Need help dealing with power limit throttling on i7-8750H

[xkeks]

Hello, i have a Dell G5 15 5587 with i7-8750H, GTX 1060 6gb (Max Q), 16gb ram laptop that has been constantly throttling due to either power or thermal reasons. First time i tried undervolting, it did its job fine and i didn't have much of a problem for a few years. However since last year, my laptop just decided to become worse? Even though I opened up the fans and cleaned it ( it was remarkably clean considering that i never cleaned it for at least 2 years) and reapplied thermal paste, it didn't really get much better. I used to be able to run most games at least on medium or higher and don't really have much problems before about 2022. On games like Battlefield V, Total War Warhammer II etc, my thermals didn't really reach over 90C, and if it did, i would tune down the settings so that it wouldn't run hot. I know that its probably fine above 90C but i didn't want to damage my laptop since i can't really replace it at the moment.
For the last year or so, i had blue screens of different varieties so i decided to update my BIOS and do a fresh undervolt. Had to do some BIOS shenanigans to unlock undervolting again but eventually i got it working. I followed a lot of guides, read through many forums etc. And whatever i do, i can't play games from 6 years back even on lowest settings at 1366x768 resolution without throttling. On some games, it's because of thermal throttling while others, it is caused by power limit throttles. I've attached some pictures and my log file from a session that had pl1, pl2 limits etc. I would really appreciate some help on how can i improve my laptops performance, considering that in theory i must be able to at least play on medium settings on some games but i can't even play on lowest settings.

To add some more: Ever since i updated the BIOS and some other drivers like Dell Power Manager and some audio drivers, i've noticed sometimes that my laptop slows down for a few seconds and the voice becomes laggy, just like its going to crash but it turns normal in a second or so. When i check limit reasons after this, it only shows that i had a PL1 limit on core and EDP Other on ring.

 

[unclewebb]

   DATE       TIME    MULTI   C0%   CKMOD  BAT_mW  TEMP   NVIDIA GPU     VID   POWER
2024-01-09  10:21:01   8.00   82.2  100.0       0   74    1620    74   0.5642    8.5   PL1
2024-01-09  10:21:02   8.00   85.3  100.0       0   74    1620    74   0.5651    8.5   PL1
2024-01-09  10:21:03   8.00   83.6  100.0       0   74    1430    74   0.5636    8.3   PL1
2024-01-09  10:21:04   8.00   83.1  100.0       0   73    1430    74   0.5642    8.3   PL1
2024-01-09  10:21:05   8.00   82.2  100.0       0   73     797    73   0.5651    7.9   PL1
2024-01-09  10:21:06   8.00   84.1  100.0       0   73     797    73   0.5645    8.0   PL1
2024-01-09  10:21:07   8.00   85.3  100.0       0   73     797    73   0.5642    8.4   PL1
2024-01-09  10:21:08   8.00   85.6  100.0       0   73     797    73   0.5641    7.8   PL1
2024-01-09  10:21:09   8.00   83.4  100.0       0   73     785    72   0.5642    8.8   PL1
2024-01-09  10:21:10   8.00   84.8  100.0       0   72     785    72   0.5701    9.4   PL1

The log file explains the problem that many Dell laptops with 8th Gen processors have. Severe power limit throttling problems are common in these laptops and there is no fix for this problem. As these laptops get older, it is likely that some sort of sensor fails and it starts telling the CPU that it must throttle even when there is no need to throttle.

The log file shows that the CPU and GPU temperatures are less than 75°C which is perfectly fine. No obvious reason for any throttling. The CPU multiplier is locked to 8.00 which forces the CPU to run at its minimum speed. The reason for throttling is PL1 power limit throttling but power consumption is only at 8W or 9W. An embedded controller (EC) is sending extreme low ball turbo power limits to the CPU. ThrottleStop only has access to the MSR and MMIO turbo power limits. ThrottleStop cannot be used to control the low ball EC power limits.

