# Throttlestop Setup on i7 6700HQ.



## PurityCE (Feb 15, 2022)

Hi, I'm still new to throttlestop but I've been using throttlestop v8.70 to do some undervolting on my cpu to keep my temps down on my Alienware 15 R2. The temps on my CPU without throttlestop running when doing intense gaming is usually around 74-78 and with my under volt settings it sits around 71-74 (Its been about 5 years now since I last changed the thermal paste which is Artic MX4 so I'm aware I will need to change that which I will do) . I noticed the other day after fiddling with a CPU dependent game all 4 cores on my processor according to hardware monitor were all clocked out exactly at 3090MHz and my cpu was under 98%-100% load but shouldn't my speeds be higher since my cpu is rated to boost up to 3.5MHz? Instead, no matter the game after some more testing it usually always sits at 3090MHz and strangely enough when I don't launch any games I can see the clock speeds going up and down between 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 & 3.4MHz but will always lock back to 3090MHz the moment I launch a game. So I was wondering if there are some particular settings I need to apply to achieve the higher clock speeds. 

Also, I did take a look at the Limits tab and I saw that PL1 & PL2 under core were highlighted yellow and EDP other was highlighted yellow under RING, so is this a problem? Another thing that I found strange was that I tried throttlestop 9.4 but when I open it all the undervolting options are greyed out but I don't have that issue with 8.70 which is why I'm still using it. I'll list my full system specs here and some screenshots:

Alienware 15 R2
CPU i7 6700HQ
GPU gtx970m 3gb
16GB DDR4 Ram
1tb Kingston m.2 nvme
500gb 970 evo m.2 nvme
1tb hitachi HDD
Using latest bios 1.13.1

As you can see in one of the screenshots when the system is not running any games and this is with the high performance power plan on you can see the speeds are over 31.00 but in the other screenshot when gaming you can see them all lock off at 31.00 without moving from there.


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## Lew Zealand (Feb 15, 2022)

It looks like when idling, your CPU use is only invoking about 2 cores, so it's maxing out around your 2-core frequency of 3.3GHz.  While gaming, it's loading up 4 cores, even if it's only using those cores a little bit, and thus runs at the 4-core speed of 3.1 GHz.  I see this type of behavior in my 4-core CPUs and even 6-core CPUs all the time.  Even if it's using 30% of the CPU in a game, that load is distributed through all the cores, so they run at the all-core turbo speed.


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## unclewebb (Feb 15, 2022)

PurityCE said:


> I tried ThrottleStop 9.4 but when I open it all the undervolting options are greyed out


The voltage options are greyed out in ThrottleStop 9.4 because Dell has locked the CPU voltage control register. If you look at your screenshot, the FIVR monitoring table shows that your offset voltages are all at zero, +0.0000. That means the voltages you are requesting in ThrottleStop 8.70 are not being applied to the CPU. Definitely use ThrottleStop 9.4. It correctly reports and makes it much easier to see when the BIOS has locked the CPU like this.

Your screenshot shows that you are using Speed Shift Technology (SST). That is a good thing to use on older laptops with 6th Gen CPUs. When SST is enabled, the older Set Multiplier feature no longer has any control of your CPU speed so do not check the Set Multiplier box. To control the maximum CPU speed when Speed Shift is enabled, adjust the Speed Shift Max value in the TPL window.

The maximum speed of your CPU varies depending on how many cores are active. 3.1 GHz (3092.8 MHz) is the correct speed when playing most games. When lightly loaded, the speed will increase slightly. This is normal. Some yellow boxes in Limit Reasons are also normal. You only need to watch out for any red boxes in Limit Reasons.






						Intel Core i7-6700HQ Mobile processor - CL8066202194635 / JQ8066202195126
					

Intel Core i7-6700HQ notebook CPU: latest news, detailed specifications, side by side comparison, FAQ and more from CPU-World




					www.cpu-world.com
				




Turn on the ThrottleStop Log File option and go play a game for at least 15 minutes. The log file will contain an accurate record of your CPU performance and temperatures. Check the Nvidia GPU box in the Options window to include your GPU performance data in the ThrottleStop log file. Attach a log file to your next post if you want me to have a look for any problems.

CPU temperatures under 80°C are normal for a laptop and well within the Intel 100°C specification. There is no need to replace the thermal paste at these sort of temperatures.


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## PurityCE (Feb 16, 2022)

unclewebb said:


> The voltage options are greyed out in ThrottleStop 9.4 because Dell has locked the CPU voltage control register. If you look at your screenshot, the FIVR monitoring table shows that your offset voltages are all at zero, +0.0000. That means the voltages you are requesting in ThrottleStop 8.70 are not being applied to the CPU. Definitely use ThrottleStop 9.4. It correctly reports and makes it much easier to see when the BIOS has locked the CPU like this.
> 
> Your screenshot shows that you are using Speed Shift Technology (SST). That is a good thing to use on older laptops with 6th Gen CPUs. When SST is enabled, the older Set Multiplier feature no longer has any control of your CPU speed so do not check the Set Multiplier box. To control the maximum CPU speed when Speed Shift is enabled, adjust the Speed Shift Max value in the TPL window.
> 
> ...


