# Throttlestop EDP Other; Pl1; Pl2 Limits, Yellow and Red any advice is welcome.



## Joaozinho (Oct 23, 2020)

Hello everyone, I hope this post finds you well and safe.

I first installed Throttlestop last year, because when I was playing games, older and recent, my computer would choke each 15seconds. I read many posts and saw many videos, directed to other people's problems that might work with my case (undervolting and so) and, in the end, this software was amazing, to say the least, since it removed the fps suddent drops and the choke effect.

However, I'm looking for a more concrete advice. I would like to maximize the performance of my laptop as much as it allows me. I have a HP Pavilion 14, with an Intel i5-8250U, integrated graphics and an Nvidia 940MX. I do know this is not a gaming laptop but any improvement would be welcome.

On stand by I get yellow limits (I would guess from my own configurations), but when doing TSbenches, it quickly becomes red for long periods. How can I fix this?

Ps: Temperatures are, currently, not a concern since I renewed the Thermal Paste (NT-H2), removed the back cover of the laptop and put it on top of a cooling pad (it sounds as my computer will take flight at any moment, receiving multiple complaints from my loved one). I've previously removed completely the Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework before installing Throttlestop because it was throttling the computer on it's own. I also have no HP drivers, because they don't update them since 2018.

Bellow I attach my settings in TS.

Thank you so much for reading, kind regards.


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## rethcirE (Oct 23, 2020)

A good thread to start at - https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/throttling-on-intel-i5-8250u.266531/page-2

The 8550U and 8250U are similar enough you can make similar settings changes. It comes down to if the laptop you have is restricted internal to power limits set by BIOS/EC.


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## Joaozinho (Oct 23, 2020)

rethcirE said:


> A good thread to start at - https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/throttling-on-intel-i5-8250u.266531/page-2
> 
> The 8550U and 8250U are similar enough you can make similar settings changes. It comes down to if the laptop you have is restricted internal to power limits set by BIOS/EC.



Thank you so much for the quick and helpful reply. 

So if I understand correctly, the POWER is throttling because my 8th Gen i5-8250U is capped at 15W TDP. And there is nothing I can do about it. Is there any other settings I can/should change in Throttlestop to improve performance in general? 
Unfortunately BIOS from HP don't allow me to change anything except boot priority and FN keys lol 

Thanks


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## rethcirE (Oct 23, 2020)

If you uncheck 'Clamp' in TPL, enter a higher value than 15/30 (maybe 30/45), Apply the settings and they immediately revert back to defaults it may be that your laptop is locked.

If the settings are obtained, and take effect, you can likely avoid the limit reason. Try changing the values and see what happens.

Intel Extreme Tuning Utility and/or QuickCPU are two other programs I have had success with; but recommend only if ThrottleStop is unsuccessful.


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## Joaozinho (Oct 23, 2020)

rethcirE said:


> If you uncheck 'Clamp' in TPL, enter a higher value than 15/30 (maybe 30/45), Apply the settings and they immediately revert back to defaults it may be that your laptop is locked.
> 
> If the settings are obtained, and take effect, you can likely avoid the limit reason. Try changing the values and see what happens.
> 
> Intel Extreme Tuning Utility and/or QuickCPU are two other programs I have had success with; but recommend only if ThrottleStop is unsuccessful.



Hi @rethcirE, I did what you advised and used 30 in both settings and unchecked Clamp. The settings did not return to the default, but when I run the DTSBench I still get flashing red EDP OTHER under Ring, PL2 on Core and one quick flash on PL1 both on Core and GPU.

Thanks in advance


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## unclewebb (Oct 23, 2020)

@Joaozinho - Also check the Disable and Lock Turbo Power Limits box in the FIVR window. This can help some laptops get beyond the 15W limitation.

If the long and short turbo power limits are both set to 30W and the Disable and Lock box is checked and you are still being limited to 15W during a stress test then you are out of luck. HP is known to lock down a lot of their laptops with low power U series CPUs to 15W. 

Some manufacturers do not force this limitation. When that is the case, 8th Gen U CPUs can run a whole lot better.



http://imgur.com/eo0J744


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## Joaozinho (Oct 23, 2020)

unclewebb said:


> @Joaozinho - Also check the Disable and Lock Turbo Power Limits box in the FIVR window. This can help some laptops get beyond the 15W limitation.
> 
> If the long and short turbo power limits are both set to 30W and the Disable and Lock box is checked and you are still being limited to 15W during a stress test then you are out of luck. HP is known to lock down a lot of their laptops with low power U series CPUs to 15W.
> 
> ...



Thank you for taking the time to write 

So I made the recomended changes and here are the results of the new test.

To be honest, Throttlestop saved my gaming adventures so much that I will keep this software forever in all computers where I lay my hands on  But it has so much settings that I feel a bit overwhelmed in figuring out which are the best ones. And how to push the laptop a bit further without exploding my house. However I'm always trying to tweak it further, it's an OCD thing, that will probably end with the death of the laptop 

Btw, I set the offsetvoltage in, what I think is a bit conservative, but very stable -85.0 mv in CPU core; CPU cache; Intel GPU and iGPU unslice altogether. Haven't tried further, but maybe would be ok to?

Thanks again, both of you for taking the time and bear the noob.


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## unclewebb (Oct 24, 2020)

Joaozinho said:


> it has so much settings


ThrottleStop has lots of settings but you do not have to use them all. Only use what you need. A few minor changes can make a big difference.

I highly recommend that you download ThrottleStop 9.2 from TechPowerUp. To upgrade, exit ThrottleStop and copy the new ThrottleStop.exe files into your ThrottleStop folder. 

