# Throttlestop PL1 and EDP OTHER yellow problem



## enigoke (Mar 11, 2022)

hi! i have an asus rog gl553vd with i7 7700hq. i get good fps in games i play and good temparatures too after undervolting with throttlestop and msi afterburner. i get 60+ fps and around 60 to 70 temps while gaming but for some reason my fps drops while gaming i dont know why i think it might be because of power limit reasons but i really have no idea and i also get pl1 and edp other as limit reasons . i have searched the problem here and everyhere but ijust could not solve it. can someone help me if i post the screen shots of my throttlestop and msi afterburner settings please?


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## unclewebb (Mar 11, 2022)

enigoke said:


> PL1


Many Asus laptops will set the PL1 power limit equal to the TDP which is 45W. If a laptop uses a setting like this internally, increasing PL1 and PL2 in ThrottleStop will not do anything.



enigoke said:


> I really have no idea


Turn on the Log File option in ThrottleStop and go play a game for at least 15 minutes. The log file will show if you are having any CPU power limit throttling problems while in game. Attach a log file to your next post so I can have a look.

Is the PL1 box lighting up red in the CORE column of Limit Reasons? You did not post a screenshot of Limit Reasons so I cannot see anything unusual.

In the FIVR window, I would set IccMax for both the core and the cache to the maximum, 255.75.


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## enigoke (Mar 11, 2022)

unclewebb said:


> Many Asus laptops will set the PL1 power limit equal to the TDP which is 45W. If a laptop uses a setting like this internally, increasing PL1 and PL2 in ThrottleStop will not do anything.
> 
> 
> Turn on the Log File option in ThrottleStop and go play a game for at least 15 minutes. The log file will show if you are having any CPU power limit throttling problems while in game. Attach a log file to your next post so I can have a look.
> ...


pl1 was glowing yellow under core and edp other was glowing yellow under ring. now that i checked there is no limit reason after playing 15 minutes of war thunder. here is my log file. 
i also set my iccmax to 255,75


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## unclewebb (Mar 11, 2022)

enigoke said:


> glowing yellow


You only have to worry about red boxes under the CORE column when looking at Limit Reasons. Red boxes indicate that throttling is in progress. The yellow boxes show that there was some previous power limit throttling but this might have happened when you were booting up. Ignore the yellow boxes.

The log file does not show any throttling of any kind. The multiplier is mostly between 34 and 35 which is right where it should be when 3 or 4 cores are active. It looks good. The CPU and GPU temps are both fine.


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## enigoke (Mar 12, 2022)

unclewebb said:


> You only have to worry about red boxes under the CORE column when looking at Limit Reasons. Red boxes indicate that throttling is in progress. The yellow boxes show that there was some previous power limit throttling but this might have happened when you were booting up. Ignore the yellow boxes.
> 
> The log file does not show any throttling of any kind. The multiplier is mostly between 34 and 35 which is right where it should be when 3 or 4 cores are active. It looks good. The CPU and GPU temps are both fine.


oh, ok. thank you very much!


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## iPossum (Mar 12, 2022)

Any idea why my PL1 and PL2 power limits are like, a stupid nonsense number. PL1 and PL2 both say 4095.9 W for Current, Min, Max and Average. BIOS confirms this as my long and short duration power limits are set to auto and show 4096 Watts. This cant be right, can it?


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## unclewebb (Mar 12, 2022)

The maximum possible number you can set the PL1 and PL2 power limits to is 4095.875 W. This is basically equivalent to the power limits being unlimited. That is a good thing if you are interested in maximum performance. If you want less performance, you can lower these power limits.

Most desktop motherboards have a BIOS option which sets these power limits to the moon. Good benchmark scores will sell more motherboards. Power limit throttling will scare away customers.

For the 12700K, the Intel recommended PL2 is 190W.









						Product Specifications
					

quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.




					ark.intel.com
				




The fine print says,



> Maximum Turbo Power is configurable by system vendor and can be system specific.



Translation: Set it to the moon!!


