Throttlestop showing red "POWER" text to the right of "Limits" despite the package power being well below the PL1 and PL2 limits

[assassin349]

I'm trying to overclock the i7-7820HK in my Alienware 15 R3 but every time I start the AIDA64 "Stress CPU" stress test (not FPU or cache), after approximately 1 minute, "POWER" in red shows up next to "Limits" in Throttlestop (this means the CPU is power throttling right?) even though the package power is only around 45W (I set both the PL1 and PL2 limits to 200W). This causes my CPU's clock speed to drop down to ~3.4 - 3.8 GHz from 4.2 GHz (my 4-core turbo ratio limit). I attached some screenshots of my Throttlestop settings below. Anyone have any ideas to fix this problem?

 

[unclewebb]

the package power is only around 45W

The 7820HK has a 45W TDP rating.

Intel® Core™ i7-7820HK Processor (8M Cache, up to 3.90 GHz) Product Specifications

Intel® Core™ i7-7820HK Processor (8M Cache, up to 3.90 GHz) quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.

ark.intel.com

It looks like Dell is using an embedded controller (EC) to enforce the 45W power limit. During any long term test, the CPU compares the MSR, MMIO and EC power limits and uses the lowest set value which is 45W. ThrottleStop confirms that your CPU is definitely PL1 power limit throttling right at 45W.

There is no solution for this limitation. Sad when Dell decides to cap their Alienware computers that in theory should be enthusiast friendly.

Edit - I would suggest setting both the core and the cache to Adaptive voltage. I am not sure how an undervolt works when one is set to Static and the other is set to Adaptive. I would also enable Speed Shift Technology in the TPL window.

 

[vgm]

@assassin349 Have you tried unchecking BD PROCHOT? Check out speedstep and Speedshift with EPP values of 60 or 70 on AC power and 130 on battery.
If it's on latest BIOS you might have plundervolt ucode which caps the max voltages. I have Skylake 6700HQ and it maxes at 1.01V and undervolt completed disabled I had to switch to carbonaut pad which reduced operating temps by 10-20C and maxes out at 85-89C even at high ambient 40-45C.
Maybe you have max cap of 1.2V when it hits that range CPU performance and frequency tanks down causing heavy stutters. Considering Alienware's past I won't be surprised they throttle performance heavily. Even reverting to old BIOS gives crappy performance even with undervolt and temps being <60C.
You can try the following:
1C boost multiplier: 44x
2C boost multiplier: 42x
3 and 4C boost: 40x

Not sure how the performance hit will be with above. I would suggest unclewebb's suggestion of using Adaptive voltage on CPU core. One more thing is memory freq is strange being limited to 2133MT/s. I have upgraded my RAM from 2133MHz to 3200MHz HyperX and max undervolt was -50mV. I think -100mV should be stable.
For GPU VRAM ICs I switched couple of pads to Graphite thermal pad used on phone and used arctic 1.5mm when there is huge gap.

Sure, it is a lot of things to do on a old dead platform when more time can be invested on new one.