Dell XPS Speed Shift

Ok question so what is the difference between enabling speedshift(via bios) and using high performance power plan? Seems like the both have cpu running at the highest clock rate. Kinda confused. Which one should I go with to get the cpu running at its the highest? Should I disable speedshift in throttlestop? What happens if I'm on balanced power plan and set the slider to best performance while speedtest enabled in BIOS? Incase i enabled it in bios,should i disable it in throttlestop?
Mine is xps 9560 7700hq btw

 

Different schemes. SpeedShift is CPU level control and Windows Power Plan is operating system level control. SpeedShift should take precedence overriding most/all Windows Power Plan settings as a general matter. I always have SpeedShift enabled.

@unclewebb generally recommends leaving Windows Power Plan at "high performance" and adjusting SpeedShift EPP. I use:

EPP 255 for max battery life, '
EPP 0 for max performance,
EPP ~78 for a good balance with access to max turbo speeds (you will have to test your system out as your number might be slightly different

ThrottleStop is nice because it is easy to change EPP on the fly.

 

You can see a lot of what is going on under the hood. Go into Windows PowerShell and look at EPP differences. Use the following command:

powercfg -qh

 

What I'm trying to do is enable speedshift via BIOS which I've already done and dont want throttlestop to interfere with the speedshift. So now how do I set epp in windows 10 without throttlestop ? Should I stay on the balanced plan ? And of course I want the cpu running at its highest

 

Well, one thing you can try is via Windows Power Options as summarized by @unclewebb below:

Before dropping commands, you should print out your power addresses and compare using the command powercfg -qh

On my XPS 9550, I had to slightly tweak the format of the commands. For example (AC, High-Performance, Processor power management, Processor energy performance preference policy-EPP):

POWERCFG /SETACVALUEINDEX 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 36687f9e-e3a5-4dbf-b1dc-15eb381c6863 50

Regardless, I never got these dropdown boxes to enable SpeedShift or change EPP for the old Dell XPS 9550. Dell enabled SpeedShift via BIOS for later models so those dropdown boxes may work fine for you.

 

BIOS just enables speedshift feature but it is the OS that controls EPP value based on your power plan. So, its same as setting TS. I use Balanced power plan and change EPP value to 0/80/200 to get max performance/performance mode/ power savings. My PC BIOS doesn't have Speedshift option in BIOS. So, I use TS. On Linux, I allow TLP to control my HWP states the same way as TS.

 

Yeah got em dropdown options and set the power policy to 0 on plugged-in and minimum performance to 100% on plugged in as well but it is based on balanced plan. Seems like there is no difference between the balanced and high performance plan on my 9560 right now. Good thing is that if it's based on balanced you retain the power slider which overrides the TS epp so there is no need to mess with TS epp anymore other than undervolting. Now, should I keep the c1e on TS? What does it really do?

 

What is the difference between activating speedshift via bios vs TS? I mean probable none, but why would one prefer one option over another?

I thought I had speedshift activated, but unfortunately had to check it TPL window also. Damn, it feels like windows are opening faster now

 

Well, BIOS activation means you don't need to launch ThrottleStop every startup

ThrottleStop allows a real easy way to set EPP, which is the best way to change from energy savings to high performance. ThrottleStop is also where I run CPU undervolt and shut off power limits.

​

You can add EPP dropdowns in Windows Power Options; however I have not gotten them to actually change the registers of two Dell laptops so this is a windows bug, Dell lockout/bug, or user error.

You can see if SpeedShift is activated in ThrottleStop's main window (see green "SST" to indicate SpeedShift is on). You can also use HWiNFO64.

 

How do you shut off power limits in TS? It seems to be the only throttle I have and I haven't seen a explanation that I can understand.

 

A newer ThrottleStop function introduced ~8.70 under the FIVR tab, "Disable and Lock Turbo Power Limits".

You may need to download a zip file to make that work on your system. Check out the ThrottleStop Guide here at nbr for more details and to see if that will work on your system.

Previously, I used older versions of ThrottleStop plus edited some registers in RW-Everything. ThrottleStop 8.70 is easier and might cover more registers.

My 9550 has a 6300HQ which is still capped by Dell at 35w (vs. 45w spec) but ThrottleStop got most of the power limits which helps performance overall.