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## iPossum (Mar 12, 2022)

unclewebb said:


> The maximum possible number you can set the PL1 and PL2 power limits to is 4095.875 W. This is basically equivalent to the power limits being unlimited. That is a good thing if you are interested in maximum performance. If you want less performance, you can lower these power limits.
> 
> Most desktop motherboards have a BIOS option which sets these power limits to the moon. Good benchmark scores will sell more motherboards. Power limit throttling will scare away customers.
> 
> ...


Haha, ok, nice. I appreciate the why. Now I have to figure out why my higher core clocks are netting lower benchmarks. In my initial posts here and on Reddit, a lot of people seemed to think I was power limited, but I don't see how that's the case. Considering my CPU can pull enough juice to power Kentucky.



unclewebb said:


> The maximum possible number you can set the PL1 and PL2 power limits to is 4095.875 W. This is basically equivalent to the power limits being unlimited. That is a good thing if you are interested in maximum performance. If you want less performance, you can lower these power limits.
> 
> Most desktop motherboards have a BIOS option which sets these power limits to the moon. Good benchmark scores will sell more motherboards. Power limit throttling will scare away customers.
> 
> ...


Have I got this right: PL1 and PL2, that isn't the amount in Watts your CPU can draw right? That's a number related to how much heat energy in Watts your cooler has to dissipate? So if that's set for 4095, what its actually saying is the CPU can draw as much power as it wants as long as that amount of power doesn't push it over 4095 Watts of heat energy? Is that right? Or close?


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## unclewebb (Mar 13, 2022)

Intel CPUs calculate a number internally that approximates power consumption. All monitoring software reports this number. It is not measured power consumption that is being reported. It is only an approximation based on the VID voltage and not on the actual voltage. There is lots of room for error in this number.

The only purpose of this number is so the CPU can determine whether it should be turbo boosting or not. If you set the PL1 and PL2 power limits sky high to 4095W, then you never have to worry that the CPU will be power limit throttling. Intel CPUs consume a lot of power but even running something like Prime95 Small FFTs, your CPU will probably not need 400W let alone 4095W. Kind of like a game of limbo. Set the bar really high and you never have to worry about hitting your head on it. 

The TDP rating that Intel publishes is so computer designers can decide how big of a heatsink they are going to need. The confusing part is that Intel used to recommend setting the PL1 turbo power limit equal to the TDP so most people interchange the PL power limits with the TDP number. 



iPossum said:


> heat energy


No need to overthink this stuff. Just set the PL1 and PL2 turbo power limits to the max in the BIOS and forget about them.


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## iPossum (Mar 13, 2022)

unclewebb said:


> Intel CPUs calculate a number internally that approximates power consumption. All monitoring software reports this number. It is not measured power consumption that is being reported. It is only an approximation based on the VID voltage and not on the actual voltage. There is lots of room for error in this number.
> 
> The only purpose of this number is so the CPU can determine whether it should be turbo boosting or not. If you set the PL1 and PL2 power limits sky high to 4095W, then you never have to worry that the CPU will be power limit throttling. Intel CPUs consume a lot of power but even running something like Prime95 Small FFTs, your CPU will probably not need 400W let alone 4095W. Kind of like a game of limbo. Set the bar really high and you never have to worry about hitting your head on it.
> 
> ...


Ok. So I get that PL1/2 aren’t 1:1 with actual draw, but that number will directly affect how much power the CPU is able to draw. I’m just trying to figure why people would suggest power limited if PL1 and PL2 are both saying, in effect, “Go nuts.”


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## unclewebb (Mar 13, 2022)

There are 3 sets of turbo power limits. The BIOS usually only gives you access to the MSR power limits. That is why when testing with Cinebench, you should also be running ThrottleStop with the Limit Reasons window open to check for other types of throttling. It is still possible to have power limit throttling even if the MSR power limits are set to the moon. There is also current limit throttling and thermal velocity boost throttling and V-Max stress throttling, etc. 

ThrottleStop 9.4.3 supports the 12th Gen CPUs. It is a great testing tool when trying to find out why your CPU is not running at 100%. Turn on the Log File option when testing so you have a record of CPU performance and temperatures.


