TDP related questions

[giptorres]

First a quick backstory:
Hi, I started using throttlestop some months ago to undervolt since then there has been many developments and research in my journey with this program. I would say I'm an intermediate with this program.

I recently did a windows reinstall meaning many things changed one of them is that my undervolt is no longer applying for some reason, but I don't care about undervolting anymore since I started undervolting to lower temps and after a repaste the temps are well within reason(max 70°C when heavy gaming on a hot day). And now I wish to increase temps since most of the times the computer is 60-65°C under load and I think that indicates I could get a bit more performance out of it.

My main worry here is bricking my laptop since I don't have any money to buy a new one any time soon.

Now for my questions:
I have a intel i7-8550U cpu, my laptop is a lenovo ideapad 330-15IKB with a Nvidia MX150(undervolted with MSI afterburner) and I want a bit more performance out of it and what I did was removing the 15 watts TDP limit put in by the MSR and MMIO(locking the MMIO and changing Long Power PL1 from 15 to 25W and I can confirm that the change was effective as I checked using TSbench 960M and there were no limits being triggered), then I set the speed shift max to 28(which is a clock that the CPU stays a tiny bit below 25 watts). But why 25W? I searched for my CPU specs on intel's site and it said there that the configurable TDP-up was 25 watt and here is my main doubt: Am I right in assuming that the configurable TDP-up is safe to run on my CPU(that CPU-Z reports it's max TDP as being 15W)? And is this "overclock" safe? I'm also worried about VRMs bc this is not the clock nor the power of this CPU's stock state so: could this "overclock" damage the VRMs(or any other component of my motherboard)? I checked the VID under load and it stays below 1V(but with stock speeds it stays around 0.75V).

Speaking on stock this CPU without throttlestop keeps the 4ghz boost until any medium-heavy load, after that it goes straight to it's base frequency of 1.8ghz. When gaming this means that it fluctuates a lot between those two frequencies and that's no good for frame times.

My main goal with this overclock has been achieved which is more performance and hotter temps but I don't know if it is safe to run without it damaging my CPU or motherboard.

 

[galacticwarrior448]

your temperatures really don't matter that much if your looking for performance as long as you are below 95 degrees. your manufacturer has set your throttle limit even lower to 90, which is still somewhat safe. More power= more performance and more power= more heat . first, set your short PL to about 45-50 Watts, as it's okay for your CPU to use high amounts of power for a long time.Next we find how many watts your cooling can handle long term. Your cooling system is only capable to cool a certain amount of watts. to find this limit, increase your long PL by about 5 watts at a time, and check the temperatures after 10 minutes of running the infinite stress test. if temperatures are okay then increase it. We want to supply as much power as we can while staying below the 90 degree throttle limit. once it starts thermal throttling decrease the long PL. this is as much power as your cooling can handle. Also, tdp can only be handled when using only the CPU. you have an mx 150 which will increase your heat significantly. if you are planning to game, then repeat the above process while running haven at the background.

now, if you are looking for even more performance there are some things you can do to improve your cooling such as:-

undervolting

increasing thermal throttling limit to 95-100

liquid metal(risks involved)

adding extra heatsinks

adding thermal pads at the back to dissipate heat, if you have an aluminum chassis.

bradhacks has a well documented guide for this exact same specs if you want to check out more mods.

 

[unclewebb]

@giptorres
25W is not going to hurt your CPU. I think your VRMs etc. will be OK too. I have run my daughter's Lenovo C930 with an 8550U at 40W without any problems.

The 15W rating is mostly for marketing purposes. By setting an arbitrary power limit like 15W, Intel was able to claim that they had a low power CPU so they could keep manufacturers happy. Intel's 8th Gen low power U series CPUs are quite capable of running well beyond their 15W TDP rating. They are built using the exact same technology as their 45W mobile CPUs.

 

[giptorres]

Thank you so much @galacticwarrior448 and @unclewebb!!

I will be playing more with my power limits to find a perfect equilibrium then!! I feel a lot safer now but probably won't pass 25W still bc I'm trying to be very conservative

As for @galacticwarrior448 alternatives for temperatures I've already tried undervolting once and for some reason since a windows reinstall the voltages offsets won't apply anymore but I don't mind it bc It never lowered my temperatures by much(about 5°C at most)

Since I don't want my laptop to be burning hot(and the performance gain is not much either) I rather not having to worry about stability

I won't risk with the hardware stuff since I don't have any experience at it, but thank for the tips, at least I know I have options in the future