# i9-9900k won't go above 3.6GHz while gaming



## Precision_03 (Jan 2, 2021)

Hello!

I recently built a new gaming PC with an i9-9900k and a gigabyte z390 aorus pro wifi. For a solid month, I had no problems and my CPU would stay at 4.7GHz while gaming with temps around 65C. A few days ago I noticed a major FPS drop. I normally get around a stable 200 FPS in Call of Duty Cold War. I started getting around 140 FPS and noticed my CPU was stuck at 3.6GHz. When I boot up my computer, the CPU is fine but as soon as I load a game the screen dims and the CPU stays at 3.6GHz. I tried overclocking my CPU to stay at 5GHz, but once I load any game it drops to 3.6GHz. I played around with the BIOS and had no luck. I tried intel XTU and it said I was power limit throttling while in-game. All the solutions I found to this only work on laptops. I did a clean install of windows, and it worked for a little bit, but whenever I would open the bios to enable XMP again, it would revert to the original problem. Even if I would then turn off XMP again the same thing happens. I am at a loss of what is wrong. Any help would be greatly appreciated! If pictures or videos are needed I can get some. Thank you!

Full Specs:

CPU: Intel Core i9-9900k

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM SE

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO WIFI ATX LGA1151

RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory

GPU: RTX 3070 MSI Gaming x Trio

Power Supply: Gigabyte P750GM 750 Watt 80 Plus Gold ATX

Fans: 4 of the Corsair LL Series CO-9050091-WW LL120 RGB

Case: Corsair iCUE 465X RGB


----------



## newtekie1 (Jan 2, 2021)

Precision_03 said:


> but as soon as I load a game the screen dims


That sounds like what happens when a computer is running off of a battery. Do you happen to have a UPS?

There is also usually a power limit setting in the BIOS that might be causing the issue.

Of course it is also a Gigabyte motherboard and Gigabyte power supply, which are low quality. So either could be causing a power issue.


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 2, 2021)

Are you using any Gigabyte software that has some sort of cool and quiet setting. Some manufacturer software can lower the turbo power limits significantly which will result in constant power limit throttling and your CPU will be left running at its default base frequency which is 3.60 GHz.









						Product Specifications
					

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




					ark.intel.com
				




ThrottleStop has a couple of options so you can try and lock the power limits to prevent this from happening. In the FIVR window, check the Disable and Lock Turbo Power Limits box. In the TPL window, set the turbo power limits sky high and use the Lock option so no other software can make changes. My Asus board defaults to 4095 for both power limits. This is of course completely unobtainable so no more power limit throttling to worry about. Use the latest version of ThrottleStop. Intel XTU does not give you access to the Lock variable.









						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
				









Turn on the Log File option while gaming. This will show any reasons for throttling in the log file. Attach a log to your next post after gaming for at least 10 or 15 minutes.


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 2, 2021)

Is there a way I can change the power limit setting is the BIOS? What doesn't make sense is it worked for a while then just randomly occurred. Then when I reset windows to worked until I reentered the BIOS again.

When I used Intel Extreme and saw the power limit throttling I put the limit to unlimited and then it worked until I start up another game or restart the one I was in. This only occurs when I play games like COD or CS:GO but when I play Rainbow 6 all is good. 

I'm not using any Gigabyte software that has some sort of cool and quiet setting. I'll try using throttle stop again. When I used it before the same thing that occurred in intel extreme happened, it worked until I closed the game. Do I need to redo the throttle stope setting each time I shut down my computer and reboot?


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 2, 2021)

If some software on your computer is changing the power limits then yes, you need to run ThrottleStop each time you start your computer to Lock the turbo power limits so no other software will change these. It is easy enough to add ThrottleStop to your Windows startup sequence.






						TechnologyGuide
					

Thank you for visiting the TechnologyGuide network. Unfortunately, these forums are no longer active. We extend a heartfelt thank you to the entire community for their steadfast support—it is really you, our readers, that drove




					forum.notebookreview.com
				




Do some proper testing first. Post pictures of how you have ThrottleStop setup and run a log file while gaming.

Edit - Your BIOS might have a bug when enabling XMP. Something is setting your turbo power limits too low.


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 2, 2021)

Thank you I will try this next time I game! Do you think getting a higher-end board would solve this?


----------



## nuggdoctor (Jan 2, 2021)

Check your thermal paste. Intel cpu's will auto downclock to cool down if they get too hot. the 9900k is hot anyway and if youre running a solid 4.7 all core overclock then its going to get VERY hot VERY fast. Have you noticed any difference in your systems fan speeds during these drops? if you got robbed in the silicon lottery, you may be forced to delid.


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 2, 2021)

Precision_03 said:


> Do you think getting a higher-end board would solve this?


Solve what? You have not done any testing yet so I do not know what the problem is.

Your board looks decent enough. It is not unusual for the BIOS to have a bug or two. That is why manufacturers release updates. Someone must have screwed up the last update.

I believe that you can completely solve this problem by using ThrottleStop. No need to buy a new board.



nuggdoctor said:


> Intel cpu's will auto downclock to cool down if they get too hot.


His CPU is not thermal throttling. It is power limit throttling. Intel Turbo Boost is being disabled because of this. It is a common problem recently.


----------



## nuggdoctor (Jan 2, 2021)

I couldnt get over 4.8ghz stable on my 8700k overclock with stock. so i delidded and run at 5.1ghz at 1.365 volts. but the problem is warzone is demanding in a different way. idk why but to keep it from crashing over extended gaming/stream sessions ive had to drop to 4.9 all cores just on that game though. everything else like gta 5, paladins, lol, smite, gears of war etc all play perfect at the 5.1 its strange.



unclewebb said:


> Solve what? You have not done any testing yet so I do not know what the problem is.
> 
> Your board looks decent enough. It is not unusual for the BIOS to have a bug or two. That is why manufacturers release updates. Someone must have screwed up the last update.
> 
> ...


so they basically want everyone to overclock and use custom bios profile just to keep constant voltages? thats messed up.


