ATT: unclewebb - 12th Gen i7 Advice please

[witblitz]

Thanks @unclewebb for the quick reply!

The driver might be creating a temporary or hidden directory on your computer. This is definitely a path on your machine. It has nothing to do with ThrottleStop.

I assure you it is not... there is 100% no c:\jenkins on this machine, hidden or otherwise. I suspect Jenkins was some Intel dev who left this path in his code somewhere? ‍

TPL settings below:

Any clues on how to uninstall DPTF completely? Does it exist as a device in system manager and/or a service?
I believe it can also be enabled / disabled in BIOS which I will look into

Thanks again
WB

 

[vgm]

@witblitz I'd suggest uninstalling current DTPF dell driver which seems like a dev build of dptf driver. Would suggest windows update to grab the driver and not any firmwares. As i noticed in above screenshots, Speedshift values are very aggressive and with insufficient cooling I'd suggest sticking to values of 70/80 on AC mode. In TPL window try unchecking the lock and clamp checkboxes followed by reboot. You don't require High Perf power plans anymore and it makes CPU temp shoot up to 90C pretty quickly. Stick with Balanced and tweak SST values. Try giving more power for CPU in TPL Misc section say 31 for CPU and 10 for iGPU.

Would suggest applying PTM Phase Change pads which could keep the temps below 90C.

 

[witblitz]

Thanks @vgm. When you say 70/80 are you suggesting my EPP values are something like 70/80 and not as low as 32?

@unclewebb do you concur with all of what VGM has said in the previous post? I ask because my settings were suggested by you some time ago in an effort to increase performance when gaming on a Dell XPS 15 - something you are very familiar with of course. Also, you're the dev

RE Intel DPTF driver - I found this handy .reg file from a chap called Brad that disables all devices and blacklists them in group policy so that should be sorted: https://bradshacks.com/disable-dptf/

Just today I re-pasted my CPU with Honeywell TPM and replaced thermal pads. This has helped loads with temps... but still with an XPS I worry about thermal throttling down the road. For day to day work my temps are fine but with gaming we can start hitting limits

Given my previous instructions and the need to game a few times a week... I'm kind of confused as to what my TS settings should be at this stage. I really thought I had it in a sweet spot but I realise I don't fully know what I'm doing and am now rather lost.

Any advice or insight into the below would be great. Hopefully this is the last of my questions

* 40-45 and 60-65 for PL1 and PL2 seemed to make sense at the time when chatting to @unclewebb about my thermal throttling problems. Apparently 8 seconds was all the Turbo it could handle according to my logs at the time
* Everyone always advised me to lock and clamp TPL settings as well as MMIO. Should I not do this?
* RE" Miscellaeous" settings - I have never been instructed to even look at these and had assumed they were redundant!
* RE Speefshift value - I understand that a lower number means more potential performance and I've been advised that for everyday use 32 is fine and set a value of 0 for High performance. On battery profile I have a EPP value of 64. Are these no good?

Thanks once again,
WB

 

[vgm]

@witblitz Yes, it was EPP values.
With Dell they do battery boost tech where the battery starts to drain when system has insufficient power to operate and continues to degrade battery health and once it starts slowing down you notice that battery has higher wear level with bare minimum usage.
Would suggest EPP values of 140 to opportunistically boost to max clocks on battery.
As always Dell's thermal system leaves a lot to be desired even after a decade which @unclewebb already mentioned. Even on alienware cooling is pathetic for premium device. Once I applied plundervolt and undervolt were disabled, I reverted the BIOS to older one but few years ago I switched the thermal paste to Carbonaut and CPU hits max 85C on gaming and 95C with all vents blocked; GPU maxed out at 80C.

 

[witblitz]

Thanks @vgm. When you say 70/80 are you suggesting my EPP values are something like 70/80 and not as low as 32?

