The ThrottleStop Guide

Hi Chumley,

I have updated an old core-2-duo (T7500 macbook pro) laptop to W10. Could you share your settings using Throttlestop 8.10?

 

Here is a screenshot. Not sure if that shows what you wanted to know.

Note that my sole purpose for using ThrottleStop is to undervolt. My machine works fine with the minimum voltage of 1.0V at all frequencies. At "stock" voltages it produces too much heat and fan noise.

 

TSBench 1024M is a great way to test stability.

I'm interested in hearing what stable undervolt you achieve.

 

Prime95 is usually pretty good, IntelBurnTest works as well.

 

Intel XTU stress test is a good one too!

 

I would not use Intel XTU together with ThrottleStop, however. UncleWebb (ThrottleStop engineer) noted conflicts when the programs were run simultaneously.

Another user GoNz0 recommended against FurMark on a laptop as that is a hardcore test which could overheat / damage a weak cooling system.

There are some posts recommending stress tests here on notebookreview.com so do a search. . .

Prime95 and RealBench StressTest are popular.

 

This problem is most if both start at the same time and you've added a Oc profile in XTU. You do not have to create an XTU profile for the bench/stress test. And it is strange that no one has mentioned Wprime 1024M stress test. Furmark is a BIG NO NO!!

 

Thank you all for the advice, I tried the TSBench 1024 and the aida64 stability test yesterday and both ran without any troubles. I will try with Prime95, wprime and RealBench Test today after work. How much time do you recommend me to run it? And which temperatures would you consider acceptable during the test? I tried to find some answers using the search function, bust all the temperatures I found were in overclocked systems, and I am interested in stock clock.
Thanks again

 

Run all bench with HWINFO in the background and take screenshots of the results. Post all of your testing in the main forum for your machine and ask if everything is ok. All depends on your thermal paste and ambient temperature. Wprime 1024M stress test, TS 1024 bench and Cinebench R11.5 / R15 run a fixed time so it should be easy to compare max temp with same model as you have. Don't run your processor +90c over longer periods.

 

@Artico: Just an observation, stress testing is relative. For example, Prime95 v 28.7's maximum stress benchmark basically pummels your CPU with a series of operations which use some of the highest power consuming parts.

Under no normal form of computer/ gaming load would you ever do that to your CPU (heck, even running Prime95 in its normal mode doesn't hammer the CPU that hard). If you are relying on Prime95, WPrime, et al as your "stability" high water mark you may be selling yourself short.

For example, if you want to drop the amount that you can undervolt try running a GPU stress test and a CPU stress test at the same time. For me, doing that means I pretty much have to go back to almost stock voltages (but again, I don't have any aftermarket cooling or anything).

 

Hello to all,

I've just got an used Dell E6410 (with i5 560M) and I'm trying to configure it for a digital audio workstation ((Win 7 x64, 4Gb RAM, HD 250Gb). I need it to have a 'fixed' clock (not going up and down) - it could be the maximum of this machine (2.6GHz) non-turbo, or a bit lower, but it must be stable to get low latency and audio stable (for Firewire 800 audio, Dante, etc...)

I believe that Throttlestop is the tool to achive this, as I did on another machine (Clevo i7), but I'm having no luck with this E6410, it keeps throttling up and down...

I'm using BIOS rev A16 (which I believe is the latest from DELL) on this E6410 (i5 560M 2.6GHz):

Multi Core Support [X] All
[X] Enable Hyperthreading Support
[ ] Enable Intel SpeedStep (off)
[ ] Enable Intel TurboBoost (off)
[X] Enable Intel Virtualization Technology
[ ] Enable VT for Direct I/O (off)
[ ] Trusted Execution (off)

I installed ThrottleStop so I can at least monitor CPU speeds and temp.

While running a proc. load (like TS Bench), ThrottleStop 'works' for a while: I can set Multiplier/FID (from 9 to 20 ~ 2.7GHz). Enabling Turbo, (also while a load running) it gets 22 (almost 3GHz).

But as soon as load ends, Multiplier/FIDs goes from 11~13 'randomly', while last core (4th/HT) goes 12~16. General speed goes from 1.8 to 1.5 GHz. Clock Modulation/CMD and Chipset Clock Mod does not seem to move from 100% (both).

Win 7 system Power Options are set to 'High Performance', and advanced power settings are set accordingly:

Processor performance core parking min cores 100% / 100%
Minimun processor state 100% / 100%
System cooling policy Active / Active
Maximum processor state 100% / 100%

My main page of ThrottleStop (5) currently is:

(x) Clock Modulation: 100%
(x) Chipset Clock Mod: 100%
(x) Set Multiplier (9 is the min, 20 is max, 21 is Turbo)

All these off: Power Saver, Disable Turbo, BD PROCHOT, C1E;

All these on: EIST, More Data.

