My Alienware m15 R4 now throttles at 70C after repairs

[VirtualBoost]

Hi there!

So I just received my laptop from Dell's repair factory last week and immediately started to notice some weird behaviours with it when playing games such as Dying Light 2, Elden Ring and Halo Infinite. When playing these games, it looks like my laptop is doing everything in it's power to hold 70 degrees celsius (before it was 100C). The backside to this is that I now have severely downgrade performance, as well as stutters in games.

I have attached a few screenshots to this thread. The first one depicts when running a Cinebench R23 test, where it seems to behave just fine.

However, the other one is when I'm running Halo Infinite. As you can see, it immediately lowers to 70C. The screenshot and the log are from two different occassions, but they depict the same problem.

Since my Alienware M15 R4 just had it's service/warranty removed, am I doomed to live with bad performance? The only thing I can see that the factory has done is updating the bios to the latest version, 1.9.0. But nothing in the release notes of the bios upgrades states anything like this, ofc.

I found a similar thread but following the information there didn't help, as I tried to disable FIVR Disable and Lock Turbo Power Limits feature.

Thread: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/cpu-throttle-100-use-ingame-with-70°c.264775/

Please help me, @unclewebb!

 

[unclewebb]

I tried to disable FIVR Disable and Lock Turbo Power Limits feature

You do not want to do that. Download ThrottleStop 9.4.6 from my signature. To enable this feature, check the MMIO Lock box in the TPL window.

updating the bios

Dell bios updates are not always for the better. If performance has decreased and you are allowed to install the previous bios version that you were using before, I would install that. I know the tech dudes at Dell mean well but I would avoid installing any bios updates unless I was sure that I could go back to the previous version.

Your Halo screenshot shows that the CPU is using the maximum 40.00 multiplier. The temperature of the CPU is not important as long as it is running at full speed and it is. The load on the CPU is half as much compared to Cinebench testing so it makes sense that the CPU is not running as hot.

Do you have any Dell software installed that controls the power plans? Make sure the Dell software is set to Ultimate performance or whatever Dell calls it. If that does not change anything, try using ThrottleStop to change to the Windows High Performance power plan.

Your log file does not look good. For some unknown reason the CPU is running almost 1000 MHz slower than it should be. When only running Cinebench, the Nvidia GPU is not active so the CPU is allowed to run at full speed. Often times what happens is once the Nvidia GPU is active when playing a game, the power available for the CPU is automatically decreased. This slows the CPU down. It sure looks like some sort of throttling like this is happening.

Post screenshots of the FIVR and TPL windows so I can see your settings. If possible, try showing me a screenshot of the Limit Reasons window while you are playing and the CPU is throttling. I am not sure if anything is going to show up in Limit Reasons.

 

[VirtualBoost]

Sorry for the delay!

So I took some screenshots of my settings, hopefully they are to some use.

Also, here is the limit from when I am gaming (playing Halo Infinite).

As you can see, it reports on "EDP OTHER" as well as "TVB". I read about TVB in this thread and while it matched my problem (70C throttling), turning the setting off didn't help. https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tvb-blinks-red-in-my-limits.281676/

It is interesting, if I play Halo Infinite, if the window is unfocused, it runs as expected. However, if I focus the window, it starts to limit to 70C. It almost feels like it is game-only related, but since it happens to all games, as well as after reinstalling to Windows 10 or 11, I don't know what to do.

Would you recommend to downgrade bios to the version I used before? I am a bit unsure if it might brick my PC, but might as well give it a shot.

Thanks for your assistance!

 

[unclewebb]

TVB

If you want to get rid of TVB throttling then clear the Thermal Velocity Boost box in the FIVR window.

Do not worry about the RING column in Limit Reasons. The CORE column is the important one. When TVB throttling starts, it automatically triggers EDP OTHER in the RING column. PL1 or PL2 power limit throttling or thermal throttling in the CORE column will also trigger EDP OTHER in the RING column. Run another log file after you clear the Thermal Velocity Boost box.

Going back to a previous BIOS version might not make things any better. There is always a risk. If you are concerned about ending up with an expensive brick then do not try to do this.

 

[VirtualBoost]

Hi!

Here's the log, hope it helps!

