The ThrottleStop Guide

I did set speed shift max to 255. It's just that sometimes this setting isn't effective anymore even though it shows as 255 in TS. I will try to figure out what condition would cause that to happen.

 

@Kers - I have heard that on some CPUs, the Speed Shift variables are merely suggestions. The CPU looks at these suggestions and then gets to make the final decision on what speed it should run at. I personally have never encountered this problem but I think it is possible. If you figuring something out, let me know and I will see if I can come up with a fix.

 

Well that's a bit scary, I wouldn't expect it to reach that temperature at all really.

Could it be that if it's using fast boot then it's saving its current configuration and using that when it starts back up rather than trying to read from the ini file?

 

@Griffin3567 - During Fast Boot, it is possible that the CPU is not being fully reset. Not too important. Use ThrottleStop to set your voltages however you like and you will be comfortable knowing that ThrottleStop will properly apply your voltages when you start up or resume. The ThrottleStop FIVR monitoring table is constantly updated so you can always look at that information to make sure that your voltages are being set correctly.

With Intel XTU, this is always a guessing game. You almost have to run a separate monitoring app to try to determine when XTU is applying the voltages correctly and when it is not.

 

My observation is that when windows controls speed shift EPP, speed shift variables from TS is only respected when windows sets EPP=0 aka best performance with charger plugged in.
When TS controls EPP, Windows will fight to control EPP as well but speed shift variables works all the time. CPU would ignore speed shift variables from TS for 1 second since Windows is in control but then TS kicks in and everything will be working as intended.

 

Got it starting with Scheduled Task now and I confirm my voltages with hwmonitor. The interface does pop up though on start up, even with notification area unticked task bar unticked I can hide it using start minimsed but that means I can't ever actually open it as it starts minimised and then theres no tray icon

 

No need to run a separate app to confirm your voltages. Just look in the FIVR monitoring table. The voltages reported in that table are updated in real time. Same information that HWMonitor shows. Only difference is ThrottleStop is more efficient.

You can open ThrottleStop when it is hidden. Create a Windows shortcut to ThrottleStop.exe. Place this shortcut on your desktop if you need to use it frequently or place the shortcut in your start menu. Double clicking on the shortcut will open up the existing ThrottleStop.exe that is hidden, running in the background. ThrottleStop is smart enough not to open up a second instance of ThrottleStop if it is already running.

 

That's fair enough, I just liked to have a second opinion. Once I stop faffing about with it, I shouldn't need to keep checking.

Aaaah OK that works. I need to remember to minimise when I'm done messing and not close. I think that's another reason I was using the service as I can close the interface with the x (tend to do that without thinking) and the service keeps it running in the bg.

 

You do not have to remember anything. ThrottleStop already has a fix for this too. In the Options window check the Minimize on Close option. Now when you click on the X Close gadget, ThrottleStop will minimize instead of close. If there are no icons to minimize to and the Task Bar is not checked, ThrottleStop will minimize and become a background task again. No need to run TS as a service.

 

Amazing. Thanks for the help

 

Question about TS 9.0. I run it on two laptops, my Gigabyte (in signature) and my wife's Lenovo Extreme 2nd edition. Undervolting works fine on both, and it minimizes normally to the taskbar. However, on either machine, if I have left it long enough for the screen to go off, when I restart it, clicking on the TS logo in the taskbar brings up blank frames, with no text. Restarting TS works fine. Neither machine has fast restart or hibernate enabled, and they do not sleep. Any thoughts?
Thanks,

Joe

 

If both of them are Optimus/hybrid graphics it may be another manifestation of the countless flaws associated with that technology. It may not be rendering the screen image correctly after the screen turns off and the graphics resume from a low-power "sleep" state. If they have switchable graphics, try setting the NVIDIA Control Panel Global profile to use the NVIDIA graphics only and disable the power management option (set to "never" or zero) for turning off the screen and see if the problem goes away permanently.

 

I'm curious: if my current stable coupled voltage offset is -125 mV, do these findings suggest that it'd be safe to double the core voltage offset to -250 mV (while keeping cache at -125 mV)? Or are these finding suggesting that core voltage offset should stay at the current stable value of -125, while cache offset should be set to -62 mV?

 

@Jdpurvis - I have never experienced that issue. Your problem seems like it might be a graphics driver issue. Are you using the same version on both laptops? Was this ever a problem when using TS 8.70 or any previous versions of ThrottleStop?