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 3, 2021)

The thing is I had it at 5GHz and I ran a bunch of stress tests and it passed all of them. Even when I have it at 4.7GHz it decided to lock at 3.6GHz. It's weird tho because the screen dims and the visual quality gets worse right before it goes to 3.6GHz. I got it to work and run normally but as soon as I entered the bios and rebooted the problem occurred again.


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 3, 2021)

Precision_03 said:


> as soon as I entered the bios and rebooted the problem occurred again





unclewebb said:


> It is not unusual for the BIOS to have a bug or two.


Let me know when you have time to troubleshoot and solve this problem. Talking about this over and over again on multiple forums will not solve anything.


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 3, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> Let me know when you have time to troubleshoot and solve this problem. Talking about this over and over again on multiple forums will not solve anything.


I'm going to try Throttle Stop when I game next and I'll report back with the results. Thank you so much for all the help!


----------



## nuggdoctor (Jan 3, 2021)

Precision_03 said:


> The thing is I had it at 5GHz and I ran a bunch of stress tests and it passed all of them. Even when I have it at 4.7GHz it decided to lock at 3.6GHz. It's weird tho because the screen dims and the visual quality gets worse right before it goes to 3.6GHz. I got it to work and run normally but as soon as I entered the bios and rebooted the problem occurred again.


Thats strange. but i had a similar issue when doing my overclock on my 8700k. I cant set it at 5.0ghz no matter what voltage. it just wont get stable there. but 5.1 is 100% stable. the silicon lottery is real lmao


----------



## FreedomEclipse (Jan 3, 2021)

nuggdoctor said:


> Thats strange. but i had a similar issue when doing my overclock on my 8700k. I cant set it at 5.0ghz no matter what voltage. it just wont get stable there. but 5.1 is 100% stable. the silicon lottery is real lmao



Yeah but the difference is, youre trying to OVERCLOCK your processor. He isnt and his i9 wont turbo to the speed it should do.


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 3, 2021)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Yeah but the difference is, youre trying to OVERCLOCK your processor. He isnt and his i9 wont turbo to the speed it should do.


Yeah, I don't really care about overclocking, I just want mine to turbo. I'll update everyone once I run some more tests. Thanks!


----------



## Caring1 (Jan 3, 2021)

Just a thought, what power plan are you using in Windows settings?


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 3, 2021)

Caring1 said:


> Just a thought, what power plan are you using in Windows settings?


I have ultimate with the processor power management at 100% I tried balanced but didn't see a difference.


----------



## nuggdoctor (Jan 3, 2021)

It may be an issue with the chip itself. The reason i bring up the overclocking is because when you overclock you turn the boost settings and stuff off. and you run a custom memory profile and also change the voltages which might be whats needed to get his cpu to run optimally. I had to with my 8700k. thats why i started overclocking it to begin with.

are you changing your settings in your bios? or through the intel tuner or some other software?


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 3, 2021)

nuggdoctor said:


> It may be an issue with the chip itself. The reason i bring up the overclocking is because when you overclock you turn the boost settings and stuff off. and you run a custom memory profile and also change the voltages which might be whats needed to get his cpu to run optimally. I had to with my 8700k. thats why i started overclocking it to begin with.


I did the same thing. I tried overclocking to solve the problem. I followed this video 







 and I got a stable overclock but when I try and play a game it would still go back to 3.6GHz


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 3, 2021)

That is a useless guide. At 8:14 he goes from talking about the turbo ratios and then jumps right over setting the turbo power limits. The step he left out is the most important part.

You can see that the Package Power Limit1 is set to the default value which is 95W. He also left the platform power limit set to 95W. An eight core Intel CPU is going to throttle itself to death when limited to 95W. When overclocking on an Asus board, these power limits are automatically set to 4095W to avoid any power limit throttling. After you fix this problem, run ThrottleStop and it will show you in the TPL window what the BIOS has set these power limits to. 95W is not enough.


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 3, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> Let me know when you have time to troubleshoot and solve this problem. Talking about this over and over again on multiple forums will not solve anything.



So I was able to test out ThrottleStop and got some interesting results. Following your guide you wrote earlier everything workout flawlessly, but the moment I stopped using ThrottleStop everything went back to the way it was. I linked two videos displaying each situation. I also attached photos of my ThrottleStop setup and the activity log it created while I was playing call of duty. Is there a way to make the same changes permanent in the bios so I don't need to use ThrottleStop? Thank you for the help!






						Not working - no ThrottleStop
					

Join the web’s most supportive community of creators and get high-quality tools for hosting, sharing, and streaming videos in gorgeous HD and 4K with no ads.




					vimeo.com
				








						Working with ThrottleStop
					

Join the web’s most supportive community of creators and get high-quality tools for hosting, sharing, and streaming videos in gorgeous HD and 4K with no ads.




					vimeo.com


----------



## Mussels (Jan 3, 2021)

Have you tried updating the BIOS and resetting it to defaults? (of course, re-enable XMP)


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 3, 2021)

Mussels said:


> Have you tried updating the BIOS and resetting it to defaults? (of course, re-enable XMP)


Yeah, once this started happening I updated to the latest BIOS (F12j) and rest everything to default. I cleared my CMOS and still no success.


