W520 - No TurboBoost or SpeedStep in the BIOS?

I hear there are many people with W520 who claim their CPU works on lower frequency (sometimes 0.8Ghz!) and that Turbo Boost is not working properly for many.

How can I test to see if Turbo Boost is working?
I tried to install Intel Turob Boost Monitor and it's totally useless, I see a cpu image with a bluebar that is at the bottom and doen't move at all. Nothing happens on this app.

I tried to go to my Bios to see if I have Turbo Boost enabled but I don't see any such setting in the bios.

Under Config -> CPU I only have two settings
Core Multi-Processing (which is Enabled) an
Intel Hyper-Threading Technology which is also enabled.

I have no sign of anything like SpeedStep or Turoboost in the Bios. NOTHING.

I am afraid my CPU doesn't work optimally and don't get it why I don't have any such setting in the bios. I have the latest bios which I just downloaded from Lenoo1.26

Thanks guys

 

SpeedStep also goes by the name EIST. Have a good look in the bios for that and make sure it is turned on so Turbo Boost works correctly.

The Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 monitor is actually very accurate. Don't blame this tool if your CPU is stuck at 798 MHz.

Download ThrottleStop for my sig. It can properly monitor for this problem and best of all, fix it. Run ThrottleStop, put a check mark in the Set Multiplier box, set this to Turbo, make sure Disable Turbo is not checked and you should see the Intel gadget come to life when you put a load on the CPU. The ThrottleStop built in TS Bench test should be enough for you to see if turbo boost is working correctly.

Lenovo is aware of this issue that is a big problem for some users and I assume is continuing to work on this.

Edit: These 2 tools will tell you when your CPU is stuck at 798 MHz and when it is not.

 

unclewebb!!! u r the guy from the Lenovo form who fixed this issue! as I heard ur solution is amazing..

I was considering to buy the W520 but after I heard about this issue I began changing my mind and I was thinking to go for the T520 but I am not sure if the T520 has the same issue with the system is on battery.. I want to be able to use the boost function.. I tested Dell systems ( tho they suck) but they work fine even on battery.

Do you think running the regular speed for 2720 2.3GHz is still fast? or you think I should go for the T520 tho the memory and usb3 features are not available..

 

Check out how the top of the line Dell Alienware M18x performs when on battery power.

M18x Throttling While on Battery Power

Quad Core Sandy Bridge processors can draw more power than some laptop batteries are capable of delivering. Throttling is the result. At least the W520 throttling problem is manageable with the help of ThrottleStop.

Get whatever laptop you like. Problems get blown out of proportion on forums. The problems I've seen so far are all solvable.

 

okay I think I will get the W520.. but I have a small questions.. I tried figuring them out on the Lenovo forum but its to complicated there.. everybody says different stuff..

So lets assume I get the W520 and use Throttlestop on it and follow the directions, would the turboboost work fully on Battery or it will only reach 2.3 GHz on the i7-2720 ?

 

Thanks unclewebb.

I see my Intel Core i7 Extreme reaches peaks of 3.2Ghz but didn't do any kind of hard processing yet.

What's the max GHz it could reach with Turbo Boost ? I have the i7-2920XM, which I suppose can reach up to 3.5Ghz with Turbo Boost on.

But in your snapshot I see your process at 4.3Ghz ?!?!?

 

I have a W520. It's an awesome machine. Everything works as it should on battery - if you use Throttlestop.

 

ComputerMinder: That screen shot was from an Alienware M18x. It throttles on battery power without ThrottleStop but at least the bios has a thorough overclocking section.

zackor: The default speed for a Core i7-2720QM is 2.2 GHz. You can use the ThrottleStop Disable Turbo option if you want this to be your maximum speed while on battery power.

huberth: Can you post a ThrottleStop screen shot while the TS Bench - 32M benchmark is running. Have it set to 1 thread so we can see power consumption and how high the multiplier is going.

When you are on battery power, you are probably wise to use the ThrottleStop Disable Turbo option and not try to go any higher than that. I think the W520 bios defaults to turning off Turbo Boost when running on battery power but I am not sure if ThrottleStop lets you go beyond that limitation or not.

 

unclewebb: I understand that screenshot was taken from an Alienware M18x, but my Lenovo W520 have the same processor i7-2920XM and I don't know how can it be that the Turbo Boost monitor shows only max of 3.5Ghz on my machine and on the Alienware in your snapshot 4.3GHz ?

That's quite a difference between 3.5GHz and 4.3GHz.

 

That's all because of the bios. The Alienware bios lets you take advantage of an unlocked 2920XM processor. I will have to assume that the Lenovo bios does not have any overclocking options so it only lets you run your 2920XM at its default specifications which is a maximum single core Turbo Boost multiplier of 35.

From what I have read, it is no longer possible to raise the turbo multipliers after you boot up into Windows. This was a great ThrottleStop feature for the previous 920XM and 940XM and it worked on any motherboard but now this can only be done by the bios. If your bios doesn't have this option, there's nothing you can do. I think the maximum single core multiplier on the M18x when using an unlocked 2920XM is 45. Here's an example of that while running a single thread of Super Pi mod. mw86 on Tech | Inferno is getting the most out of his 2920XM.




I think he has his turbo multipliers set to 45 across the board whether 1, 2, 3 or 4 cores are active. I am not sure if he can run fully loaded and get enough power to this CPU to run the full 45 multiplier across all 8 threads without burning down the house. I am sure he has tried so I will have a look for another pic.

A 2920XM is not good value for the money if you have it in a motherboard with a limited bios that doesn't let you take advantage of what it can do.