The ThrottleStop Guide

When you see the lock icon, that means either you or the manufacturer of your laptop has locked the PROCHOT Offset feature. Clear the check mark in the Lock PROCHOT Offset box, click OK to exit the Options window, exit ThrottleStop and power down your laptop. When you start back up, immediately have a look in the Options window to see if the lock icon is there or not. If you see the lock icon then that means your BIOS is locking this register so you cannot make any adjustments to it.

If the BIOS is not locking PROCHOT Offset then set this to the Intel default value which is 0 or maybe 2. If that is OK, use the Lock PROCHOT Offset feature to prevent your laptop from changing this.

The purpose of the new PROCHOT Offset feature is to bring attention to the shady business practice that Lenovo is using to cool down their laptops. Setting the thermal throttling temperature way below the Intel specification is a disgusting way to create a cool running laptop. Intel's CPUs run hot, consumers complain, OEMs are too cheap to include adequate heatsinks and fans so this new trick forces constant thermal throttling at temperatures way below the Intel spec. Kind of like buying a Corvette and discovering that it has a rev limiter on it and some idiot set it to 2000 rpm. If I bought a new laptop with a feature like this, I would contact the manufacturer and send it back ASAP. It would be nice if laptop review sites would bring this problem to the attention of consumers.

Start by switching to ThrottleStop 9.0 listed in my signature. Follow the above advice, boot up, open the Options window and see if PROCHOT Offset is locked or not. I think Lenovo is leaving this unlocked so their software can change this on the fly. If it is not locked, that is a good thing. You can use ThrottleStop to lock this setting and prevent Lenovo from randomly messing with this anymore.

 

You're correct, my offset was set to 30 for some reason. i changed to 10 and now PROCHOT is 90c and throttles at 90c

Thanks!

 

I've just partitioned my laptop drive and installed a fresh copy of windows 10 as HP command center doesn't work on this installation for some reason ( sometimes I might want to supe up the fans to keep it a bit cooler), I downloaded TS 9 and started it and it already had some undervolt settings in there....

Is it possible for them to have been transferred across from the other partition?
I was running TS from a totally different folder without the current settings in so how would my fresh install already be undervolted to the same as the existing installation....?

 

That doesn't really make sense, as you explained having done a clean OS installation. So, there must be some settings in the BIOS that ThrottleStop is adopting at first launch when it creates the new INI file. ThrottleStop will usually reflect whatever settings are applied in the firmware when it creates the INI file and it will keep them until you override them and save the changes in ThrottleStop using values that are different than the BIOS settings.

Edit: The only way I can think of where this could happen is if you saved the original ThrottleStop.ini file when you moved it to a new location. If you did have an old INI file in the ThrottleStop folder, then that is where the settings are being saved.

 

This is not some sort of random occurrence. It is being done deliberately. The PROCHOT value reported on the main screen of ThrottleStop can now keep track of what is happening in real time. If the PROCHOT Offset value is not checked in ThrottleStop and this register is not locked, you will see the PROCHOT value change on the main screen of ThrottleStop if software is screwing around with the offset value. As I said, it is time to bring attention to what Lenovo is doing to a wide variety of their laptops. It is best to use ThrottleStop to lock the PROCHOT Offset if you have a laptop with this problem. Using an offset value of 10 is very conservative. Intel CPUs can run reliably right up to the 100°C thermal throttling temperature that Intel themselves recommend. Some OEMs have really gone off on a tangent to cover poor design and their butts.

When ThrottleStop first starts up, if it does not find a ThrottleStop.INI configuration file, it will read the offset voltages, etc., that your CPU is currently set to. That is probably what happened. Did you use ThrottleStop in the other partition before running it in a different partition?

 

Yeah, I was under the impression that it was all done in windows though which is why I've got it running as a service on the original partition.

 

Damn, never knew that. Thanks for the info

 

Yeah but you need also disable c-states in bios, so yours single core boost will be capped with max cpu freq for all cores. But for Daily task in doesnt matter that much but for Pure gaming performance it is a nice boost for nvidia
Read also 2 post from @uncleweb and my next post

I will post some benches near weekend as I am a bit busy now and you can post yours also with cstaes +c1e disabled and enabled

 

Hi,
Everytime I reboot ThrottleStop saves all my settings except the Turbo Ratio Limit.
Anyone experiencing the same thing ?