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 3, 2021)

Precision_03 said:


> Is there a way to make the same changes permanent in the bios


Read my last post. Your turbo power limits need to be set much, much higher in the BIOS. Setting the power limits to the default value of 95W is not enough. Go to 8:14 in the video you posted. Those are the power limits that need to be adjusted.


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 3, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> Read my last post. Your turbo power limits need to be set much, much higher in the BIOS. Setting the power limits to the default value of 95W is not enough. Go to 8:14 in the video you posted. Those are the power limits that need to be adjusted.


I set it like this and still have the problem. Did I do something wrong?


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 3, 2021)

If setting the power limits in the BIOS does not solve your problem then you might have to continue to use ThrottleStop.

If you want to troubleshoot this further, boot up with those power settings in the BIOS and before running ThrottleStop, delete the ThrottleStop.INI configuration file. This file will have your previous settings stored in it. After you delete this file, when you run ThrottleStop, it will read the values that the BIOS set the CPU to. Post a few ThrottleStop screenshots and run another ThrottleStop log file so I can see your CPU running at 3.6 GHz. The last log file you posted looked great with steady 4.8 GHz performance when the CPU was loaded.


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 3, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> If setting the power limits in the BIOS does not solve your problem then you might have to continue to use ThrottleStop.
> 
> If you want to troubleshoot this further, boot up with those power settings in the BIOS and before running ThrottleStop, delete the ThrottleStop.INI configuration file. This file will have your previous settings stored in it. After you delete this file, when you run ThrottleStop, it will read the values that the BIOS set the CPU to. Post a few ThrottleStop screenshots and run another ThrottleStop log file so I can see your CPU running at 3.6 GHz. The last log file you posted looked great with steady 4.8 GHz performance when the CPU was loaded.


I did what you said and had those power setting in my bios. I deleted the ThrottleStop.INI file then loaded ThrottleStop. I hit start and took the screenshots that I attached below. Everything was running smoothly until I restarted my computer to see what would happen. I then opened ThrottleStop but didn't hit start and loaded the game. It stayed at 3.6GHz. I then hit start so It would record in the log. You will be able to see when I restarted my PC in the time stamps of the log. Thanks!


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 3, 2021)

Precision_03 said:


> the log


Your log file shows that after resuming from sleep, you immediately see PL1 and PL2 in the far right column of the log file. This is power limit throttling. Both power limits have been set incorrectly by the BIOS during sleep. Both power limits have likely been set to zero. Someone screwed up. This tells the CPU to completely disable turbo boost so your CPU is left running at the default 36 base multiplier.

Edit - Likely game specific and not the BIOS that is responsible for this.

Using the Lock option in ThrottleStop should prevent this from happening. No other software gives you access to the Lock option.

You can add ThrottleStop to your Windows startup sequence by using the Task Scheduler.





						TechnologyGuide
					

Thank you for visiting the TechnologyGuide network. Unfortunately, these forums are no longer active. We extend a heartfelt thank you to the entire community for their steadfast support—it is really you, our readers, that drove




					forum.notebookreview.com


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 3, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> Your log file shows that after resuming from sleep, you immediately see PL1 and PL2 in the far right column of the log file. This is power limit throttling. Both power limits have been set incorrectly by the BIOS during sleep. Both power limits have likely been set to zero. Someone screwed up. This tells the CPU to completely disable turbo boost so your CPU is left running at the default 36 base multiplier.
> 
> Using the Lock option in ThrottleStop should prevent this from happening. No other software gives you access to the Lock option.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much for all your help!


----------



## Lemuth80 (Jan 3, 2021)

So i do have the same issue with a z490 gigabyte aorus master and 10850k

Exact same thing happening....


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 3, 2021)

Lemuth80 said:


> Exact same thing happening....


Did you try using ThrottleStop to solve your problem? Set the Turbo Power Limits Lock option to prevent your power limits from randomly changing. The latest version of ThrottleStop properly supports the 10850K.









						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
				




I am not yet sure if this is a Gigabyte problem or if this is a problem with some specific games. Here is an interesting conspiracy theory. Imagine if some game company got a big chunk of money from AMD. Come up with a way to slow Intel CPUs down so our AMD processors look better when gaming. When the game is done, go back to full speed. Stranger things than this have been known to happen. All it takes is a single command to write 0 to the power limit register to disable Intel turbo boost.


----------



## Lemuth80 (Jan 3, 2021)

It's nuts for sure.
I have not tried it yet but somehow it's weird 
I can run cinebench with all core 5 ghz at 1.3 volts and no power throttle.
But once i start a game it throttles...

I gonna try it out now


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 3, 2021)

@Lemuth80 - Is it one or two specific games or all games? Other users have reported that it is some specific games. The plot thickens.


----------



## Lemuth80 (Jan 3, 2021)

So far all cs go, warzone , cold war have not tried more

Do you have discord by any chance?


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 3, 2021)

Lemuth80 said:


> So far all cs go, warzone , cold war have not tried more
> 
> Do you have discord by any chance?


I tried the same 3 games and have the problem but for some reason It's perfectly fine when I play Rainbow 6


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 3, 2021)

Lemuth80 said:


> Do you have discord


No I do not. I spend too much time in the forums as is.  

When you are stuck with turbo boost disabled, run CPU-Z, click on the About tab and push the Save Report (.TXT) button. Post that info here or send it to me in a private message. No big secrets in there but it will let me see what the turbo power limits are being set to. I think it is MSR 0x610 that contains both power limits and the turbo time limit.

Do your CPUs go back to full speed when you close these games?


----------



## Lemuth80 (Jan 3, 2021)

So i just used throttle stop and its working great...