Hi unclewebb, thanks for the reply and also the great software you develop also! I did as you said and switched over to v9.4, and I believe I ticked the NVIDIA option in the option's menu on the right side like you said to do and played some Halo Infinite for about 15 minutes since that's the most demanding game I have struggled with hahaha. Anyway, here's the log file you wanted, and hopefully I got it right to include the GPU and everything. Also, could explain how the speed shift options works, so I can figure how to get the speeds I want, thank you.



unclewebb said:


> The voltage options are greyed out in ThrottleStop 9.4 because Dell has locked the CPU voltage control register. If you look at your screenshot, the FIVR monitoring table shows that your offset voltages are all at zero, +0.0000. That means the voltages you are requesting in ThrottleStop 8.70 are not being applied to the CPU. Definitely use ThrottleStop 9.4. It correctly reports and makes it much easier to see when the BIOS has locked the CPU like this.
> 
> Your screenshot shows that you are using Speed Shift Technology (SST). That is a good thing to use on older laptops with 6th Gen CPUs. When SST is enabled, the older Set Multiplier feature no longer has any control of your CPU speed so do not check the Set Multiplier box. To control the maximum CPU speed when Speed Shift is enabled, adjust the Speed Shift Max value in the TPL window.
> 
> ...


Here's another log for another game I ran just incase.


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## unclewebb (Feb 16, 2022)

The log file shows that you do not have any throttling problems. Your CPU is running at its full rated speed and your GPU is running fine too. The GPU temperature is fantastic and the CPU temperature is within the normal range. You have absolutely zero problems. 

What problem are you trying to solve by using ThrottleStop? Use ThrottleStop to make sure Speed Shift is enabled and your laptop is good to go. Enabling Speed Shift solves many of Dell's 6th Gen throttling problems. 



PurityCE said:


> so I can figure how to get the speeds I want


Why would you want any speed other than full speed? 

If you want to slow your computer down from its rated speed then enter a lower value in the Speed Shift Max box. Enter 25 for a maximum speed of 2500 MHz. Simple stuff. The default value of 35 is best.


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## PurityCE (Feb 16, 2022)

unclewebb said:


> The log file shows that you do not have any throttling problems. Your CPU is running at its full rated speed and your GPU is running fine too. The GPU temperature is fantastic and the CPU temperature is within the normal range. You have absolutely zero problems.
> 
> What problem are you trying to solve by using ThrottleStop? Use ThrottleStop to make sure Speed Shift is enabled and your laptop is good to go. Enabling Speed Shift solves many of Dell's 6th Gen throttling problems.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the info and advice! I was mostly using it to keep the thermals down even further (yeah I know its silly) but since I can't undervolt now because the bios updated I'm mostly gonna use it to shift my performance into high gear. Also thanks for telling me about the speed shift, so on the main front of throttle stop where it says speedshift -epp, I should set that to 35 right? If so then uuh the logs I sent you was me playing with it set to 0 or 1 I think.... was that a mistake on my part and should I send you a updated log?


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## unclewebb (Feb 16, 2022)

The Speed Shift EPP setting on the main screen is different than the Speed Shift Max value in the TPL window.

Speed Shift Max controls the maximum speed of your CPU. Default for this is 35 for 3500 MHz.

Speed Shift EPP on the main screen can be set to 0 for maximum CPU speed even when the CPU is lightly loaded. I use 0 when plugged in. If you want your CPU to slow down when lightly loaded, set EPP no higher than 84. When running on battery power, you can set EPP to 128 or higher if you want to. That will slow your CPU down some more but it usually does not make a huge difference to power consumption. It never hurts to experiment with these settings.



PurityCE said:


> should I send you a updated log?


Sure, why not?


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## PurityCE (Feb 16, 2022)

unclewebb said:


> The Speed Shift EPP setting on the main screen is different than the Speed Shift Max value in the TPL window.
> 
> Speed Shift Max controls the maximum speed of your CPU. Default for this is 35 for 3500 MHz.
> 
> ...


Thanks I'll I do that when I get home and send you a updated log.



unclewebb said:


> The Speed Shift EPP setting on the main screen is different than the Speed Shift Max value in the TPL window.
> 
> Speed Shift Max controls the maximum speed of your CPU. Default for this is 35 for 3500 MHz.
> 
> ...


Oh one more thing I forgot to mention, my laptop would immediately shutoff when I forget to plug in the power supply and accidentally run any sort of game on battery power so I'm guessing my battery is faulty right? Though the odd thing is that bios says the battery is operating normally.


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## unclewebb (Feb 16, 2022)

PurityCE said:


> would immediately shutoff when I forget to plug in the power supply


How old is your battery? Most batteries are not capable of fully powering a high performance laptop CPU and Nvidia GPU at the same time. Kind of sad that laptop manufacturers never have the guts to tell you stuff like this. Most laptops use various throttling schemes to lower power consumption as soon as you switch to battery power. 

Use battery power for light duty stuff like surfing the net. For any serious tasks, you need to be plugged in.


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## PurityCE (Feb 16, 2022)

unclewebb said:


> How old is your battery? Most batteries are not capable of fully powering a high performance laptop CPU and Nvidia GPU at the same time. Kind of sad that laptop manufacturers never have the guts to tell you stuff like this. Most laptops use various throttling schemes to lower power consumption as soon as you switch to battery power.
> 
> Use battery power for light duty stuff like surfing the net. For any serious tasks, you need to be plugged in.


Its about 3 years now after I changed the last one which got so bad it barely lasted 30 minutes just surfing. The old one was capable of staying on even when games are launched after I forget to plug in the adapter but when I got this new one after a few months it would just immediately shut off the moment I launch something that demands more processing power and after it does that the laptop will not turn on unless I either plug out the battery and plug it back in or plug in the charger. So yeah I don't do heavy stuff on the battery after it started doing that and mostly surf instead.


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## unclewebb (Feb 16, 2022)

It is difficult finding legit replacement laptop batteries. Even ones that look legit on the outside can be full of junk components on the inside. It is what it is. At least your laptop runs well when plugged in. Many recent laptops do not even have that capability.


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