Undervolt Protection on ASUS with i9 13980HX

[Nahte27]

So I've been trying to undervolt the CPU on my ASUS Vivobook Pro 16X with an i9 13980HX. This is an absolute beast of a CPU, but man can it run hot. So I installed XTU and Throttlestop (only using one at a time) to see if there were any undervolt options available, but voltage control was greyed out.

I managed to disable "GFC Lock" and "Overclocking Lock" by setting the variables to 0x0. I also confirmed that the changes stuck even after a full shutdown/restart. This let me adjust voltages, but I could only increase them. Throttlestop had the option to lower voltages, but when applied offset was still +-0.0000. At the top of the Throttlestop FIVR screen it says "Undervolt Protection."

So I took another look at the BIOS flags and saw a variable named "UnderVolt Protection." The description implied that setting it to 0x0 would disable that, so I tried it. However, I still can only raise voltage and not lower it in either XTU or Throttlestop. And the FIVR window still says "Undervolt Protection" at the top.

Does anyone know of another variable that needs to be toggled to allow for undervolting?

I appreciate any advice!

I forgot to mention, I disabled Core Isolation Memory Integrity (HVCI) in Windows as well.

 

[raywdude]

I turned off SA GV by setting SaSetup 0x1F1 to 0 and got a minor score improvement to 30605.

Really want to know how to turn off UVP and CEP.

You guys are referring to this method, right?

Look through the exported file for UnderVolt Protection, CFG Lock, and Overclocking Lock - set them all to 0x0. If you see "OverClocking Feature" or "CPU Overclocking", set that to 0x1.

SA GV allows automatic RAM clock speed downscaling during idle. It's supposed to help with idle power consumption, but I honestly haven't noticed a difference in battery life after disabling it. And I had to disable it to do memory timings tuning (otherwise I would brick my laptop).

 

[ilford]

You guys are referring to this method, right?

Look through the exported file for UnderVolt Protection, CFG Lock, and Overclocking Lock - set them all to 0x0. If you see "OverClocking Feature" or "CPU Overclocking", set that to 0x1.

SA GV allows automatic RAM clock speed downscaling during idle. It's supposed to help with idle power consumption, but I honestly haven't noticed a difference in battery life after disabling it. And I had to disable it to do memory timings tuning (otherwise I would brick my laptop).

Yes. Multithreaded apps like Stockfish also benefit from disabling SA GV.

I don't know what Asus did to the BIOS of their non-gamebook notebooks. They really should consider enabling (at least part of) overclocking abilities.

 

[Nahte27]

This weekend I even tried G-Helper which is the lightweight Armory Crate alternative for ROG laptops. Suprisingly, some features worked, however most of the power/fan tools didn't work. I was hoping to see some CPU/GPU power control that the ROG laptops have, but I guess the BIOS is too different.

 

[Kiro]

Hey, I'm new to laptop cooling and undervolting in general but I just got the Asus Vivobook pro 16x with the 13980hx and the temps a extremely high. I've tried to use different power plans and limiting the power percentage but it still reaches 95-100 degrees when playing games and like 80 degrees when just watching a youtube video. Any tips on what I should do to lower temps or how to undervolt?

 

[unclewebb]

Post a FIVR screenshot. Does ThrottleStop show that Undervolt Protection is enabled?

 

[Nahte27]

Post a FIVR screenshot. Does ThrottleStop show that Undervolt Protection is enabled?

Yes, it looks like undervolt protection is enabled on this laptop despite changes we've made to the BIOS to try and disable it.

 

[Kiro]

Here is what mine looks like, I would honestly just want to play games without my cpu hitting 95-100 degrees

 

[unclewebb]

@Kiro
The top middle of your FIVR screenshot shows that the BIOS has Locked out CPU voltage control. Do some Google searching for your laptop model. Perhaps someone, somewhere will know if it is possible to modify the BIOS to remove the lock bit that Asus has set. There is not much ThrottleStop can do until you find a way to fix that problem.

 

[Kiro]

Ok I will take a look around

 

[aytace87]

Hey @Kiro ,

The PL1 and PL2 on this Laptop are both set to 157Watt.
Just set both to 85Watt. Leave ThrottleStop open.

Now your CPU won't get hot and Games won't stutter.

 

[Hollowcow]

Hey @Kiro ,

The PL1 and PL2 on this Laptop are both set to 157Watt.
Just set both to 85Watt. Leave ThrottleStop open.

Now your CPU won't get hot and Games won't stutter.

Hey,
Any update?
I have the same laptop (vivobook 16x pro oled. 13950hx and 4070)
I tried TS but most things are locked.
The cpu and gpu get extremely hot and throttle like crazy. My benchmarks scores are lower then average by 20 precent.
I wonder if I got a defective laptop and if I should return it.

I'm new to these kind of tweaks, I just discovered TS when searching for throttling problems with my laptop.
In the limits windows edp other turn on all the time when just on idle! Nothing in the background.
Under load I get tons of errors in the log files, v max. Pl 1 2, throttle extra.


Is there any other laptop you recommend that is not throttling and able to handle this cpu?
I'm doing a lot of video editing work and I also like to play AAA games with all the eye candy's.
I picked this laptop becuaes it has amazing 2000x3200 120hz 16:10 screen with perfect color accuracy for my work.
I need a screen at least that good.
A lot of gaming laptops have bad screens with poor contrast and uneven back lighting which this oled do perfectly.