There you go

5ghz at start up 
Game 3.6ghz
after game closed 4.8ghz


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 3, 2021)

```
MSR 0x00000610        0x00428000    0x001A8000
```

My guess was right. Both the long and short power limits are set to 0 Watts in your DESKTOP-game file. This disables Intel Turbo Boost and leaves the CPU running at its base frequency. This register is not restored after you exit the game so power limit throttling will continue.

The DESKTOP-before file shows this same register has both power limits set to 4095W.


```
MSR 0x00000610        0x0042FFF8    0x001AFFF8
```

The power limit is in the lower bits. Bit[15] is the enable bit.
In 0xFFF8, the power limit part is 0x7FF8

0x7FF8 = 32760
32760 / 8 = 4095 Watts

Do the same calculation on the top values and you get 0 Watts for both limits.

Quite the conspiracy developing here. Specific games deliberately targeting Intel CPUs.
Just one of those "accidents"? AMD CPUs do not use this power limit register so it makes you wonder what is going on here.


----------



## Lemuth80 (Jan 3, 2021)

Yeah and it happened all of a sudden...so really don't understand what's going on...

Kinda frustrating.
Specially it's fixed with the ts program.


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 3, 2021)

Maybe some disgruntled employee hid some code somewhere that was set to go off on January 1, 2021. A child could write code to zero out the lower 15 bits of both the long and short power limit register. This was no accident. The other bits in that register were not changed.

I have never had a chance or reason to use this word on any forum but here goes.

skul·dug·ger·y

underhanded or unscrupulous behavior; trickery.
"a firm that investigates commercial skulduggery"


----------



## Lemuth80 (Jan 3, 2021)

Would that be an issue with intel? Gigabyte? Microsoft?


----------



## FireFox (Jan 3, 2021)

@unclewebb
Is this a Motherboard issue?


----------



## Lemuth80 (Jan 3, 2021)

Knoxx29 said:


> Is this a Motherboard issue?


Well it's fixed with throttle stop program. So dunno


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 3, 2021)

Knoxx29 said:


> Is this a Motherboard issue?


This is a specific game issue. Several games are changing Intel's turbo power limits to 0. This problem has started popping up in multiple forums.

The before and after CPU-Z Report files prove that the CPU power limits are fine before starting a game but are set to 0 when the game starts and the power limits are not restored after a game ends.

Anyone can use the CPU-Z Report function to find out what the power limit register at MSR 0x610 is set to before, during and after a game.









						i9-9900k won't go above 3.6GHz while gaming
					

If setting the power limits in the BIOS does not solve your problem then you might have to continue to use ThrottleStop.  If you want to troubleshoot this further, boot up with those power settings in the BIOS and before running ThrottleStop, delete the ThrottleStop.INI configuration file. This...




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 3, 2021)

This is really getting intense! Who should we contact about this?


----------



## FireFox (Jan 3, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> This is a specific game issue. Several games are changing Intel's turbo power limits to 0. This problem has started popping up in multiple forums, Maybe some disgruntled employee hid some code somewhere that was set to go off on January 1, 2021, This was no accident.



Any specific purpose?


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 3, 2021)

Knoxx29 said:


> Any specific purpose?


At best, it was done deliberately as some sort of sick joke. Perhaps an AMD fanboy had a hate on for Intel CPUs. Computer sales to gamers is big business. Hopefully no money changed hands to perpetrate this computer crime.

More users need to do their own testing by using CPU-Z to dump the values of the power limit register so they can do a before and after comparison. This could be some sort of virus within specific games. If it was triggered to start on a specific day, it is possible that this problem will magically disappear in a day or a week or ....


----------



## Lemuth80 (Jan 3, 2021)

Well is there anything else what we can do about it?


----------



## natr0n (Jan 3, 2021)

Turn off ht/virtual cores and see.


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 3, 2021)

Lemuth80 said:


> Well is there anything else what we can do about it?


The only solution at the moment is to use ThrottleStop to Lock the Turbo Power Limit register so no other software can mess around with this. Whoever wrote this malicious code forgot to set the lock bit. 



natr0n said:


> Turn off ht/virtual cores and see.


It is the power limit register that is causing the problem. It is not HT related.


----------



## Lemuth80 (Jan 3, 2021)

natr0n said:


> Turn off ht/virtual cores and see.


What is that going to do?


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 3, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> The only solution at the moment is to use ThrottleStop to Lock the Turbo Power Limit register so no other software can mess around with this. Whoever wrote this malicious code forgot to set the lock bit.
> 
> 
> It is the power limit register that is causing the problem. It is not HT related.


So the problem is game related and not BIOS/Motherboard?


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 3, 2021)

Precision_03 said:


> So the problem is game related and not BIOS/Motherboard?


It could be both. It is definitely game related but it could also be targeting specific motherboards. You will need to do your own testing.

Shut down your computer. When you restart, run CPU-Z, go to the About tab and generate a report. Find the line that starts with MSR 0x00000610 and see what your turbo power limit register is set to. Start a game and immediately check this register again. Exit the game and check this register one more time. Do not run ThrottleStop while you are testing this.

Do this testing for multiple games. Older games might be OK.


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 3, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> It could be both. It is definitely game related but it could also be targeting specific motherboards. You will need to do your own testing.
> 
> Shut down your computer. When you restart, run CPU-Z, go to the About tab and generate a report. Find the line that starts with MSR 0x00000610 and see what your turbo power limit register is set to. Start a game and immediately check this register again. Exit the game and check this register one more time. Do not run ThrottleStop while you are testing this.
> 
> Do this testing for multiple games. Older games might be OK.


Alright, thanks! I'll give this a try later when I'm at my setup.


