Information needed, i7 U Processor

[LaptopNerdi7U]

So I have my laptop from 6 months and one of the biggest problems is that  it took me very long time to understand how it works since I had a Core2Quad before.

The laptop is an Acer Aspire 5 515-51G

i7 8550u 1.8-4ghz

8GB DDR4 2400Mhz (4gb soldered) 

nVidia MX150

65W system (Power Brick) 

So the clocks are different depending on the workload. 

For example until power limit 1 kicks in in the middle of the benchmark in cinebench the CPU (Stock) works on 3ghz and drops to 2.3/4ghz when PL1 (Power Limit) kicks in. 

So PL2 is 30W being supplied to the CPU

And PL1 limits it to 15W (stock). 

With Aida64 every hope for Turbo Boost is lost. 

In CS:GO (Tweaked voltages) The CPU has one core on 90% at most which is still 100%  the others at 50%-ish , and the clocks at 15W are from 2.9ghz (All Cores) to 3.2ghz.

 

My question is, 

How do I unlock the Power Limit? 

25-30W is more then enough for me. 

I think that if the VRM can supply it, why not all the time? I can provide adequate cooling anyways. 

Im using Throttlestop and only voltage adjustments seem to work.

I'll post them but I dont think the measurements are accurate. 

My laptop is modded.

No BIOS its locked from the factory i suppose. 

I've cut holes and added extra heatsinks with Artctic MX-4 with some added fans and it works great!

Ill post a pic if anyone is interested. 

Also I have a PCI-E 4X Slot on it. 

Thank you in advance! 

[genexis_x]

You cannot modify power limit setting in Aspire 5. See my review

[LaptopNerdi7U]

Just now, GeneXiS_X said:

You cannot modify power limit setting in Aspire 5. See my review

Thank you! I saw your other answers on the same topic, keep up the good work! 

[LaptopNerdi7U]

47 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

You cannot modify power limit setting in Aspire 5. See my review

Can I ask if the dGPU (MX150) and the CPU have power supplied to them via the same VRM on the Aspire 5?

[genexis_x]

13 minutes ago, LaptopNerdi7U said:

Can I ask if the dGPU (MX150) and the CPU have power supplied to them via the same VRM on the Aspire 5?

Different VRM (every laptop with dGPU has seperate CPU and GPU power delivery)

 

If you really want to maximize the CPU performance in multi core load, you can try lowering temps by undervolting and doing a repaste. I noticed that the 15W PL1 kicks in later if the temp is lower

[Silver47]

Yeah unfortunately you can't. Acer sucks in that regard. I've got a Aspire V Nitro myself with a i5 4210U which is a severe bottleneck because its locked to its lowest TDP config. Without major BIOS mods you can't do anything about it. Thats why I also built a desktop to play games.

[LaptopNerdi7U]

2 minutes ago, Silver47 said:

Yeah unfortunately you can't. Acer sucks in that regard. I've got a Aspire V Nitro myself with a i5 4210U which is a severe bottleneck because its locked to its lowest TDP config. Without major BIOS mods you can't do anything about it. Thats why I also built a desktop to play games.

Well I have an i7 and it's good enough for an gtx1060 or rx480 egpu. 

Its just that I want that juicy Cinebench score. 

[LaptopNerdi7U]

3 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Different VRM (every laptop with dGPU has seperate CPU and GPU power delivery)

So undervolting the dGPU wont give a performance boost for the CPU? 

[genexis_x]

3 minutes ago, Silver47 said:

Acer sucks in that regard

Every brand will have the model that sucks in CPU performance. There are even worse models out there like 8W PL1 limit

[genexis_x]

Just now, LaptopNerdi7U said:

So undervolting the dGPU wont give a performance boost for the CPU? 

If only CPU load, no

If combined load like games, it will help in both CPU+GPU performance

[LaptopNerdi7U]

2 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

If only CPU load, no

If combined load like games, it will help in both CPU+GPU performance

Is modding the BIOS an option? 

And if the VRM can supply up to 44W for 3,4 secs does that mean it can do it all the time or is it just peak power

[Silver47]

3 minutes ago, LaptopNerdi7U said:

Is modding the BIOS an option? 

Nah. That chip is locked to this setting for a reason. Either cooling or power delivery. In most laptops and oem systems power delivery (vrm) is mostly just borderline enough to fullfill the required specs. I would not try my luck with that. Also cooling often is an issue, because its obviously a big difference if your cpu will only run two cores at max boost frequency or all of them. From my experience (several Aspire laptops) Acer tends to underspec the cooling solution.

 

6 minutes ago, LaptopNerdi7U said:

And if the VRM can supply up to 44W for 3,4 secs does that mean it can do it all the time or is it just peak power

God no. Just peak power. Usually these laptops just run the absolute bare minimum of vrm specs.

[LaptopNerdi7U]

5 minutes ago, Silver47 said:

Nah. That chip is locked to this setting for a reason. Either cooling or power delivery. In most laptops and oem systems power delivery (vrm) is mostly just borderline enough to fullfill the required specs. I would not try my luck with that. Also cooling often is an issue, because its obviously a big difference if your cpu will only run two cores at max boost frequency or all of them. From my experience (several Aspire laptops) Acer tends to underspec the cooling solution.

 

God no. Just peak power. Usually these laptops just run the absolute bare minimum of vrm specs.

Thank you! And also yes all budget Acer laptops I have seen have inadequate cooling. And as I said I've installed extra heatsinks and when I use both the GPU and CPU on 100% in CS:GO the temps are 65-75ish at 2.8-3.1ghz!

But yea go PC and no AMD 

Thank you

[genexis_x]

18 minutes ago, LaptopNerdi7U said:

Is modding the BIOS an option? 

Risky

10 minutes ago, Silver47 said:

power delivery.

This. AC adapter only can provide 65W which is barely enough for ULV chip together with MX150

11 minutes ago, Silver47 said:

Also cooling often is an issue

You're right. Most laptops with ULV CPU only can sustain 15W of heat output (many can do 20W actually)

[unclewebb]

When using ThrottleStop, the CPU Core and CPU Cache offset voltages should be set equally.  The CPU and iGPU will ignore an offset setting of -1.0000.

 

The Disable and Lock Turbo Power Limits will not do anything until you click on the Install button and download and install the appropriate driver.  When properly setup, this feature can help overcome the 15W TDP limit but this only works on some laptops.  It depends on how many other throttling schemes are being used.

 

Some low power U CPUs can run at full speed, way beyond their 15W TDP rating without a hint of throttling.  It all depends on what items a manufacturer chooses to leave unlocked.