Undervolt don't work on Dell G3. Visual effect.

[RashDaven]

Hello guys, I'm French so sorry in advance for the mistakes that I will make you suffer.

I'm here today after noticing a problem with my Dell G3 3779 (Version with GTX 1060 MaxQ and I5 8300H). I have been upgrading to BIOS version 1.13.0 for a while now and quickly saw my "FIVR Control Locked" panel. So I, like many here, did a factory reset of the BIOS, which I thought would work. Except that I realize several weeks after that, I see my CPU Cache and Core at -0.125Mv. BUT, the effect is only visual, that is to say that my temperatures did not go down while on version 1.11.1 it went from 95C to 80-85C.

So I'm here to find out if anyone has ever had the same problem and will downgrading to 1.11.1 fix all of this?

Thank you in advance for your help and again sorry for my English ... RashDaven.

 

[unclewebb]

Does FIVR still show locked? Post a screenshot of the FIVR window.

 

[RashDaven]

Thank you for your help. No, he is not, but temps don't slow down. IG I've about 95C CPU and 85 GPU. Her's my settings :

 

[unclewebb]

Your undervolt is working. You have high CPU temperatures because the cooling system in your Dell G3 is not great.

The short turbo power limit is set to 78W for 28 seconds. The CPU heatsink and fan were not designed to dissipate that much heat. Sky high temperatures will be the result. Even if you undervolt, you will still see very high temperatures.

If you want to prove that the undervolt is working, run something consistent like a 2 Thread TS Bench test. Set it to the maximum size, 6144M. While this test is running, change the undervolt from +0 mV to -125 mV and then back to +0 mV. Do this a few times as this test is running. This should prove that your undervolt is working. Use a 4 Thread test if your cooling can handle it without thermal throttling.

For your cooling problem, reduce the short power limit from 78W to 45W or to whatever your heatsink can handle. Replace the thermal paste with something like Noctua NT-H1 or NT-H2.

 

[RashDaven]

Indeed, the Undervolt works well ... but I have the impression less well than before. Could it be that there is dust in the heatsinks?

When to thermal paste I note the idea thank you.

If not, won't going from 78 to 45W lower my images per second a bit?

Thanks again.

 

[unclewebb]

Turn on the ThrottleStop Log File option before playing a game. When finished, look in the log file and see if your CPU needs more than 45W. Lowering the power limit might not change your FPS. Many games will run OK at less than 45W.

If you want your CPU to run cooler, you need to lower the turbo power limits, slow your CPU down by reducing the turbo ratio limits or replace your thermal paste.

Download Cinebench R20 and do some testing.

https://www.maxon.net/en-us/products/cinebench-r20-overview/

Many users get better performance by reducing the core voltage more than the cache voltage. If the cache is stable at -125 mV, leave the cache at -125 mV and start lowering the core voltage. These two voltages do not have to be set equal. Lower the core voltage slowly and check for stability. -140 mV, -160 mV, -180 mV, -200 mV, -220 mV. Doing this can improve performance or reduce your temperatures a couple of degrees when gaming.

 

[RashDaven]

Here the log file after some minutes of AC Odyssey :

Is it normal that bot GPU and CPU comes to 90C ? 6 months ago the GPU was at 75C Max and CPU was 85...:/

 

[unclewebb]

Your log file does not look good. For about 45 seconds, your Dell laptop has a thermal throttling problem. The CPU has reached the maximum safe operating temperature. Most computers will continue thermal throttling indefinitely. That is by Intel design. Someone at Dell thought it would be a good idea to switch from thermal throttling to power limit throttling instead. Your 8300H has a 45W TDP rating. That is what you paid for. After thermal throttling, Dell has decided to limit your CPU to only 15W when trying to play a game. Kind of pathetic. Maybe they should have included a better heatsink and fan that can actually keep a 45W CPU from over heating. Their heatsink is not up to the task. Their solution to secretly change a 45W CPU into a 15W CPU is extremely dishonest. With your CPU limited to one third of its rated power, it is still reaching 87°C.

Why not contact Dell and see what they have to say about this. Good luck on getting them to take ownership of your under designed laptop.

If you used to get better temperatures then it is time to disassemble your laptop, give it a thorough cleaning and replace the thermal paste. You have to avoid thermal throttling. Too much thermal throttling seems to be what triggers your laptop to go into 15W mode. This is controlled internally and there is no software solution like ThrottleStop to fix this problem.

Are you using different voltages for the core and cache yet? With your laptop, you will likely get more consistent performance by lowering the turbo ratio limits. Slowing your CPU down is not ideal but you need to lower heat output so the woeful heatsink can try and keep up.

 

[RashDaven]

Yeah...And I'm not the only one in this case. All owners of a G3 or G5 apparently are too. Do you advise me to check it out with the management at Dell if I can't get something from them ? For the moment I have not yet touched the different cores but would you advise me to lower the turbo ratio limits ? And at what point ?

Also, I noticed before that when going from BIOS 1.11 to 1.13, the temperature drop by the undervolt was less important. Let me explain. A while ago, I discovered Throttlestop while I was still in version 1.11. Thanks to the undervolts, at the time, I got a very good score on Cinebench as well as an ambient temperature of max 85C for the CPU. However, now that I have upgraded to version 1.13, the undervolt works but I have the impression that it works less well (as we can see it since the CPU reaches 95C) In your opinion, is it possible that by downgrading my version, I could recover better temperatures and good stability?

 

[unclewebb]

The log file you posted shows TEMP for 30 seconds. This indicates thermal throttling is in progress. Your laptop is running too hot. Slow your CPU down as much as you need to so this does not happen and replace the thermal paste. Noctua NT-H2 works well at high temperatures.

Most laptops can tolerate some thermal throttling. Your laptop cannot. Your thermal throttling problem seems to trigger a much bigger problem. Extreme power limit throttling.

I have not recommended or bought a Dell laptop in 10+ years. The throttling methods used in their latest laptops are much harder to work around. It is not reasonable to pay for a 45W CPU and have it perform so poorly based on poor design and poor engineering.

Downgrading your BIOS will not fix the overheating issue you are having.

 

[immakillthepie]

Im using G3 aswell, but mine has the i7 9750h. I'm currently on BIOS 1.11, -130mV on CPU, -90mV on cpu cache and turbo limited to 3.5GHz. These notebooks use a threshold thermal control (absolutely bad, good engineering = dynamic control) and you need to change your power plan on dell power management accordingly to how much heat you want to allow your CPU (this also changes fan speeds). From my experience, using the performance mode + previously mentioned settings I never get above 85 degrees on the CPU and my CPU frequency (TDP) never drops (the threshold on this power plan is higher than 85 degrees but not exactly sure on exact numbers). What you can do is configure your cpu on TS and then play heavy and stressfull games to test out each limit from each power plan. If you are having problems even using the performance mode probably you have something wrong (dust or thermal paste) goin on under your hood. Hope this helps

 

[budgetgaming]

I thought Omen laptop has the worse cooling system.....

 

[Adrianonna]

‎I have a dell g3 3590 with gtx 1650. I'm using throttleStop 9.4, the adjustable voltage unlock option is enabled and checked, but the undervoltage is not working. I have tried to reset the BIOS version and restore it to the factory, but to no avail. Does anyone know what I can do?‎

 

[lexluthermiester]

@Splinterdog
Can you maybe help the user @Adrianonna with a little 411?