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## iPossum (Mar 13, 2022)

unclewebb said:


> There are 3 sets of turbo power limits. The BIOS usually only gives you access to the MSR power limits. That is why when testing with Cinebench, you should also be running ThrottleStop with the Limit Reasons window open to check for other types of throttling. It is still possible to have power limit throttling even if the MSR power limits are set to the moon. There is also current limit throttling and thermal velocity boost throttling and V-Max stress throttling, etc.
> 
> ThrottleStop 9.4.3 supports the 12th Gen CPUs. It is a great testing tool when trying to find out why your CPU is not running at 100%. Turn on the Log File option when testing so you have a record of CPU performance and temperatures.


Nice! I'll grab it. At some point here I'll figure out what all MSI has decided should be default settings and then set them to what actually should be the default settings so I can start at the right place lol


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## unclewebb (Mar 13, 2022)

iPossum said:


> I'll figure out what all MSI has decided should be default


Why waste your time? Work on running your CPU as fast as possible. Intel CPUs work best when all throttling is disabled.


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## iPossum (Mar 13, 2022)

unclewebb said:


> Why waste your time? Work on running your CPU as fast as possible. Intel CPUs work best when all throttling is disabled.


I want to run it as fast as possible, with as little power consumption as possible.


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## iPossum (Mar 14, 2022)

unclewebb said:


> There are 3 sets of turbo power limits. The BIOS usually only gives you access to the MSR power limits. That is why when testing with Cinebench, you should also be running ThrottleStop with the Limit Reasons window open to check for other types of throttling. It is still possible to have power limit throttling even if the MSR power limits are set to the moon. There is also current limit throttling and thermal velocity boost throttling and V-Max stress throttling, etc.
> 
> ThrottleStop 9.4.3 supports the 12th Gen CPUs. It is a great testing tool when trying to find out why your CPU is not running at 100%. Turn on the Log File option when testing so you have a record of CPU performance and temperatures.


Hey, so I grabbed throttlestop and I've been glancing over it. I saw the warning in the limit reasons box to close HWiNFO, is that necessary? Also, what is the RING tab monitoring and what are EDP OTHER limit reasons? I've searched some forums but haven't found a real clear answer of what the EDP limit is. Hoping you knew. Thanks again.


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## unclewebb (Mar 14, 2022)

iPossum said:


> close HWiNFO, is that necessary


It is necessary if you want ThrottleStop to report the Limit Reasons data correctly. HWINFO automatically clears this data from the CPU. That interferes with other monitoring software.

EDP stands for Electrical Design Point. This mostly refers to IccMax and PL4 which is another name for the current limit.

Watch the CORE column in Limit Reasons. That is the important one.


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## iPossum (Mar 14, 2022)

unclewebb said:


> It is necessary if you want ThrottleStop to report the Limit Reasons data correctly. HWINFO automatically clears this data from the CPU. That interferes with other monitoring software.
> 
> EDP stands for Electrical Design Point. This mostly refers to IccMax and PL4 which is another name for the current limit.
> 
> Watch the CORE column in Limit Reasons. That is the important one.


Awesome. Thanks for the reply. Everything is rewired and hooked back up. Been doing research for the last 3 days. Got the software and I’m ready to go. I asked in Reddit, maybe you know. Are you aware of OC data tracking spreadsheet template floating around out there? I’ve started making one but I’m to effing meticulous and takes me ages to get a database/spreadsheet all laid out that I’m happy with. Just something that you can enter whatever metrics you’re watching for each run. Package temp/power, core VIDs, vcore, core clock, mos/pch temps. Stuff like that. And maybe a user defined area to input BIOS settings for that run. Ever come across anything like that?


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## unclewebb (Mar 14, 2022)

iPossum said:


> OC data tracking spreadsheet


I am old school. I randomly jot down random information on a piece of paper with a Bic pen. This method has served me well. 

You only need to start looking for answers if you hit a wall when overclocking. The basics are as fast as possible with as little voltage as possible. Just enough voltage so you are 100% stable and everything else will take care of itself. 

The Limit Reasons data that Intel CPUs collect is useful information when trying to track down any problems. If you want to use HWiNFO for this purpose instead of ThrottleStop, that is OK. It is best to use one or the other and not both at the same time. I am kind of biased so I like seeing boxes light up red in Limit Reasons when there is a throttling problem. That gets my attention.


