Intel Xeon e3-1231v3 not boosting properly

[kita3]

Hello everyone,

 

I've recently swapped my i5-4670k for a Xeon e3-1231 and for whatever reason the xeon is not boosting over 3.6 no matter what I do (drops to 3.4ghz under high load)

I have a GA h81m-ds2 motherboard, used to get 4.2ghz on the i5.

With Bios updated to latest version it lets me set the clock speed to 3.8 but on the MIT status it says Turbo Boost: 36 instead of 38.

Tried setting turbo boost manually to all core 38, no luck.

There is no thermal throttling, the CPU chills at 60 degrees celsius under high load.

Heard someone got it to 3.8 by downgrading Bios, tried that with no luck.

I even tried setting it in windows by using ThrottleStop.

 

Disabled all C states/power saving options and windows Power Settings are at maximum possible.

I think the motherboard has a locked boost to 3.6 for this exact CPU.

 

Anyone got any ideas of how I could remove this locked frequency?

[unclewebb]

Your Xeon processor does not support using the maximum multiplier when all cores are active. You need a K series CPU and a Z series motherboard for that feature. Post a screenshot of the ThrottleStop FIVR window.

 

3.80 GHz is the maximum speed. It is only available when a single core is active. 

 

7 hours ago, kita3 said:

Disabled all C states

When you disable the C states, this disables maximum turbo boost. A Xeon works differently than a K series CPU. Does ThrottleStop show +0 in the FIVR Turbo Overclocking section?

 

[Crunchy Dragon]

That's pretty normal. I have a Xeon E5-2690v4 that tops out at 2.9Ghz all core load, but the maximum turbo boost is 3.5Ghz(single core).

 

Xeons don't turbo boost the same way Core CPUs do, so your CPU behavior sounds pretty normal and expected.

[unclewebb]

14 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Xeons don't turbo boost the same way Core CPUs do

Most Xeons have a locked maximum multiplier. Turbo boost for these Xeons will work exactly the same as non K series Core i CPUs. 

[kita3]

@unclewebb 

What's weird is, the Motherboard doesn't let a single core go above 3.6 even tho its rated at 3.8.

 

ThrottleStop-Set Multiplier doesn't do anything (tried upping it and lowering nothing happens).

 

 

[unclewebb]

47 minutes ago, kita3 said:

the Motherboard doesn't let a single core go above 3.6 even tho its rated at 3.8

Did you enable the C states in the BIOS like I suggested? Intel non K CPUs cannot use the maximum multiplier when lightly loaded if the C states are disabled. When your computer is idle at the desktop, open the ThrottleStop C states window and make sure those are working correctly. When the C states are disabled, the maximum multiplier is limited to 36. 

 

When the C states are enabled, run something simple like a TS Bench 1 Thread test. You should see multipliers higher than 36. 

 

 

The Turbo column shows the default maximum multipliers available for your CPU based on how many cores are active. 38, 38, 37, 36 are the maximums. Using ThrottleStop to set all of the turbo ratios to 38 will be ignored by the CPU. Disable the C states and only the 4 active cores multiplier will be available. 

 

47 minutes ago, kita3 said:

ThrottleStop-Set Multiplier doesn't do anything

The Set Multiplier feature in ThrottleStop does not work when you disable SpeedStep. It is OK to disable BD PROCHOT and C1E but you should enable SpeedStep. 

 

Some Haswell processors running very early microcode versions could bypass the maximum multiplier limits. You are using microcode 0x27. All of the early tricks have been blocked by Intel. 

[kita3]

@unclewebb

Damn I didn't know that disabling C states could lower the frequency.

It seems to have worked although a new problem occured.

The frequency seems to be dropping all the way down to 2.5ghz when at idle.

Disabling C1E doesn't do much. I saw a quick 3.8ghz boost on almost all cores but it quickly dropped back.

Is there a way to force a permanent max frequency?

[-rascal-]

8 minutes ago, kita3 said:

@unclewebb

Damn I didn't know that disabling C states could lower the frequency.

It seems to have worked although a new problem occured.

The frequency seems to be dropping all the way down to 2.5ghz when at idle.

