intel i7-10870H single core unable to boost above 4.1GHz

[Phani Pavan]

Hello,

 

I have been using my new Acer Helios 300 for a month now. Since then I have been observing the CPU clock in task manager occationally.

The CPU boosted above 4GHz when idle, the best I saw was 4.86GHz.

But since recently, the CPU isn't boosting beyond 4.11GHz.

I tried TS undervolting, changing power plan to high performance. None worked.

 

I there anything I can do to get back that higher boost clocks?

 

P.S: Single core boost is 4.8GHz and with TVB, it is 5.0GHz

 

Thank you.

 

Edit:

System Specs:

Acer Predator Helios 300 2021

i7-10870H

RTX 3060 laptop 100w

230W Charger

High performance power profile

Edited May 18, 2021 by Phani Pavan
Included Specs

[unclewebb]

@Phani Pavan To achieve maximum turbo boost, you need to have the C states enabled and you need to have hardly any Windows background processes running. 

 

What does ThrottleStop report for C0% when your computer is idle at the desktop? This is an accurate measure of what tasks are running on your computer. Cores should be spending over 99% of their time in C7 when a computer is idle and the C0% should be under 0.5%.

 

 

 

If your C states look OK then try running a TS Bench - 1 Thread test. Post a screenshot of the highest multiplier you see while this test is running or turn on the Log File option so you have a record of your CPU's performance. 

 

As soon as you install a few things on your computer, some of these apps will install too many background processes which will constantly keep cores in the active state. This can lower the maximum turbo multiplier. The turbo boost algorithm is a bit of a farce. It takes very little additional load to prevent the CPU from using the highest turbo multipliers. 

[Phani Pavan]

Hello,

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

All the cores read 0% in TS

 

 

C0% isn't crossing 0.7% when Idle.

The above shows 3.4 bcz I opened snipping tool...

 

[unclewebb]

@Phani Pavan When all of the C states are disabled, Intel's non K series CPUs cannot use the highest turbo multipliers. ThrottleStop shows 0.0% for C3, C6 and C7. That is the problem.

 

Did you disable the C states in the BIOS? There might have been an update that disabled these deliberately to slow your CPU down to control heat. Disabling the C states is a bad idea for these CPUs. 

 

Check what Windows power plan you are using. Go with the default Balanced power plan when looking for the missing C states.

[Phani Pavan]

I have recently updated my bios from the stock V2.0 to V2.02.

V2 bios is not available on Acer's website...

No such options like Disable C states, change voltage/power are given in the bios, even in the advanced section.

 

I feel like the update nabbed C states option...

 

Weirdly enough, I am getting 4.8GHz on linux/Kubuntu 20LTS

[unclewebb]

@Phani Pavan I am not a Linux user but I know there are tools available that can show you what C states are being used when the CPU is idle. If the C states are working in Linux and they are not working in Windows then there is something wrong with your Windows install. It is not normal for the C states to all be disabled. This makes your laptop run hotter and slower when lightly loaded. 

 

Are you using any Acer software or any other software that has some sort of performance or gaming mode? Something like that might have thought that disabling the C states would be a good idea.

 

Have you gone back to the Balanced power plan and clicked on, Restore default settings for this plan?

 

 

If you were seeing higher multipliers in Windows before then the C states must have been working at one point. Something has changed. 

 

After you reset your Balanced power plan, if you are still having problems, open up a command window and type in this command.

 

powercfg -qh >C:/report.txt

 

The first letter in the -qh option is q which stands for query and the h option will show the hidden settings within your power plan. The > option will output this information to a file called report.txt which will be located in your main C drive. Either attach this file to your next post or copy and paste the data within this file to http://www.pastebin.com 

 

There might be some clues hiding in there.

[Phani Pavan]

I use Acer PredatorSense which doesn't control CPU by any means

XTU for increasing power limits, doesn't have unlocked Core voltage control.

TS for measurements and Undervolting(which I didn't do yet).

MSI Afterburner for OSD ingame.

And thats it...