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 3, 2021)

When the power limit register has been set to zero, ThrottleStop shows a reduced speed and constant PL2 power limit throttling.
Whether idle or full load, a setting of 0 Watts is not enough for any turbo boost.






HWiNFO also shows that power limit throttling is in progress.


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 3, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> When the power limit register has been set to zero, ThrottleStop shows a reduced speed and constant PL2 power limit throttling.
> Whether idle or full load, a setting of 0 Watts is not enough for any turbo boost.
> 
> View attachment 182265
> ...


Is it bad to use while it's power limit throttling?


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 3, 2021)

Precision_03 said:


> Is it bad to use while it's power limit throttling?


You are not going to hurt your CPU by running it slower than its rated speed. You are just missing out on maximum performance. No turbo boost means a 9900K will run at the processor base frequency which is 3.6 GHz instead of the maximum turbo speed which is 5.0 GHz.









						Product Specifications
					

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




					ark.intel.com
				




Some mobile CPUs have an even bigger difference between base and turbo speeds.


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 3, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> You are not going to hurt your CPU by running it slower than its rated speed. You are just missing out on maximum performance. No turbo boost means a 9900K will run at the processor base frequency which is 3.6 GHz instead of the maximum turbo speed which is 5.0 GHz.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Makes sense, thanks!


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 3, 2021)

Lemuth80 said:


> Exact same thing happening....


Do you have a Nvidia gpu or an AMD gpu?

Just in time for Intel's 11th Gen release when review sites have 11th Gen engineering CPUs available for testing purposes.


----------



## Lemuth80 (Jan 3, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> Do you have a Nvidia gpu or an AMD gpu?
> 
> Just in time for Intel's 11th Gen release when review sites have 11th Gen engineering CPUs available for testing purposes.


3090 rtx

Hopefully it's an easy fix


----------



## Agentbb007 (Jan 4, 2021)

Sounds like you've got an issue with your bios and the way it's handling the Intel power limits, is there a bios update you could flash or maybe try an older one?
I have a 9900k on the Asus Maximus XI Hero and just did a test in Call of Duty Modern Warfare campaign and it held at my 4.8GHz turbo boost the entire time.  Here is a screenshot how I have my power limits set you can see my "Long Duration Package Power Limit" (PL1) set to 4095 Watts, while gaming I bounce around 110 Watts.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong but "Short Duration Package Power Limit" (PL2) only applies when PL1 is exceeded so PL2 limits should never apply with my PL1 set to 4095 Watts.


----------



## Lemuth80 (Jan 4, 2021)

Yeah well it's weird also it only appears to have issues with both our gigabyte boards


----------



## Agentbb007 (Jan 4, 2021)

Lemuth80 said:


> Yeah well it's weird also it only appears to have issues with both our gigabyte boards


I saw your BIOS screenshots, PL1 at 4090 Watts should be good and it should never hit that but maybe that's causing a problem.  Try setting it to something more realistic like 200 Watts.
Also what if you change that "CPU Flex Ratio Settings" to 48 does the CPU stay at 4.8GHz if you do that?  It sounds like that might force the minimum frequency to whatever value you input there.
One more thing can you change "Intel Turbo Boost Technology" from Auto to enabled?


----------



## Lemuth80 (Jan 4, 2021)

Agentbb007 said:


> I saw your BIOS screenshots, PL1 at 4090 Watts should be good and it should never hit that but maybe that's causing a problem.  Try setting it to something more realistic like 200 Watts.
> Also what if you change that "CPU Flex Ratio Settings" to 48 does the CPU stay at 4.8GHz if you do that?  It sounds like that might force the minimum frequency to whatever value you input there.
> One more thing can you change "Intel Turbo Boost Technology" from Auto to enabled?


Well you can't forget if i use throttle stop it goes away so yeah definitely something is weird ...


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 4, 2021)

Agentbb007 said:


> Sounds like you've got an issue with your bios


The BIOS is setting the power limits correctly. Before starting a game, the power limit register is set exactly as the BIOS has requested that it be set. The typical maximum is 4095 Watts. Asus uses that value and it does not cause any problems. Setting this to 4090 or 4095 should not make any difference.

Turbo boost is also working correctly. If you run a non-game benchmark like Cinebench, the CPU goes up to full speed with no problems.

The common thread so far is this is happening only on Gigabyte boards, Z390 and Z490. Is there any Gigabyte game control software that you are using on these boards?


----------



## Lemuth80 (Jan 4, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> The BIOS is setting the power limits correctly. Before starting a game, the power limit register is set exactly as the BIOS has requested that it be set. The typical maximum is 4095 Watts. Asus uses that value and it does not cause any problems. Setting this to 4090 or 4095 should not make any difference.
> 
> Turbo boost is also working correctly. If you run a non-game benchmark like Cinebench, the CPU goes up to full speed with no problems.
> 
> The common thread so far is this is happening only on Gigabyte boards, Z390 and Z490. Is there any Gigabyte game control software that you are using on these boards?


No not really i only use siv ( fan control ) and rgb software that's it


----------



## Mussels (Jan 4, 2021)

I also second trying lower numbers, a bug in the BIOS could make high numbers glitch out


----------



## Agentbb007 (Jan 4, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> Turbo boost is also working correctly. If you run a non-game benchmark like Cinebench, the CPU goes up to full speed with no problems.


I’m not sure Cinebench is the best app to test the power management since the benchmark finishes quite quickly and may not exceed the PL1 time which is why it holds turbo for the entire benchmark.  Perhaps try the Intel XTU stress test and monitor your CPU frequency and see if it drops out of turbo during the stress test.  If so this shows turbo boost is working but not using the values you’ve entered in the bios.