@unclewebb do you concur with all of what VGM has said in the previous post? I ask because my settings were suggested by you some time ago in an effort to increase performance when gaming on a Dell XPS 15 - something you are very familiar with of course. Also, you're the dev

RE Intel DPTF driver - I found this handy .reg file from a chap called Brad that disables all devices and blacklists them in group policy so that should be sorted: https://bradshacks.com/disable-dptf/

Just today I re-pasted my CPU with Honeywell TPM and replaced thermal pads. This has helped loads with temps... but still with an XPS I worry about thermal throttling down the road. For day to day work my temps are fine but with gaming we can start hitting limits

Given my previous instructions and the need to game a few times a week... I'm kind of confused as to what my TS settings should be at this stage. I really thought I had it in a sweet spot but I realise I don't fully know what I'm doing and am now rather lost.

Any advice or insight into the below would be great. Hopefully this is the last of my questions

* 40-45 and 60-65 for PL1 and PL2 seemed to make sense at the time when chatting to @unclewebb about my thermal throttling problems. Apparently 8 seconds was all the Turbo it could handle according to my logs at the time
* Everyone always advised me to lock and clamp TPL settings as well as MMIO. Should I not do this?
* RE" Miscellaeous" settings - I have never been instructed to even look at these and had assumed they were redundant!
* RE Speefshift value - I understand that a lower number means more potential performance and I've been advised that for everyday use 32 is fine and set a value of 0 for High performance. On battery profile I have a EPP value of 64. Are these no good?

Thanks once again,
WB

Hey @unclewebb when you have a sec - do you have anything to add to this at all?
Thanks in advance!

 

[unclewebb]

EPP set to 32 is fine. I never set EPP in ThrottleStop. I just use the Windows High Performance or Balanced power plans. This allows Windows to manage EPP.

Set the turbo power and time limits to whatever your cooling can manage. I always recommend checking the MMIO Lock box.

I have never used a 12th Gen or newer CPU and I have never used Windows 11. My advice is only theoretical. Use whatever settings work best for you.

 

[witblitz]

EPP set to 32 is fine. I never set EPP in ThrottleStop. I just use the Windows High Performance or Balanced power plans. This allows Windows to manage EPP.

so you have the "Speed shift EPP" box unchecked, then? I've noticed this is a global settings and not per profile

I always recommend checking the MMIO Lock box.

for now I have MMIO sync enabled instead to avoid those endless event logs. it seems to almost always be synced to 40/65 which are my custom TPL values and rarely moves. When I finally figure out how to disable Intel DPTF I will lock those

In TPL window try unchecking the lock and clamp checkboxes followed by reboot.

do you agree with this advice from VGM?

Try giving more power for CPU in TPL Misc section say 31 for CPU and 10 for iGPU.

and this - does the Misc / iGPU section actually do anything these days?

Thanks again @unclewebb
WB

 

[witblitz]

@unclewebb

 

[unclewebb]

I've noticed this is a global setting

The Speed Shift EPP setting is on the main screen of ThrottleStop. The Speed Shift EPP check box is a global setting. The EPP value can be set to a different value for each profile.

Are you talking about Speed Shift Min and Max in the TPL window?

When I finally figure out how to disable Intel DPTF I will lock those

That would be best. No point in having a driver constantly accessing the MMIO power limits if you do not want these limits being changed.

do you agree with this advice from VGM?

It depends on what you are trying to accomplish. What problem are you trying to solve?

does the Misc / iGPU section actually do anything these days?

I do not have access to a modern computer so there is no way for me to test anything. You will have to play around with ThrottleStop to see what settings work best for you.

 

[witblitz]

Thanks @unclewebb . I'm just trying to achieve optimal performance when plugged in, lowest temps when gaming and quite importantly the best battery life I can when unplugged. I live in south africa and we have daily, scheduled power outages which means I'm on battery power every day at some point

As for Speedshift EPP in the main window - if you're telling me you just leave Windows to deal with this well then I'll do the same... I now have it UNTICKED

As for the "Misc / iGPU section" in Throttlestop - I was merely asking if this section actually works at all on current versions of Windows or if these are just legacy settings. Either way, I'm not going to configure things I don't need so not to worry about this question.

Thanks for your help
WB