[Phani Pavan]

Output for the given command...
https://pastebin.com/4Jg9yLdL

[Phani Pavan]

I also contacted Acer support regarding this.

They asked me to send a mail regarding the same.

Didn't get a reply yet...

 

[unclewebb]

@Phani Pavan I noticed a problem with your Windows power plan settings. IDLE PROMOTE and IDLE DEMOTE are both set to 100. When my computer is set to these values, the C states become disabled just like you are seeing.

 

To fix this problem, open up a command window and enter the following four commands. Copy and paste each line into a command window one at a time. 

powercfg /setacvalueindex SCHEME_BALANCED SUB_PROCESSOR IDLEPROMOTE 60

powercfg /setdcvalueindex SCHEME_BALANCED SUB_PROCESSOR IDLEPROMOTE 60

powercfg /setacvalueindex SCHEME_BALANCED SUB_PROCESSOR IDLEDEMOTE 40

powercfg /setdcvalueindex SCHEME_BALANCED SUB_PROCESSOR IDLEDEMOTE 40

 

After you enter these commands, you will need to switch to a different power plan and then switch back to the Balanced power plan. You can use ThrottleStop to switch Windows power plans or you can go into the Control Panel - Windows Power Options and switch profiles there. Those are the default values that Windows 10 seems to use.

 

If this does not solve your problem, enter those four commands again but use the value 100 on each line instead of 60 or 40. 

 

If this gets your C states working again, Intel Turbo Boost and the higher multipliers should also start working again.

 

It looks like these were deliberately set to the incorrect values. Very sneaky. 

[Phani Pavan]

You are a  Antony LeVEl LEGEND sir.

I see higher Boost clocKs NOw!!!

 

[Phani Pavan]

Out of curiosity, can you explain what those numbers are plz...

 

[unclewebb]

@Phani Pavan Those two settings control when a CPU will go into the various low power C states. I compared the powercfg report you uploaded to the settings that my desktop computer uses and your settings looked quite a bit different.

 

I set my CPU to 100 and lost the C states. Same thing that happened to your computer. Sometimes when you are trying to troubleshoot a problem like this, you get lucky. I got lucky.

 

This is not the first time I have seen this problem. Nice to finally find out why this happens.

 

The only question left is why would any manufacturer release an update like this? Next to impossible for anyone to figure something like this out. It was done deliberately without your approval or knowledge.

 

To fix the High Performance power plan, use the same four commands but replace SCHEME_BALANCED with SCHEME_MIN

[Labrat8991]

Hi @unclewebb @Phani Pavan!

I have the exact same laptop and I tried the cmd method shared by unclewebb but it didn't work for me. Pls help me out.

 

[unclewebb]

@Labrat8991 Are you using the Windows Balanced power plan? The powercfg commands I posted only change the Windows Balanced power plan. Your problem might not be exactly the same as the problem @Phani Pavan had.

 

Are you using Windows 10 or Windows 11? Are all your C states at 0.0 when your computer is idle? Provide some more details and post some screenshots that show your problem. 

 

Run the command I posted so I can have a look at your power plan settings. Attach the report.txt file this command creates to your next post. This file will be in your main C directory. 

 

powercfg -qh >C:/report.txt

 

[Phani Pavan]

Hi UncleWebb, glad we meet again : ]

 

Yes so I had the exact same problem today, again. How coincidental...

But this time, the CPU got stuck at 4.37GHz. I ran the commands as mentioned above and saw no improvement.

 

Then Instead of '60' as the first value, I used 30. I.e, I ran the below

```

powercfg /setacvalueindex SCHEME_BALANCED SUB_PROCESSOR IDLEPROMOTE 30

```

 

and ran TS bench on 4 threads. For the first 5 seconds the CPU stayed at 4.37GHz but later the CPU boosted to 4.6GHz.

 

So I say @Labrat8991, try the above command, set the power plan to 'balanced' and run some single threaded stress test...