 

[Kiro]

Hey guys so a quick update I did find a way to unlock throttle stop for my 13980hx in my vivobook pro! I am pretty sure this method will work for any locked cpu too. All you gotta do is follow step 1 and 2 in thios video.

Let me know how it goes for you cause it worked for me

 

[ilford]

Hey guys so a quick update I did find a way to unlock throttle stop for my 13980hx in my vivobook pro! I am pretty sure this method will work for any locked cpu too. All you gotta do is follow step 1 and 2 in thios video.

Let me know how it goes for you cause it worked for me

Thanks for the update. Could you post a screenshot of TS's FIVR window including a negative value of CPU core offset?

I saw the video. It basically did one thing: setting Overclocking Lock (0x10E) to 0.

In my Vivobook, TS shows the CPU has been unlocked, but the actual CPU core offset is always 0 or a positive value.

 

[unclewebb]

Could you post a screenshot of TS's FIVR window

Can you do the same? Does ThrottleStop show Undervolt Protection in the FIVR window?

 

[ilford]

Can you do the same? Does ThrottleStop show Undervolt Protection in the FIVR window?

I am using TS 9.6 with VBS disabled in Windows 11.

Please check the attached screenshot.

 

[unclewebb]

Please check the attached screenshot.

Your FIVR screenshot shows that Undervolt Protection is still enabled. Clearing the overclock lock bit is separate from Undervolt Protection.

Undervolting will not work when the top middle of the FIVR window shows that Undervolt Protection is enabled.

To test that everything else is working correctly, try setting a small positive offset voltage like +5 mV. This should show up in the monitoring table as soon as you press Apply.

It is usually a good idea to check the Ring Down Bin box. This can improve stability.

 

[ilford]

Your FIVR screenshot shows that Undervolt Protection is still enabled. Clearing the overclock lock bit is separate from Undervolt Protection.

Undervolting will not work when the top middle of the FIVR window shows that Undervolt Protection is enabled.

To test that everything else is working correctly, try setting a small positive offset voltage like +5 mV. This should show up in the monitoring table as soon as you press Apply.

It is usually a good idea to check the Ring Down Bin box. This can improve stability.

I have cleared all Undervolt Protection bits in the BIOS, but yes it's still there, as my previous posts in this thread.

The offset can be set to a positive value.

 

[Nahte27]

I have cleared all Undervolt Protection bits in the BIOS, but yes it's still there, as my previous posts in this thread.

The offset can be set to a positive value.

Interesting, it looks like it's applied, but as I understand it if it shows Undervolt Protection at the top then it may not actually be applied.

 

[unclewebb]

@Nahte27

Post a FIVR screenshot. If ThrottleStop says Undervolt Protection at the top, you cannot undervolt while in Windows.

 

[Nahte27]

@Nahte27

Post a FIVR screenshot. If ThrottleStop says Undervolt Protection at the top, you cannot undervolt while in Windows.

Oh, I was referring to his screenshot. It shows an offset in the corner, but still shows undervolt protection. I'm guessing that it's not actually applied?

 

[unclewebb]

his screenshot

The last screenshot he posted shows a positive offset voltage. That is OK. You can go positive when Undervolt Protection is enabled but you cannot go negative.

 

[Kiro]

For me actually undervolting didn't do much. What did help was changing the Turbo groups. Here are my settings.

 

[streets]

any updates with how your laptops are running?
I just picked up a ASUS k6604JI with the i9-13980HX, I had a ASUS Q540 first with the i9-13900H and that was overheating so i returned it. I was expecting the k6604 to be undervoltable and to have better cooling but im in the same situation i was with the q540 having very similar specs and cooling systems. I added 64gb 5600 ram and that is running at 5200 over the 16gb 4800 the laptop came with. I've tried both laptops gaming with RDR2 and I get similar performance even though the RTX4070 should be far better than the RTX3050; adding ram hasn't helped either. I lowered P1 and P2Turbo from 157w to 85w and the laptop doesn't overheat into hibernate anymore. but I haven't had a chance to unlock overclock in the BIOS.
Would upgrading the power supply from supplied 240W AC adapter to a 330W ASUS ROG gaming laptop AC adapter allow for any more performance out of this setup?
Would a repaste of thermal compound on the CPU help

I am new to all this, hoping you folks having these laptops have been getting better performance with your tweaks to the cpu

 

[unclewebb]

For me actually undervolting didn't do much.

Your ThrottleStop screenshot shows that Intel Undervolt Protection has been enabled by the BIOS.
Undervolting does not work when Undervolt Protection is enabled.

 

[vertueux]

I think I've actually made good progress. Check out this section pulled from the ASUS BIOS.



Specifically this bit:



It looks to me like the UnderVolt Protection section will be skipped IF QuestionID 0x3B1 OR QuestionId 0x1305 are equal to 0x0.

So I tracked down the QuestionIDs. 0x3B1 is named "OverClocking Feature" which sounds promising. It was disabled by default.

QuestionID 0x1305 is not named. There are a number of Overclocking options that are blocked if this is 0x0. I didn't see anything serious linked, so I enabled it as well.

So now I have QuestionIDs 0x3B1 and 0x1305 enabled which should prevent the suppression of the Undervolt Protection section. However, even though I can still overclock and overvolt, I cannot undervolt, and Throttlestop and HWInfo both show Undervolt Protection is enabled.

I must be missing something...

Sorry for hijacking this thread, may I ask how did you pull these QuestionIDs from Asus bioses? I've been crawling the web for solutions and can't seem to read the bioses correctly due to the AMI protection they implemented, totally stumped...