# PL1 throttling on TS?



## TacomaToker (Nov 11, 2021)

I'm having a continuous throttling from PL1.  According to the logs, it is locking at 65W.  The cores throttle down from 4.3 to 4.15 - 4.18.  I've disabled and locked power limits, is there anything else I can do?  Thanks for any help or tips!


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## unclewebb (Nov 11, 2021)

TacomaToker said:


> is there anything else I can do?


Update to ThrottleStop 9.4 or 9.4.2.

Can you attach a log file? It is very likely that the manufacturer is using an embedded controller (EC) to lock the long term power limit to 65W. When this happens, there is nothing you can do in ThrottleStop to prevent this from happening.

What laptop model do you have? Some MSI laptops have an advanced BIOS setting called IMON Slope. Setting this to 50 tells the CPU to report 50% as much power consumption compared to actual power consumption. When your CPU is at 120W actual, the CPU only reports 60W which is under the 65W limit so no more power limit throttling. That is about the only solution I have seen for EC enforced power limit throttling.


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## TacomaToker (Nov 11, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> Update to ThrottleStop 9.4 or 9.4.2.
> 
> Can you attach a log file? It is very likely that the manufacturer is using an embedded controller (EC) to lock the long term power limit to 65W. When this happens, there is nothing you can do in ThrottleStop to prevent this from happening.
> 
> What laptop model do you have? Some MSI laptops have an advanced BIOS setting called IMON Slope. Setting this to 50 tells the CPU to report 50% as much power consumption compared to actual power consumption. When your CPU is at 120W actual, the CPU only reports 60W which is under the 65W limit so no more power limit throttling. That is about the only solution I have seen for EC enforced power limit throttling.



Thanks for the response, and thanks for your work in making this great program.  I attached a 10 minute log running Cinebench R23. 

I'll go ahead and update TS, and that IMON Slope sounds like a sneaky fix... I do have an MSI laptop (2020 MSI GL75 Leopard) so I will go and scour the BIOS for that.  Is there anything I'd need to adjust? Or just turn IMON slope on?


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## unclewebb (Nov 11, 2021)

The log file definitely shows a hard 65W power limit being enforced. Lucky you get 65W. A lot of manufacturers lock down to the TDP which is only 45W.

I have never used a MSI laptop or played around with IMON Slope. I know about it but I do not have any hands on experience with it. Run something consistent like the TS Bench, check for power consumption and then go into the BIOS and set IMON Slope to 50 or 75 and see if it makes any difference to reported power consumption. Do some Google searching. Some MSI laptop owner somewhere knows more about IMON Slope than I do. They are probably still smiling.


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## TacomaToker (Nov 11, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> Update to ThrottleStop 9.4 or 9.4.2.
> 
> Can you attach a log file? It is very likely that the manufacturer is using an embedded controller (EC) to lock the long term power limit to 65W. When this happens, there is nothing you can do in ThrottleStop to prevent this from happening.
> 
> What laptop model do you have? Some MSI laptops have an advanced BIOS setting called IMON Slope. Setting this to 50 tells the CPU to report 50% as much power consumption compared to actual power consumption. When your CPU is at 120W actual, the CPU only reports 60W which is under the 65W limit so no more power limit throttling. That is about the only solution I have seen for EC enforced power lim





unclewebb said:


> The log file definitely shows a hard 65W power limit being enforced. Lucky you get 65W. A lot of manufacturers lock down to the TDP which is only 45W.
> 
> I have never used a MSI laptop or played around with IMON Slope. I know about it but I do not have any hands on experience with it. Run something consistent like the TS Bench, check for power consumption and then go into the BIOS and set IMON Slope to 50 or 75 and see if it makes any difference to reported power consumption. Do some Google searching. Some MSI laptop owner somewhere knows more about IMON Slope than I do. They are probably still smiling.


Great, thanks a lot for your help.  Perhaps 65W is good enough but I will try to disable that limit.  Is there any chance IMON slope could fry my processor? Considering the PC would be thinking it’s only pulling half the power.


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## unclewebb (Nov 11, 2021)

TacomaToker said:


> could fry my processor?


I do not think so but I cannot guarantee anything. 

65W is really not that bad of a limit. During your full load Cinebench testing, the CPU is using an average multiplier of 41.5 instead of the full 43.0. In other words, performance at full load is only down 3.5%. 

Most games or other real world apps that are not fully loading your CPU will probably be able to run at full speed. They will not need more than 65W so any IMON Slope tricks will not make any difference to performance. If your CPU was being held to 45W or less, I would try to fix this problem. At 65W, it is not really worth it.


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## TacomaToker (Nov 21, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> I do not think so but I cannot guarantee anything.
> 
> 65W is really not that bad of a limit. During your full load Cinebench testing, the CPU is using an average multiplier of 41.5 instead of the full 43.0. In other words, performance at full load is only down 3.5%.
> 
> Most games or other real world apps that are not fully loading your CPU will probably be able to run at full speed. They will not need more than 65W so any IMON Slope tricks will not make any difference to performance. If your CPU was being held to 45W or less, I would try to fix this problem. At 65W, it is not really worth it.


Hello Unclewebb, now I’ve been running logs in game and my CPU is being held to 48W, very close to the common 45W Limit you had mentioned.  This is odd, because the CPU was being held to 65W when under a full load from Cinebench.  Do you have any idea why it would be limited in games but not during a stress test?! 

Thanks again for all your help.


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## unclewebb (Nov 21, 2021)

I have seen this problem before. The EC is enforcing a more restrictive CPU power limit whenever the Nvidia GPU is active. The EC gives you 65W long term when running Cinebench but if you want to run a game using the Nvidia GPU, then the EC only gives you 45W or 48W for the CPU. 

It would be nice if manufacturers would advertise these shady tricks. Laptop review sites never do any proper testing and rarely talk about these issues.  

An active Nvidia GPU creates more heat in the chassis. Rather than improve the cooling, it is easier and cheaper for a manufacturer to power limit the CPU whenever the GPU is active. The IMON Slope trick is about the only thing that can be used to take care of this issue.


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