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 4, 2021)

*Problem*
- both turbo power limits are being incorrectly set to 0 Watts.

*Result*
- Intel Turbo Boost is now disabled so the CPU cannot run higher than its base frequency.
- 9900K = 3600 MHz
- 10850K = 3600 MHz

*How to Test*
- run CPU-Z and on the About tab, press the Save Report button.






- save the Report file, open it and search for the turbo power limit register, *MSR 0x00000610*






If you see the value 8000 at these two locations within that register, that is the problem.
The 8 means that this power limit is enabled and the 000 means the turbo power limit register is set to 0 Watts.

*When to Test*
- after booting up and before running anything, run CPU-Z, create a report and check this register. If you see the 8000 value displayed for either power limit then the BIOS is not setting your CPU up correctly. You should never see 8000 on either side of this register.

- if you have a game that has this throttling problem, start the game, ALT+TAB out to your desktop, run CPU-Z and look at the turbo power limits register to see if either of the power limits have been set to 8000 (0 Watts).

- exit the game and check to see if this register has been reset. If it is still set to 8000 then any other game you try to run is also going to be limited to the base frequency. If your computer is stuck at 0 Watts, you need to reboot before testing a different game.

*HWiNFO*
- to confirm this problem, run HWiNFO and check to see if it is reporting, Power Limit Exceeded.






*Solution*
- if you have this problem, run ThrottleStop, click on the TPL button and use the Lock option to lock the turbo power limits register so no other software can modify these values. Setting both power limits to the maximum value (4095) will prevent all power limit throttling.

After the power limit register is locked, you can exit ThrottleStop. This register will remain locked until you sleep, hibernate or shut down your computer. You will need to run ThrottleStop again so it can lock your power limit register. If you leave ThrottleStop running, minimized to the system tray, it will automatically lock this register after you resume from sleep or hibernate.






*Results So Far*
- at the moment, this throttling problem has been discovered on Gigabyte motherboards with the Z390 or Z490 chipset. More user testing needs to be done to try to find out what is causing this problem. If you have this problem, post what motherboard, CPU and GPU you have and the name of any game that is causing this problem


----------



## Darth_Spythor (Jan 5, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> The BIOS is setting the power limits correctly. Before starting a game, the power limit register is set exactly as the BIOS has requested that it be set. The typical maximum is 4095 Watts. Asus uses that value and it does not cause any problems. Setting this to 4090 or 4095 should not make any difference.
> 
> Turbo boost is also working correctly. If you run a non-game benchmark like Cinebench, the CPU goes up to full speed with no problems.
> 
> The common thread so far is this is happening only on Gigabyte boards, Z390 and Z490. Is there any Gigabyte game control software that you are using on these boards?


It's happening on my ASUS Prime Z390-p board also. i9-9900K. Only on Cold War so far but have only tried it and Forza Horizon 4. It just started Sunday.


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 5, 2021)

@Darth_Spythor - Can you take the time to do the testing that I outlined just above your post? Really curious about what is going on here.

Games should not have access to the power limit register. Did using ThrottleStop to Lock the power limit register immediately solve your problem? What GPU do you have?


----------



## Darth_Spythor (Jan 5, 2021)

I haven't tried it yet. A friend of mine sent me this thread today. I have a MSI GF 2070 Super. 

I may have time to run the tests tonight.


----------



## Toothless (Jan 5, 2021)

I didn't read the whole thread but are all the cpu power connectors in? Is it 8 or 4 pin?


----------



## R00kie (Jan 5, 2021)

Precision_03 said:


> I set it like this and still have the problem. Did I do something wrong?


Try disabling it instead of enabling it?


----------



## FireFox (Jan 5, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> Games should not have access to the power limit register


I was talking on the phone with a friend of mine about this issue, he has a Maximus X Hero + 9900K and a friend of his the same setup and both play Warzone, no issues so far. He thinks that it's bios or windows problem.


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 6, 2021)

Knoxx29 said:


> He thinks that it's bios


So far it does not seem like a BIOS problem. After booting up, the turbo power limits are set correctly. It is not until after a some games are started that both turbo power limits get set to zero. This should never happen. We will have to wait for some more testing to see what is going on.


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 6, 2021)

I'm not sure why but I haven't had the problem for over 24hr. The only thing I did was uninstall MSI dragon center which if forgot I had installed. I don't know if that was what solved it. The problem randomly occurred and then disappeared.


----------



## Mussels (Jan 6, 2021)

We have seen windows security updates screw with intel overclocking before, so it could be a combination OS/BIOS/user settings causing this



MSI dragon center is a total piece of ass, totally could have been involved


----------



## R00kie (Jan 6, 2021)

Precision_03 said:


> I'm not sure why but I haven't had the problem for over 24hr. The only thing I did was uninstall MSI dragon center which if forgot I had installed. I don't know if that was what solved it. The problem randomly occurred and then disappeared.


this is basically why I'm not using any software that gets bundled with any piece of hardware, and telling other people to stay clear away from it as far as possible.


----------



## Faide (Jan 6, 2021)

gdallsk said:


> this is basically why I'm not using any software that gets bundled with any piece of hardware, and telling other people to stay clear away from it as far as possible.


100% agree. I did a fresh install of windows 10 on the first day i bought my laptop to remove all bundled pre installed cr*p off my system.


----------



## nuggdoctor (Jan 6, 2021)

Faide said:


> 100% agree. I did a fresh install of windows 10 on the first day i bought my laptop to remove all bundled pre installed cr*p off my system.


