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cpu sitting at max clock even when not needed to

TheTigerJunior

TheTigerJunior

Joined
Jun 26, 2020
Messages
69 (0.04/day)
System Specs
System Name Dell Latitude 7490
Processor I7-8650U
Motherboard 0KP0FT
Memory 16GB RAM
Video Card(s) Intel UHD Graphics 620
hello, just need help tryna cool my laptop when gaming. when i play games that are not demanding, the cpu clock just went up staying at 3.9ghz creating heat even though when i dont even need to since underclocking the cpu the frames on the games didnt drop at all. i also put enhanced speedshift at throttlestop at 80.
 
Lower max proccessor power in Windows power management.
 
and make sure min is set to something like 20-30%, not like 100 (for high perf setting).
 
TheTigerJunior said:
the cpu clock just went up staying at 3.9ghz
Click to expand...
This is how Intel CPUs are designed to operate. If a CPU has a task to perform, it goes up to full speed. When a mobile CPU has nothing to do, it reduces power consumption by entering the low power C7 state. In this state, CPU cores are disconnected from the internal clock and are disconnected from the voltage rail so they are running at 0 MHz and 0 volts.

CPU speed is not that important when the C states are working properly. Here is a good example.

Huge change in idle CPU speed but no difference in power consumption or CPU temperature.

If your CPU will not slow down when it is idle, check to see what percentage of time it is spending in the C0 state processing background tasks. Many users are unaware that they have something constantly running on their computer. An Intel CPU will not slow down if it has something to do. Processing tasks quickly allows the CPU cores to spend more time in the low power C7 state. That is where the real power savings are found.


 
unclewebb said:
That is where the real power savings are found.
Click to expand...

do power savings only work when theres no demanding tasks are working or theres something my laptop that turns on performance mode when i open up games?
 
@unclewebb
user stated temp being high, and +90% of the time this means using the high perf profile (not letting the cpu downclock),
and not just some background tasks.

@TheTigerJunior
i usually tweak 2 profiles for my usage (power savings and balanced).
power savings is on all the time, and i switch to balanced for encoding/editing/gaming etc.
i dont like the win 10 power/battery stuff (older look lets you switch profiles by just clicking on the battery icon),
so i use something like winaero tweaker/win ultimate tweaker to "restore" the older look/functionality,
then turn off the following for balanced profile: usb suspend/pci express.
set min/max values for proc state to 0/50 (savings), and 5-30/100 for balanced.
set it to 50/100, play some games and monitor cpu load with something like msi afterburner,
then check the lowest point in the graph and use that as min number.
this will make sure your cpu wont drop below the min need to run your games properly.
 
Last edited:
Fry178 said:
@unclewebb
user stated temp being high, and +90% of the time this means using the high perf profile (not letting the cpu downclock),
and not just some background tasks.
Click to expand...

yeah agree to that but im using dell's profile. so it's the same goes to balanced
 
switch to balanced. never seen dell/hp or others do the profiles properly,
wasting energy/higher temps than needed.
 
Fry178 said:
switch to balanced. never seen dell/hp or others do the profiles properly,
wasting energy/higher temps than needed.
Click to expand...

alright, thanks for your help.
 
Fry178 said:
user stated temp being high, and +90% of the time this means using the high perf profile (not letting the cpu downclock),
Click to expand...
@TheTigerJunior posted that he is using Speed Shift Technology with an EPP (Energy Performance Preference) setting of 80. This setting within the CPU controls the CPU speed. The Speed Shift EPP value takes precedence over any Windows power plan settings including the High Performance power plan.

TheTigerJunior said:
when i play games that are not demanding, the cpu clock just went up staying at 3.9ghz
Click to expand...
That is how Intel CPUs are designed to work. They are not designed to provide you with just the right amount of speed. The purpose of Speed Shift is to get the CPU up to maximum speed as fast as possible. Any game is going to provide a constant load for at least one core so the active CPU cores are going to try to run continuously at full speed.

Power Optimization – a Reality Check

If the game you are playing runs smoothly at a lower CPU speed, use ThrottleStop to cap the maximum CPU speed. If the Turbo Ratios are not locked, reduce them to 30. If the Turbo Ratios are locked, reduce the Speed Shift Max value. Set Speed Shift Max to 30 and then your CPU will max out at 3.0 GHz instead of 3.9 GHz.

TheTigerJunior said:
do power savings only work when there's no demanding tasks
Click to expand...
Power savings happen all the time. Intel mobile CPUs save power by forcing unused cores into the low power C7 state. Some games only use 2 cores at the same time. If you have a 4 core CPU, the other 2 cores will be in C7 spending almost all of their time at 0 MHz. With a 6 core CPU, there might be 4 cores sitting idle in C7 at 0 MHz. This saves power.
 
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