If the cache is stable at -125 mV, some people have seen improvements by holding the cache at that value and then increasing the core offset to -200 mV to -250mV. I have heard that a 2:1 ratio is some sort of magic number. Starting at -125 mV, bump the core -10 mV to -20 mV at a time and run another Cinebench R20 test and see if temperatures or your Cinebench scores improve. Keep doing this. Somewhere between -125 mV and -250 mV for the core, there will be no further improvement. If you lose stability right away, back the cache off to -100 mV and try again. Some people have the cache voltage running right on the edge of stability.

Some people keep on going and go as high as -1000 mV. Obviously at this point, you have gone too far. The CPU must be ignoring all or part of this request. It would crash if you really were reducing its voltage by -1V.

 

Yes, I did.

I followed your advice, the laptop feels lighter, though fans spin more frequently but I would not mind.

Kindly, review the two log files in the below links when you have the time:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PrqlECROZ9-MIWr9Pu_gYhbD4dUJQC5_/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o06DhzQyFYg4Lez-UJj5mRZDhJJ9KrHC/view?usp=sharing

 

Well I'll be damned... It works. I started the cache at -125 mV (my current value), doubled the core to -250 mV, ran OCCP power test and TS Bench at the same time, and sure enough both apps reported test errors. Started lowering both down in 5 mV increments and eventually landed at -210/-105 mV stability. Finally ran Cinebench and got a score about 60 points higher than usual.
Honestly, I can't quite wrap my head around why this works - but it looks like it does work.

On a related topic: is there an app that can measure the cumulative power draw (of package or system) over a certain period of time? Something like, "Package 12:05:30 - 12:10:30 = 475W"?

 

I'm using 9.0 on both laptops. Both do have dual graphics adapters, Nvidia and the one on the Intel chip. Disabling screen shutdown did not help. I will try forcing Nvidia adapter full time to see if that works.
Edit
Seems like disabling the Intel graphics fixed the problem. Could be their driver.

Thanks for your help - relative to the great benefit of TS, this is a minor issue.
Joe

 

@Jdpurvis - I am curious if you ever had this problem while running TS 8.70? The new driver that I switched to for ThrottleStop 9.0 should not make any difference. One big difference is that TS 9.0 is compiled with Visual Studio 2019 whereas all of the previous versions were compiled with Visual Studio 2013. That should not make any difference either but it was a significant change so anything is possible.

This is the Intel GPU driver that I am using.



@Ahed - I had a look at your first log file and I see a big problem. If you look in the log file under the CKMOD column, you will see this value drop from 100.0 to 0.0. CKMOD stands for clock modulation throttling. Very few manufacturers have been using this type of throttling in recent years. As soon as I saw that, my first thought was, this must be a Dell. I scrolled back a few pages and look at that, it is a Dell. An XPS 9550.

Dell used this throttling method on their laptops for many years. In ThrottleStop, try checking the Clock Modulation option on the main screen and make sure that is set to 100.0. If the title bar says ThrottleStop 9.0 - Monitoring, you will need to click on the Turn On button to take ThrottleStop out of monitoring mode so it can try to correct the clock modulation issue you are having. The title bar should say ThrottleStop 9.0.

This type of throttling can be applied to individual threads. Not sure if Dell is applying this to all threads of your CPU or just one thread. For a while they were only applying this throttling to some threads of the CPU so most monitoring software would not notice. ThrottleStop monitors every thread so you can watch the monitoring table. The Mod column should always be reporting 100.0 for every thread. You should never be seeing 0.0 in that column for any thread.

In your log file this first happens at 1:25:12. That lasts for about 5 minutes. At 1:30:05, it goes back to 100.0. At 1:32:02 it starts throttling again with clock modulation at 0.0. This time it lasts for over an hour. It does not stop throttling until 2:34:57. That was always the problem with this type of throttling that Dell was using. It would kick in for extended periods of time even when there was no reason for any type of throttling. Your temperatures and power consumption are both fine.

Hopefully ThrottleStop can help with this issue you are having. Post another log file after you have checked the Clock Modulation box.

Edit - I did not see any clock modulation throttling in your second log file. You were not using the Nvidia GPU during the majority of the second log file. It might be the Nvidia GPU or overall power consumption that is the trigger for this throttling. Are you using a Dell power adapter and is it the appropriate size for your laptop?

