Windows 10: CPU speed at 0.48Ghz during low battery

Hi,

On my laptop, I have noticed that the CPU speed is dramatically reduced from 1.98Ghz to 0.48Ghz whilst low on battery. As soon as I plug the laptop in, the CPU speed returns to 1.98Ghz. This loss of CPU speed has a great impact on system performance, rendering the laptop near useless.

My laptop is running an Intel Core i3, and I believe that the technology which controls the speed of the CPU is called SpeedStep. There is no option in the BIOS to turn this feature off. I have also tried to change this setting in the 'Power Plan' options (in Windows). I changed the minimum processor state to 100% and the cooling policy to 'Active'.

I would like to keep my CPU running at 1.98Ghz. Any suggestions?

(see this photo for clarification)

Many thanks.

:)

 

CPU and GPU clock speeds drop under load

I'm having a weird problem with my laptop where, every few seconds during playing high-load games, the CPU and GPU both drop speed sharply for a second, causing a big slowdown in framerate. (For instance, the CPU speed will suddenly drop from about 3.4 GHz
to less than 0.8 GHz). At the same time, the screen's brightness will dip as well, which suggests to me that it's related to my power settings. It also seems to happen more frequently when I'm charging a low battery than when the battery is full - I've even
had it happen while streaming video when I'm charging from a low battery.

I've tried switching my power plan settings so that everything is the same for "On battery" and "Plugged in", which solves the brightness changing but does not solve the speed drop. I've also tried monitoring the temperatures of the GPU and CPU but they never
seem too high. I've tried clean installs, updating drivers, etc. I don't have anything overclocked. I've had the laptop for a about a year and the problem is quite new, and seems to be getting worse.

System:

Gigabyte P55 WR7 notebook

Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.8GHz

16 GB RAM

NVidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB

[Moved from: Windows/ Gaming on Windows 10]

 

N82 Processor vs. N78 Processor

All mobile CPUs will set their frequency into a low level after an amount of free time to save battery life. So if you want to check check the speed, it will mostly return the lowest one.

 

That can happen and is somewhat normal depending upon how the manufacturer implemented it. I have done it and seen others do it by changing the power scheme to an always-on Desktop. Of course that depletes the battery much faster. But then Windows takes a lot of its settings from what the BIOS makes available.

 

Hi there,

Many thanks for your reply.

What do you mean by an always on power scheme? How would I go about enabling this?

 

Haven't needed it but it worked on WinXP in the Power Options in Control Panel, just need to check Power Options, Balanced, Change plan settings, Change advanced power settings. Some Notebooks may not have exactly the same thing as brands can have their own version of controls.

 

Hi there,

Sorry, but I am still not sure what your point is.

If I go to "Control Panel, just need to check Power Options, Balanced, Change plan settings, Change advanced power settings" and change the minimum CPU state to 100%, no change happens, as I stated in my original post. You can see my settings in the screen shot linked to the original post.

Thanks

 

Guess it's time for a new machine but maybe try a new battery?

 

Power management and battery saving isn't the only thing controlling the CPU speed, there's also the cooling policy. Passive cooling reduces clock speeds to keep the heat down while active cooling favours boosting the fan speed. You should see 'System cooling policy' in your advanced power management settings.

 

Hi there,

Thanks for both of your replies.

Regarding Berton's reply, the laptop is only about a month old, so defiantly not time for a new one yet!

As for Bree's reply, the 'System cooling policy' is now set to active. However, the laptop continues to go to 0.48Ghz when low on battery.

Thanks again to both of you. *Smile

 

Perhaps a silly question, but there's a 'Maximum processor state' setting there too. What's that set to?

 

A month old? Should be in warranty, battery also, 1-year unless extended was purchased. But most replacement batteries carry only a 1-year warranty.

 

It is possible that the hardware is overriding user settings in a low battery situation. If that is the case there is nothing you can do.

 

I think that I am getting somewhere!

First, I will address each of the solutions.

The maximum processor state is also set to 100%!

I do not believe that the battery or hardware is at fault, so I will not be returning the laptop. *Smile

Yes, I believe that this is the case.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________

Okay, now for what I hope is the solution!

My laptop is a Lenovo Yoga 500-15IBD. I found that this problem is very common among Lenovo laptops, and the only way to solve it is to download a program called ThrottleStop and turn off the 'BD PROCHOT' setting. This had an immediate effect: my laptop is now below 30% (this is the point that it previously throttled) and running at the full 1.98Ghz.

This is the information helped me (from this Lenovo forum)

Let's hope that this issue is now resolved.

Many thanks to everyone who posted, all the help is appreciated. *Smile