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## iPossum (Mar 14, 2022)

unclewebb said:


> I am old school. I randomly jot down random information on a piece of paper with a Bic pen. This method has served me well.
> 
> You only need to start looking for answers if you hit a wall when overclocking. The basics are as fast as possible with as little voltage as possible. Just enough voltage so you are 100% stable and everything else will take care of itself.
> 
> The Limit Reasons data that Intel CPUs collect is useful information when trying to track down any problems. If you want to use HWiNFO for this purpose instead of ThrottleStop, that is OK. It is best to use one or the other and not both at the same time. I am kind of biased so I like seeing boxes light up red in Limit Reasons when there is a throttling problem. That gets my attention.


Whoa. Arent you the creator of throttlestop? _That unclewebb?_


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## unclewebb (Mar 14, 2022)

iPossum said:


> Arent you the creator of ThrottleStop?


I told you I was a little biased!


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## iPossum (Mar 14, 2022)

unclewebb said:


> I told you I was a little biased!


Haha! Nice to meet you man! Big fan of your work, albeit, in my slightly limited experience with it. I have used realtemp for a lot longer than throttlestop. I think it's super awesome that you're still kicking around these forums entertaining silly questions from those of us that are either just starting out, or in my case, getting back into the game after a lengthy period of not doing a whole lot with PCs. Fascinating time to be alive. I'm not kidding you, the last overclockable CPU I had was a Pentium M740. It was in an Acer laptop that, if you bounce over to the laptop overclocking area and take a peek at the elite overclockers, lol, under my brother's name acousticlemur there is actually a pretty solid OC of that old Pentium. That was, 2007 I think so, it's been a minute. Anyway, thanks for all the help. I'm getting my research in and just starting to turn dials so I'll probably be an everpresent entity across the techpowerup forums for the next couple weeks. Don't mind me.




unclewebb said:


> I am old school. I randomly jot down random information on a piece of paper with a Bic pen. This method has served me well.
> 
> You only need to start looking for answers if you hit a wall when overclocking. The basics are as fast as possible with as little voltage as possible. Just enough voltage so you are 100% stable and everything else will take care of itself.
> 
> The Limit Reasons data that Intel CPUs collect is useful information when trying to track down any problems. If you want to use HWiNFO for this purpose instead of ThrottleStop, that is OK. It is best to use one or the other and not both at the same time. I am kind of biased so I like seeing boxes light up red in Limit Reasons when there is a throttling problem. That gets my attention.


I don't know if its the "right" approach or not, but I figured I would start by trying to get all "No" values in the limit reasons column before ramping up clocks and power. I have thus far been unsuccessful in removing limit reasons for IA Limit Reasons (IA Cores frequency clipped due to thermal velocity boost), IA Max Turbo Limit (IA Cores frequency clipped due to multi-core turbo limits) and Ring Limit Reasons (Ring Interconnect Frequency clipped due to package level PL2, PsysPL2 or PL3 power limiting). I disabled TVB, so that one really confuses me. Well, to be fair, they all confuse me a little bit, but that one the most. TVB is haunting me from its disabled grave. The multi-core turbo limits, wouldn't that be the highest core frequency the CPU is "allowed" to go to? It just seems like that is saying the CPU core frequency cant get there because of its own turbo limits. Like it's stopping itself. The ring limit, I just haven't discovered where to make adjustments to Psys Power Limits or PL3 in my BIOS.... yet.

edit: those limits are what’s reported in HWiNFO. Throttle stop is only showing EDP in the ring column.



unclewebb said:


> I am old school. I randomly jot down random information on a piece of paper with a Bic pen. This method has served me well.
> 
> You only need to start looking for answers if you hit a wall when overclocking. The basics are as fast as possible with as little voltage as possible. Just enough voltage so you are 100% stable and everything else will take care of itself.
> 
> The Limit Reasons data that Intel CPUs collect is useful information when trying to track down any problems. If you want to use HWiNFO for this purpose instead of ThrottleStop, that is OK. It is best to use one or the other and not both at the same time. I am kind of biased so I like seeing boxes light up red in Limit Reasons when there is a throttling problem. That gets my attention.


Victory!


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