Clock speed or number of cores? TPL power limits

[Arabton87]

Hi,
I installed ThrottleStop, did UV, reduced CPU clocks, and PL1/PL2. Everything works great, but I have a few more questions.
I managed to replace my RTX4060 laptop with a 4070 for a nominal amount. Previously, I had a 13620H and its power was more than enough for me, now I have 6 more cores in the 14650HX, which means higher power consumption, higher temperatures, etc. I use the laptop for work, it works 8-12 hours a day, so these aspects are important to me.

1. Is it better to disable 4 cores (2P and 2E) in the BIOS or lower the clock speed? (I would like to maintain single-core performance, so I left 2 cores with full turbo 5.2Ghz). Default P core: 2 x 5.2 + 6 x 4.8; E core: 3.7, reduced to 2.6

2. Do the TPL settings as in the screenshot keep my PL1 and PL2 values or those saved in the laptop profile? I have ThrotteStop set to automatically turn off when running on battery, does PL1 and PL2 then switch to the laptop profile? By default, the laptop battery has 15 and 30 W (energy saving). I'm asking because when changing these options, a padlock often appears and the changes are only applied after the computer is restarted.

If you have any other advice, I would be obliged

 

[unclewebb]

did UV

Usually the Intel GPU and iGPU Unslice offset undervolt values need to be set equally.

disable 4 cores

When an Intel CPU is not using a core, it will automatically go into the low power C7 state where power consumption approaches zero. Disabling cores in the BIOS might not accomplish very much if the CPU itself has already disabled these cores because they are not being used. If you frequently run tasks that fully load the CPU, disabling cores sounds like a good way to save power. If it takes longer to complete a task, you might not be any further ahead.

Here is a simple comparison. What would be better? Four cores fully loaded for 60 seconds to complete a task or 8 cores fully loaded for only 30 seconds to complete the same task? When the task is complete, all 8 cores will go into the low power C7 state for 30 seconds so total power consumption when disabling cores might not make much of a difference. Another thing is that when you disable cores in the BIOS or in Windows, the cores are not completely disabled. They are still there. Windows just does not have access to them anymore. Hopefully they go into core C7 when disabled.

Most people do not bother disabling cores. Do some testing. Perhaps for your typical work load you will find an advantage that most other users have not found.

I have ThrottleStop set to automatically turn off when running on battery

What does that mean? Do you exit ThrottleStop when switching to battery power? Even if you exit ThrottleStop, most of the changes that ThrottleStop has made will remain in effect until something else makes a change to the CPU settings. The ThrottleStop Turn On / Turn Off button does not do anything to the majority of ThrottleStop settings so do not use that button thinking that it will turn off ThrottleStop.

If you want Windows or some other software to manage the MSR turbo power limits then check the Disable Controls box in ThrottleStop.

a padlock often appears and the changes are only applied after the computer is restarted

That sounds inconvenient. Are you saying that a padlock appears in ThrottleStop or does a padlock appear in some other software you are using to control the CPU? I am not familiar with the software your computer uses to control the CPU or how that software will interact with ThrottleStop.

Edit - I found that setting the turbo ratio to 52 when 1 or 2 cores are active will rarely be used. Even when lightly loaded, Windows is always waking up additional cores. To get the CPU to actually use the 52 multiplier when lightly loaded you pretty much have to set 1, 2 and 3 cores active to 52. Try running a Cinebench single thread test with 1 and 2 cores using the 52 multiplier vs 1, 2 and 3 cores using the 52 multiplier. What multiplier does ThrottleStop show that the CPU is using during these tests?

 

[Arabton87]

Thanks for the help, changed some uv values and equalized for GPU.

Later I will test how cores with different clock speeds behave. What I have noticed so far in HWinfo is that more than 2 cores are clocked at 5.2 GHz, even though I only have 2 set as in the screenshot.

My laptop uses Gibabyte Control Center, when I disconnect the laptop from the power supply, the energy saving plan is automatically activated. This plan is set to 15W/30W(PL1/PL2). In ThrottleStop I have the "DC exit itme" option active, so if I disconnect the power supply and TS turns off, what PL1/PL2 plans does my laptop work with? I'm asking because it seems to me that the battery life is shorter than it should be.

During normal use with a cable, the laptop keeps the TS values that I set? Without using the "lock" or "clamp" checkboxes? I only work on one energy plan all the time and I don't change it because it's the only one that allows me to control the fans. Gigabyte software is not good.

 

[unclewebb]

DC exit time

This exits ThrottleStop but it does not happen until after you have already switched to DC power. You can use HWiNFO to see what your turbo power limits are set to. Try restarting HWiNFO as some values it reports are not updated in real time. You can also leave ThrottleStop running and see if the dynamic MMIO power limits change or not. As long as you do not check the ThrottleStop MMIO Lock box, the Gigabyte Control software should be able to change the dynamic MMIO power limits with no interference from ThrottleStop. If Disable Controls is checked in the ThrottleStop TPL window, the MSR power limits should also be controlled by Gigabyte or by the BIOS with no interference from ThrottleStop.

the battery life is shorter than it should be

That is just a fact of life. Laptop batteries never last as long as one would like or expect. Intel's 14th Gen technology is not going to win any awards for power efficiency.

During normal use with a cable, the laptop keeps the TS values that I set?

If that is a question then I have no idea. Do some testing. ThrottleStop can be used to maintain the MSR power limits when Disable Controls is not checked but there could be interference from the Gigabyte software. Whatever software writes information to the MSR power limit register will win control of the CPU. That is why it would probably be best to check Disable Controls in ThrottleStop to avoid any conflicts like this. The Turbo Power Limits section of the TPL window shows the live values which are updated every second. This should give you a good idea of what software is in control of the power limits of your CPU.

 

[Arabton87]

Thanks, BTW I highly recommend TS: Timespy without UV CPU Score: 14338, with UV (-0,1104): screen

 

[Arabton87]

I think it works properly?
Battery is using MMIO value: HWinfo and TS shows max power 30W
After reconnecting, the laptop runs at MSR value (70W)
I don't make any changes to TS during this test and it is always on.

 

[unclewebb]

It looks like the MMIO power limits are doing exactly what they are supposed to do, reduce power when running on battery power.

For better performance, consider setting the MSR power limits higher. You seem to have excellent cooling so I would set them both to 90W or use the same values as the MMIO power limits when plugged in; PL1=90W and PL2=120W. That might help improve your benchmark scores.