 

[unclewebb]

   DATE       TIME    MULTI   C0%   CKMOD  BAT_mW  TEMP   NVIDIA GPU     VID   POWER
2022-04-15  07:35:56  41.08   32.0  100.0       0   68     210    47   1.1361   47.2
2022-04-15  07:35:57  41.09   32.8  100.0       0   72     210    47   1.0854   47.9
2022-04-15  07:35:58  41.02   39.2  100.0       0   73    1605    49   1.0686   46.8
2022-04-15  07:35:59  41.00   61.4  100.0       0   73    1605    49   1.0657   58.6
2022-04-15  07:36:00  41.00   56.0  100.0       0   72    1560    55   1.0797   57.2
2022-04-15  07:36:01  41.00   53.9  100.0       0   70    1560    55   1.0736   56.1
2022-04-15  07:36:02  27.04   63.8  100.0       0   56    1575    56   0.7241   27.7
2022-04-15  07:36:03  27.98   62.2  100.0       0   56    1575    56   0.7682   21.9
2022-04-15  07:36:04  30.26   59.9  100.0       0   59    1650    57   0.7893   25.1
2022-04-15  07:36:05  30.99   72.2  100.0       0   60    1650    57   0.7982   28.8
2022-04-15  07:36:06  30.56   69.2  100.0       0   60    1635    57   0.8125   27.5
2022-04-15  07:36:07  29.17   95.7  100.0       0   59    1635    57   0.7848   26.7
2022-04-15  07:36:08  29.04   92.6  100.0       0   62    1635    57   0.8184   25.3
2022-04-15  07:36:09  31.06   74.9  100.0       0   59    1635    57   0.8304   28.3
2022-04-15  07:36:10  31.34   66.3  100.0       0   60    1620    58   0.8162   28.2

Within a couple of seconds of the Nvidia GPU going up to full speed, CPU power consumption drops in half from almost 60W down to just under 29W. This forces the CPU to throttle and slow down from the 41 multiplier down to about 31. In other words, the CPU is being forced to run approximately 1000 MHz slower than the speed it should be running at.

I am not familiar with Dell's latest throttling method. Dell has been playing this game for more than 10 years. Nothing is showing up for the Limit Reasons data that ThrottleStop normally reports in the log file. If you can, try using HWiNFO and check to see if it reports anything for Limit Reasons.

If you want to try to help and track down what is going on, when your CPU is at a reduced speed like this, run the Dump.exe program.

Dump.zip

drive.google.com

This program will dump the values of various CPU control registers into a file called Dump.txt. You will likely have to right click on the Dump.exe file and select Run as administrator. You can attach the Dump.txt file it creates to your next post or send it to me in a message. You can open the Dump.txt file to have a look at it. Just a bunch of numbers that will not make sense to any normal person. I might get lucky and find something to figure out what is going on. Kind of disgusting to see the trickery that Dell is doing to their high end Alienware laptops.

If you do not feel comfortable running a sketchy looking program like Dump, I understand. The register data it collects is harmless. There must be some sort of power or current limit that Dell is now using. It might be handled internally by an embedded controller. Even if I can prove what the problem is, there might not be any easy way to fix this throttling problem.

 

[Robalo]

@VirtualBoost were You able to solve this issue? I have also similar problem on my M15 R4, I mean CPU under stress seems to be locked using max 40 multiplier (41 without Thermal Velocity Boost), while it should be 42 or 43 when all 8 cores are active in i7-10870H. There's no power or temperature throttling reason.
In HWInfo I see one interesting thing: IA: Max Turbo Limit - YES. What does it mean?
20 Apr 2022 is the dateof last BIOS update, maybe this is somehow connected or maybe it's "just another" AWCC issue...

 

[unclewebb]

IA: Max Turbo Limit

Post a screenshot of the TPL and FIVR windows. Is Speed Shift checked in the TPL window? What is the Speed Shift Max value set to? Also check the MMIO Lock box in the TPL window.

When Cinebench is running, does HWiNFO report the same clock speed as the Effective Clock speed or is the Effective Clock speed lower?

What Speed Shift EPP value does the FIVR window show? Use ThrottleStop to switch to the Windows High Performance power plan and see if that makes any difference.

Edit - The previous 10870H screenshot that was posted shows that the 41 multiplier is the maximum when 8 cores are active. ThrottleStop reads this information from the CPU. The Turbo column in the Turbo Ratio Limits window shows the default maximum multipliers. The Thermal Velocity Boost throttling box needs to be clear to reach maximum speed.

Let me know if you have the low Effective Clock bug. I have a fix for that.