 

I encountered the same glitch Jdpurvis explained on at least 2 different occasions where randomly if throttlestop is left open on the desktop, the boxes will clear all values and turn into empty white boxes. When I restart my pc all is fine. I never experienced it with any previous version of throttlestop. I suspect it's due to changing the font from default to Georgia.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

 

Did you use add this line to the ThrottleStop.INI configuration file?

MainFont=Georgia

@Jdpurvis - Are you using the default font or are you using this new feature too?

I will do some testing to see if I can recreate this problem. Can you post a screenshot next time this happens. If you open up some of the other ThrottleStop windows, is there a problem there too?

 

Yes I added the line in the same format. Next time the error occurs I will try to take a screenshot

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

 

I was using the default fonts - but I like the Georgia Font Will see if it happens in other windows.

 

@unclewebb Great job with 9.0! It's running really smoothly, no issues at all so far, and most importantly the RwDrv.sys BSOD problem is now a thing of the past.

A question/feature request for you:
Have you considered making TPL settings part of profiles? It'd be useful to be able to set different PL1/PL2/PL3/PL4 limits depending on which profile is active.
For example, my CPU supports cTDP down which allows me to throttle it to 35W and 2.0 GHz (from the regular 60W and 2.5 GHz non-turbo) - it'd be great if I could enable that every time my battery level dropped below a certain percentage.

 

The new version works well and I like that the UI now reports the max temperature and package power without clicking anything.

Are there any plans to add Haswell iGPU (HD4600) overclocking into ThrottleStop? That's the only feature Intel XTU has over ThrottleStop and the only reason I still keep it installed. I can provide register dumps if need be and I have found this document if it helps (search for "3Bh").

 

Oops.

It's probably a one off - I don't know what happened. I didn't run out of RAM - (16GB plus 4GB PF) so

 

@Che0063 - It definitely appears that I screwed something up somewhere. Maybe the new version of Visual Studio is more strict and does not like some of my shady programming practices. I have started looking for what might be causing this bug but I have not yet experienced it on any of my computers. If I get something figured out, I will send you a version for testing purposes. It might be a while trying to track this down.

I have considered this but have never got around to adding this feature. My laptop has locked power limits so it has never been a high priority. The black screen issue above needs to be fixed first.

I had a look at this a long time ago but never got around to adding this feature. There have not been a lot of requests to overclock the Intel GPU. I think I know where the registers are located but something seems to be blocking overclocking my HD4600.

If you want to try and help, try running the Dufus Dump program. Dump the registers before you overclock and after you overclock the Intel GPU. There might be some lock on my iGPU that is holding me back from overclocking it.

Dump
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0dpSo9k93jDX1Fpa1FpTmo1Qk0/view?usp=sharing

 

I think its a memory leak causing Windows explorer to be killed off. I faced it just once when I ran out of RAM.

 

You never did talk us thru how to boot a 9750H with Spread at 0% and BLCK OD'd.

 

I think you might be right. A big bug has been found and hopefully taken care of. Old Visual Studio was letting me get away with some poor programming on my part. New Visual Studio is doing things by the book. New TS version with bug fix will be ready in a day or two.

 

Questions and Request. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, since my gaming laptop doesn't get here until the 7th of june, but it will probably be the first thing I install.

First does throttlestop support undervolting, and does it work on gpu's? Second can I create an unlimited number of profiles (leads into my request).

I was wondering if you could implement some method of profile switching based on running programs. EG:Launch a game that only needs 1400mhz to run at 60fps, have throttlestop switch to a usermade profile that underclocks/volts to whatever the user set for that program/game. Essentially context based overclocking. (Apparently discord uses something called Rich Presence to determine when a game is running)

If your display only supports 60hz then usually you don't need to run at more then 60fps. I would rather have full control of voltages/clocks rather then let windows decide for me. My plan would be to make a bunch of profiles ranging from 1200mhz adding approx 100mhz per profile up to whatever my laptop temps would allow for, and just set individual programs to use my already made profiles. Of course Id do this while keeping the voltage as low as possible, I want my temps as low as possible and on a laptop that can be difficult.

 

You can use ThrottleStop to change the voltage of your Intel CPU. You will need to use another tool to change the voltage of your GPU.

ThrottleStop would need to continuously query Windows to find out what programs are running. I had a look at this but I could not find a way to do this efficiently. It will be a while before I consider adding this option.