 

This time, @unclewebb, the culprit was ProcessLasso. I installed the Bitsum Power Plan thing and the boost was fine, I changed to balanced, got stuck at 4.37

[Phani Pavan]

Also do 

```

powercfg /setacvalueindex SCHEME_BALANCED SUB_PROCESSOR IDLEDEMOTE 15

```

So the CPU Freq doesn't freakout

[Labrat8991]

17 hours ago, unclewebb said:

@Labrat8991 Are you using the Windows Balanced power plan? The powercfg commands I posted only change the Windows Balanced power plan. Your problem might not be exactly the same as the problem @Phani Pavan had.

 

Are you using Windows 10 or Windows 11? Are all your C states at 0.0 when your computer is idle? Provide some more details and post some screenshots that show your problem. 

 

Run the command I posted so I can have a look at your power plan settings. Attach the report.txt file this command creates to your next post. This file will be in your main C directory. 

 

 

powercfg -qh >C:/report.txt

 

 

Hi, I switched to balanced power plan before entering the lines in cmd but still things didn't work out for me.

report.txt

I'm using Windows 11 as of now. Attaching power plan report FYR pls.

PFB the screenshot too, this was taken seconds after I restarted my laptop.

[Labrat8991]

8 hours ago, Phani Pavan said:

Hi UncleWebb, glad we meet again : ]

 

Yes so I had the exact same problem today, again. How coincidental...

But this time, the CPU got stuck at 4.37GHz. I ran the commands as mentioned above and saw no improvement.

 

Then Instead of '60' as the first value, I used 30. I.e, I ran the below

```

powercfg /setacvalueindex SCHEME_BALANCED SUB_PROCESSOR IDLEPROMOTE 30

```

 

and ran TS bench on 4 threads. For the first 5 seconds the CPU stayed at 4.37GHz but later the CPU boosted to 4.6GHz.

 

So I say @Labrat8991, try the above command, set the power plan to 'balanced' and run some single threaded stress test...

 

This time, @unclewebb, the culprit was ProcessLasso. I installed the Bitsum Power Plan thing and the boost was fine, I changed to balanced, got stuck at 4.37

No luck Phani  What do you mean by singel threaded stress tests? Can you refer some software for that pls?

[Labrat8991]

While playing cyberpunk intel XTU says this 

 

And attaching Speecy's screenshot when laptop is on normal load, the maximum I see it goes to x44 multiplier.

[Phani Pavan]

Those C state numbers look fine to me...

What frequency is your CPU capping out at? I can see one of your core is at 4.7GHz...

[unclewebb]

ThrottleStop 9.4 

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-throttlestop/

 

ThrottleStop shows your C states are working correctly and it also shows your CPU using the higher multipliers when lightly loaded. This is normal. 

 

3 hours ago, Labrat8991 said:

While playing cyberpunk

 

The 10870H has a 45W TDP rating.

 

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/208018/intel-core-i710870h-processor-16m-cache-up-to-5-00-ghz.html

 

Acer laptops typically enforce the TDP limit. That means when playing a game, your laptop CPU will slow down so it does not exceed 45W. Your XTU screenshot also shows current EDP throttling. Sometimes you can fix EDP throttling by raising IccMax or Power Limit 4 if they are not locked. 

 

The ThrottleStop FIVR window shows in the Turbo Ratio Limits section what the default multipliers are for your CPU. You do not have a fully unlocked K series CPU. The H series CPUs are designed so that the maximum multiplier decreases when more cores become active. Post screenshots of the ThrottleStop FIVR and TPL windows if you want to know what your options are. 

 

Acer likes to set the thermal throttling temperature to 92°C instead of the full 100°C that Intel recommends. There is a way to adjust this higher but I think Acer locks out this feature. Look for a lock icon near the PROCHOT Offset setting in the Options window. If you see a lock icon, the thermal throttling temperature cannot be adjusted. 

[Labrat8991]

10 hours ago, unclewebb said:

ThrottleStop 9.4 

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-throttlestop/

 

ThrottleStop shows your C states are working correctly and it also shows your CPU using the higher multipliers when lightly loaded. This is normal. 

 

 

The 10870H has a 45W TDP rating.

