Need an X220 throttling fix

I cant stand it. It won't even let me do light gaming.

CPU keeps throttling. FPS goes to 30-40, then back to under 10. Keeps repeating.

I WILL NOT PAY FOR AN ADDITIONAL 90W ADAPTER

How do I fix it.

Any way to disable turbo boost on GPU ???

It only throttles when gaming.

No throttling with Router virtualization and CPU at 100%

 

I was going to suggest you did a little reading on the topic at the Lenovo forums but look like you started a post there too. I'll let the pros give you some direction, just a couple things:

- TP Fan Control software?
- updated to 1.19 BIOS?

 

Turning off CPU Power Management either through BIOS or Power Manager takes care of it, but it requires a restart.

 

I think when you bought the x220, you were well aware of the throttling problem, right?

Defects in design can happen. Almost all laptops that I have used have shown some kind of problem somewhere. I doubt Lenovo will be able to fix it since the power draw is too high for the 65w adapter.

In terms of solutions, are you able to game on battery? If so, that might be a solution. I play some games (not overly demanding) and they work fine on battery and it still estimates 3-4 runtime on a 9-cell battery. That is a reasonable solution for me. Getting a 90w adapter is another reasonable solution. Other than that, I'm not sure if there are any "magic" solutions to the problem, and this (along with some bad IPS units) is a known weak points of the x220.

 

This has me puzzled: The power rating of the CPU package (including Intel GPU) is 35W and there's no way that the rest of the X220 can draw 30W unless you are charging a battery at the same time (in which case the BIOS is usually set up to reduce the battery charge rate to keep the overall power demand within the PSU ceiling). Does HWiNFO32 show that the CPU power can substantially exceed 35W when connected to a 90W PSU?

John

 

Use a 90W adapter and give ThrottleStop a try. The X220 throttling when trying to use the CPU and GPU at the same time is a well known issue. ThrottleStop will give you control of your CPU and likely eliminate this problem.

Click on the ThrottleStop Turn On button and click the Set Multiplier button and set that to Turbo. If you need to slow your CPU down a little to keep the heat down when gaming, you can use the ThrottleStop Disable Turbo option.

If this solution works for you, post your results. Even my old Dell with a Core 2 Duo T8100 comes with a 90W adapter. If you want to get maximum performance out of your X220 then you need to give it some juice.

 

@ unclewebb
Thanks, ill try the throttlestop. Will it work with the 65w adapter ??

@amarr
Stop smoking crack. This isnt just a small defect. I'd call a tiny scratch a small defect. CPU jumping to 800mhz when I paid for 2.5GHz + light bleeding + ghosting isnt a small defect....
And doing any thing intensive on a 6cell will only kill the battery.

@John ratsey
I was wondering this too. How can it use over 65W when CPUz shows 35W max for the chip.
It throttles even when its not charging the battery.

 

Throttlestop worked !! Thanks !!!

 

I find it baffling that Lenovo does not ship the i7 x220 i7 with 90-watt adapter, or at least give the customer a choice. For added performance, choose this adapter; for portability, choose that one.

 

Lenovo's response is odd... they seem to place a low value on customer loyalty. Seems pretty common these days among many companies. I'd also put the choice a bit differently: chose this adapter (90W) for CPU speeds as advertised, that one for compromised performance.

 

Yes, I can also confirm that throttlestop works with the 65watt adapter. I enable it when I edit HD video.

 

I am pretty sure that video editing is a lot smoother when you are not being throttled to 798 MHz.

Lenovo has a couple of laptops with the same issue where the throttling point seems to have been set too conservatively.

If anyone has a Kill-a-Watt meter or similar, it would be a good idea to make sure that when using ThrottleStop, you are not exceeding the 65W DC rating of your power adapter.

 

FYI, a BIOS fix is apparently coming around 9/5.

Message 627.
X220 cpu throttling problem - Page 63 - Lenovo Community

 

thank goodness...i'd really love to use mine for light gaming (team fortress 2) every once in a while, but the throttling issue would kill me.

i'd be interested in seeing any kill-a-watt figures as well..i'd consider throttlestop but only if i knew i wasn't hurting my comp

 

Throttlestop DOES NOT work with turbo.

I have to check of the "no turbo"

Any way around this ?

 

Post a screen shot of ThrottleStop while running 1 Thread of the TS Bench so I can understand what you are talking about. Are you on AC or battery power?

If you check the Disable Turbo option, you won't get any Turbo Boost but it should work if that box is cleared and you have SpeedStep (EIST) enabled in the bios.

 

Should I be using lenovos power manager ??

The throttling only happens when doing anything that uses the GPU (such as gaming)

I'm running it plugged in, not charging.

Speedstep is enabled.

 

Hahah, yeah, I guess that's a good idea. I have one. Next time I use throttlestop and start editing, I'll check on it and report back here.

 

didnt lenovo announce they were goign to launch a fix?

 

THS: Post a ThrottleStop log file while gaming and show me how the program is setup. You might need a 90W adapter to run the CPU and GPU at their designed speed. If the CPU looks OK then try running a GPU-Z log file too. It might be what's throttling and killing your gaming performance.

If it was my computer, I would turn off the Lenovo Power Manger until I figured out what was causing the throttling.