Intel I7-12700F TPL settings help

[Larqsine]

Hello People,

This is my first time posting here so I'm not sure where to ask this but here goes.
I have an HP Omen 25L with intel i7-12700F cpu and I was wondering after I reset my pc why some threads (p-cores) are spiking up. It used to be max 69-70 degrees C when I was only using speedshift on 255 (most of the time while gaming would be 62-67 C but it spikes up to 69-70). It was working perfectly with no FPS issues. Then I decided to reset my pc to remove all the clutter that got built up after 3 years. But now some P-cores spike up to 86 C for a few seconds then returns down to 70-75 C, but never below it. It has gotten frustrating to why it was happening even after setting up my fan curves and everything back to how they were before reset. Then I did some searching and I found out that default watts for PL2 in TPL for my cpu is 180W and 65W for PL1 (from the intel website). But when I opened my throttlestop I found that PL1 and 2 are somehow capped to 202 I think? I'm not sure I fully understand TPL but I'm trying to.

I tried messing around with processor power management in power plan and set it to 99, but that caused my games to stutter and drop around 50-60 fps for a few seconds (I have my FPS capped on 165)

My question is, is it possible to put both of them on default values from intel, and if so, how?
And is it fully safe to do so for the cpu?

Any help is much appreciated!

 

[unclewebb]

I found out that default watts for PL2 in TPL for my cpu is 180W and 65W for PL1

Can you show me any documentation from Intel that shows that PL1 should be set to 65W? The screenshot you posted shows that the Processor Base Power is 65W. This is the maximum power consumption rating when the CPU is running at its base frequency. That means Intel Turbo Boost is disabled which is not how these CPUs were designed to operate. I know many manufacturers have decided to set the PL1 power limit to this 65W default value but I have never been able to find any documentation from Intel to support why they are doing this.

Processor Base Power

The time-averaged power dissipation that the processor is validated to not exceed during manufacturing while executing an Intel-specified high complexity workload at Base Frequency and at the junction temperature as specified in the Datasheet for the SKU segment and configuration.

processor power management in power plan and set it to 99

That trick recommended by many will disable Intel Turbo Boost. Intel created the Turbo Boost feature to increase performance. They do not want or expect end users to disable this feature. It kills performance. Leave this setting at 100 like Intel and Microsoft intended it to be set to.

is it possible to put both of them on default values from intel

It is possible to set the PL1 and PL2 power limits to any value you want to set them to. Setting these to the Intel default values is not possible because no one is 100% sure what the default values really are. Here is the documentation for PL2.

Maximum Turbo Power is configurable by system vendor and can be system specific.

That basically says PL2 can be configured by a system vendor to whatever value they like. You can hover the mouse over the ? on the Intel specifications page to view this official info. Your system vendor decided to set PL2 to 202W instead of the 180W number found on the Intel spec page. According to Intel, it is perfectly legit for the system vendor to do this.

If your interpretation of the Intel documentation is to set PL1 = 65 and PL2 = 180, clear the Disable Controls box in the MSR Power Limit Controls section of the TPL window. That will allow you to set PL1 to 65 and you can enter 180 for PL2. You can also check the Sync MMIO box to make sure that both the MSR and MMIO power limits are set equally.

With these supposed 65W processors, you will get significantly better performance if you buy an after market cooler and increase the PL1 power limit significantly. Some users think that this would be running the CPU beyond the Intel spec. They might be right. My opinion is the supposed specs are kind of a gray area. If Intel was really concerned that an end user might try and operate his CPU beyond 65W then they could have easily locked the PL1 power limit to 65W on the assembly line to prevent any user from experimenting. Intel used to do this 10 years ago but they stopped locking these power limits. This allows users and vendors to set these limits however they like.

Resetting a PC can cause more problems than it solves. I think I did that once or twice in my life out of desperation. Installing a clean version of Windows from Microsoft is usually the best solution.

Edit - The right side of the TPL window shows that PL1 is currently set to 65W and PL2 is set to 202W. Disable Controls is checked in your screenshot so PL1 has not yet been changed to 202W.

some P-cores spike up to 86 C for a few seconds

Any peak core temperature less than 100°C is a normal operating temperature for your Intel CPU. Thermal throttling was designed to always keep Intel CPUs at a safe temperature.

 

[Larqsine]

Thank you for the valuable information.

I did not fully understand about PL1 and PL2 before but now I understand more.
Yeah I think buying a new cooler would be my best option because currently I'm running the stock one. But in the meantime, let's say I lower the PL2 from 202W to 180W, would this also possibly lower the temp spikes? And would there be any side effects to this (other than slight loss of performance I assume)?

How do these settings in the picture look? And what's the "Lock" used for?

 

[unclewebb]

Check the ThrottleStop Log File box before playing a game. That way you will have an accurate record of power and temperatures. If power consumption in game is only 100W then setting PL2 to 180 or 202 is not going to make any difference.

Random temperature spikes when using the Intel OEM cooler are normal. The Intel coolers are just barely adequate on some of their CPUs. I would not be surprised to see some thermal throttling if you try to run a 12700F at full power with the Intel cooler.

The only side effect that I can think of when lowering the turbo power limits is reduced performance.

The Turbo Time Limit controls how long the CPU will be able to run at the PL2 power limit before it switches to the PL1 power limit. This time limit is not an exact value. Heavy demanding tasks that fully load the CPU can use up this time interval faster than a more light duty app will.

I do not know what the best bang for the buck air cooler is at the moment. Amazon has some air coolers for approximately $20 bucks. That should help. My local computer store has a Deepcool AK400 on sale for $20 bucks CDN . That is only about $15 US.