 

[Robalo]

Hello @unclewebb, many thanks for reply. If that's true that the 41 multiplier should be the maximum for i7-10870H when 8 cores are active then it seems there's no problem - but I saw that it should be 42 in few places on the web, including notebookcheck...anyway, please see TPL and FIVR windows below and please let me know if rest of settings look good to You. Effective clock is only about 50Mhz less during Cinebench, so I think there's no problem. Again, thank You very much.

 

[unclewebb]

notebookcheck

Sometimes review sites get pre-production samples that may or may not run at the same speed as the final retail CPUs. Intel no longer publicly documents what the turbo ratios should be so the values reported are not always accurate. Your FIVR screenshot and the FIVR screenshot posted above both show the same maximum turbo ratios which is 41. I would trust the ThrottleStop data that is read from the CPU before I would trust any review site.

Effective clock is only about 50 MHz less during Cinebench, so I think there's no problem

The problem is that no one thinks that this is a problem. HWiNFO only shows a difference of 50 MHz because the timers inside the CPU that HWiNFO uses to calculate this data are being interfered with by Windows Defender. The Effective Core Clock drop of approximately 50 MHz underestimates this problem.

My computer shows the same 5000 MHz for the Core Clocks and the Effective Core Clocks. That is what everyone should be seeing. I get significantly better full load performance when the entire CPU is being fully used like this.

If you want to do some testing for me, run Cinebench R23 for a baseline score. Set the Minimum Test Duration to Off and run a couple of single benchmarks to see what sort of scores you get. I find this testing program is fairly consistent as long as the CPU is not overheating or power limit throttling. If you have trouble running this test at a consistent speed then use ThrottleStop to slow your CPU down so you can get a score without any thermal throttling or power limit throttling. A consistent and repeatable benchmark score is more important for this test than an ultimate high score.

I have been working on an updated version of ThrottleStop that has a fix for this 50 MHz bug. I will send you a download link. Download, unzip and copy the new ThrottleStop.exe into your ThrottleStop folder so it uses the exact same ThrottleStop settings that you are using now. Does the full load Effective Clock speed improve while running Cinebench? The HWiNFO Effective Clock at full load is usually very similar to the MHz that ThrottleStop reports when everything is working right. Did your Cinebench scores improve a noticeable amount?

Before I release this new TS version, it would be nice to see some user test results so I can see if users are getting the same sort of improvements that I have been seeing.

 

[Robalo]

@unclewebb Damn, You were right. Your newer TS version works perfect, now Effective Clocks are maxed out! I have tested Cinebench R23 (about 5 runs), 3DMark Time Spy and two games benchmarks in exactly same conditions, please see the averaged results:

R23 10393 vs 11013 pts (6% increase)
Time Spy CPU Score 8200 vs 8600 (5% increase)
Shadow of Tomb Raider (1080p, highest preset) 117/118 vs 120 FPS (2% increase)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (1080p, default High) 97.7 vs 99 FPS (1% increase)

All the results are 100% stable and repeatable. This may be strange, but I constantly see also 2-3°C lower CPU temperatures. Great job!

 

[unclewebb]

6% is the same increase that I saw in Cinebench R23. Thank you for taking the time to do some thorough testing for me.

Faster and cooler is a win win situation. Your results will encourage users to upgrade to TS 9.5. It is almost ready.

 

[VirtualBoost]

@VirtualBoost were You able to solve this issue? I have also similar problem on my M15 R4, I mean CPU under stress seems to be locked using max 40 multiplier (41 without Thermal Velocity Boost), while it should be 42 or 43 when all 8 cores are active in i7-10870H. There's no power or temperature throttling reason.
In HWInfo I see one interesting thing: IA: Max Turbo Limit - YES. What does it mean?
20 Apr 2022 is the dateof last BIOS update, maybe this is somehow connected or maybe it's "just another" AWCC issue...View attachment 249150

Hi there @Robalo!

Sorry for the lack of updates to this thread. Actually, what happened was that I felt I've had enough for having to deal with Dell for 2+ years. Thus, I decided it was time to invest in a desktop gaming PC, so now I am not using the laptop at all. Thanks so much to @unclewebb for providing help in this thread, really appreciate it!

Feel free to continue in this thread though, if you'd like!

EDIT: Interesting find with the ThrottleStop version. I could also give it a go if you'd like @unclewebb.