Have a look in the Device Manager for the Intel Dynamic Tuning driver or the Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework (DPTF) driver or something similar to that. If you can find this driver, try disabling it. Sometimes that can help solve these extreme power limit throttling problems. Sometimes you need to completely remove this driver and block Windows from reinstalling it. Search Google to learn more.

I do not know if having the Dell Power Manager software installed is necessary or not. If this software is set to maximum performance and you are still getting throttling due to low power limits, try removing this software.

By the time these laptops were introduced, I had given up on solving all of Dell's throttling problems. I had no interest in buying a laptop for ThrottleStop development purposes that I knew had severe throttling problems. I am sure by now many users have retired these laptops to light internet use. There can be too many throttling issues when trying to play a game.

 

[xkeks]

Have a look in the Device Manager for the Intel Dynamic Tuning driver or the Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework (DPTF) driver or something similar to that. If you can find this driver, try disabling it.

I disabled it and uninstalled it, it looked promising at first but it throttled all the same in the end unfortunately.

I do not know if having the Dell Power Manager software installed is necessary or not. If this software is set to maximum performance and you are still getting throttling due to low power limits, try removing this software.

I don't think power manager matters much because i recently downloaded it but nothing changed with or without it.

By the time these laptops were introduced, I had given up on solving all of Dell's throttling problems. I had no interest in buying a laptop for ThrottleStop development purposes that I knew had severe throttling problems. I am sure by now many users have retired these laptops to light internet use. There can be too many throttling issues when trying to play a game.

I wish i knew that when i used my only chance at a "good" gaming laptop on a Dell :/ Nothing can be done then i suppose. Thank you for your help and thank you for Throttlestop. I've attached the latest results with your modifications but i don't think that will change anything. If you have further proposals im willing to tune TPL, FIVR, whatever you got further but i'm (reasonably) content with what i've got at the moment after months of constant thermal throttling and BSOD's.

Also one other thing, how should my turbo ratio limits be? Is setting all at 36 acceptable? I followed through a lot of guides but none really changed anything so i just decided to leave it at 36 for the moment.

 

[unclewebb]

Is setting all at 36 acceptable?

You can set the turbo ratios however you like. Lowering the turbo ratios some more and slowing your CPU down further might actually help avoid the massive throttling down to 798 MHz that your laptop does. I do not know what the actual trigger is that starts the ridiculous power limit throttling that happens to Dell's laptops when trying to play a game. Shame on Dell for selling such defective products.

The log file shows the CPU temperature slowly increasing. Perhaps an average CPU temperature of 85°C is what triggers throttling. Look into buying some genuine Honeywell PTM 7950 thermal paste. This might help keep the CPU and GPU temperatures down just enough to avoid severe power limit throttling.

 

[xkeks]

Lowering the turbo ratios some more and slowing your CPU down further might actually help avoid the massive throttling

I will experiment with this further, thank you.

Shame on Dell for selling such defective products.

I wholeheartedly agree, never again with Dell.

The log file shows the CPU temperature slowly increasing. Perhaps an average CPU temperature of 85°C is what triggers throttling. Look into buying some genuine Honeywell PTM 7950 thermal paste. This might help keep the CPU and GPU temperatures down just enough to avoid severe power limit throttling.

I will look into it as soon as i can. Thanks for your help, very much appreciated.

 

[Harsha89]

The log file explains the problem that many Dell laptops with 8th Gen processors have. Severe power limit throttling problems are common in these laptops and there is no fix for this problem. As these laptops get older, it is likely that some sort of sensor fails and it starts telling the CPU that it must throttle even when there is no need to throttle.

does thinkpad T series with same 8th gen CPU has this problem ?

go for T580 i7 8th gen instead i5 8th gen ,good or bad ? will i be disappointed ?

 

[unclewebb]

does thinkpad T series

I do not know what laptops throttle or what methods they use. That makes it impossible to recommend anything. Something might work fine day one and then a BIOS update or a Windows update might cripple it. When you first buy a laptop, new or used, it needs to be thoroughly tested to find out what issues it has. Most laptops from all manufacturers have throttling issues. Some laptops are usable while some are so badly crippled that performance might only end up being 10% of what was promised.