 

@Vertix did you shutdown TS at least once before you rebooted? Are you using v9.0?

 

I have a Scar II 2070 laptop. Battery started issues today and I contacted Asus about it. They told me to update the BIOS to 309. That not only did nothing for the battery. I can no longer undervolt. Just a heads up for anyone that has this horrible machine.

CPU in R20 lost around 300 points and now hits 95C+ in the test.

 

You can flash the older version of the BIOS.

 

Are you sure? I thought I read that it can't be downgraded after it's been update?

 

When you exit the FIVR window, make sure you press the OK button if you want your settings saved. In Windows, pushing the X close gadget in the top right corner of a window is equivalent to pressing the Cancel button. Your settings will not be saved if you are doing that.

I just tested TS 9.0 and the turbo ratios are being saved immediately after pushing the OK button.

Where do you have your ThrottleStop folder located on your hard drive? Did you move this folder after running ThrottleStop? If you did move the folder, it is best to delete the ThrottleStop.INI configuration file and let ThrottleStop create a new configuration file in its new location.

Many laptops do not give you the option to disable the C states in the BIOS. If a person wants to do some C state testing, you can do a simple and safe registry edit to disable the C states.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329/page-206#post-9631401

 

If I remember directly I think it can also be done with RW but don't remember msr register

 

Thanks for the advise! I did and it worked well. I have another very annoying issue. At first my undervolt was not taking effect. I performed a clean install and I could undervolt. Once I started to install the software I needed. I realize that my undervolt is not functional again.
I have an Aero 15 Classic XA (i7-9750h).
I'm currently on 0xCA microcode. I saw that the microcode was changing with Windows update. Do you guys know what can potentially lock the voltage ?

 

@Vertix - Windows Update can install a firmware or microcode update that will block CPU voltage control. Try installing a previous BIOS version if possible. Maybe you will get lucky and voltage control will be restored. The microcode update only needs to set a single bit in a single register to completely disable voltage control. This fix will also disable control of the turbo ratio limits.

 

@unclewebb When I perform a clean install of Windows I'm fine. Should I just turn of Windows Update or I can find a way to know which update is messing up and to avoid it ?

 

@Vertix - I like using Sledgehammer to try to keep an eye on things coming from Windows Update.

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/wumt_wrapper_script.html

If you see anything like firmware update, I would avoid installing that. You can use this tool to hide updates that you do not like or trust.

I am not familiar enough with your laptop model. I am not sure which update is the one causing the problem with undervolting. Search the KB number on the Microsoft site for more info.

 

You can just delete the microcode_update file from the Windows folder and it wont update your microcode at boot anymore so you can keep undervolting.

 

My case is a little bit different but I think the cause is the same.
I have a i7 8705G that can overclock at most 600MHz. Simply increasing Turbo Ratio Limit is not enough. You also need to increase SpeedShift range in TPL to match the maximum Turbo Ratio Limit. Windows will reset the SpeedShift range whenever you reboot or coming back from sleep. Just go to TPL and press ok again to apply the setting again.

 

I will have a look at this tomorrow. My old laptop that I use for programming does not use Speed Shift so I might have overlooked something. I will see what I can do so resume from sleep or hibernate sets the Speed Shift settings appropriately.

 

Hello unclewebb,

Thank you for the new ThrottleStop version, we appreciate your efforts.

I have an issue though, it seems that "Disable and Lock Turbo Power Limits" does not work with me, or perhaps I set the configurations wrong. Please help me set it right.

I understand that you have replaced RwDrv.sys driver for better compatibility with Windows 10 version 2004, but somehow, my laptop does not work the same way as when I was using it in Windows version 1909 (with ThrottleStop 8.70), it throttles, at least visually, after 5 to 15 minutes of playing games. I did not get any difference in performance or decrease in throttle when it is enabled.

