# i7-6700HQ and ThrottleStop max undervolt



## dstw82x (Mar 11, 2022)

Hello everyone!

I've a HP Pavilion 15 with an i7-6700HQ, GTX 950M GDDR5 and 8GB RAM DDR4.
I've been using this laptop by years and to be sincere, I never had any big issue with it. By some years I'm using it with the cpu undervolted to -160.2 mV and the laptop runs fine, no bluescreen or freeze.
When I play some games, also for some hours, my CPU max temp is like 60-65, and reach 70-75 in summer. The GPU is like the same in terms of temps ( a little cooler compared to the CPU) and has a small overclock of +135MHz on the Core Clock and +136MHz on the Memory Clock.

I clean the laptop fans ( has 2 fans ) and heatsink  at least a couple of times a year to remove the dust, and I also change the thermal paste on both CPU and GPU die at least once a year, with a thermal paste that has a conduct rate that should be like 10k/mv.

Anyway, I think that the temps I'm getting and the overall performance are good, especially for a laptop, but yesterday I thought that maybe I can push a little more on the undervolt, to be able to have less heat and so also less fan noise, especially fan noise.

So I'm using ThrottleStop 9.4.3 with an undervolt of -160.2mV on CPU Core and CPU Cache and I removed the tick from the SpeedStep and instead have the tick on Speed Shift - EPP 128 SST. I also have Turbo disabled.

So what software should I use to test if my pc is stable at a higher undervolt? I'm asking what software, because I remember in the past I used like XTU and the pc was fine, no crash, nothing, but when I started playing a game, the pc freeze and had to restart ( I was testing some random undervolt numbers on ThrottleStop), so I basically based my "Stress Test" on a online game that I used and still play, but the problem is that I can not start to test with small increments by opening and closing the game, with penalties and so on if my pc crash and I basically quit =/.

Thank you in advance!


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## unclewebb (Mar 11, 2022)

dstw82x said:


> the cpu undervolted to -160.2 mV


If you are already at -160 mV, there is no real reason to try and go any further. Your temperatures are already fantastic. Risking stability to try and shave another 1°C off of your core temperatures is pointless. At -160 mV, your offset voltage is already beyond where almost every other laptop user has stopped.



dstw82x said:


> Speed Shift - EPP 128


Make sure the Speed Shift box in the TPL window is checked. Speed Shift Technology was new for 6th Gen CPUs. A lot of older laptops do not have an option in the BIOS to enable Speed Shift. Using ThrottleStop to enable this is easy. 

An EPP setting of 128 can reduce maximum performance. If performance is important to you, I would not set EPP any higher than 84. You can click on the 128 EPP number on the main screen of ThrottleStop to edit it. Setting EPP to 0 tells the CPU to run at maximum speed regardless of load. When you are plugged in, this is not that bad of a thing to do. You do not have any thermal issues like many users have with their newer overheating laptops.



dstw82x said:


> SpeedStep


I prefer to leave SpeedStep enabled in the BIOS and in ThrottleStop. This might not matter after you are in Windows but leaving SpeedStep enabled in the BIOS might help speed up boot times a little. This can help the CPU run at full speed before Speed Shift is enabled.

The built in TS Bench is a good basic stability test. Do both 4 Thread and 8 Thread tests. I like the 960M test. If this test reports any errors, even one, you have probably gone too far with your offset voltage.

Playing a game is a great real world stress test. Hopefully you can find a game where you do not get in trouble if your computer crashes. Many games need slightly more voltage to be 100% stable compared to some of the stress tests. Enabling Speed Shift can also require that you increase the CPU voltage slightly to remain 100% stable.

Prime95 is a good stress test but a little overkill for most laptops. You can turn off AVX instructions if you want to keep the heat down. Even a few minutes of Prime95 testing can help uncover any errors. For most laptops, I would not recommend any long term Prime95 testing. The amount of heat and power consumption can be ridiculous, especially if the AVX instructions are enabled. To avoid excessive heat, you can set Prime95 to 4 or a 2 thread test. Some Prime95 testing to warm the cores is better than nothing.


