CPU downclocks when playing games

[MHind]

Hello, I hope you can help me with this issue. I have a brand new HP laptop with i5-7200U processor and Windows 10 1709 installed. After installing Intel Extreme Tuning Utility I noticed that after a few minutes of playing FIFA my CPU speed drops to 2.48 Ghz which also affects the performance and lowers FPS. My idle CPU speed is 3.08 GHz and the temperature is around 45°C. While playing FIFA it increases to about 74°C. Below is a screen shot from IETU. When I closed FIFA the speed went back up to 3.08 GHz.

I've just ran FIFA again and it seems like the downclocking occurs when the temperature reaches 80°C. Interestingly the Thermal Throttling is shown as disabled in the picture above.

[MHind]

I've been doing more testing and it seems like when the downclocking occurs the fan also turns up because the temperature varies very little in this time and I can also hear it turning up. What I don't understand is why would the CPU downclock if the fans are doing their job at keeping the temperature down? It also doesn't make much sense to have the CPU boosted at 3.08 GHz when idle and downclocked to 2.48 GHz when gaming where it should be performing to the max.

[idata]

Hi i57200u: Thank you very much for contacting the Intel® Processors communities. We will do our best to assist you with this matter.

In this case the problem could be related to a BIOS setting or a hardware malfunction. So what we recommend in this case is to get in contact with HP directly so they can provide further suggestions like a BIOS update or to verify if there is a setting in the BIOS that is causing this behavior. In the case the issue is related to hardware they also provide the warranty on all the components of your laptop, including the processor:https://support.hp.com/us-en/contact-hp https://support.hp.com/us-en/contact-hp Additionally, we do have a tool to test the processor, it is called Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool, it does an overall test on it including a temperature test, so you can always run it as well:https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/Intel-Processor-Diagnostic-Tool https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/Intel-Processor-Diagnostic-Tool Any further questions, please let me know. Regards,Alberto R

[MHind]

Hi Alberto, thank you for replying. I have contacted Intel and HP but none of them offered any help. Today I ran the benchmark test in XTU and I could see Power Limit Throttling being turned ON and OFF while the CPU speed lowered to 2.89 GHz. When I run XTU with FIFA running in the background the CPU speed goes down to 2.48GHz but Power Limit Throttling does not turn ON. So there is something strange going on.

Interestingly I have been having several event ID's popping up daily in Event Viewer which are related to processing power:

Event ID 37:

The speed of processor 0 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware. The processor has been in this reduced performance state for 71 seconds since the last report.

The speed of processor 1 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware. The processor has been in this reduced performance state for 71 seconds since the last report.

The speed of processor 2 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware. The processor has been in this reduced performance state for 71 seconds since the last report.

The speed of processor 3 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware. The processor has been in this reduced performance state for 71 seconds since the last report.

These warnings seem to occur right after I restart my laptop but not when I shut it down and boot it up.

Event ID 219:

The driver \Driver\WUDFRd failed to load for the device ACPI\INT3400\2&daba3ff&1.

After checking the device instance path for this event I discovered that the ACPI\INT3400 is actually Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework Manager. I do not know if these events are related to the downclocking issues I've been having. When I first checked these events I noticed that they started popping up after I updated to Windows 1709 which I thought might be the cause but then I soon realized that the update deleted all logs prior to updating so I do not know if the events were there before I updated. I haven't gotten any help from Microsoft either although they were very kind.

So right now I am thinking about doing a Fresh Start install of Windows 1709 and see if anything changes. If it doesn't my plan is to downgrade to 1703 to see if that will fix the issue.

I have the latest BIOS and updates from HP installed.

I did a Quick Test in BIOS and every component passed. I ran the Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool and it passed every test.

[MHind]

I have reinstalled windows to version 1607 and all the problems remain (event ID 37 and 219 and CPU downclocking).

What else can I do? The Intel customer support agent would not even clarify if this is normal CPU behavior.

[n_scott_pearson]

These warning messages are telling you exactly what is wrong! Some setting(s) being applied by the BIOS are causing these issues!

Try resetting your BIOS' configuration to defaults and see if this alleviates the issue. If it does not, contact your board/system manufacturer's support people and ask them for help with their BIOS's settings.

...S

[MHind]

Well I am not sure if the warnings are related to the downclocking. I discovered that one warning (Intel DPTF related) is probably showing up because Microsoft removed a service (Windows driver foundation) in 1709 which should be interacting with the driver but since it's missing the warning shows up. Again this may not be true. The other CPU related warnings happen only once when the computer is booted.

Right now I am thinking about rolling back my BIOS, luckily I've made a backup of the old one. I also noticed that when I am downloading files at high WIFI speeds the CPU speed goes down a bit to around 2.8-2.9 GHz. Another thing that I do not understand.

However I am very disappointed with Intel not helping me with this issue.

[idata]

i57200u: In this case, if after trying the BIOS update, restore the BIOS settings to defaults or re-install the OS from scratch the problem persists, then we recommend to get in contact with HP directly, remember they provide the warranty for all the parts in your laptop including the processor, so to get in contact with them will be the next thing to do.

Any questions, please let me know. Regards,Alberto R

[MHind]

Alberto thank your for replying. I haven't yet restored my BIOS. I failed to mention that my graphics card is Radeon R7 M440 which is a 4GB card. When I was buying my computer all other models that had i5-7200U came with a 2GB card. The reason I am saying this is because I suspect that the reason throttling occurs is because the graphics card is more powerful.

I ran more tests with XTU. When running the graphics (AMD card) test the temperature went to about 74C after 8 minutes of stressing however the CPU was at 4-7% throughout the whole test and GPU at 100%.

When I ran the CPU test the temperature also went to about 74C after 3 minutes while the CPU was working at 98-100% and the AMD GPU was off.

So I suspect that when the GPU and CPU are working at the same time while gaming this eventually raises the temperature to 80C at which point the CPU disables Turbo Boost to a base frequency to lower the temperature. What do you think?

It seems like this was set to 80C which I find a little extreme since the CPU could probably handle more. My previous computer had an Intel Core 2 Duo and 90% of the time my computer was extremely hot on the bottom. The heat could also be felt on the table. And it ran like this for 9 years 15h a day without any problems before it died. With my current laptop I can barely feel any heat while I'm playing FIFA. This is probably good but the cost is lower performance.

Another thing I don't understand is why the Power Limit Throttling occurs only when I'm using my integrated graphics card and not while I'm using my dedicated graphics card. With the Radeon it just goes down to 2.48 GHz and stays there.

[idata]

i57200u: You are very welcome. Thank you for providing those details. In regard to your question, yes, the reason for high temperatures as you mentioned could be related to the GPU and CPU working at the same time while gaming but it is hard to tell for sure, and the thing is that when you use a laptop, in those cases since all the hardware/software was installed and customized by the manufacturer of it, we recommend to confirm all those details directly with them.

Just to let you know the t-junction of the processor is 100°C, any temperature value below that range is considered normal, but that is something also that will be confirmed by HP:https://ark.intel.com/products/95443/Intel-Core-i5-7200U-Processor-3M-Cache-up-to-3_10-GHz https://ark.intel.com/products/95443/Intel-Core-i5-7200U-Processor-3M-Cache-up-to-3_10-GHz Any questions, please let me know. Regards,Alberto R