At least im not the only one. anyone else do a reformat when they get a brand new hdd? I do. im paranoid about that stuff. to an insane ocd degree lol


----------



## FireFox (Jan 6, 2021)

nuggdoctor said:


> anyone else do a reformat when they get a brand new hdd?


I always do, USB stick, HDD, SSD, whatever can be reformatted


----------



## nuggdoctor (Jan 6, 2021)

Knoxx29 said:


> I always do, USB stick, HDD, SSD, whatever can be reformatted


Now i dont feel so bad about my paranoia


----------



## Lemuth80 (Jan 9, 2021)

Any news on this still having the issue and using throttle stop to fix it....kinda annoying


----------



## Mussels (Jan 15, 2021)

... you genuinely seem unhinged. I overclock the crap out of my hardware.
What i said, is that you're simply not good at overclocking if your system crashes. 

As for the language and abuse that isn't tolerated here, do it again and you'll get your account banned.


----------



## 95Viper (Jan 15, 2021)

Let's keep it on the topic of the thread.
No conspiracy theories.
Follow the guidelines for posting... if you need a refresher, here is the link --> Forum Guidelines

Thank You and have a good day.


----------



## Lemuth80 (Jan 15, 2021)

So what helped so far for me was reinstall windows 10 pro and update windows. Don't update 20H2 so far it's working great.

Let me know if that helps


----------



## Mussels (Jan 16, 2021)

Okay, i hope this can go back on topic because that was... exciting.

@unclewebb did you get any more ideas on this one? you seemed to be figuring it out


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 16, 2021)

Mussels said:


> did you get any more ideas on this one?


No one was able to show me any testing to prove exactly what was causing this issue. 
No more conspiracy theories for me.


----------



## Precision_03 (Jan 16, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> No one was able to show me any testing to prove exactly what was causing this issue.
> No more conspiracy theories for me.


What other testing was needed?


----------



## Lemuth80 (Jan 16, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> No one was able to show me any testing to prove exactly what was causing this issue.
> No more conspiracy theories for me.


For me it's working now since win reinstall and not updating windows to the 20h2


----------



## Mussels (Jan 16, 2021)

Lemuth80 said:


> For me it's working now since win reinstall and not updating windows to the 20h2


makes me wonder if its like that other thread where one of the spectre patches broke overclocking on certain generations...

i'll try and find a link, we have multiple threads about it
After a Windows 10 Update Today Overclocking is lost. WTF Microsoft and Intel??? | TechPowerUp Forums
Windows 10 build 1903 disables my CPU Overclock (i7 6950X) | TechPowerUp Forums


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 16, 2021)

Precision_03 said:


> What other testing was needed?


None of this makes sense. You fixed your problem by uninstalling Dragon Center. Other users had Gigabyte or Asus boards so they were not using MSI Dragon Center. Some specific games seemed to trigger this throttling for you while other games did not. You need a special driver to access the power limit register. This is something that individual games should not have access to. A program like Dragon Center would be able to set the power limit register to zero but why do Gigabyte boards, or Asus boards using different software, have the same problem? Is it GPU driver related? Why did the problem go away for a user after re-installing Windows?

I thought more people would come forward and try to get to the bottom of this. I have read about this same problem on another forum. It shows up, I tell them how to fix the issue with ThrottleStop and then they disappear. It would be great to someday uncover the real cause of this problem.


----------



## Mussels (Jan 16, 2021)

If reinstalling windows fixed it for one, and removing dragon center for another did it - that implies it might be a software issue... and maybe a coincidence between the brands, with different causes for the same issue


----------



## grammar_phreak (Jan 16, 2021)

I would suggest checking the temps while playing your games. Something is causing the CPU to run at PL1 which I believe scales your CPU back to 95w and a 3.6ghz clock across all cores. I don't know if this is a BIOS setting, or some temperature sensor is crossing a threshold that's causing the CPU to not run within the PL2 range.

Yeah, there are some boards with better built VRM's and BIOS options but I don't see a point in dropping a lot of money into the z390 platform at this point. I have an oldish Asus Z370-A motherboard and I tried to run it with a 9900k(i bought it on offerup for a good price but I gave it to my brother). For something like gaming it would run within it's PL2 range but if I tried running a stress test then the clocks would scale back to 3.6ghz across all cores. 

I've also had a couple of those AIO cooler die on me due to a bad pump. It might not be a bad idea to check to see if that thing's working right. 

If you do a little bit of digging on your Aorus z390 board, it supposedly has pretty good VRM's and there should be no reason a 9900k would have any trouble with it. It's better than the Z370-A board that I have.


----------



## Lemuth80 (Jan 16, 2021)

I get in warzone 50c @ 5 ghz 1.29 volts i think no temperature issue


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 16, 2021)

grammar_phreak said:


> checking the temps


This was not a temperature issue. Both the PL1 and PL2 turbo power limits were being forced down to 0 Watts. This caused Intel Turbo Boost to be disabled so the CPU was left running at its base frequency which is 3.6 GHz. The VRM's were not causing any issue. If they were overheating, a VR THERMAL or VR CURRENT warning would have showed up in Limit Reasons. Even if that happened, that is still no reason for the power limits to both be forced to 0 Watts.


----------



## Mussels (Jan 16, 2021)

could it be the power saving plan in windows?


----------



## unclewebb (Jan 16, 2021)

Mussels said:


> could it be the power saving plan in windows?


I have never seen an option in the Windows power plan that can be used to set the turbo power limits to 0 Watts. Then you have to ask, why would this happen in some games but not others.


----------



## Dennis052 (Apr 14, 2021)

unclewebb said:


> *Problem*
> - both turbo power limits are being incorrectly set to 0 Watts.
> 
> *Result*
> ...