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## dstw82x (Mar 11, 2022)

unclewebb said:


> If you are already at -160 mV, there is no real reason to try and go any further. Your temperatures are already fantastic. Risking stability to try and shave another 1°C off of your core temperatures is pointless. At -160 mV, your offset voltage is already beyond where almost every other laptop user has stopped.
> 
> 
> Make sure the Speed Shift box in the TPL window is checked. Speed Shift Technology was new for 6th Gen CPUs. A lot of older laptops do not have an option in the BIOS to enable Speed Shift. Using ThrottleStop to enable this is easy.
> ...


Thank you for the answer!

So I gave a look in the TPL window, and there I do not have the box checked, so now I've checked the box as you said. What it does compared to the other Speed Shift Box that I've checked in the main window, I mean with both of them checked?

I have also enabled the Speed Step as you said, but this mean that also if I enable both of them (Speed Shift and Speed Step) the priority is over Speed Shift when I am in Windows?

Anyway yes, I think I have a lucky chip or something, because I'm able to go and be stable at -160.2mV with some really nice temps, not complaining at all, but maybe I'll give a try with TS Bench to see just for curiosity if I'm able to push it a little more and then do a stress test with the game.


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## unclewebb (Mar 11, 2022)

Here is what errors look like in the TS Bench test.






It only took 2.6 seconds for me to find out that my offset voltage is not 100% stable. The good thing about this test is it usually starts reporting errors before the errors are so serious that the computer crashes. Do not ignore these errors if you have any.

When Speed Shift and SpeedStep are both enabled, Speed Shift will take priority and SpeedStep will be ignored. The box on the main screen controls the Speed Shift EPP values. The Speed Shift box in the TPL window controls whether Speed Shift is enabled. Checking the Speed Shift box in the TPL window also sends the Speed Shift Min and Max values to the CPU.



dstw82x said:


> I have a lucky chip or something


I do not know if you were lucky or if Intel just set the default voltage way too high. Your CPU does not need all of this extra voltage. It is usually not possible to undervolt newer Intel CPUs that much. I guess that means Intel is getting better at setting the default CPU voltage values.



dstw82x said:


> I also have Turbo disabled.


Why would you do that? No wonder your CPU runs so cool.


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## dstw82x (Mar 11, 2022)

unclewebb said:


> Here is what errors look like in the TS Bench test.
> 
> View attachment 239486
> 
> ...


Oh okay, thank you for the info, I'll definitely use TS Bench to test it.

I have Turbo Boost Disabled because during normal task with it disabled I see no difference in speed and also in games, with it enabled or disabled, I don't see an increase in FPS, because GPU is the one being more utilized, what I see instead, and is immediate a little higher temperature and the fans going faster.
So with Turbo Boost disabled I've cooler temperatures and also lower fan speed=less noise.

Anyway, I'm not saying that Turbo Boost is useless, but for what I do I think I can disable it and I'm fine.


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## unclewebb (Mar 11, 2022)

dstw82x said:


> with Turbo Boost disabled I've cooler temperatures and also lower fan speed


Most laptop owners prefer cool and quiet. 

Instead of using Disable Turbo, you can try changing the Speed Shift Max value. This will let you easily set the maximum speed of your CPU.


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## dstw82x (Mar 11, 2022)

unclewebb said:


> Most laptop owners prefer cool and quiet.
> 
> Instead of using Disable Turbo, you can try changing the Speed Shift Max value. This will let you easily set the maximum speed of your CPU.


Yes, that's a good idea. Instead of using 4 cores at 2.5Ghz maybe by changing the Speed Shift Max value I can get a slight over clock with no increase in especially fan noise. I'll give it a try. 
With the Speed Shift Max value you mean the one in the TPL tab right? Now there's a 35, so I think that this mean 3.5Ghz, that can be achieved only in single core, 4 cores are at 3.1Ghz, so with a 31 I'll still reach 4 cores at 3.1Ghz and the max Single Core Speed will be 3.1Ghz right?


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## unclewebb (Mar 11, 2022)

dstw82x said:


> I can get a slight over clock


Not really an overclock. More like less of an underclock. It is normal for Intel CPUs to use turbo boost all of the time. 

Setting Speed Shift Max in the TPL window to 31 will reduce the maximum CPU speed to 3100 MHz whether 1, 2, 3 or all 4 cores are active. This setting caps the maximum. This is useful in some situations. It allows you to reduce the amount of turbo boost to control heat without having to completely disable turbo boost.


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