 

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/208018/intel-core-i710870h-processor-16m-cache-up-to-5-00-ghz.html

 

Acer laptops typically enforce the TDP limit. That means when playing a game, your laptop CPU will slow down so it does not exceed 45W. Your XTU screenshot also shows current EDP throttling. Sometimes you can fix EDP throttling by raising IccMax or Power Limit 4 if they are not locked. 

 

The ThrottleStop FIVR window shows in the Turbo Ratio Limits section what the default multipliers are for your CPU. You do not have a fully unlocked K series CPU. The H series CPUs are designed so that the maximum multiplier decreases when more cores become active. Post screenshots of the ThrottleStop FIVR and TPL windows if you want to know what your options are. 

 

Acer likes to set the thermal throttling temperature to 92°C instead of the full 100°C that Intel recommends. There is a way to adjust this higher but I think Acer locks out this feature. Look for a lock icon near the PROCHOT Offset setting in the Options window. If you see a lock icon, the thermal throttling temperature cannot be adjusted. 

here you go

z

 

[unclewebb]

@Labrat8991 Good news. Acer did not lock the thermal throttling temperature. Intel recommends 100°C. Many laptops are set to 97°C. If you want to give this a try, set PROCHOT Offset to 3 in the Options window. This tells the CPU to slow down at 97°C which is 3°C away from 100°C. 

 

Turbo Power Limits (TPL) window

- check the MMIO Lock box.

- clear the Disable Power Limit Control box.

- check the Speed Shift box. 

- set Power Limit 4 to the maximum, 1023.

 

FIVR window

- check Unlock Adjustable Voltage for both the CPU Core and the CPU Cache.

- set IccMax to the maximum value, 255.75 for both the core and the cache.

- if you are interested in undervolting and reducing your maximum CPU temperature, set the core and the cache offset voltages to -50 mV for each one. This is usually a safe place to start testing. 

 

Turn on the Log File option and go play a game for at least 15 minutes. Your log file will be in your ThrottleStop / Logs folder. Attach this to your next post so I can see if there has been any progress.

 

Avoid running Intel XTU and ThrottleStop together at the same time. Both programs are writing information to the same CPU registers so best to only run one of these programs at a time. Exit ThrottleStop and reboot if you want to try some different settings in Intel XTU.  

 

 

This shows the default Turbo Ratio Limit values for your CPU. When all 8 cores are active during a stress test, the multiplier will max out at 41. You do not have an unlocked K series CPU so there is no way to go beyond this built in limit. 

 

[Labrat8991]

On 11/16/2021 at 11:34 AM, unclewebb said:

@Labrat8991 Good news. Acer did not lock the thermal throttling temperature. Intel recommends 100°C. Many laptops are set to 97°C. If you want to give this a try, set PROCHOT Offset to 3 in the Options window. This tells the CPU to slow down at 97°C which is 3°C away from 100°C. 

 

Turbo Power Limits (TPL) window

- check the MMIO Lock box.

- clear the Disable Power Limit Control box.

- check the Speed Shift box. 

- set Power Limit 4 to the maximum, 1023.

 

FIVR window

- check Unlock Adjustable Voltage for both the CPU Core and the CPU Cache.

- set IccMax to the maximum value, 255.75 for both the core and the cache.

- if you are interested in undervolting and reducing your maximum CPU temperature, set the core and the cache offset voltages to -50 mV for each one. This is usually a safe place to start testing. 

 

Turn on the Log File option and go play a game for at least 15 minutes. Your log file will be in your ThrottleStop / Logs folder. Attach this to your next post so I can see if there has been any progress.

 

Avoid running Intel XTU and ThrottleStop together at the same time. Both programs are writing information to the same CPU registers so best to only run one of these programs at a time. Exit ThrottleStop and reboot if you want to try some different settings in Intel XTU.  

 

 

This shows the default Turbo Ratio Limit values for your CPU. When all 8 cores are active during a stress test, the multiplier will max out at 41. You do not have an unlocked K series CPU so there is no way to go beyond this built in limit. 

 

2021-11-16.txtfollowed all your steps. PFA the log file. @unclewebb let me know your thoughts. my cpu is still not touching 5 ghz.