While there is no processor intensive load (C0% 1 ~ 8), when setting multiplier from min (9) going up slowly (up to 20), I can see some relation between the multiplier I set and the multiplier shown at the side, like: when I set 9, it shows 9.xx ~ 10.xx; when I set 10, it shows 10.xx ~ 11.xx; when I set 11, it shows 10.xx ~ 11xx; but it oscilates a lot - 1 step set up at the Multiplier shows some .50 or so related on the FID.

(C3% is show 0 while C0% oscilates 1~3; and C6% 79~82%)

What am I missing??

Thanks a lot for any help!!!

 

I sort of managed to solve my thermal issues and can now run my 4710HQ a bit higher. However I've got a problem:

With uCode 01/02 I can enable PowerCut just fine, but when I do so my wattage readings get seriously messed up as shown in this picture:
http://imgur.com/a/6X9Ml
I don't know what @hdneo did to get proper readings when applying this (BIOS version?)

 

Thanks for your advise, but I'm afraid I don't understand it (English is not my first language).
In the second paragraph I think that you are telling me that wprime, etc are not realistic and that they smashes my CPU. So, in real conditions, shouldn't I be able to undervolt even more my CPU? (I may be wrong, I had to google what selling yourself short means and I am not sure if I understood it). If this is right I don't get how that would change with a simultaneous GPU/CPU stress test. If the CPU is undervolted it should consume less power right?, doesn't that mean that the GPUs will have more power available in case they need it (I am running both GPUs at stock settings)?
Sorry if those are stupid questions, I just want to be sure that I get what your are trying to tell me.

 

This is exactly what I am saying. However, looking at it from the other side - even if your computer is "unstable" with wprime, does not mean it is actually unstable in normal everyday use.

This comment was more about the built-in GPU on some Intel processors.
Undervolting both the Intel CPU and Intel GPU will result in instability when pushing both the CPU and GPU hard - but that is a very rare thing these days. Most games (for example) are bottlenecked/ bound by the GPU not the CPU (and usually the CPU doesn't work that hard at all).

 

I'm pretty sure you have to set the non-turbo ratio to 0 in order to use the set multiplier feature.

 

@brave - If you want ThrottleStop to show you a perfectly stable multiplier, you need to disable the deeper C States. Most laptops do not have an option in the bios for this but you can edit the Windows registry to disable the C States. This topic was discussed in this forum just a couple of years ago. Surprised you missed it. Just kidding!

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

This is very easy and very safe to do. You will need to reboot for the changes to take effect. It is also very easy to go back to the original value, reboot, and everything will be back to normal. Editing the registry scares many people but as long as you take your time, you won't have any problems.

As for your other settings, in the bios you have Intel SpeedStep disabled but in ThrottleStop you have EIST enabled. EIST stands for Enhanced Intel SpeedStep so this ThrottleStop setting is referring to the same thing. I like having SpeedStep enabled in the bios and in ThrottleStop. All the enthusiasts like to disable this but there is rarely a need to. As long as Windows is setup correctly, SpeedStep will not interfere with a steady multiplier. Use the Windows High Performance profile with the Minimum and Maximum processor states set to 100% and with C States disabled, the multi as reported by ThrottleStop should be nice and steady.

I don't think you need to disable Turbo Boost. Have a look at the Power Limits in ThrottleStop. Are these adjustable? I seem to recall that the Core i5 left these unlocked but your bios might have locked them. If the multiplier is not steady, try increasing both TDP and TDC. If this is not possible then I guess you will have to disable Turbo Boost. I like first trying to maximize performance just to see what is possible. Post a screenshot if you have some success so we can see what settings worked for you. I like uploading pics to www.imgur.com No account is necessary.

 

Hi. Shortly after that message was this:

"FWIW all C-states (except C0) can be disabled via the Windows OS command line (Powercfg) or programmatically since at least XP IIRC, including C1. No registry editing or reboot required."

Did that turn out to be true? I've looked into Powercfg and think he might have been thinking of sleep states S1/S2/S3/S4 etc.

 

I found that using the powercfg command, it disabled all of the low power C States including C1 and C1E. This left the CPU in the C0 state, getting really hot, whether it had something to do or not.

I prefer using the registry edit method. This disables all of the C States except C0, C1 and C1E. In a laptop, having at least C1 available should reduce core temperatures without any noticeable difference in lag or latency.