Your main screenshot shows that you have Speed Shift EPP checked and this is set to 0. On most newer computers, Speed Shift is automatically enabled by the BIOS. The problem is that your computer did not enable Speed Shift. To enable Speed Shift, open the TPL window and check this option. Press Apply. Now you can adjust the Speed Shift MIn value to 1 and you can set Speed Shift Max to 34. These two variables can be used to control your CPU speed.

Once Speed Shift Technology is enabled, you should see the letters *SST* in green on the main screen. The Speed Shift EPP variable on the main screen controls how quickly your CPU goes from idle to full speed. You can edit this value. An EPP setting of 0 tells the CPU to use maximum CPU speed all of the time. An EPP setting of 80 or 84 is a good compromise if you like to see your CPU to slow down when lightly loaded.

Your cooling looks great. No worries operating your CPU at higher power levels. Long term, HP might still force your CPU to throttle so it does not exceed 15W.


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## Joaozinho (Oct 24, 2020)

unclewebb said:


> ThrottleStop has lots of settings but you do not have to use them all. Only use what you need. A few minor changes can make a big difference.
> 
> I highly recommend that you download ThrottleStop 9.2 from TechPowerUp. To upgrade, exit ThrottleStop and copy the new ThrottleStop.exe files into your ThrottleStop folder.
> 
> ...



Thank you  Great help!

Upgraded and changed the setting 

Btw, I might buy a new laptop on Christmas, can you advise me on a brand that allows more freedom to experiment with such settings? I feel heavily throttled myself using HP (0 BIOS settings) 

Thanks again and kind regards.


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## Taiki70 (Nov 24, 2020)

Hello everyone.
i am new to this undervolting cpu, only tried it a few day ago.
i ran into this PL2 flashing red when i run a game.. but when the game pause the flashing stops. n when i check my log file i see my Nvidia (1660Ti) goes up to 1860MHz( sometime 1875 n 1890 ) n that's when i got the PL2 flashing red. everytime i pause the game it went down to 360MHz n that's when the flashing stop.
i've been trying to change the the power limit in TPL setting but it didnt do anything.. i dont know what to do so i set the value in TPL to its default.
i also try changing gpu value but that didnt do anything to the PL2 flashing.
it never turns red when i dont play game or when the game is pause or when i disable turbo


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## unclewebb (Nov 24, 2020)

@Taiki70 - Some laptops lower the power available for the CPU whenever the Nvidia GPU is active. When you start playing a game, your 45W 9750H CPU is limited to only 20W. This causes constant power limit throttling so your CPU runs much slower than it should when gaming. 

If I bought a laptop with that feature I would return it and tell the store that they can keep it. This feature is built into your laptop. There might not be any way to turn it off. 

If you are using some software that has a cool and quiet fan mode, do not use that. Some of these control programs will lower your turbo power limit. That is how they run cool.


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## Taiki70 (Nov 25, 2020)

unclewebb said:


> @Taiki70 - Some laptops lower the power available for the CPU whenever the Nvidia GPU is active. When you start playing a game, your 45W 9750H CPU is limited to only 20W. This causes constant power limit throttling so your CPU runs much slower than it should when gaming.
> 
> If I bought a laptop with that feature I would return it and tell the store that they can keep it. This feature is built into your laptop. There might not be any way to turn it off.
> 
> If you are using some software that has a cool and quiet fan mode, do not use that. Some of these control programs will lower your turbo power limit. That is how they run cool.



so today after shutting it off for some hours i dont get that PL2 anymore when i play the same game. now it runs between 25W to 31W with the game running in the background.
Maybe the "disable and lock power limits" works now? i shut down my pc a few time when testing with this setting yesterday but it didnt do anything. so i have no idea why it stops throttle PL2 now


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## unclewebb (Nov 25, 2020)

Taiki70 said:


> i have no idea why it stops throttle PL2 now


A computer will set the power limits when you first boot up. When you sleep - resume, they might accidentally use a different power limit. Maybe higher, maybe lower. The Disable and Lock option helps some computers.


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## Taiki70 (Nov 25, 2020)

I still not quiet understand how it work, but m glad that it works.
thank for the helps


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## TAUN VIVALDO (Dec 9, 2020)

I have find a pretty good solution for that kind of problem, you have to use XTU and throttlestop simultaneously, and config PL1 & PL2 levels to 25W, then in throttlestop enter the FIVR option and config the turbo ratio limits to 30 -32 for (1 and 2 cores active) and 26-29 for (3 and 4 cores active), then monitoring your cpu frenquency when gaming. And if the powerlimit throttling comes in again, go to XTU again and set the 25W PL2 (turbo short) 0.25 W up.
That way you going to have a very decent performance, or at least it worked for me,i have the same procesor and a GTX 1050 (4GB), i can run almost all games of 2015 below in high settings with an average fps of 50 in 768p, with no huge framedrops.
As an example before i knew that i was playing Ffar Cry 3 in 720p in low-mid settings and i was getting an average fps of 42 (my cpu clockspeed locks to 1.4 GHz), now i play itin 768p with mid-high settings with an average fps of 60, (now my clockspeed is 2.7GHz constantly) and i have no thermal issues, my average temps are 74° c to 80° c when doing heavy gamming.


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## unclewebb (Dec 9, 2020)

TAUN VIVALDO said:


> you have to use XTU and throttlestop simultaneously


You should never need to use Intel XTU. 

I think that @Taiki70 was able to solve his problem by checking the ThrottleStop - FIVR - Disable and Lock Turbo Power Limits option.


Taiki70 said:


> glad that it works.


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