Disabling C1E doesn't do much. I saw a quick 3.8ghz boost on almost all cores but it quickly dropped back.

Is there a way to force a permanent max frequency?

 

That's the purpose of the C-states.

When the CPU is idle, it doesn't need to run at maximum boost speed, so it drops the multiplier to save power.

You can't really do much about that with a H81-based motherboard.

 

Turbo Boost should also be short bursts and/or not always at max.

If the CPU runs at 3.8 GHz constantly, it will violate the "80W" spec.

[unclewebb]

1 hour ago, kita3 said:

I didn't know that disabling C states could lower the frequency.

You are not the only one. This is how all Core i non K CPUs have worked for the last 15 years. Most people in forums only seem to know about K CPUs with unlocked multipliers.

 

1 hour ago, kita3 said:

The frequency seems to be dropping all the way down to 2.5ghz when at idle.

Are you still using the Windows High Performance power plan. Is SpeedStep checked? Is the C1E box clear? Open up your Windows Power Options and press the, "Restore plan defaults" button.  

 

 

I have a 4th Gen mobile CPU in my laptop. With the C states enabled it is still able to run at full speed when idle. Try posting a ThrottleStop screenshot that shows the lower clocks.

 

1 hour ago, kita3 said:

Is there a way to force a permanent max frequency?

You can disable the C states but then you lose out on the 38 multiplier when your CPU is lightly loaded. I think C states on and a faster CPU is best but it is up to you. Some people would rather have consistent MHz than max MHz. 

 

[Blue4130]

4 hours ago, kita3 said:

@unclewebb

Damn I didn't know that disabling C states could lower the frequency.

It seems to have worked although a new problem occured.

The frequency seems to be dropping all the way down to 2.5ghz when at idle.

Disabling C1E doesn't do much. I saw a quick 3.8ghz boost on almost all cores but it quickly dropped back.

Is there a way to force a permanent max frequency?

That's a good thing. Why do you want to run at max frequency when the system is not doing anything? It's just needlessly pumping voltage and generating heat.

[kita3]

After fiddling around a bit I fixed it all.

Seems to boost properly now although at high loads (running Cinebench multi core benchmark) the frequency drops to 3.4-3.45 ghz at max. 

Saw it drop to 3.2 for 2-3 seconds.

What could be the reason? (Temps are amazing, running at cold 55 degrees Celsius)

[unclewebb]

3 hours ago, kita3 said:

frequency drops to 3.4-3.45 ghz

Open up the ThrottleStop Limit Reasons window and you should see the reason for throttling. I am guessing you will see PL1 or PL2 lighting up red under the CORE column of Limit Reasons when Cinebench is running.

 

The E3-1231 v3 has a low ball 80W TDP limit. Post a screenshot of the ThrottleStop TPL window. That will show what the turbo power limits are set to. Many motherboards from this era will lock the turbo power limits so they cannot be adjusted. If these power limits are not locked, you can use ThrottleStop to increase the turbo power limits. That should allow you to run Cinebench with the full 36.00 multiplier. 

[kita3]

40 minutes ago, unclewebb said:

Open up the ThrottleStop Limit Reasons window and you should see the reason for throttling. I am guessing you will see PL1 or PL2 lighting up red under the CORE column of Limit Reasons when Cinebench is running.

In the limit tab it shows EDP Current blinking red at idle/full red under load. PL1 and PL2 stay yellow.

Would changing BIOS settings to more power on vcore and so do anything?

I could also adjust the turbo power limit.?

 

 

EDIT:

 

I Tried downgrading my BIOS from version F3(2020) to version F1(2014) in hopes of getting an older CPU microcode and absolutely nothing changed.

Edited February 27 by kita3

[unclewebb]

48 minutes ago, kita3 said:

EDP Current

Post screenshots of the TPL and FIVR windows so I can see what settings are available. 

[kita3]

@unclewebb

[unclewebb]

@kita3

Set PL1 and PL2 to 150. Clear both Clamp boxes. Set the turbo time limit to the default, 28 seconds. Set the PP0 Current Limit to the max, 1023.

 

Set the PP0 power limit to 150.