# Underclocking Acer Predator Helios 300 PH317-52 with Intel i7-8750H by using ThrottleStop



## ZyX3R (Jan 12, 2021)

Hi,

I've been using ThrottleStop for about a year now on my laptop and it has greatly helped the performance I get. I get no more thermal throttling and even better performance/fps. However, these past 2 weeks I've noticed that the thermal throttling is back and has started to occur in games I've never had a problem with since using ThrottleStop, mainly Rocket League and League of Legends. I've always used the same setting on for ThrottleStop, which I copied from a youtube video on how to use it. Since I now have thermal throttling again, I figured it's time to re-adjust my settings to the ones that best support my laptop. I stumbled upon this website and forum and figured I'd ask for help from people who know more than me about underclocking.

So, if you have any tips for what settings are most important when it comes to getting different outcomes and are educated on this matter or have the same machine as me and have solved your problem, I would really appreciate any help you could offer.

These are the settings I've had on my ThrottleStop:
















The only thing I've changed in these settings is the Speed Shift - EPP, this is because I saw another post on this forum where the owner had replied and told the person to change it to 84. With this setting changed, I also ran a CINEBENCH test and got the score you can see in the last picture, although I don't know if it's any good or bad. (Limit Reasons was cleared prior to the benchmark test and what it shows is what occurred during the test, I don't know any of the meanings in there)

Thank you in advance for sharing anything you think might help, meanwhile I'll start trying to change some settings and see if I get different results on CINEBENCH.

Thank you for your time,

Mihail


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## unclewebb (Jan 12, 2021)

ZyX3R said:


> Since I now have thermal throttling again, I figured it's time to re-adjust my settings


I think you are looking at this problem wrong. If your settings have worked great for a long time and now they don't, something has changed. Your undervolt is still working so the most likely cause of your higher temps and thermal throttling is your laptop is dirty. It needs to be cleaned out inside. The thermal paste might need to be replaced. This is basic maintenance that needs to be done to any laptop, especially gaming laptops. Have you ever had your laptop apart before for cleaning?

Your screenshot shows 3 cores at 95°C to 96°C. This triggers thermal throttling. You will never get maximum performance or smooth performance when your CPU is overheating like this.

Start by using this new version of ThrottleStop.








						ThrottleStop 9.2.9
					

ThrottleStop 9.2.9 https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-throttlestop/  New Features - added 10850K / 10900K support including a new Turbo Group access window. - updated the TS Bench and the C State window for the 10 core CPUs. - enabled Limit Reasons support for Comet Lake CPUs. -...




					www.techpowerup.com
				




Do some testing with Cinebench R20. I prefer this version because I can quickly spot an appropriate score and it takes less time to run each test.








						MAXON Cinebench (R20.0) Download
					

CINEBENCH is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer's performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON's award-winn




					www.techpowerup.com
				




Leave your cache voltage as is and start bumping up only the core offset voltage in steps of -25 mV. Many users can run reliably with the core at -200 mV or so. This can help a little bit with temps. Stop increasing the core offset when your Cinebench results stop improving. 

If your CPU is still getting up to the 95°C thermal throttling temperature then I would suggest reducing the turbo ratio limits. This will slow your CPU down but you might get more consistent performance if you can keep a few degrees under the throttling temperature. Best thing you can do is a thorough cleaning. Fix the real problem.


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## ZyX3R (Jan 18, 2021)

Hi, 

I tried what you told me and cleaned my laptop. I got a good amount of dust out of there and also reapplied thermal paste. I think my temps have improved a little bit, however, I'm getting more throttling somehow. I tried bumping up my core voltage and I only got worse results after -125 and -150, so I returned to the original settings that I had for around a year, but I still got a lot of throttling while playing games. I think I might need to try lowering the turbo settings.

What should I lower and by how much?

Thank you for your help,

Mihail


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## unclewebb (Jan 18, 2021)

@ZyX3R - What type of thermal paste did you use? When testing, turn on the Log File option in ThrottleStop. The log file will show what speed your CPU is running at and whether there is any throttling going on. Going play a game for at least 15 minutes. Make sure your computer does some throttling so the log file includes that data. When finished testing, exit the game and then exit ThrottleStop so it can finalize your log file. The log file will be in your ThrottleStop / Logs folder. Attach it to your next post or copy and paste the data to www.pastebin.com

What are your scores in Cinebench R20? Use R20 that I posted, not R23. You can also run a log file while running this benchmark.


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## ZyX3R (Jan 18, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> @ZyX3R - What type of thermal paste did you use? When testing, turn on the Log File option in ThrottleStop. The log file will show what speed your CPU is running at and whether there is any throttling going on. Going play a game for at least 15 minutes. Make sure your computer does some throttling so the log file includes that data. When finished testing, exit the game and then exit ThrottleStop so it can finalize your log file. The log file will be in your ThrottleStop / Logs folder. Attach it to your next post or copy and paste the data to www.pastebin.com
> 
> What are your scores in Cinebench R20? Use R20 that I posted, not R23. You can also run a log file while running this benchmark.


I think the name for the thermal paste is HSPA01I, I found a pic on google of it and it looked exactly like the one I have, so I think it might be that one. 

I just played around about 40 minutes of CSGO workshop maps and, to my surprise, I don't think I experienced any thermal throttling except for a few tiny ones of maybe 2 seconds. Here is the LOG file from the time I played, but FYI I started recording the log about 20-30 minutes before launching the game (I think you should probably notice it).

Thank you for still replying and trying to help me with my problem.

Best,

Mihail


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## unclewebb (Jan 18, 2021)

ZyX3R said:


> Here is the LOG file


I cannot see any links to a log file or an attached log file.


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## ZyX3R (Jan 18, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> I cannot see any links to a log file or an attached log file.


My bad, I forgot to attach it. Here it is:


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## unclewebb (Jan 18, 2021)

Your log file is showing constant TEMP and VRTEMP throttling alerts. Your CPU is running too hot and your voltage regulators are also overheating. You have to do whatever you can to avoid seeing VRTEMP in the log file. This kind of throttling is brutal and will kill FPS. You will never see consistent and smooth results when this kind of throttling is kicking in.

I am not familiar with that thermal paste you used. It is either not great for your laptop, or you did a bad job installing it or your laptop is simply poorly designed. The best thermal paste in the world might not fix a poorly engineered laptop.

If you cannot find a way to improve your CPU temperatures, I would suggest using ThrottleStop to slow your CPU down so it creates less heat. Your 45W CPU is only running at 20W but is constantly running at 95°C, overheating and thermal throttling. Not a good sign.


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## ZyX3R (Jan 18, 2021)

Temps around 90-95C have been normal for me ever since I got this laptop, and the model itself is notorious for its bad temps and throttling. Everything was under control until a couple of weeks ago.

What settings should I change to slow my CPU down?


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## unclewebb (Jan 19, 2021)

You can go into the FIVR window and lower your turbo ratio limits to about 32. See if that helps.


ZyX3R said:


> 90-95C have been normal for me ever since I got this laptop


It is possible that these temps have degraded your voltage regulators. Some laptops have no heatsink or airflow going towards the voltage regulators. That is the biggest problem. Throttling due to the voltage regulators overheating drops performance significantly. Normal thermal throttling because the CPU gets too hot will barely be noticed compared to voltage regulator throttling.

Next time you buy a laptop, if it has a CPU with a 45W TDP rating and it starts to thermal throttle at 15W, return it immediately for a full refund.


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