Intel XTU + Alder Lake Ring issue

[Anonymous]

Changing cache clock in Intel XTU on an alder lake processor (i9 12900k my platform)

will force cache frequency to be set to P-Core ring frequency which in my case can go up to 4.6ghz, this can cause instability issues like apps crashing or in some cases even a BSOD when the E-Cores are active as well, it should downclock to 3.6ghz in that scenario.

Is any of the devs reading this forum? how can I let them know this is an issue that basically makes this program unusable for what it was designed for?

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello Alexander89,  

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.   

In order to better assist you, please provide the following:  

1. Run the Intel® System Support Utility (Intel® SSU) to gather more details about the system.  

· Download the Intel® SSU and save the application on your computer:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/18377/intel-system-support-utility-for-windows.html  

· Open the application, check the "Everything" checkbox, and click "Scan" to see the system and device information. The Intel® SSU defaults to the "Summary View" on the output screen following the scan. Click the menu where it says "Summary" to change to "Detailed View".  

· To save your scan, click Next and click Save.  

2. Provide the Report for Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool:

- https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/15951/intel-processor-diagnostic-tool.html

3. Is this issue recent? If so, when did it start?

4. Can you take pictures where we can see the issue?

Also, I would like to let you know that Intel does not support/recommend overclocking the processor since this can cause issues with the unit and may damage the system.

Regards,  

Deivid A. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello Alexander89, 

Were you able to check the previous post and get the information requested? Please let me know if you need more assistance.   

Regards,  

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[Anonymous]

Information provided, but it's not going to give you any clues on what is going on, also E-Cores are currently disabled because I am testing stuff.

I already have repro steps that are 100% reproducible at least on my motherboard.

Using this on an Asus Prime Z690-P D4

When running default CPU settings ring clock can boost as high as 4.6/4.7 ghz  when E-Cores are not active, any workload on the E-Cores will drop ring frequency down to 3.6ghz, this frequency change can happen many times in a second depending on the scheduler's mood.

If you manually set ANY frequency in intel XTU it will force it at that frequency regardless if E-Cores are active or not, going above 4.0ghz and doing any kind of multithreaded work can crash the program or cause a BSOD.

The problem is that the original default behaviour cannot be reset from withing XTU

not even setting it to default in the BIOS (The setting is called Ring Down Bin, which should be left to Enabled) I need to reload an existing profile or reload system defaults, it will totally ignore any setting you choose otherwise.

The program is missing a feature to handle Alder Lake's edge case, it would be really nice if we could specify a max P-Core only ring ratio and an E-Core max ring ratio to retain the default behaviour, as it is now it's only making systems unstable and I bet not many people will easily find out how to fix the issue as it's probably messing with a hidden option that is not present in any BIOS i encountered so far. 

[WoolCladWolf]

Sorry Anonymous,, 

unfortunate, Xtu when the stars aliened on 9th gen platform Could prove useful for feeling out a systems comfort zones. Between Win 11 WS OS and enabled windows features. XTU was one of many things that "Invalid OS" issues kept me from exploring.

Sounds like you know, more then a non owner would likely gleam... i ruined my z390 socket right around the launch.. StrixDDR4 and 12900K curious if you ,, first of 4 boards to post with xmp*.  4500 18.20'.44 B die decent timings at attained frequencies in whatever plausible deniability combo" its been in.. 

Marketing is pulling a classic Samsung G9 move with the new hybrid launch; boast about all of attainable performance, not new what does seem troubling is the complete disregard for what used to be industry standard ***asterisk's**** .

bundle "smaller scale" cores with ALL the high binned Valuable cores.. Were all about spread sheet performance, Usable? Cache?: regardless
! hand over the cash,,, 

I'd buy it again,,

its as adequate as i would've hoped for being 

~~5100Mhz Cache with Pcore/ pThread 12900k,,, those **CAN BE GOOD*** might ""JUSTIFIE" BUYING YOUR EPA COMITMENT"" < 

YEAH .. Then again as were buying a high degree of variability due to nuances and things we dont understansd,,, Its a simp life for me XD

a process node yet to Prestige ++++++ . 9600kf,  9900K,,  sweet and if you Could not protect me from myself with Safire Rapids at 5+++Ghz  with >10 cores Enabled yes i {and id imagine we,,,,) would buy 52 if we could get 10 top tier of top tiers cores wit adaquate cooling for 58 @ BUisness casual MAYBE 10/58 At Daily extreme oc gaming ,,,, i dont know Should there be an astrick or is that for wikipedia to post 5 years after relavance... don't bake in clocks/ Multi's ..the 3D stack So they can market out of the box... SPEC SHEET... 3dX cpu BEST Gaming,, sigh,.. 

fall backs, safeties, defaults, asterisk's!*! Sure of course and yes please... you know i was surprised to see KINGPIN Z690 MB in stock at EVGA until i saw the rumored how other then extra things to disable in the bios,,

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello Alexander89, 

Thank you for the information provided 

I will proceed to check the issue internally and post back soon with more details. 

Best regards, 

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello Alexander89,

In order to continue further, I would appreciate it if you can share with us the "step by step" to replicate this issue.

This will help to analyze the source of this issue.

Regards,  

Deivid A. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[Anonymous]

Go into the cache frequency tab

Set Cache/Ring to any multiplier you like, for my 12900k a multiplier set to 46x will cause instabilities in programs that use more cores where load is spread out to E-Cores aswell (this is not the main issue I know this is an architecture limitation)

Cache/Ring multiplier default behaviour for alder lake is to downclock it when E-Cores are active to prevent instabilities, setting multiplier in XTU will bypass this behaviour and set it's own max multiplier.

The main problem, at least on my motherboard can't tell for the other models, is that once it's setup like this in XTU there is nothing you can do in XTU or directly from the BIOS to restore the default behaviour.

To fix the issue you have to reload a working BIOS profile or the factory defaults to fix this issue.

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello Alexander89, 

Thanks for the information provided. I will check this situation internally and let you know about any updates as soon as possible.

Regards,  

Deivid A. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello Alexander89, 

In order to proceed further, please try to update the Intel® Extreme Tuning Utility (Intel® XTU) to version 7.6.0.37 and let me know if the issue persists.

- Intel® Extreme Tuning Utility (Intel® XTU):

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/17881/intel-extreme-tuning-utility-intel-xtu.html

Best regards, 

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello Alexander89,  

Were you able to check the previous post? Please let me know if you need more assistance.   

Regards,  

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[Anonymous]

I already was on the latest xtu version, but don't worry, there are so many other bugs it's just not worth it to use

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello Anonymous, 

I understand the situation, if the issue persists, I recommend you to open a new thread in order to get proper support.

Best regards, 

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[Anonymous]

This was not for support but a bug report

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello Alexander89,  

We have not heard back from you, so we will close this inquiry. If you need further assistance or if you have additional questions, please create a new thread and we will gladly assist you.  

Regards,  

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician