HP Laptop Throttling 7700hq CPU Well Below Base Clocks!

[c0bblestone]

Hi all,

Long time lurker/viewer first time poster.

I've reached the end of my patience dealing with an RMA issue with an HP laptop I own (Pavilion Power 15) with a 7700hq CPU and 1050GPU, and think it's now time that the issue gets a bit more exposure.

Since getting my laptop it has an issue with the CPU throttling the base clock from 2.8ghz to 2.2ghz and the TDP from ~40w to 18w when the GPU is being used. This is not a result of power or thermal throttling as the laptop has ample amps available (as checking with a watt meter on the 150w power brick, and temperatures are also well under control).

That video was originally private to be seen only between me and HP as they 'fix' the issue, but as it's now 6+ months of dealing with it - I've made it public so others can see.

In the last 6 months I have hundreds of emails between myself and HP support where they acknowledge the issue, and provided 2 repair jobs (not fixing the issue) and then replaced the laptop with the same model which also had the same problem. After the replacement didn't work, HP again asked for time and for me to be patient while they develop a software based fix.

Well after 2 months of being patient HP have now started to tell me that the current limit throttling of the 7700HQ is normal behavior. They have in their wisdom sent in their emails articles from 2009 that have nothing to do with modern CPU processors talking about lowering power states to deal with thermals, on core 2 duo CPUs.

I found that pretty insulting that they would now say that CPU throttling to 2.2ghz is normal on a 7700hq under load with power and thermal headroom, and how they're sending me articles from 2009 as their 'proof' the 7700hq at 2.2ghz 18w TDP is normal for it under load.

I want people to be aware of what HP does to their customers and for people to be aware of the incredible dodgy business practices they do. I spent countless hours dealing with this issue, and to now be told 6+ months on that it's normal behavior and that HP will not be providing the software fix which they promised (which they asked me to be patient for over many months) or providing a hardware replacement is pretty insulting.

EDIT: Undervolting in XTU/Throttle Stop makes it run slightly cooler but as the BIOS is locked down very tight, none of the options to avoid throttling work. It's as though there's a condition in BIOS which forces the low power state regardless of any options set in Windows using programs or altering the dynamic thermal framework.

[KarathKasun]

If you havent re-pasted, you might try that.

 

I had a 7300hq do something similar because part of the core was exposed.  The thermal sensor you see in monitoring software showed cool temps because it was still being cooled.  One of the many thermal sensors you cant see was triggering an internal overheat protection.

 

In CPU only load it would mostly be fine, but as the GPU and CPU share the same cooler, the temps of the cooler were driven up by GPU load.  The CPU would then phantom throttle as there was not enough cooling for that small part of the CPU.

[c0bblestone]

It's the same problem across 2 motherboard replacements followed by a whole system replacement.

Temperatures are fine. In fact the video shows that the CPU will start throttling before it's even stressed, when it's around 70*) if the GPU is being used.

Repasting would be a waste of time as all diagnostics show temperatures are well under control.

[Raudi_]

1 minute ago, c0bblestone said:

It's the same problem across 2 motherboard replacements followed by a whole system replacement.

Temperatures are fine. In fact the video shows that the CPU will start throttling before it's even stressed, when it's around 70*) if the GPU is being used.

Repasting would be a waste of time as all diagnostics show temperatures are well under control.

VRM hits set temp limit, cpu drops clocks way down for safety of power delivery probably

[KarathKasun]

4 minutes ago, c0bblestone said:

It's the same problem across 2 motherboard replacements followed by a whole system replacement.

Temperatures are fine. In fact the video shows that the CPU will start throttling before it's even stressed if the GPU is being used.

Repasting would be a waste of time as all diagnostics show temperatures are well under control.

Diagnostics showed my temps were well under control.  The CPU never reported a thermal throttle state, core temp sensors never reported above 65c.

 

Though I have seen this type of throttling on other HP laptops, mainly on models with horrid cooling to begin with.  On the one system under my care that does this, I have to set the max CPU clock state to 95% and knock GPU voltage down a bit.  This keeps turbo from kicking in and keeps CPU clocks at their base level at least.  AFAIK there is a total system power limit that is controlled by the BIOS.

[TheDankKoosh]

24 minutes ago, c0bblestone said:

Snip

Yeah, I'd just try to grab a refund since the processor isn't even running at base clocks under load. If HP is being uncooperative, you could always threaten a suit, that'll get them into gear. Depending on what you payed, you may be able to get a better laptop. 

[Tamesh16]

yeah its basically like a laptop on battery, but i dont see why they would do this, 

when on battery my laptop would firmware limit performance , even though temps are fine, which i assumed was to protect too much power draw from my battery, which makes sense, its a 99wh and pc pulls atleast 100 watts 

but plugged in idk

maybe they got lazy and left presets for both on battery and plugged in 

[c0bblestone]

1 hour ago, KarathKasun said:

Diagnostics showed my temps were well under control.  The CPU never reported a thermal throttle state, core temp sensors never reported above 65c.

 

Though I have seen this type of throttling on other HP laptops, mainly on models with horrid cooling to begin with.  On the one system under my care that does this, I have to set the max CPU clock state to 95% and knock GPU voltage down a bit.  This keeps turbo from kicking in and keeps CPU clocks at their base level at least.  AFAIK there is a total system power limit that is controlled by the BIOS.

I did actually try that using MSI Afterburner to run a custom voltage curve keeping everything as low as possible but not impact Premiere/Media Encoder render times yet still no dice. I've tried undervolting CPU also which makes no difference.

There is definitely a total system power limit that is controlled by the BIOS with no way for the user to control it. I have no idea what the parameters are because there is a lot of power and thermal headroom (should be visible in the video). The BIOS options when booting the machine are extremely limited. This is what makes using Throttle Stop useless for my case, but I can still drop a couple of degrees off it by undervolting - which makes no difference as it will current limit throttle regardless of temperature/power.

1 hour ago, KingCry said:

VRM hits set temp limit, cpu drops clocks way down for safety of power delivery probably

There would be 2 VRMs for CPU/GPU. When the GPU is being stressed it shouldn't affect the CPU VRMs at all, yet the CPU will current limit throttle when the GPU is being used and the CPU is idle (as shown in above video).
 

1 hour ago, TheDankKoosh said:

Yeah, I'd just try to grab a refund since the processor isn't even running at base clocks under load. If HP is being uncooperative, you could always threaten a suit, that'll get them into gear. Depending on what you payed, you may be able to get a better laptop. 

I'm at that stage now where I am submitting the documentation to the consumer protection ombudsman for my State and also Country (Victoria, Australia). Failing that I do have the option to take to a small claims tribunal which is what I may end up having to do - because HP gave me the choice of a refund or replacement and I chose the replacement. They will not refund the replacement. They are only interested in telling me that the behavior is normal since the start of 2019 after trying to repair it the latter half of 2018.

[genexis_x]

Have you tried disabling BD PROCHOT via Throttlestop?