 

Thanks, I'll have a go

 

There are several ways you can try to "confirm" EPP settings, including:

1) Look at Windows Power Options, Edit Plan Settings, Change Advanced Power Setting, "Processor Power Management", "Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Power Options\Edit Plan Settings", look at EPP shown for "plugged in"

2) Windows Powershell: This is the text for my Dell XPoS 9550 (if using "High Performance" Power Plan)
powercfg /query 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 36687f
9e-e3a5-4dbf-b1dc-15eb381c6863

--- If I am in "Balanced" Power Plan then I replace first group of digits with (Power Scheme GUID) 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e

GUID numbers and naming scheme on your system may differ.

3) You can use RWEverything or similar to read EPP (Hexdecimal) realtime via address 0x774 (CPU MSR Registers User). Caution with this program as you can brick your system easily.

4) You can just look at ThrottleStop FIVR screen "SpeedShift EPP".

In summary, Only options 3 & 4 show EPP values reliably in my experience (I just use the ThrottleStop EPP figure in FIVR, which I suppose just reads the MSR).

Options 1 & 2 are not reliable in my experience. That might depend on how your computer maker configured the BIOS on your system. Windows may request SpeedShift settings but those are controlled by the CPU (Speed Step worked differently). Changing EPP settings here does not change CPU performance on my computers (I have looked at several other Windows power settings also have zero impact).

TEST EPP VALUE You can easily see EPP values are sticking by typing in extreme EPP values in ThrottleStop's main window (EPP ranges are typically 0-255 but may be 0-64 or 0-100). Make sure you have SpeedShift enabled (ThrottleStop main window "SST" will be green fontcolor). Also make sure you have not locked/limited CPU multipliers lol. For example:

-- Typing EPP "0", I see CPU multipliers pegged near max turbo speeds 3.2GHz & EPP value "0" confirmed in the FIVR screen.

-- Typing EPP "255", I see CPU multipliers below 1GHz & EPP value "255" confirmed in the FIVR screen.[/FONT]​

 

Didn't know about this. Tested and confirmed it works REALLY, REALLY well with my 9560.
Test: Rendering a short 8 min Full HD video filmed on my iPhone X for my school project

Before: Throttles at about 50% completion, hitting the toxic 799Mhz clock speed
After enabling that lock thing (although i have no idea what it does, please enlighten me): Completes without throttling to 799Mhz. Maintains 3.3GHz throughout

Sidenotes: Underclocked to -120mV, repasted, padded some tiny aluminium heatsinks to the square things on the motherboard, and padded them to the back cover

As you can see: (Tho it hit 91 Deg on one of the cores...)


FIVR Settings:

 

I think this option disables 'Turbo Boost Short Power Max' which allows the CPU to use 56W for a short period of time before dropping down to its standard 45W TDP.

 

Awesome post.

A few comments:

1. Try running a CPU intensive test like Prime95. Your core temps should only be a couple of degrees c different. Idle temps don't tell you much. 5*c would be too much in my view. Fix is try repasting and also check your heatsink is flat (if it is warped you need to be super careful if you try to bend it as it is uber delicate).

2. With some recent Intel chips, you need to match undervolt of GPU and iGPU unsliced. I think Intel will just ignore your undervolt request. There is more detail on the ThrottleStop Guide. Intel does not publish much information so this is trial and error. Also, if you are running low-latency processes (music, competitive gaming), undervolting the GPU can cause DPC latency issues; I don't use an undervolt for iGPU for that reason.

 

Why is it that in Throttlestop, it always says 128 next to Speed Shift - EPP? I change the min and max values in TPL and that affects my FID. Is it normal that I set min to 14 and max to 14 and my FID becomes 14? I see people here post about how 1 or 0 is the max performance, yet when I set it there my computer acts as if it is throttled. 255 min and 255 max is where I see it go to 3400 MHZ.
(XPS 15 9560 i7-7700HQ, Intel Thermal Management is off, undervolted, turbo off, speedstep on)

 

Has anyone had an issue lately with the newest bios and loading a Bootable usb? I can't seem to get the usb to load the efi ufei or whatever it is Bootable drive. It just said something like "device failed to load, press any key to restart".

I have ufei secure boot turned off and legacy boot enabled. Still doesn't work...

 

So using Dell Command | Configure, you can easily set Speedshift now for XPS Notebook, OptiPlex, Precision, Internet of Things and Latitude and it sticks through reboots, Works on my Dell Latitude 7280 and XPS 13 9300.

Install CCTK and run this from an administrative command prompt from the folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\Command Configure\X86_64>:

cctk.exe --speedshift=enable​

https://www.dell.com/support/article/en-us/sln311302/dell-command-configure?lang=en