# i7-10875H weird throttling?



## ok-nick (May 5, 2021)

Yesterday I was benchmarking my new laptop and there seem to be some weird throttling issues. It's barely able to reach above 70C limiting the cpu clock speed to <=3ghz (although I've seen it initially reach near 85C at the beginning of a benchmark then go straight back to 70C). And the highest clock speed I've ever seen was 4.6ghz (outside of benchmarking) where it never reached any further.

I've messed with a few settings (speed shift maxed, turbo power limits, disabling thermal velocity boost, disable and lock turbo power limits) although it didn't seem to change much, maybe I'm just doing something wrong. Undervolting is also locked on this laptop.

All of these benchmarks are done on default ThrottleStop settings.
The `1` file is from yesterday on 16 threads.
The `2` file is from yesterday on 8 threads.
The `3` file is from today on 16 threads.

I've just found a thread that has the exact same issue, Razer Blade 15 Advanced i7-9750H --- Throttling when power max's revert to 45w | TechPowerUp Forums, it seems Razer throttles the cpu and in my case, the temps being throttled to <=70C and clock speed to <=3ghz.


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## unclewebb (May 5, 2021)

In the log file I see TVB throttling. Clear the FIVR - Thermal Velocity Boost box if you do not want TVB throttling. This one lowers the CPU speed by 100 MHz when the CPU is over approximately 70°C. Most laptops spend most of their time when loaded above this temperature so TVB throttling is kind of useless.

Can you post some pictures of how you have ThrottleStop setup? 

Your log file mostly shows PL1 which is power limit throttling and this happens at 55W. Either the PL1 limit is set to 55W in ThrottleStop or the manufacturer has set a hard limit of 55W. This happens. What laptop model do you have? During your first log file it shows that 55W is good for about 3100 MHz. That is kind of sad. You only get to run it at ~60% of its full rated speed. 

Without voltage control, there is no way to reduce power consumption so power limit throttling is common.

Check the FIVR Disable and Lock Turbo Power Limits box. That helps some laptops but not all. In the TPL window try increasing PL1 and PL2 to 70W and 90W. This might help or it might not make any difference. 

Manufacturers are good at packing in some high performance hardware but it might be useless if the long term power limit is locked to 55W. 



ok-nick said:


> And the highest clock speed I've ever seen was 4.6ghz


That sounds about right. It is way below specification but quite typical. Try running a TS Bench - 1 Thread test and see what ThrottleStop reports. The 1 core active multiplier is used for such a short duration of time (milliseconds), that it is rarely seen. The background tasks have to be held to a bare minimum and even then, you will probably not see the full multiplier in any 1 thread test.


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## ok-nick (May 5, 2021)

This first file is a 16 thread benchmark after I've changed the settings (from default) to what you've suggested.

This is my laptop specs:
At a Glance: Razer Blade 15" Advanced (2020) | RZ09-0330x

These are the settings after your suggestions have been applied:


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## unclewebb (May 6, 2021)

Razer locks down many of their laptops. Your laptop is locked to 55W and there is nothing you can do to go beyond that limit.


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## ok-nick (May 6, 2021)

Wow, that's pretty crazy considering I was given this as a replacement for my older razer laptop.. I guess the one with worse specs ends up performing better.


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## unclewebb (May 6, 2021)

ok-nick said:


> worse specs


Advertised specs are meaningless. Unless you can do some hands on testing, you will never know about hidden power limits and locked voltage control. 

The 10875H has a 45W TDP rating.









						Product Specifications
					

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




					ark.intel.com
				




Some manufacturers lock their laptops to 45W. In other words, it could be worse. Next time you buy a laptop, remember to do lots of testing or read lots of forums. Most review sites never mention these limitations. They seem to talk around the issues so their supply of laptops to test is not cut off.


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