is their reaction.. atleast a BIOS or new driver should be out soon..

 

Hi I just got around to testing my 7700HQ with OCCT. I run into the same power limit throttling you mentioned!

I have just enabled performance mode I am going to see what happens then retest with 3Dmark

 

So after 10 mins of OCCT. with performance mode on!

My system managed:
No throttling of any kind!
Max temps of 85c My room was already 22c, My laptop sits raised on a notpal U3 but without the additional fans.

Package TDP hit 66watts! Which I thought was a lot.
Volts 1.128

 

Wow. Skylake HQ hardly hits 45W TDP, mine always below 35W TDP for AVX2 load from AIDA64 and my own stress test tool.

 

have you got performance mode on in the BIOS?

run OCCT and have intel XTU running at the same time

See if power limit throttling appears

 

I stopped using XTU and moved to TS completely. I'll check if I hit TDP limit or any limits in TS. I use Standard mode instead of Performance because Dell rep told me performance mode will ruin the fan bearings if used frequently and heatsink/fan will not be replaced. So I use HWINFO(makes me happy)

 

got ya.

in throttle stop can I increase the wattage? I need to change it to 92 watt and 110a. turbo boost window to 28sec.
If TS will do all that then I can set my own fan curve in HWinfo.

Will also make me happy lol

 

Hi mate, what settings do I need to use in throttle stop to get my system to set 92 watts? I can't figure it out?

 

to get 92W PL limit, you can go to BIOS and find CPU performance mode and enable it, your board will now allow ur cpu to use full 92W.. to confirm this go to HWINFO software and scroll down, you will find PL1, PL2 max W limit.. hope this helps..

 

Check this screenie:

 

to be honest my 6700HQ barely crosses 35W under full load @ 3.1ghz, mostly around 28W-30W.. only one core turbo i hit max of 40W.. specially mine stock VID is pretty low for this new motherboard.. around 1.150 without any undervolting. im gna undervolt today and see how far it goes..

 

Mine tops out at 27-30W. Full load for 1-2 hours at 3.1GHz.

 

try undervolt for max 3.1ghz and post ur volts / Package Watts.. im gonna run stress now..

 

See this link *OFFICIAL* Alienware 15 R1/R2 Owner's Lounge

 

@Vasudev this is my new motherboard results.. stock voltage + stock fans + stock Dellienware Paste

 

Damn good CPU temps. Repasting/repad will drop temps by 5-10C.

 

(Update : Its stock paste from dell, but it looks different, brand named Shin Etsu ) New Motherboard : Core + Cache -175mv undervolt, Yes i got a golden ultra low voltage chip.. 22W max on Package @ 3.1.. Ambient Temp now 27C.. Fans Max 3200rpm due to high PCH temp.. otherwise max 2500rpm silent mode, more like 15W Core TDP when i undervolt.. CPU + GPU is golden for me, Rest VRM / PCH / Dells Crippled FIRMWARE /BIOS is dissapointing sadly.. but anyways ill keep this CPU + GPU.. BTW did u just stack 1mm thermal pad on PCH ?? i just ordered 0.5mm 145X145 Arctic from Aliexpress.. from a known seller.. and ICD.. im not satisfied with Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut or even GELID extreme.. on papers it looks really superb.. but for me ICD works like charm.. i did more than 50 repaste with 5 different brands in past 2 months.. So Yeah price / perf - ICD first, next is a surprising one, COOLER master NANO

 

For me, CM Maker Gel Nano was best one in price/perf. It reduced the temps of my older laptop from Lenovo by 5-10C because it runs on high perf. mode all the time. 38C idle on high perf. mode. Each board prefer different paste and our ambient temps kills most pastes.

 

What will they top out with CINEBENCH_R15 or wPRIME 1024M ?

 

@Papusan will test tomorrow and update again.. @Vasudev thanks for the nvme tip.. ill try that as well.. waiting for new firmware / bios.. every one hour i keep refreshing dell downloads page.. become addict..

 

I expect you will blow off this crippled Cinebench R15 score As you can see in the thread... Some very *knowledgeable* in there (see post #2) say the score is normal

 

if I use the bios method my fans are on all the time. was hoping I could us TS to increase my TDP and keep the lower fan profile so its basically silent when I am not doing much

 

Max TDP 31.9W. Not my optimal score but sub par. Had Firefox,defender and other things running.

