Difficult time undervolting{Throttlestop}

[gsbharaj]

Dear Members,
I am having some issues and cannot understand certain things regarding throttlestop. It will be very kind if anyone can advice and help me.
I bought a new laptop ACER swift 3 SF314-55G last week. Since yesterday I am noticing that the laptop is reaching absurd temperatures, just opening programs. I do not play any games on this machine. Opening an app will result temperature hitting around 75 degrees or so. Idles are around 45-55 degrees.
I searched google and found throttlestop. I tired undervolting my CPU. The screenshots are attached. I found mine limit to be at -125mv. Anything above that crashes my CPU. I don’t see any drop in my temperatures. Before the undervolt they were almost the same. To get temperatures undercontrol, I have put a limit on the turbo ratio limits. Please guide if I am doing anything wrong.
Apart from that I also ran a benchmark by limiting all the cores to 39. But in throttlestop each core has a limit I suppose. So, did I damage my cpu by cranking that up by 500Mhz?

Regards,
Gursimran

 

[unclewebb]

Your CPU does not allow the maximum multiplier to be adjusted higher than the default values. Setting the turbo ratios higher than 39, 38, 37, 37 will be ignored. Set the turbo ratios back to their default values.

Intel CPUs run hot. The 8265U has a maximum safe operating temperature of 100°C. Any temperature below this temperature is safe. Acer lowered this further and set the maximum temperature to 91°C (PROCHOT). When your laptop reaches this temperature, it will start to thermal throttle and slow down so there is nothing to worry about.

Undervolting the CPU will allow it to run faster before it starts to power limit throttle. Power consumption will be the same so you will not see a difference in your CPU temperatures.

To get temperatures undercontrol, I have put a limit on the turbo ratio limits.

There is no reason to do that. Acer knows that this laptop runs hot. There is no need to sacrifice performance. Let it run hot. It can handle it.

If you are going to undervolt the Intel GPU, you need to also undervolt the iGPU Unslice equally.

 

[gsbharaj]

Thank you Mr. unclewebb for the reply, so relieved. It is sad to see that ultrabooks run hot and we can do nothing. I just wanted to prolong the longevity of the notebook.
Regards.

 

[gsbharaj]

Any one has any idea why I am getting the following limits? The rest of the setting are same as in the opening post. Disable turbo was unchecked and the processor was limited till 32 only. I hope my mobo sensor is not damaged. I am out of the RMA period.

Regards,
Gursimran

 

[unclewebb]

I just wanted to prolong the longevity of the notebook.

You do not have to worry about the temperature of an Intel CPU. They do a great job of managing themselves when it comes to heat. Intel deliberately sets the thermal throttling temperature to 100°C. This ensures that their CPUs will last a long, long time.

When CORE PL2 and RING EDP OTHER are red, this means your CPU is throttling because of the short term turbo power limit. Your original screenshot shows that this is set to 29W. Try increasing your short term limit to 45W if you want to make this go away.

When you see BD PROCHOT light up across all 3 domains, that means there is a sensor somewhere within your computer that is sending a throttling signal to your CPU. No one in any forum is going to know what that sensor is and whether this is a legit throttling signal or not. If you want to do some testing, turn on the Log File option. Go play a game or do any demanding task. When finished, exit the game and then exit ThrottleStop so it can finalize your log file. You will find this file in the ThrottleStop / Logs folder. Attach your log file to your next post if you want me to have a look at it. The log file reports BD PROCHOT throttling as XPRO which stands for external processor hot. That means a sensor external to the CPU is reporting a problem, not the CPU itself.

Does the log file show a huge XPRO problem or does it only happen randomly for a second or two? If it was my laptop and it had this problem, I would clear the BD PROCHOT box in ThrottleStop. This will allow your CPU to run at its rated speed. It will ignore these external throttling messages. Your CPU will still thermal throttle and slow down to protect itself if the CPU ever gets too hot. Disabling BD PROCHOT only blocks external throttling signals. Most laptops do not use this throttling method at all.

You are on your own. It is your decision. Only the engineer that designed your laptop knows if disabling BD PROCHOT is a good idea or not. Many people decide to disable this. I cannot remember anyone reporting a problem by doing this. Throttling down to 800 MHz because this is enabled is a much bigger problem for most users.

 

[gsbharaj]

Dear Mr. Unclewebb,

Thank you for reverting back. After your post I was gearing up to do some extensive tasks. But, I figured out that the BD prochot lit up on all the three domains only when power cord is disconnected or turned off. Everytime I remove the charger or turn off the charger power, BD prochot lit up. I have replicated(intentionally) it multiple times now. I am attaching the LOG file.

Regards,
Gursimran

 

[unclewebb]

@gsbharaj - It looks like this is a safety feature to protect the battery. When switching to battery power, the manufacturer is using BD PROCHOT to force the CPU to throttle to 400 MHz. This throttling only lasts for 4 or 5 seconds so that is reasonable.

Some manufacturers use BD PROCHOT to constantly throttle their laptops while they are running on battery power. That is not OK. If my laptop was stuck at 400 MHz anytime I was running on battery power, I would disable BD PROCHOT.

 

[gsbharaj]

Dear Mr. Unclewebb,

Thank you for your insight and help. I think I will run my laptop to it’s full potential and not worry about heating.
Regards,
Gursimran

 

[jayseearr]

Have you thought about trying a external cooling solution? I don't use laptops personally so i haven't tried one but if you are that worried about temps and longevity maybe it's worth a try since there are some pretty affordable options out there by the look of it.

 

[gsbharaj]

Have you thought about trying a external cooling solution? I don't use laptops personally so i haven't tried one but if you are that worried about temps and longevity maybe it's worth a try since there are some pretty affordable options out there by the look of it.

External coolers don't work. Had a look at a number of you tube reviews. Maximum temperature drop is only by 2-3 degrees.

 

[gsbharaj]

Dear Mr. Unclewebb,

I was running a TS bench at 1024M, but there was constant power trottling. I have attached the pictures. May I know what I can do regarding that? Thank you.

Regards,
Gursimran

 

[unclewebb]

there was constant power trottling

PL1 is the long term turbo power limit. Your screenshot shows that the Turbo Boost Long Power Max is set to 15W. This setting tells your CPU to reduce power consumption so it does not exceed 15W. ThrottleStop reports power consumption at 14.9W so your CPU is doing exactly what you are telling it to do. Good work.

If you want more performance and more heat and less throttling, try increasing this power limit. Some laptops with 8th Gen low power U series CPUs are forced to throttle at 15W internally. Some are left unlocked. If unlocked, your CPU can reliably run way beyond the 15W level. Adjust ThrottleStop and see what is possible.

http://imgur.com/eo0J744

 

[gsbharaj]

PL1 is the long term turbo power limit. Your screenshot shows that the Turbo Boost Long Power Max is set to 15W. This setting tells your CPU to reduce power consumption so it does not exceed 15W. ThrottleStop reports power consumption at 14.9W so your CPU is doing exactly what you are telling it to do. Good work.

If you want more performance and more heat and less throttling, try increasing this power limit. Some laptops with 8th Gen low power U series CPUs are forced to throttle at 15W internally. Some are left unlocked. If unlocked, your CPU can reliably run way beyond the 15W level. Adjust ThrottleStop and see what is possible.

http://imgur.com/eo0J744

Thank you Unclewebb for the elaborated response.