In fact, disabling and locking power limits back in Windows 1909 with ThrottleStop 8.70 really helps me a lot and stops the throttle on my laptop. Now, that I have updated Windows to 2004 and used TS 9 I can't manage to make it work again.

I have XPS 9550 with Windows 10 version 2004.

I have attached some snapshots, kindly review them and let me know what I did wrong.

 

There is no difference between ThrottleStop 9.0 and ThrottleStop 8.70. It is setting the exact same bits in the CPU that previous versions did. ThrottleStop is just using a different and safer driver to accomplish the same things that it used to do.

The first thing that I see in your settings is that you have reduced the turbo ratio limits. You are slowing down and throttling your CPU by 500 MHz to 600 MHz even though your CPU temperature is 20°C under the thermal throttling temperature. Why are you doing this? This CPU has a 45W TDP rating and your screenshot shows it hitting a max of only 20W. This is like seeing evidence left behind at the scene of a crime.

I think the real problem in some XPS laptops is that the voltage regulators overheat. This is the root cause of the the throttling problem you are having. If this is the case, the Disable and Lock feature is not a fix for this type of throttling. The Disable and Lock feature cannot be used to solve throttling problems on many of the recent Dell laptops.

To try to get to the bottom of the problem you are having, set your turbo ratios back to their default values. Turn on the Log File option in ThrottleStop and go play a game for at least 15 minutes. Turn off the Alarm feature when troubleshooting this problem. Play through any throttling issues so I can see lots of relevant data. When finished testing, exit your game and then exit ThrottleStop so it can finalize your log file. Attach this log to your next post or copy and paste the data to www.pastebin.com or a similar site. You will find the log file in the ThrottleStop / Logs folder with today's date in its name.

Has your room temperature increased at all lately? It is summer where I live and things are warming up. A slight change in room temperature might be enough to trigger some voltage regulator throttling issues that were not a problem for you before.

 

Does "turn on" still do nothing?

 

Hello I have a 7Y30 laptop. I find it is very powerful, probably too powerful for my needs. I use it with Notepad++/Firefox (webdev) and Kicad 5.0.2 (no gpu acceleration on this version), Inkscape (no gpu acceleration) and that's it really.
I have an unlocked bios, so I set the GPU frequency to 300MHz I can't get lower in the bios, because my needs are very light on gpu power. And set the CPU TDP to PL1=3W and PL2=3W. But When I start the furmark test my gpu frequency gets lowered to 150Mhz !
I also disabled turboboost.

Is my gpu getting throttled by the CPU PL1 and PL2 Tdp setting ? Because When I set it to the default 7W my GPU do not get lowered it stays at 300MHz.

How can I use throttlestop to use my CPU and GPU at base clock, without them throttling down ? I need maximum battery life as I am always on the road.
Please help me get maximum battery life.

 

@vigan1 I would vote for a new notebook with a larger battery and a more modern CPU if you want maximum battery life without throttling for your workloads.

The low powered options, especially with the older platform versions, are never the longer lasting (on battery) options in my experience.

What run times are you getting now? What run times are you getting when you change PL1/PL2? How much run time do you want or expect away from AC power?

Oh, and what battery capacity and what condition is it in (batterybar can show this for you)?

 

Hi, my laptop use a 7.6V 4500mAh. With the 3W TDP and -60mV (cpu and gpu) setting I get less than 5 hours of work time with firefox and notepad++ and wifi off. It's a passive aluminium laptop and when it is pushed it get uncomfortably hot to the touch (I can't leave my hand on for 1 minute after it reach over 50°C)
If I could get 8hours and under 42°C at 100% cpu, it would be perfect ! I am ready to lower the frequencies and and everything my workload is quite low.

Thank you for taking the time to help me.

 

I am thinking about a new version of ThrottleStop that shows 12 threads of monitoring data on screen so users will not have to use the scroll bar to see what their CPU is doing. The 6 core - 12 thread 8750H and 9750H are very popular so a version of ThrottleStop that specifically targets 6 core CPUs might be a good thing. Here is a quick Photoshop mock up.