I added a Power Option so I can toggle off all of the C States for testing purposes when needed without rebooting.

 

How did you do that O.O

 

Do you want to add some more options to your Power Options?

http://www.dozty.com/how-to-unlock-the-hidden-features-of-processor-power-management/

Open up a Windows Command Prompt with Admin privileges. In Windows 10 you can hold down the Windows Key + X and then push the A key. After that, enter this line:

Code:

powercfg -attributes SUB_PROCESSOR 5d76a2ca-e8c0-402f-a133-2158492d58ad -ATTRIB_HIDE

Microsoft has some useful background information in this paper.

http://download.microsoft.com/downl...-41a4-9084-623b1194d4b2/PMPolicy_Windows.docx

 

OMG THATS AMAZING!!!!

 

I have no idea what I am doing but that is very cool.

 

I'm sure that you used to be able to unlock a lot of modifications like this in the power settings for the processor etc in Windows 7.. Its good to see that this can be done on 10 too, thanks for sharing unclewebb!!

Sent from my LG-H850 using Tapatalk

 

Using that trick to disable all of the low power C States might be useful when benching a SSD. Other than that, on a processor like my 4700MQ, most other benchmarks will probably show a decrease in performance. The reason for this is that the non K processors need to be able to access at least C3 in order to use the maximum turbo boost multiplier. The 4700MQ has a maximum multiplier of 36 but this is only available when a single core is active and the other 3 cores are able to enter C3 or a deeper C State. If you disable C3 / C6 / C7; no more 36 multiplier. The maximum will then be reduced to 34. No C States also means more heat when the CPU is idle which is not what most laptop owners want. The people that use their laptops for music production like disabling the C States so they get a nice steady multiplier.

 

Thanks for the link and explanation.
What you're saying here is as following. Yet another reason to buy notebooks with an unlocked Socket processor! Something to think about And better cooling aka Liquid metal helps to keep the temp down. A big win win

 

http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/2845927/
They're all basically the same chips from the same wafer sold with a lock/unlock. The higher quality chips are from the center.

 

I'm trying to undervolt a Skylake-u core m3-6y30. I notice that undervolting CPU cache or GPU has no effect. The only thing that undervolts is the CPU core. Am I doing something wrong here?

 

I do not have access to a Core m3-6Y30 for testing purposes or any relevant documentation from Intel. That means ThrottleStop might not fully support your CPU. If you are having problems, post a screenshot of the ThrottleStop FIVR window so I can have a look. Use Adaptive mode for the Core and Cache and then use a ridiculous setting like an offset of -0.500 volts for the Cache and hit Apply. If this setting is working, you would expect your computer to crash and reboot almost immediately. If it does not crash then you are right, it probably does not work. Post any other test you can think of that proves that Cache voltage adjustment has no effect.

On some Skylake CPUs, the CPU Cache and CPU Voltage might need to be set to the same value. On some other Skylake CPUs, it seems like the CPU Cache voltage can be set lower than the CPU Core voltage. On your CPU, perhaps all 3 settings, Core, Cache and GPU all have to be set exactly the same. I don't have enough new hardware to play with so without some user feedback, there is nothing I can do to help you.

Does Intel XTU work on your CPU? If it does, I guess you will have to use that.

 

Thanks for the response!

Yes you're right I'll have to do more testing. I was wrong about the CPU cache though, it is undervolting. Just went lower than I did on XTU and it crashed so it's working. It's just the GPU so far that seems not to have an effect. I went as low as -250mv and it didn't seem to do anything. I guess I can try an even greater amount after I test stability of the cpu.

XTU does work, but due to settings not applying after hibernation, it's been a hassle to use and apply settings every time I use the computer. Also, throttlestop is less heavy on resources.

Thank you for your help! I'll update on the GPU after some testing.

 

Might be a dumb question but I couldn't find an answer.

If I close the program, will my undervolt stick? I'm guessing no because the autolaunch instructions made by illuzn make the program run every hour, but I would like official confirmation.

 

@obutto - My first question would be, why would you close ThrottleStop? When properly setup, it is both one of the leanest and most powerful programs on the planet. It takes literally next to nothing in terms of CPU usage and memory space. When it is running in the background, minimized to the system tray, you are guaranteed that your undervolt will be exactly as you set it which is unlike some other bloated program by a major corporation where you have to constantly guess whether it is working or not. ThrottleStop can happily run for days or weeks without glitching out or needing to be restarted. It just works. As soon as you exit ThrottleStop, your undervolt will only last as long as some other program does not change it. Going into stand by mode or hibernate mode will definitely reset it.

