The "Undervolting" Guide

According to the guide, in profiles, it should show the voltage at factory default setting once i unclick and apply auto-adjustment.

It seems to stay the same voltage for me. All of them stay at 1.1750V with supeLFM staying at the lowest voltage possible.

Is this fine or not?

 

In Vista, it's up to you whether you use OS Power Management Integration or not, it's really a matter of preference. The method for configuring your power options depends on whether OS integration is enabled or not.

If you do enable it, you have the choice of still using the Windows power plans or using the "Custom" power plan that you configure within RMClock. If you use the custom plan, RMClock will store your options into the "RMClock Power Management" power plan and will use that plan while RMClock is running. When RMClock exits, that plan is deleted. Do not edit the RMClock plan under the Power Options control panel, since those changes will be lost when the plan is deleted. If using the custom plan, I don't know how the processor power management settings interact with RMClock, I haven't played with that. It may be necessary to set min and max processor state to the same value.

If you do not enable OS Power Management Integration, then you need to configure all your power options in the windows power plans via the Power Options control panel. The windows power plan you choose will stay in effect regardless of which profile RMClock is set to. To ensure that Windows and RMClock are not competing for control of the CPU speed/voltage, you need to configure your windows power plan to run at a fixed speed. To do this, open the Power Options control panel, select Change Plan Settings for your desired plan, select Change Advanced Power Settings, go to Processor Power Management, and set the Min and Max Processor State values to be the same.

If you are only going to run RMClock in the Performance on Demand profile all the time, then it doesn't really matter if you use the OS integration or not. If you want to manually switch between profiles, then it is probably better to enable OS Integration so that you can switch everything via RMClock. If you don't enable OS integration, then you may need to switch both the RMClock profile and your Windows power plan.

Hope this clarifies things.

Edit: I looked at the default Windows power plans, and none of them have min/max processor state equal for both battery and plugged in. I revised the info above to recommend setting them to be equal.

 

Ok. Well, I'm always using performance on demand in RMC and at high performance power plan in Windows. So if I use performance on demand, RMC will always be the one in control of everything?

 

I have a ULV U2500 1.ghz Duo Core.

The setting show highest VID @ 1.0 and lowest @ .935

Am I not allow to manually set to lower? Stress test is passed with highest FID and Lowest VID combo. So I would like to lower the VID more...?

 

Thank you,

I would like to ask a question. Since i want RM to show all my voltages, what can i do?

I have tried enabling the power management integration and disabling, but it still wont give me the default setting, except all being the same.

I use Vista-64 by the way.

 

After running ORTHOS for 10 mins. the max temperature that i got was 64C. Should I still undervolt?

 

no, but don't you think it would be nice to have a max temp of 54C?

Also the AC adapter should also get less hot.
I would do it.

 

I revised my post above after looking at the default power plan settings again. To ensure that RMC is in control of everything, you should edit your high performance power plan settings to set the min/max processor state values to be equal. The default settings still allow dynamic adjustment when on battery (i.e. min=5%, max=100%).

 

Sorry, I don't understand the question.

 

Ok, I was just finished putting the 4 values of processor states to 100% under High Performance power plan.

How about with the power saver plan? When I'm on battery, how would I let RMC control everything to save battery power? Should I set all 4 values under power saver to be at 5%?

 

As long as your power plan has the min/max values set equal, then it doesn't matter if they are set to 5% or 100%. The point of setting them equal is to disable Vista's dynamic switching and allow RMClock to be in control of the CPU speed/voltage. As long as the processor state values are equal in the power plan, then I believe they are essentially ignored while RMClock is running.

You can leave your windows power plan set to High Performance all the time if you are using the Performance on Demand profile in RMClock. Remember that each power plan has separate settings for "On Battery" and "Plugged In". Just enter more conservative settings under "On Battery" for things like the screen brightness to save power while on battery.

 

This is going to be mostly fixed with Nehalem in Calpella platform. Moving over the control from Vista's power management to OS-independent PCU that also responds much faster. It's also supposed to lower voltages closer to the actual CPU limit than it does now. The current Intel CPUs base the voltage along the "worst case", which is why undervolting works. But on Nehalem, it'll lower voltage that'll more closely reflect the actual load. It'll offer power savings with across different TDP chips.

 

Any solution to disable the four graphs in the monitoring section which eats up 2-4% of CPU usage no-stop.

 

Um, this was posted just a few days ago:

Personally I don't see the excessive CPU usage that others are complaining about, so I haven't made this change. How are you determining that RMClock is using so much CPU on your machine?

 

@chumley

Are Speedswitching and Speedstepping the same thing?

What P-states do you suggest checking?

Is it expected that low-power P series chips undervolt with lesser than the standard T series chips?

 

I tried this but when I close Notepad and click to save changes, it automatically tries to save it as a new file. If I try to save it with the same file name and click to replace the original file, it says "Access Denied." Any thoughts on what I'm doing wrong?

 

This is kinda weird =x I'm attempting to undervolt my Intel Core 2 Duo T5900 on my Aspire 6920, but for some reason the minimum voltage that I can choose in the drop-down menu is 1.0500 volts, and for my max speed, 11x, it's already close to that minimum. I was wondering if there's a way to choose a voltage that goes below that.

 

Simply open Task Manager and you can clearly see RMClock eating up 2-4% cpu usage which is extremely high for such a simple app.

 

Hello. So my Dell XPS M1530 runs insanely hot, all the time. I'm talking 78C idle and 93C gaming. I have a cooling pad, and now I want to pursue undervolting. I went by the guide, undervolted, and started to do my 45minute stress test but my CPU got above 95C after ONE MINUTE of stressing it! I know that I have serious heat issues, but this is unheard of. I can't even find anyone with the same issues as the ones I have.

