CPU Power State Weirdness?

I have my power plan set to minimum of 100% and maximum of 100% on the Processor Power Management.

Previously, when viewing in HWinfo64, all 4 cores would sit at a 32x multiplier, with a speed of 3189MHz.

For some reason today they are all changing betwenn 800MHz and 3189MHz, rather than staying at max.

I've tried messing with the power plan (in both windows and Alienware Control Center) and have rebooted multiple times but no luck.

Any ideas?

 

See whether disabling Intel Speedstep will restore you to your previous state. You can disable it permanently in the BIOS or temporarily in Throttlestop (uncheck the box labeled EIST). That disables Speedstep; checking the box enables it (the default setting).

You can also check the Intelppm registry hack, which I assume you have used previously to achieve the desired state. It may have gotten changed back as a result of an update or installation. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Intelppm and assure that Start is set to 4 (default is 3). You still have to disable EIST/Speedstep. Not for the faint of heart; watch the CPU temps carefully.

 

I'd rather not disable speedstep as I'd like the CPU to throttle down when on battery.

I have never applied that registry hack, so I'm not sure what's going on or why I was seeing it always on 100% before.. strange.

Also, throttlestop doesn't seem to do anything on my laptop. I've tried all the various settings and nothing..

 

Throttlestop doesn't do much for non-extreme processors. Its greatest feature is the ability to increase multipliers and TDP, but those apply only to the extremes. It will prevent thermal throttling when properly configured and engaged. Otherwise, I'm sure you'll find your way back to the prior configuration. 2760qm's don't function as described by accident.

 

Same with me, throttlestop doesn't work because it can't bypass the drop in your tdp wattage to 45w (as per intel design). You get faster speeds temporarily because the tdp wattage is raised for a short period of time to 56w, then it drops to 45w.

Chez, what you need is to download the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU)...set the max turbo tdp to something around 55w (preferably a few w higher like 57-58) and you will be getting advertised turbo frequencies. The problem with the sandy bridge turbo frequencies is that as time goes on and you pass the short and long turbo times (as specified in the bios), your multi will drop below 31x...probably closer to say 28-29x. you can download prime95 and stress all 8 threads and monitor your speeds via HWINFO64 and you'll see what i'm talking about.

Intel specifies a 31x multi for a 2820 with 4 cores in use, but i was getting 27x after the tdp dropped to 45w. A quick bump with XTU to a max tdp of 57w and i get 30-31x multi so i'm happy. I don't use throttlestop...just XTU if i need a 300mhz permanent increase in CPU frequencies. (The cpu is only using around 53w but i need to specify 57w in XTU. This is probably due to some form of Vdroop)

Intel® Extreme Tuning Utility

 

I installed XTU a couple of days ago and it wouldn't launch, saying the service couldn't be contacted. I googled the message and intel list it as a known issue, something related to BIOS type.

I just installed the unlocked A08 BIOS, so I'll give it another try.

Thanks for the tips so far