Hey man, im facing a similar issue to the one you described here, however locking the Boost isn't helping me.

I actually found out that the intel graphics driver is causing the boost issue for me. Without the intel graphics drivers installed my CPU boosts up just fine, however as soon as i install it 3.6 GHz will be the maximum it goes single/all core speed. XTU reports Power Limit Throttling = YES and HWiNFO also reports the Power Limit exceeded as true. I need the IGPU to work so uninstalling the drivers isn't a solution for me, maybe you have any other ideas how I could solve this issue?


----------



## Caring1 (Apr 14, 2021)

Dennis052 said:


> Hey man, im facing a similar issue to the one you described here, however locking the Boost isn't helping me.
> 
> I actually found out that the intel graphics driver is causing the boost issue for me. Without the intel graphics drivers installed my CPU boosts up just fine, however as soon as i install it 3.6 GHz will be the maximum it goes single/all core speed. XTU reports Power Limit Throttling = YES and HWiNFO also reports the Power Limit exceeded as true. I need the IGPU to work so uninstalling the drivers isn't a solution for me, maybe you have any other ideas how I could solve this issue?


In Throttlestop TPL page have you tried adjusting the power balance between Intel CPU and Intel GPU?
Set CPU high and GPU on 1 which should be the lowest.


----------



## Dennis052 (Apr 14, 2021)

Could you tell me which one here is for the GPU? Im actually too stupid to see the correct fields


----------



## unclewebb (Apr 14, 2021)

@Dennis052 - Your screenshot shows that you locked both of your turbo power limits to 95W. Why did you do that? For maximum performance, I would set both of these to 200W or 250W. Clear the Lock box in ThrottleStop that you checked. Shut down your computer to unlock the CPU. When you start back up, set the power limits appropriately and then you can lock them.


----------



## Dennis052 (Apr 14, 2021)

@unclewebb

Locked it to 400 - installed drivers and guess what it stuckts at 3.6 GHz again...


----------



## unclewebb (Apr 14, 2021)

Dennis052 said:


> 3.6 GHz


Post screenshots of how you have ThrottleStop setup. The main window, FIVR window and the TPL window. Turn on the ThrottleStop Log File option. Play a game for at least 15 minutes. When finished testing, exit your game and then exit ThrottleStop so it can finalize the log file. Attach a log to your next post with your screenshots. What does Limit Reasons show for the reason for throttling when you are stuck at 3.6 GHz?

Post some more details. What CPU and motherboard do you have?


----------



## Dennis052 (Apr 14, 2021)

@unclewebb 

Logfile: https://pastebin.com/v4dKyR7M


----------



## unclewebb (Apr 14, 2021)

Your computer is using Speed Shift. In the TPL window, check the Speed Shift box so that information is sent to the CPU.

It looks like the BIOS is setting the voltage register incorrectly. ThrottleStop reads this information from the CPU and it shows that it is at 1.999 V. Are you using the most recent BIOS for your motherboard?

I still need to see a screenshot of the main ThrottleStop window.


----------



## Dennis052 (Apr 14, 2021)

@unclewebb
But how can the BIOS have wrong data at all? I mean if that would be the case it shouldnt be working at all, but it does without the intel graphics driver

I know you will be shocked but its a Gigabyte B360 and the BIOS date is the 11/18/2020


----------



## unclewebb (Apr 14, 2021)

Click on the Limits button and open up Limit Reasons. Your main screenshot shows Power limit throttling. Your CPU is idle and only using 2.7W so it should not be power limit throttling.  

Do you have a separate GPU or are you only using the Intel GPU? Did you do a clean install of Windows or did you install a hard drive that was originally from a different computer that already had Windows on it?

Did you try an older BIOS version or different graphics drivers?

Try running CPU-Z and see what it reports for CPU voltage. There is a big temperature difference between your first two cores. What type of heatsink are you using and did you use new thermal paste? If 82W causes your CPU to reach 96°C, that is a separate problem with your cooling or with your CPU voltage.

Your last screenshot showed this. That means either you or the BIOS set this voltage register incorrectly. The BIOS might not be using this information to set the CPU voltage. I sure hope it is not using this information. I think the max request is 1.52V. Your idle temps are also quite high. It is either a problem with your cooling or maybe the voltage is higher than it should be.





Your problem is completely different compared to what other users in this thread were reporting. 

Just because a BIOS allows a computer to boot up does not mean that the BIOS is setting the CPU up correctly. There are bugs at the BIOS level all of the time. That is why manufacturers turn out new BIOS versions. 

What voltage settings are you using in the BIOS? Is it set to auto or default or fixed voltage or offset or ...


----------



## Dennis052 (Apr 14, 2021)

Its actually a server im renting so im limited with the options that i have. I installed windows multiple times / tried also windows server which has the exact same issue.
I can access the bios and change stuff, but im not sure what to do there exactly at this poin. There is no other GPU in the system so im 100% forced to use the integrated one...


----------



## Caring1 (Apr 14, 2021)

Dennis052 said:


> Could you tell me which one here is for the GPU? Im actually too stupid to see the correct fields


In the lower half where it says miscellaneous.
It shows 8 for CPU and 20 for iGPU.
Changing those as I suggested earlier may help.


----------



## Dennis052 (Apr 14, 2021)

Caring1 said:


> In the lower half where it says miscellaneous.
> It shows 8 for CPU and 20 for iGPU.
> Changing those as I suggested earlier may help.



Yes it does! It was stucking at 4GHz at that point - in XTU i increased the Processor Core IccMax and now im sitting at 4.5 GHz all core stable without anything slowing it down


----------

