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Please help me to undervolt my i7-6700 HQ CPU with ThrottleStop!

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Hi all,

I would like to undervolt my Lenovo Ideapad Y-700-15ISK laptop's i7-6700 HQ CPU with ThrottleStop,but I need help with the values of the voltage!

There are a few instructional videos on YouTube for undervolting of the exactly the i7-6700 HQ CPU, but I need help from you TechPowerUp,because you are the creators of ThrottleStop!

One YouTuber I asked told me that undervolting my CPU by -140Mv would be optimal for me,and another says that -150Mv are the safest,but what would you suggest me?

Also is this safe? I am really upset with my high CPU temps while gaming,and I would also like to use the 3.50 GHz Boost for all of the time (via ThrottleStop),because I cannot overclock the CPU!

Please give me a guide!

Thanks to all in advance!
Best regards!
 
Last edited:

unclewebb

ThrottleStop & RealTemp Author
Joined
Jun 1, 2008
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Open up the ThrottleStop FIVR window, click on the CPU Core radio button and adjust it so it looks like this.



Click on Apply and now do the exact same thing for CPU Cache and click Apply again. Go play some games and see if your computer is stable. That will get you a -125 mV under volt. If you are stable, then you can try a bigger under volt. Maybe -130 mV or -135 mV. Every CPU is unique and will require slightly different voltage. No one in any forum or in any YouTube video is going to know what your CPU is capable of so it is up to you to do plenty of testing.

Under volting is perfectly safe as long as you do not go too far. If you go too far, your computer will crash, usually with a blue screen (BSOD). That would be bad, especially if you are working on something important. If that happens, reboot and reduce your under volt. A blue screen means your CPU needs more voltage. Pretty simple stuff.

You cannot overclock a 6700HQ. The HQ series is locked by Intel. The maximum CPU speed is based on how many cores are in the active state.

Here is what CPU World says about your CPU.
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_i7/Intel-Core i7-6700HQ Mobile processor.html

3500 MHz (1 core)
3300 MHz (2 cores)
3100 MHz (3 or 4 cores)
 
Joined
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Open up the ThrottleStop FIVR window, click on the CPU Core radio button and adjust it so it looks like this.



Click on Apply and now do the exact same thing for CPU Cache and click Apply again. Go play some games and see if your computer is stable. That will get you a -125 mV under volt. If you are stable, then you can try a bigger under volt. Maybe -130 mV or -135 mV. Every CPU is unique and will require slightly different voltage. No one in any forum or in any YouTube video is going to know what your CPU is capable of so it is up to you to do plenty of testing.

Under volting is perfectly safe as long as you do not go too far. If you go too far, your computer will crash, usually with a blue screen (BSOD). That would be bad, especially if you are working on something important. If that happens, reboot and reduce your under volt. A blue screen means your CPU needs more voltage. Pretty simple stuff.

You cannot overclock a 6700HQ. The HQ series is locked by Intel. The maximum CPU speed is based on how many cores are in the active state.

Here is what CPU World says about your CPU.
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_i7/Intel-Core i7-6700HQ Mobile processor.html

Dear unclewebb,thank you so much!
I know that I cannot overclock the CPU,but what do you think,is it a good idea locking of the Turbo Boost after undervolting?
 

unclewebb

ThrottleStop & RealTemp Author
Joined
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Messages
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The CPU is locked by Intel so you cannot lock the turbo boost. In the FIVR window, leave the turbo boost multipliers exactly like they are.

35
33
31
31

You can use less turbo boost if you are still having some heating issues but you cannot use more than the default specs. If you set all of these to 35, the CPU will ignore your request.
 
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The CPU is locked by Intel so you cannot lock the turbo boost. In the FIVR window, leave the turbo boost multipliers exactly like they are.

35
33
31
31

You can use less turbo boost if you are still having some heating issues but you cannot use more than the default specs. If you set all of these to 35, the CPU will ignore your request.

Can I use the Turbo for all of the time while playing a game,without lowering of the frequencies?