 

I noticed when XTU undervolts the GPU in my skylake-u m3-6y30 CPU, it also undervolts "System Agent" on Throttlestop. So i stopped using XTU and tried undervolting using just Throttlestop. When you match "System Agent" and GPU voltages, it seems to be applying. But with the CPU, it seems CPU and Cache can be undervolted independently.

Sorry if that was already said in another post, i didn't notice any while searching.

 

Core m3-6Y30 Voltage Control

What sort of testing did you do to try and prove this? I think something like a game or benchmark running in window mode on the desktop and using GPU-Z to monitor just the Intel GPU temperature might be a good test. With that running, you could play with voltages using ThrottleStop to see what happens to temperatures. I like the Heaven benchmark for testing purposes because it loops and is very easy on the CPU.

Your testing is appreciated. Hopefully Google will help the next person with a similar CPU find this information.

Edit - I found another happy m3-6Y30 user of ThrottleStop about 10 pages ago in this forum.

 

hello
very much a noob at this type of thing,trying to get my temperatures down , this is what i have just web browsing. are my settings ok or do i need change anything?
thanks

 

thanks

 

sorry having a bit of a mission trying post the images

 

@indup - Your idle temps are already in the low 40°C range so there is probably not much room left for improvement. What C States are being used? Enabling as many of them as possible in the bios is one way to reduce idle temps.

Some Skylake CPUs will happily run with the Cache voltage set a little lower than the CPU voltage. You could also try lowering the Cache ratio a couple of notches. Many apps will show virtually no difference in performance when you do this and this might allow you to overclock the CPU core a little more.

It seems like you know what you are doing so just keep experimenting to see what works best for your CPU and your situation.

 

ok thanks its just that i when i got my laptop it had temps of 29/30 and have gone up dont know why.

i couldnt find any c states settings in the bios.

at what number would you suggest setting the cache voltage at currently at 150.4 same as cpu voltage?

and what about cache ratio it only goes from +8 upwards?

thanks for your help

 

@ unclewebb your software is awesome man! Please hear my one request, since this software is also being used by people for tweaking CPU settings and not only stopping throttling, can uplease change the name of the software? The name throttlestop doesn't sound very good.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_rose_by_any_other_name_would_smell_as_sweet

 

Thanks, I always like hearing stuff like that.

Any suggestions? How about VTU? The Voltage Tuning Utility. Maybe Intel will sue.

This thread has been going strong for 490 pages over almost 6 years and you are the first person to complain about the name. I am sure there are probably a few more people that don't like the name but most people are so happy that their laptop is finally running decent that they could care a less about the name.

Like the icon that my daughter hates, ThrottleStop is what it is. Nothing pretty, no fancy name, it just works. That is more important to me than the name.

If you come up with a new name for this program, maybe I will create a special one off version just for you. ThrottleStop has a solid following of laptop enthusiasts so I am going to leave it at that.

@indup - There is a lot of variation in laptop temperatures. This can make a fair comparison from day to day difficult unless you can precisely control the load, fan speed, ambient temperature, etc. Laptops also move around and get flexed so the thermal interface between the CPU and cooler can degrade over time. I wouldn't worry too much about idle temps.

Play with your laptop. Try lowering the cache voltage and see what happens. Why are you using -150 mV? Did you read in a forum that this was a good number or did you do some testing? All CPUs are different so if you want to get the most out of a CPU, you need to spend lots of time doing lots of testing. If you are not interested in doing this then leave it as is. -150 mV sounds like a good number to me.

 

@unclewebb
when will ThrottleStop v8.10 move out of beta so I can submit it to MajorGeeks.com?

 

Throttlestop is under constant development. Therefore always Beta in the name!! You know that a final version will stop the inspiration for further development?

 

it was final for a while then it went back to Beta

 

To my knowledge. TS 8 has never been a finished version. Correct me with facts if this is incorrect . Always beta! TS 6.00 ... Yes.

 

when I submitted v8 initially I think it was final, then it went into Beta again

 

thanks,

using -150mV as it was the general consensus in the laptops thread that it came from the overvolted and souls be lowered and this was number recommended.

 

Hello everyone!

I was wondering if the 'Set Multiplier' works on a Surface Pro 4 with the I5-6300U (check screenshots). I have the turbo set to 0, but seems that the values are not applied. Other ones, such as disable turbo, are good. Still, I would like to modulate the clocks a bit to reduce fan spinning. Thanks!!