 

[email protected] (maxed 28.1W)

 

@Papusan @Vasudev : here we go, with my golden chip..may be i can get little close to 6700K @ 3.1ghz at 30W max, right now stock driver background apps are running, may be by turning off so many Background apps, alienware cc, nvidia craps, mainly the defender i can get little more points, more over mobile chipsets get random spikes, where as desktop boards will have constant voltage, no point with a throttling firmware/bios there is no use when u have golden cpu or gpu.. no thanks to dellienware engineers..

 

Your LGA CPU is better than BGA. See that minor difference in BCLK and those insane temps which makes my CPU look like badly binned.

Darn good, I'd say. I couldn't even get 690 cb. Are you on stock RAM sticks from Hynix? Uncheck BDPROCHOT and Speedstep you can touch 700.

 

i dont trust the watts.. i check only VID mostly.. Yeah its good.. Yes stock rams, but its Micron.. i just installed windows 10 august update, gonna stick with this.. will do prime95 test tomorrow.. or once i get new heatsink + ICD + thermal pads.. i just clean installed all drivers using Manual installation mode.. but im not able to install alienware OSD driver, which is compal EC related.. Yes wish laptops could hold that 100 BCLK like desktop..

 

Yeah I think most scores are better with better RAM sticks. I didn't know Dell switched to Crucial RAM sticks.

 

i have a same speed kit from corsair as well, i got lower score with that, due to timings, just 4-6 points difference.. nothing much, but had BSODs with Corsair Vengeance..

 

Stopped WD and other tasks for more optimal score 696. http://hwbot.org/submission/3721811_v56m_cinebench___r15_core_i7_6700hq_696_cb#
Changed Process priority to realtime and high performance power plan w/ Flight mode.

 

I did what you have listed there but I must of missed something as when I then open XTU it still shows the lower limits and also power limit throttling happens?

Any ideas?

 

well put xtu service to manual and if its running Hit stop.
XTU shows different values from TS even though its configured brilliantly. So turn a blind eye to whatever XTU says.

 

wait what.. did you stop watchdog ?? and what all those other tasks.. and that user is u on hwbot.. haha, i was thinking who is this indian guy.. with same specs as me.. btw why is ur SATA stats showing as AHCI on hwbot.. and that VGA speed at 1.176 stock.. mine is 1126.

 

here's mine @Papusan

 

Yeah, where it should be. Only DannyBlunt seems to think 640-650cb is the normal for 6700hq clocks.
Is it MSI’s voltage boost mess who put darn high wattage? Or is it from previous workflow?

 

lol, its 100BCLK.. that makes sense. apart from that.. i guess anything between 680-700 is good. but below that is not acceptable, but again, these cinebench scores vary due to many factors, so i dont judge a cpu by running this software, you have facts to be considered, which bios, whats his BCLK, BG processs, Antivirus etc etc etc. even i got 677 when my pc had 144 process on background running on different OS version.. so yeah.. but 650 seems too low..

 

Nope. Benched 31x as 6700hq The scores you all should receive You have now a target.

 

I'm not sure, Papusan
I set the manual vcore to 0.965v (you had 0.943v, I forgot about that) in Throttlestop itself and set multipliers to x31 in TS, because if I tried to set it in the Bios and loaded Throttlestop, it would probably try to run at 3.5 ghz (startup profile for TS) and BSOD Instantly. Actually maybe it wouldn't BSOD; pretty sure I can run 3.5 ghz at <1.0v before. I'll try it again.

VID Boost I dont know. I had AC/DC loadline set to 1 (lowest value that is not Auto).

I'll try it again.

 

thats what i meant.. its 100BCLK vs 99.7 that makes those 5-6 points difference.. nothing much.. we already near 690s mark. me and vasudev.. i dont know about 650 score ones.. haha

 

I set vcore in Bios to 0.945v 3100 mhz, and it did 40.3W

Turdbook Jokebook

 

From the messed up MSIBOOK thread part 2. And danishBlunt claims the score is normal for 6700hq everywhere in the forum

 

655 is normal score, and he have seen it million times bro.. so i cant argue with him.. ive seen only 100 times with different board.. but not million