The problem now is I need some ideas about what sort of information should be included on the left hand side to fill up the blank space that this new super sized TS version would create. I can already hear my friend @Papusan complaining about the size of this monster! My thoughts were to fill up that space with some Nvidia GPU info like Min Max temps and MHz and etc.

Any thoughts? Does the world need a 12 thread version of TS?

 

The world didn't need a horseless wagon at one time either.

The fewer buttons that need to be pushed to see the state of the platform, the better.

 

I support what is said above, the simpler the better Only what is needed for the cpu, no need for gpu stuff confusing new users into thinking it's cpu informations

 

Your battery has 34.2Wh capacity, your cpu using 3W for 8 hours will need 24Wh, but the display also needs power as does your storage and your ram.

Also, lowering your clocks /tdp too much will be detrimental because it's better to use 5w for a minute than 3w for two minutes, for example, because you end using more power to do the same work.

Also, what are you doing on notepad++ and ff that you are always at 100% cpu usage (this goes a bit in hand with I said earlier, too slow of a cpu and igpu clock will be worse than a bit higher clocks).

 

I am web developper and I run Java and html apps and sometime stress test to see if they work well under heavy conditions. But just to clarify even when I use the laptop default 7W TDP it is 100% as the stress test are designed to use all the cpu resources.

But you just opened a new way of seeing it, it better to have a somewhat fast laptop that execute a task in less time than a underpowered laptop that work slowly. I would do more in less time.

But I want to see if I can get the GPU and CPU at their lowest limit and see if I can still work well, but I am stuck I don't know what to do with throttlestop to prevent the cpu from reaching it's max frequency (I already disabled turboboost) and make it use the lowest power possible. I capped the GPU frequency in the BIOS (a simple drop down menu with frequencies).

 

It does exactly what it has always done. It controls the Clock Modulation and Set Multiplier functions. Most modern laptops do not need to use either of these functions so essentially you are right. The Turn On button does not do anything useful. It will be retired when I think of something to put in its place.

@vigan1 - Running a CPU slow to save power is a myth. If a CPU has something to do, it will get the task done more efficiently by doing the task quickly, not slowly. Making your computer run like a slug might be creating more problems than you are solving.

 

Ok thank you guys. I thought it would save power because intel use speedstep and said it is what makes it save power, so I thought about just having it at the lowest frequency would save power.

 

Thank you unclewebb for your replay,

I wanted to decrease the load on the CPU, thus the temperature, I tried to follow one of the online guidelines. Anyway, I changed them to default, and during my playtime, I did not encounter any noticeable throttle, it was just like before. I wonder why this did not happen to me before while I was using 8.70 in windows 1909, I was using the exact same configuration file.

I have done that, please see Pastebin link:
https://pastebin.com/rvyv7gcW

Yes, temperature increase recently... I guess this might be one of the reason

I have also noticed that my CPU hits a max 25.4W after setting turbo ratios back to their default values.

 

There appears to be no reason to do this. Your CPU and GPU temperatures are perfect. Most newer Intel mobile CPUs are running at over 90°C when gaming. Your CPU temps when gaming are in the 70°C to 75°C range. There is nothing wrong with that. Do not use ThrottleStop to slow your CPU down to fix a problem that does not exist.

Nothing wrong with that either. Your CPU has a 45W TDP rating. You are using your CPU at a power level just over half of what it was designed for.

Did you set the turbo ratios back to 35, 33, 32, 31? Your log file shows your CPU running a little under this speed. If the turbo ratios are set correctly, try setting Speed Shift EPP on the main screen to 80. Personally, if I was plugged in and temperatures were not a problem, I would set EPP to 0 for maximum CPU performance. I suggest trying this while testing.

Without doing a lot of testing, it is impossible to say why this changed. I just know that changing Windows 10 from 1909 to 2004 was a lot bigger change compared to going from ThrottleStop 8.70 to 9.0.

When you have some time, try running a longer log file. No signs of any CPU or GPU throttling in your first log file.

 

Ah yes, sorry I was thinking of what I use it for, just FIVR. I noticed it said monitoring on the title of the program and turning it on changed that which I didn't recall previous version doing.

