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M17x R4 with 3920xm overclock - TDP Throttle


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I posted about this over here, but that has not gained much traction, so I figured that this might be a better place to ask. The full details are in the Reddit post, in case I forget something here, but essentially, I am having trouble with what appears to be a CPU TDP throttle restricting my 3920xm overclock when the package power reaches 55W.

My specs are:

  • System: M17x R4
  • CPU: 3920xm
  • GPU: GTX 980m
  • RAM: 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz
  • OS: Windows 8.1 64-bit (MBR/legacy boot with Optimus)
  • PSU: 330W
  • BIOS: A11 Unlocked

 

No matter what multiplier I set in the BIOS or Intel XTU for any combination of 1, 2, 3, or 4 cores active (currently trying 42x for all) my CPU still throttles back to 3.6GHz under a benchmark. Moderate loads of around 50% see a max ratio of 40x~41x but still not meeting the overclock I set. Under a full load at 3.6GHz my CPU is only reaching about 88º C with both an upgraded CPU fan and a repaste, so I don't think that thermal throttling is causing this trouble at the moment.

 

ThrottleStop lights up the "TDP Throttle" indicator when this happens, and looking under TPL shows that ThrottleStop is reading a Turbo Boost power limit of just 55W (which is Intel's factory max). I do have "Turbo PWR Limit MSR Lock" disabled in my BIOS, and current limits maxed. To be fair, though, this BIOS is still very unfamiliar and difficult to navigate for me, so I could very well have incorrectly adjusted some values.

 

Is there a way to force the (Turbo) TDP limit higher than 55W? Is my system actually capable of sending more power than this to the CPU? Is there maybe something wrong with my CPU that causes it to ignore my BIOS settings?

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Hey, unfortunately there aren't any options to limit the voltage. I also upgraded from an i7 3610qm to an i7 3940xm, and my temps also went beyond 90 degrees which means it's throttling down. Now I did two things so my temps decreased, the first thing is, I lapped the heatsink of the cpu which decreased temps by around 10-15 which is already a huge difference. The second thing is, I replaced the m17X r4 fan with an m14x r2 fan, the r2 fan has a better cfm compared to the m17x r4 in exchange for louder operation (not too loud tho) 

 

I'll share some links with more information about the fan upgrade and lapping your heatsink, good luck :o)

 

 

 

 

http://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/lapping/

Edited by naightmehr
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