M17x R2 Power Issue.

I have a problem; My CPU keeps throttling down when I enable crossfire on my 5870M's. Throttlestop does not solve the issue. I created a thread about the same problem in February. The situation then improved slightly but never went away completely. According to Throttlestop, it's usually throttling down to 12.5%. When I disable crossfire in CCC, the problem goes away. No throttling, nothing. Now, both the cards are drawing in 120W if I'm not mistaken. Isn't the M17x R2's PSU enough to cover it? I've done testing on this in BF3 since that's the highest spec game I own.

On a side note, when I turn my brightness all the way down while playing, the time between each slowdown increases. It's like not enough power is supplied to the computer.

 

How many watts is your power adapter rated at? ThrottleStop is a useful program but it can't do much if your CPU is being limited because there is not enough power available.

Post a log file of ThrottleStop while you are gaming for about 10 or 15 minutes and also post a screen shot of how you have ThrottleStop set up.

You can copy and paste your log files too Pastebin.com and then post a link here.

 

check if your PSU is the 240W model, single 5870m is rated 55W i believe, with the correct (or the properly working) PSU you shouldn't have any problem running your system in crossfire and squeeze your XM cpu with TS.

 

Here is the pastebin link: Throttlestop Log - 2012-11-04

Breakdown of what I did:

21:47:27 - 21:48:47 = BF3 was launching.
21:48:48 - 21:57:05 = Played BF3 without crossfire enabled. (C0% is in it's 30's to 60's)
21:57:06 - 21:58:30 = Closed the game, enabled crossfire and started BF3 up again.
21:58:31 - 22:10:00 = BF3 was running with crossfire enabled.

Here is my Throttlestop setup: Throttlestop Setup.

Another thing I noticed is that everytime the CPU throttles, the display backlight, keyboard lights and speaker lights dims. It's like it's trying to divert power to CPU or GPU's or somewhere that is needing it.

PS: My PSU is definitely 240W. And my CPU is i7 - 740QM. It's not the unlocked one.

 

Just check with a volt craft meter what you are pulling out of the wall....perhaps something IS still going wrong, even though the amounts of Watts should suffice with the PSU

 

The interesting thing I see in the log file is the BAT_mW column. When this is a negative number, that shows that the battery is being drained. If you are plugged in to AC, this should always show zero or a positive number if the battery is being charged. This seems to confirm that when running CrossFire, your power adapter is not able to supply enough juice to your computer so it starts chipset clock modulation throttling to reduce power consumption and also starts sucking power from the battery because it can not get enough power from the power adapter.

Can you turn on GPU monitoring in the Options window in ThrottleStop as well?

It would be a good idea to do some power monitoring from the wall with something like a Kill-a-Watt meter. Some Furmark + Prime95 testing is a good load to see what's going on. Your power adapter might be rated at 240W but if it is failing, it might not be delivering anything close to that.

You might need something like this to get enough juice to your CPU and GPU.

Alienware M17x R2 - Dual PSU [2 x 240W] for AMD 7970M CFX - Tech|Inferno

 

He shouldn't. If he only uses two 5870ms, then the total power budget for them should not exceed 150w. The 150w PSU is only for R2s that use a single GPU card and a non-extreme edition processor.

OP, one thing to try is change your power plan settings. Go into the power options in Control Panels, whatever plan you're on, click change plan settings, then click on change advanced power settings. The two options you want to change are processor power management and ATI Graphics Power. In Processor power management, you want to make sure the system cooling policy (while plugged in) is set to Active, and the maximum processor state for both battery and while plugged in is set to 100%. Then, under ATI Graphics Power, check that the ATI powerplay settings while plugged in is set to maximum performance. Then click OK and save changes. This is just perfunctory to ensure Windows isn't doing funny things when the system temps get too high, or throttling because the power options were set that way.

 

@radji - I changed the power settings everytime after I do a fresh install so it's definitely not it. But thanks.

@unclewebb - Come to think of it, the problem started ever since I moved to the UK. I bought this laptop in Malaysia. I checked the sockets beforehand and both countries uses the same standard 3 pin socket (BS1363 for UK and MS589 for Malaysia) so I'm sure there is nothing wrong with the wall socket. I have ordered a power meter similar to Kill-A-Watt and will test the power draw from the socket as soon as it arrives.

Thank you all for the replies. Lets hope it's just the adapter problem which can be replaced easily.

 

Best of luck FlameXI

 

FlameXI
Check your power supply. Check the back to see what brand it is (Delta or Flextronics) and what OUTPUT it gives. It should say 19 volts by 12 amps. If your numbers are lower your power adapter is too weak for crossfire.

Also, just because the socekts are the same shape between Malaysia and the UK, doesnt mean they are exactly compatable. buy a new adapter cable from and internet IT shop or other tech shop nearby. You may not be grounded correctly, have the wrong fuse, or some other problem with clean energy.

 

The brand I have is Flextronics. It says 19.5V and 12.3A. Hmm... never thought of the fuse being the problem. I'll look into that and let you know how it goes. Thanks.

 

Replace the AC adapter, it maybe faulty, though the Flextronics one is kinda $$, like 80-90.

 

Right, the meter arrived and I tested it out. I took the AMP readings. The voltage readings seems to be constant as it should be.

Idle: 0.33 - 0.36

Under Load: 0.4 - 0.79

Under Load with with crossfire enabled playing BF3. It usually sits around 0.51 and everytime it throttles, the reading spikes peaking at 0.79. Is that normal?

 

I wish I knew and could tell you what to do Flame. Somehow those spikes seem a little high. But someone who knows more than me needs to tell you.

 

Definitely sounds like its throttling because of some sort of hardware issue. There shouldn't be spikes while under constant load. If both cards in crossfire under 100% load are spiking every so often, that points to something else going on with the GPUs themselves. FWIW, check the GPU clocks with GPU-z. See what they do when your voltages spike and drop.

 

This might help. Also you should consider testing a different AC adapter purchased in UK. If it was working fine in Malaysia it should work fine here. Did you test different outlets and places?

 

This is what I got from GPU-z Log : GPU-z's Log.

It's normal clocks under load is 700 for the core and 1000 for the memory. It's throttling whenever the values dip below the normal clock values.

Yes, I have tested it with two separate outlets, both of them are in different buildings. Same problem. I will place an order for a new AC adapter soon.

 

Did GPU-z record the voltages as well? That always helps to have those in the log too.

 

Sorry for the late reply, been a little busy. Nope GPU-z didn't record the voltages. Should it?

 

Yes, it absolutely should. What did GPU-z record? Clocks, temps?