Anyone have a good reasonable estimate as to what a good 6.0x voltage multiplier is, since I can't seem to stress test my CPU? Or does anyone have any suggestions as to this heat issue?

 

Yes, as far as I know.

I have them all checked in my Performance on Demand profile, as recommended in the guide.

I think that's likely, but not guaranteed. The only thing that is guaranteed is that the stock voltages are lower on the lower power chips.

 

That is really hot. You may have a hardware problem. If your computer is still under warranty, I'd suggest calling Dell and see if they will do anything. If it's out of warranty, you might want to open it up and make sure that the heatsink is clean and that the fan is working properly. You could also try replacing the thermal paste on your CPU.

 

You have a PM from a Mr. T. Tuxedo

 

XP folks only see two donuts. Must be a W7 thing. RMC wasn't made for it. I do agree that RMC sure could use a low-footprint, lite version for experienced users.

 

You are locked out of your own registry by either Microsoft (permissions) or your antivirus (self protection lockout). Have fun

 

I experimented with 1, 10, 100, 1000 second graph intervals. No visible change in overall load or memory footprint. Darn, gotta be an OS quirk

 

Anything different I should know/do for W7 RC?

 

Ok, it's just that with my P9500 I have a default VID of 1.075 Volts and I can just lower it so much to 1.0375 without stability issues. That is very low of an undervolt.

 

I would agree that 2-4% is too high, but that's not what 'm seeing. On my T5800 running Vista, it usually stays at 0% even when the RMClock window is open and the monitoring graphs are being displayed. Sometimes I've seen it bouncing between 0% and 1%, other times it stays flat at 0%. Your high CPU usage must be configuration dependent, either your CPU/OS or your RMClock and/or power plan settings.

 

That is a fairly low undervolt, but as long as it's stable at stock voltages, then Intel has met their spec. Undervolting ability varies from one chip to the next. Still, if you are getting 1.0375v at max multiplier, that's good compared to a T series chip. On my T5800 the lowest I can go is 1.050v at any multiplier.

 

If you look at the Notebook Hardware Control forums, it sounds like work is still progressing on a new version of that tool. Maybe it will support W7 better? That is if it ever gets released. The existing version of NHC does have a lower memory footprint than RMC.

 

How were you able to have it that low? I get the same 2-4% usage everytime with RMC.

 

I was getting 1-2% . I lowered the refresh rate of the tweak file to every 1 minute. I'm now getting 0% cpu.

 

I was getting 1-2% . I lowered the refresh rate of the tweak file to every 1 minute. I'm not getting 0% cpu.

 

I will ask again, is there anything I should know/do for W7 RC?

 

You could try the Search function in the green bar above. It's between New Posts and Quick Links. Try entering W7 and press enter. Works great and it's free.

 

Thanks. Fixed now.

Like a few others, RMClock was running only at 1% to begin with, but now it's at 0.

 

More fun with RMC load issue.

1. At 10 sec. graph interval (2710h), I get a 0.8% load for 1 sec. every 10, else zero. It's gotta be a W7 thing.

2. Using the new CacheMan, you can isolate load and CPU ticks per individual process. You can also pin a sticky priority to a process. I put RMC on Low and it's staying, for once.

3. My streaming radio station on Winamp runs at 6%, so RMC consumes next to nada.

 

Got a question. When i undervolted and did a small fft stress test, it had no errors for 50 minutes. When i stopped it and did some very basic things, my computer suddenly got a BSOD. Im wondering why orthos didnt detect this.

 

@Kaze105

That BSOD might not be due to the undervolting.

 

Then what else could it be? When i re-increase the voltage, it seems fine.

 

What errors were you getting in the BSOD?

Did it occur multiple times after undervolting or did it happen just that once?

 

It has happened 2-3 times when i dropped the voltage down. I cant see the BSOD since it immediately restarts.

I really do believe it was due to the undervolting, but i just dont get why orthos didnt find this error.

 

It certainly is and is already confirmed.

 

If it is, why didnt it bsod at the stress test? do i have to use blend instead of just cpu?

 

As stated in the guide, after knowing the stable voltage DURING the stress test, you should "up" your VID two steps from that stable voltage.

You never know what the CPU does.

 

I have read the guide, but i dont see where i should "up" the vid. Also i dont really understand why i would increase the voltage.

(Sorry new to undervolting)

 

just increase the vid a bit. As the CPU gets older it may get a little unstable at the current vid. Also the hotter the CPU gets the more volts it needs.

It's just a way to futureproof the undervolt.

 

It is done to "ensure" that your system would be real stable. Sometimes, the stress test just won't tell you if your system is really stable. You would just notice a BSOD randomly during normal usage of your laptop if you have your VID too low.

Take mine as an example, I tried 1.0250 V, stressed test it for more than 24 hours, thought it was stable as a rock. After two days, I got a BSOD. I didn't think it was the VID since I already did a stress test as recommended by the guide. After another day, I got a frozen desktop, take note I was just browsing the net at that time. Again, I was very frustrated by this, never thought it was due to undervolting.

So, I decided to turn the VID by one step (1.0375), and since then I never had a single BSOD/frozen screen issue.

Hope that helps.

 

Undervolting P8600 in sXPS 13, running Windows 7 64-bit




Orthos test currently at 1 hour.
My max temp using HW Monitor was 76/74 degrees
Right now its 69/67.

I found the unstable settings:


First time undervolting and I need to make sure that I am doing this correctly

 

1 hour isn't enough. What's the P8600's default voltage for your highest multiplier?