I've setup v9.0 as a service as I had done with 8.x but it didn't start on boot up. I tried to manually start ThrottleStop and it complained and told me to delete ini file which I did but now when I manually try to launch TS it says "could not change service config: uknown error". I deleted my service and launched TS manually and it starts up fine.
I never had issues with this before, are you aware of anything which might now prevent me from running this new version as a service?

 

Previous ThrottleStop versions showed TS 8.70 - Monitoring.
Now it says ThrottleStop 9.0 Monitoring. Same thing.

Monitoring mode used to give people a warm and fuzzy feeling. ThrottleStop is powerful stuff on some laptops. Many people were afraid of it when it was first released. It has more of a loyal following now so the Turn On - Turn Off feature is really not necessary anymore.

I have never run ThrottleStop as a service before. Did you follow a guide to do this? If you did, post a link and I will try to do some testing.

ThrottleStop 9.0 uses a new driver compared to previous versions. A safer driver is a good thing but this new driver might have broken being able to start ThrottleStop as a service. If you need that feature, you might have to go back and stick with the previous ThrottleStop version. What version of Windows 10 are you using? What directory is ThrottleStop in?

The Task Scheduler method to start ThrottleStop still works OK in Windows 10 2004 as far as I know.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329/#post-6865107

What advantage is there when you run ThrottleStop as a service?

 

It just struck me as a bit easier to maintain than a scheduled task, I also wasn't sure whether it would run in the tray when launching from a task, I guessed it would be just like I had launched it myself. Once I had it set up ideally I'd like it to run invisibly as I wouldn't expect to have to touch it much.

I followed this guide using the srvstart ( https://github.com/rozanski/srvstart) program to run it

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329/page-120#post-8728301

 

My bad. Just tested again on my laptop. Neither resuming from sleep or plug in/remove charger messes up the speed shift max anymore. I'll keep an eye on what's the combination that changes it.

But what about these 8/10/28/56 cores intel cpu lol. How about make that part default at 8 rows then adds a button to show all rows in a separate window like limits/FIVR/TPL?

 

No. It’s big enough now.

 

ThrottleStop already has that feature. Go into the Options window and disable all of the Notification Area icons and disable the Task Bar box on the main screen. When ThrottleStop starts up, there should be no evidence of it running except in the Task Manager. When it is running in the background like this, you will still be able to access the GUI if you need to. Leave a ThrottleStop link on your desktop if you might need to have a look at the user interface or go directly to your ThrottleStop folder. When you go to start ThrottleStop, if it finds that it is already running in your account, it will pop up the already running version.

@Kers - If you have a CPU that supports overclocking, set Speed Shift Max to 255. This should never interfere with your CPU speed.

I knew Papusan was not going to be happy. Maybe a 12 thread version will just be a brief fork in the road.

Still just thinking about this. Nothing to worry about yet.

I created a handful of undocumented INI options so you can adjust the color of ThrottleStop 9.0. Still need to build a user interface so this is easy to manage. That is on the things to do next list.

 

My Dell xps 15 9560 auto updated to bios 1.19.2 and has these changes:

Fixes:
- Firmware updates to address Intel security advisories INTEL-SA-00289 (CVE-2019-11157), INTEL-SA-00317 (CVE-2019-14607), INTEL-SA-00320 (CVE-2020-0543), and INTEL-SA-00329 (CVE-2020-0548 and CVE-2020-0549).
- Firmware updates to address the Intel Security Advisory INTEL-SA-00322 (CVE-2020-0528 and CVE-2020-0529).
- Firmware updates to address security advisory INTEL-SA-00295 (CVE-2020-0531, CVE-2020-0532, CVE-2020-0533, CVE-2020-0535, CVE-2020-0536, CVE-2020-0537, CVE-2020-0538, CVE-2020-0539, CVE-2020-0540, CVE-2020-0545, CVE-2020-0594, CVE-2020-0595, CVE-2020-0596, and CVE-2020-8674).
- Firmware updates to address CVE-2020-5362.
- Fixed the issue where the SMM Security Mitigation gets disabled while loading BIOS defaults.
- Fixed an issue with the hard drive master password reset not functioning.