I mean using the max values for all the time while gaming?
 
Last edited:

unclewebb

ThrottleStop & RealTemp Author
Joined
Jun 1, 2008
Messages
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Every laptop and every CPU is unique. No one can answer these questions except you. Adjust your under volt, go play some games and find out. You can turn on the ThrottleStop Log File option if you want an accurate record of what speed your CPU is running at while gaming. When you are finished testing, exit ThrottleStop so it can finalize your log, go into the Logs directory, copy and paste the log file data to somewhere convenient like www.pastebin.com or maybe just attach it to your post here. The log file will show how much turbo boost your CPU is using as well as what temperature it is running at. Turn on GPU temperature monitoring within the Options window so that data will be included in the log file too.
 
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Every laptop and every CPU is unique. No one can answer these questions except you. Adjust your under volt, go play some games and find out. You can turn on the ThrottleStop Log File option if you want an accurate record of what speed your CPU is running at while gaming. When you are finished testing, exit ThrottleStop so it can finalize your log, go into the Logs directory, copy and paste the log file data to somewhere convenient like www.pastebin.com or maybe just attach it to your post here. The log file will show how much turbo boost your CPU is using as well as what temperature it is running at. Turn on GPU temperature monitoring too within the Options window so that data will be included in the log file too.

Dear unclewebb,thank you soo much!
 

unclewebb

ThrottleStop & RealTemp Author
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Remember to post your results so other users can learn from your under volting experiences. All Intel CPUs default to too much voltage. A few voltage tweaks can make a big difference. You can easily knock 10°C off your peak core temperatures or run faster or both.
 
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Remember to post your results so other users can learn from your under volting experiences. All Intel CPUs default to too much voltage. A few voltage tweaks can make a big difference. You can easily knock 10°C off your peak core temperatures or run faster or both.

Yes,sure! I will post my results! :)

Oh I forgot to ask which settings from the main windows of ThrottleStop are best for my CPU?

I mean on C1E,BDProchot,Speedstep,Speed Shift-EPP?
 

unclewebb

ThrottleStop & RealTemp Author
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On a laptop, an idle CPU core will spend the majority of its time in a deeper C State like C7 so having C1E checked or not does not seem to really matter. Intel says to leave it checked. I generally do not bother.

When plugged in, I would not check BD PROCHOT. This is a throttling method used on many laptops which is totally unnecessary.

SpeedStep and Speed Shift are two totally different ways to control the CPU speed. I prefer using Speed Shift. Usually you will need to go into the TPL window to enable this but some versions of Windows 10 might do this automatically. Once enabled, it will show SST in green on the main screen. When Speed Shift is enabled, an EPP setting of 0 will give you maximum performance. An EPP setting of somewhere between 80 and 128 is a good compromise when running on battery power.

Here is an example with Speed Shift enabled (SST in green) with EPP set to 255. That is the lowest speed setting. You can see the lowly 8 multiplier in the screenshot.


If Speed Shift is not enabled, make sure SpeedStep is enabled and adjust the Set Multiplier value to the highest possible value. Do not use Power Saver. That is old school better suited to Core 2 Duo processors.
 
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On a laptop, an idle CPU core will spend the majority of its time in a deeper C State like C7 so having C1E checked or not does not seem to really matter. Intel says to leave it checked. I generally do not bother.

When plugged in, I would not check BD PROCHOT. This is a throttling method used on many laptops which is totally unnecessary.

SpeedStep and Speed Shift are two totally different ways to control the CPU speed. I prefer using Speed Shift. Usually you will need to go into the TPL window to enable this but some versions of Windows 10 might do this automatically. Once enabled, it will show SST in green on the main screen. When Speed Shift is enabled, an EPP setting of 0 will give you maximum performance. An EPP setting of somewhere between 80 and 128 is a good compromise when running on battery power.

Here is an example with Speed Shift enabled (SST in green) with EPP set to 255. That is the lowest speed setting. You can see the lowly 8 multiplier in the screenshot.


