# Throttling on i5 7300HQ (Dell Inspiron 15 7567)



## iHamXaRajput (Mar 18, 2021)

So after a long haul I was able to undervolt this laptop after BIOS downgrade. Because Dell had blocked downgrades on ther BIOS while intel blocked the undervolting option on new BIOS updates. -_-
Was wondering if someone had tried undervolting this particular model and what are the limits for it. I was able to get a stable limit at -125 CVO and Cache, without getting any BSOD since days of testing.

Thing is, my CPU isn't really thermal throtlling anymore. My temps are controlled at 85 max on max stress/max level of gaming. But it's doing power limit on some games. Which lowers my CPU clock performance while I'm 15mins into the game. I also keep getting Yellow PL1 under limit reasons in ThrottleStop. So, if someone could explain to me what PL1 means and how should i get rid of it. I think it is the reason why my clockspeeds go down usually when i'm playing games!

I created a log file for my issue. I'm gonna attach it here, it'll help defining my problem


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## unclewebb (Mar 18, 2021)

iHamXaRajput said:


> what PL1 means


When PL1 lights up red in Limit Reasons or constantly shows up in the log file, this indicates power limit throttling. In the ThrottleStop TPL window you have the main PL1 power limit set to 45W. That is great but there is a secondary power limit that Dell likes to use. You paid good money for a laptop with a 45W CPU but Dell thinks it is OK to sometimes limit your CPU to only 15W. Why does Dell do this? No one knows. Good luck getting a straight answer from Dell about these hidden features. The usual response is that this is by design.

The only thing you can try doing in ThrottleStop to prevent this madness is check the FIVR Disable and Lock Turbo Power Limits feature. This turns off the secondary turbo power limits which are not necessary. With a 7th Gen Dell laptop, this might be enough to solve this problem. With newer laptops, Dell uses an embedded controller (EC) that randomly programs the power limits on the fly and there is nothing any software like ThrottleStop can do about it. I have seen some sorry Dell laptops being strangled down to 5W. That is a great way to kill smooth performance.

If your problem cannot be solved by using ThrottleStop, best to sell it on eBay and move on.

One thing I noticed about your settings is that you did not enable Speed Shift Technology. Your CPU supports this feature so I would check this option in the TPL window. Once Speed Shift is enabled, SST will light up in green on the main screen. After that you can check the Speed Shift EPP box on the main ThrottleStop screen to control your CPU. An EPP setting of 0 is for maximum CPU speed regardless of load. Most laptops use an EPP setting of 80 so the CPU slows down when lightly loaded. Speed Shift gives better off idle response in laptops. It will not solve your power limit throttling issue but I always enable Speed Shift.

Run another log file after enabling the Disable and Lock feature to see if it makes any difference to your power limit throttling problem. You can try using the Lock option in the Turbo Power Limits section but I am pretty sure this will not work. If Dell is using the EC for power limit control, you are out of luck.

Edit - If you are using any Dell power management software, make sure it is set to Ultimate Performance. You may be forced to use this just to work around this power limit issue.


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## iHamXaRajput (Mar 18, 2021)

Thanks for your reply!

I think checking "Disable and Lock feature" in FIVR did fix the problem for quite a while. I played RDR2 for a straight 1 hour without getting any power limit. But then my game freezed and i got a BSOD. When i turned the system back on, it showed Yellow PL2 and EDP other under limit reasons.

Yes, i am running on ultimate perfomance mode already as it does help in avoiding power limits.

Also, when i enabled speed shif before, i didn't really knew how to work around it. So i set the max value to 128 instead of 255. Which didn't gave me any good response instead it was lowering the cpu clock speed quite frequently even during games which i never wanted. My CPU can run stable at 3.1Ghz and i don't like running it lower than that. As i'm usually playing games and anything lower than that gives fps drops.


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## unclewebb (Mar 18, 2021)

iHamXaRajput said:


> Disable and Lock


I thought this would work on the older Dell laptops. Dell did not like that ThrottleStop could override this so they created a new throttling method for their new laptops. They call that innovation.   

A BSOD is a good sign that your undervolt is too aggressive. Not all CPUs are 100% stable at -125 mV. Go back to -100 mV or -110 mV and do some more testing for a few days. If the turbo power limit problem is solved, the voltage does not need to be set to the bare minimum. Some extra voltage will ensure stability.

Setting Speed Shift EPP to 0 is designed to keep your CPU at full speed. You can edit the EPP value on the main screen of ThrottleStop to whatever you like. You can also create different profiles with different EPP values. Perfect for gaming. 

Afterburner does not seem to track the CPU speed accurately when in game if Speed Shift is enabled. Turn on the ThrottleStop log file option instead if you want a record of what your CPU is really doing. ThrottleStop follows the Intel recommended monitoring method and can detect tiny changes in the CPU speed. Some monitoring apps report the CPU speed of dormant cores that are idle in one of the low power C states. 

Yellow boxes in Limit reasons are normal after first booting up or after resuming from sleep or hibernate. Clear this data before you start testing.


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## iHamXaRajput (Mar 18, 2021)

Thanks so much. You have provided me some good resource for further testing my undervolt and stability. I'm sure i might be able to get somewhere with this now.
And yes, i did realize that whenever i boot up i'll see yellow "PL2 and EDP other" in limits but when i clear it. It won't show up again during the up time. Even while i was gaming, it never popped up again. Unless i rebooted!


Thanks!


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## FillArthur (Apr 26, 2021)

iHamXaRajput said:


> Огромное спасибо. Вы предоставили мне хороший ресурс для дальнейшего тестирования моего пониженного напряжения и стабильности. Я уверен, что сейчас смогу что-то сделать с этим.
> И да, я действительно понимал, что всякий раз, когда я загружаюсь, я вижу желтый «PL2 и EDP other» в пределах, но когда я сброшу его. Во время работы он больше не появится. Даже пока я играл, он больше никогда не появлялся. Если только я не перезагрузился!
> 
> 
> Спасибо!


Дорогой друг. Можете прислать инструкцию, по которой можно откатить BIOS ноутбука? У меня такой же ноутбук, но я не могу откатить BIOS до более ранней версии, так как Dell запретила это делать. I apologize for my English, it is not my native language.


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