No. ThrottleStop only allows you to create 4 profiles. That is 3 more than I ever use. Unlimited profiles is not on the things to do list yet. Thanks for the ideas.

 

Alright, I have done that and attached the dumps running at stock (1300mhz) and after changing only the iGPU frequency for two overclocks (1350 and 1400mhz). I confirmed these settings were being applied by looking at the GPUZ monitoring tab.

 

It is only possible because of the special BIOS that a wonderful friend made especially for my system.

Below is a link to a forum where you may be able to get help with a BIOS mod if your system is a TongFang model.

https://www.win-raid.com/t4232f16-S...ns-of-rebranded-TONGFANG-chassis-systems.html

 

It would require unlocking some bits in uefi varibles. Unlocking menus in bios. And creating new profile in me fw which will alow spread adjustment and bclk change.
By the way you can also unlock mem oc menus if they exists.

And you need programer in case failure with mod.

For normal user without much knowlage it is not worth the risk and will probably end in bricked system.

If you are not familiar with bios and me fw moding it is better to ask gurus on winraid forum. They are great and helpfull.

BR

 

I did not need the ME to be modded with a proper BIOS mod. But, I know it required some very talented hex editing to enable the features that laptop manufacturers are very handy at destroying.

 

@Mr. Fox
The idea of modding me is to create second profile with bclk and spread adjustment and leaving original profile untouched as fail safe.
For me this is much more convinient but I agree with you that someone with more skills can do it with only hex.

btw I am only familiar with me fit editing method

 

I managed to get it done with FIT. IMO Razers some of the easiest modding I've ever done, they don't have many limitations put in place.

It's just unfortunate that they've made the Realtek audio not work with the HAP bit set to disable Intel ME completely, the machine boots 3x as fast with that nonsense turned off. :/

 

102.47 bclk is your max limit?
I know we are not able to past 103 bclk but my kaby can hold 102.98. If you can rise it to 102.98 then you will have tiny litle bit more mhz from cpu

 

Nice, I got 102.98!

 

And now test your RAM as it is overclocked by 3% also so for example if you had 3200mhz ram now you have 3296mhz

And don't rise your bclk more than 102.98 as it will not be applied as we are able to achive only 102.98 after skylake 6th gen

And post some bench resaults now

 

How are you guys doing the BCLK overclock? Are you guys using custom/modded bioses?

How do i go about unlocking BCLK overclocking?

 

You need to mod your Intel ME profile.
Lots to read about that at the win-raid forum.
Or post a request and Lost_N_BIOS might be able to help you.
I think Svet over at the MSI forum will also do it for you.

 

You can get help from Lost_N_Bios on winraid forum.
As for SVET from what I saw on msi forum I think he is ignoring request on laps from 8th gen as I didn't see if he replied to someone with newer gen.

Or you can follow guide that was made an was avalible on techinferno forum I think.

As for FIT and modding Intel ME FW profile, procedure is the same.

 

Does the attached PDF contain all the info I need?

 

It very much overcomplicates it. Do you know if your Flash Descriptor is unlocked on your machine? If not do you own a CH341A or similar?

If yes then grab these tools https://www.win-raid.com/t624f39-In...Engine-Drivers-Firmware-amp-System-Tools.html and make yourself an Intel ME image with the "Overclock" profile enabled in ICC. I can talk you through it if you want to go this route.

 

Yes.
It is not my guide, but was avalible for public some time ago and there should be all info as I remember.

 

You can post detailed guide here for everybody. If you have more simple way of unlocking and moding.
On some systems you need also tweak some settings that are mentioned in The guide so the mem oc would work
But in any way you can follow guide and you will be Good also

 

I'll let you know when I need help. I'm really busy this coming week so i wont have time to tinker with this yet.

 

Yeah thanks for the heads up!

 

Agreed, memory leak fixes absolutely take priority.
If you do keep a private list of feature requests though, I'd appreciate if you could add "per profile TPL settings" to the list. Thanks!

Actually, rather than implement app monitoring and rules (which I agree could be a lot of work), a much quicker way you could support this and many other similar scenarios would be to allow profiles to be switched by passing command-line parameters to TS. As you noted before, if throttlestop.exe is executed while the process is already running it's smart enough to know not to start a new instance. If that mechanism could also be used to pass command-line parameters to an already running instance of TS, users could then implement their own profile switching logic completely independently of TS (by using Task Scheduler, PowerShell, etc).