If Speed Shift is not enabled, make sure SpeedStep is enabled and adjust the Set Multiplier value to the highest possible value. Do not use Power Saver. That is old school better suited to Core 2 Duo processors.

Dear unclewebb,thank you very much!!!

I lowered the voltage firstly to 125 mV,and it woked great,then to 135 worked fine again,then to 140.4 and finally to 150.4 mV! It really helped with lowering the CPU temps!
But I have a problem now! My Nvidia GTX 960 M , was overclocked with MSI Afterburner ,and the values for the GPU's clocks were the same without decreasing or increasing while gaming,they were always the same!
But today when I opened a game,the clocks changed randomly! Could this issue be linked with the CPU undervolting?

I also reverted the voltage to the normal,but it doesn't help at all,the clocks change the values randomly!
What can I do to fix this?
Please tell me!
 
Last edited:

unclewebb

ThrottleStop & RealTemp Author
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I also reverted the voltage to the normal,but it doesn't help at all,the clocks change the values randomly!
CPU voltage and GPU MHz have nothing to do with each other. Try reinstalling your GPU driver as well as reinstalling MSI Afterburner. Nvidia mobile GPUs are designed to lower the MHz when they are lightly loaded.

Where is that picture of ThrottleStop you were going to post so I can see how you have ThrottleStop setup?
 
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Unless the system is overheating, I can't imagine a scenario where undervolting is of any value. When I encounter overheating, a "dusting and cleaning" eliminates the concern.
 
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CPU voltage and GPU MHz have nothing to do with each other. Try reinstalling your GPU driver as well as reinstalling MSI Afterburner. Nvidia mobile GPUs are designed to lower the MHz when they are lightly loaded.

Where is that picture of ThrottleStop you were going to post so I can see how you have ThrottleStop setup?

I uninstalled the graphics driver with DDU,then installed the graphics driver,and I also uninstalled and reinstalled MSI,but nothing resolved the issue!
So I decided to reinstall the Windows! I am currently installing the windows creators update,so after I install it, I will set up ThrottleStop,and post a picture of it!
 

unclewebb

ThrottleStop & RealTemp Author
Joined
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Messages
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Unless the system is overheating, I can't imagine a scenario where undervolting is of any value.

Did you read his first post?
I am really upset with my high CPU temps while gaming

And the results.
It really helped with lowering the CPU temps!

In a laptop, reducing the voltage by -150 mV can make a significant difference. Intel mobile CPUs also have a fixed TDP limit. Stay under that limit and the CPU can run at full speed. Go over the TDP limit and the CPU will start to throttle and slow down. When you reduce the CPU voltage, you reduce CPU power consumption and this allows the CPU to use Intel Turbo Boost longer. Reduced power consumption will also increase battery run time. It is a win, win, win situation.

Edit - Almost forgot. Less heat in a laptop results in less fan noise. Cooler, quieter, faster. The default voltage Intel uses is excessive. Undervolting is simply taking care of this problem.
 
Last edited:

unclewebb

ThrottleStop & RealTemp Author
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Messages
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You have to undervolt both the CPU Core and CPU Cache equally. Your screenshot shows only the CPU Core has been adjusted. That will not do anything by itself.

When playing with your voltage, it is best to use the option, Save voltages after ThrottleStop exits. If you use Save voltages immediately, when you hit Apply and your computer crashes, those unstable voltages will be saved within ThrottleStop. You do not want that.
 
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You have to undervolt both the CPU Core and CPU Cache equally. Your screenshot shows only the CPU Core has been adjusted. That will not do anything by itself.

When playing with your voltage, it is best to use the option, Save voltages after ThrottleStop exits. If you use Save voltages immediately, when you hit Apply and your computer crashes, those unstable voltages will be saved within ThrottleStop. You do not want that.

Is the same value for the CPU Cache too?

I would also like to undervolt the GPU! What do you think about that?And with which utility is that best to be done?MSI Afterburner?
 
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