Enhancement:
- Updated the Texas Instruments (TI) Power Delivery firmware.

over at the Dell page, they say that INTEL SA 00289 kills undervolt.
Is there a way to avoid this?

 

just disable turbo in the main window and also, set the EPP to 256.

 

That would definitely be more effective for my 7980XE... a lot less scrolling.

 

Thanks, I've set it up like that now. Another quick one, "PROCHOT 97" on the main screen should be ticked by default yes? It's unticking it which makes the change?

I had deleted my .ini file to reset the settings, then restarted (with the scheduled task disabled), and the box was ticked BUT it remembered my undervolt settings even though I had deleted the ini file, so just wanted to check that PROCHOT is how it should be by default? That's not something I'm interested in messing with

 

Cannot increase power limits on my xiaomi gaming laptop 2nd Gen i7 8750h gtx 1060, I can only decrease, any ideas?

Sent from my ZTE A2020G Pro using Tapatalk

 

Don't forget... it also allows people to choose whether they prefer a red or green system tray icon.

Sounds like typical 21st Century "all notebooks are garbage" nonsense the imbeciles that manufacture them are famous for. You'll likely need a BIOS with unlocked menus and a cancer-free EC. All of the notebook manufacturers suck and they all deserve more hate than we could collectively muster. Their crimes against humanity warrant their demise. Pretty frickin' sad that you cannot even buy a $5000 laptop with a desktop CPU that has firmware that is worth a damn. Same kind of stupid BS as the $1000 piece of crap... both castrated.

 

On the main screen where it says PROCHOT 97°C, that box is just an indicator. If you see a check mark in that box, that means your CPU reached the thermal throttling temperature which has been set to 97°C by the manufacturer of your device. When you see a check mark, you can click on this box to remove the thermal throttling information from the CPU. If there is not a check mark in this box, clicking on this box will not accomplish anything.

If you boot up from a cold start and you immediately see that this box is checked, that is not a good sign. It means your CPU reached the thermal throttling temperature while booting up. That might mean you have an inadequate or poorly installed heatsink and fan on the CPU.

When you reboot, the BIOS is supposed to reset the CPU and clear all of the previous records of throttling automatically. Any previous records of thermal throttling should be gone. Same with voltages. This information is stored within the CPU. The voltages are supposed to be reset during a reboot. If you delete the ThrottleStop.INI file, reboot and you are still seeing the same offset voltages, that means either your CPU did not reset the voltages like it was supposed to do or your BIOS is setting a default offset voltage for you. When ThrottleStop starts, if it does not find a ThrottleStop.INI configuration file, it reads whatever voltage that your CPU is currently set to.

The manufacturer is already messing with this. Intel recommends that the thermal throttling temperature be set to 100°C. Your computer is using a 3°C offset so it will thermal throttle at 97°C. Whether you mess with this setting or the manufacturer messes with it does not make any difference. They have decided not to follow the Intel recommended value.

If you are using the FIVR - Disable and Lock Turbo Power Limits option and you have set the turbo long and short power limits and you still cannot get beyond the 45W long term limit, there is nothing you can do about it. Your only option as a consumer when you buy a laptop like this is to immediately return it for a full refund. Manufacturers can build whatever they want. It is up to consumers to decide if a laptop is good enough or not. There are lots of laptops on the market to choose from with unlocked power limits. Enthusiasts need to support manufacturers that build devices that are unlocked.

If your BIOS has already been updated, can you still under volt your CPU? Some Dell laptops have a trick where you can go into the BIOS and select a reset to factory option. This will allow some users to under volt even without having to install the previous BIOS version. That is the other option. Try installing the previous BIOS. You might have to do this combined with the reset to factory option. There are a variety of ways to block BIOS updates. I use Sledgehammer to help screen Windows Update for anything that looks suspicious. In the old days we used to have to worry about suspicious malware or viruses. Now we have to worry about suspicious stuff from Microsoft, Intel and OEMs.