Question CPU (i7 6700-Non K) not turbo boosting.

[LauroSalvatore]

I just installed it, and to my surprised it isn't turboing at all, I'm checking individual clocks on hwinfo and they all stay at 3.7ghz, all 4, I ran both Aida64 and Prime95 on Blend and max it reaches is 3.7 on all cores. I made sure turbo boost is enabled in BIOS and also enabled Intel SpeedStep. The only thing that I'm having doubts about is EMTTM, as Turbo Boost in the BIOS says I also need to enable EMTTM, but I can't find EMTTM anywhere in my BIOS, so at this point idk what to do to make it turbo boost.

My specs are:
CPU: i7 6700
RAM: Corsair LPX Vengeance 8GBx1 2133mhz (2400mhz but limited by CPU)
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 1050Ti
Motherboard: Asus Z170M-Plus
PSU: don't really know the model, it's a Gigabyte PSU, 500 watts

P.S. also if it means anything, the cpu does downclock when it's not underload, the frequencies of the cores are not stuck at 3.7, 3.7 is the max it does despite it saying that its max is 4.0ghz on a single core

 

[white.a.drew]

I just installed it, and to my surprised it isn't turboing at all, I'm checking individual clocks on hwinfo and they all stay at 3.7ghz, all 4, I ran both Aida64 and Prime95 on Blend and max it reaches is 3.7 on all cores. I made sure turbo boost is enabled in BIOS and also enabled Intel SpeedStep. The only thing that I'm having doubts about is EMTTM, as Turbo Boost in the BIOS says I also need to enable EMTTM, but I can't find EMTTM anywhere in my BIOS, so at this point idk what to do to make it turbo boost.

My specs are:
CPU: i7 6700
RAM: Corsair LPX Vengeance 8GBx1 2133mhz (2400mhz but limited by CPU)
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 1050Ti
Motherboard: Asus Z170M-Plus
PSU: don't really know the model, it's a Gigabyte PSU, 500 watts

P.S. also if it means anything, the cpu does downclock when it's not underload, the frequencies of the cores are not stuck at 3.7, 3.7 is the max it does despite it saying that its max is 4.0ghz on a single core

Asus Z170M-Plus is the bios upto date and drivers installed

 

[kanewolf]

I just installed it, and to my surprised it isn't turboing at all, I'm checking individual clocks on hwinfo and they all stay at 3.7ghz, all 4, I ran both Aida64 and Prime95 on Blend and max it reaches is 3.7 on all cores. I made sure turbo boost is enabled in BIOS and also enabled Intel SpeedStep. The only thing that I'm having doubts about is EMTTM, as Turbo Boost in the BIOS says I also need to enable EMTTM, but I can't find EMTTM anywhere in my BIOS, so at this point idk what to do to make it turbo boost.

My specs are:
CPU: i7 6700
RAM: Corsair LPX Vengeance 8GBx1 2133mhz (2400mhz but limited by CPU)
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 1050Ti
Motherboard: Asus Z170M-Plus
PSU: don't really know the model, it's a Gigabyte PSU, 500 watts

Your performance is also significantly limited by a single DIMM. You have only 1/2 the designed memory bandwidth.
Look at the very bottom of this page -- https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/intel/core_i7/i7-6700
All core boost is 3.7 SINGLE core boost is 4.0Ghz

 

[LauroSalvatore]

Asus Z170M-Plus is the bios upto date and drivers installed

Yuuup, BIOS is updated, last version indeed

 

[LauroSalvatore]

Your performance is also significantly limited by a single DIMM. You have only 1/2 the designed memory bandwidth.
Look at the very bottom of this page -- https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/intel/core_i7/i7-6700
All core boost is 3.7 SINGLE core boost is 4.0Ghz

I'm well aware, I'm looking forward to getting a second RAM stick, regardless, that doesn't stop the CPU from boosting. I'm also aware that it is single core boost, I previously stated it in my post, and as I said, not a single core is boosting to 4.0ghz, they all stay at 3.7, I'm making sure with hwinfo

https://imgur.com/a/dQS0xvh

View: https://imgur.com/a/dQS0xvh

 

[kanewolf]

I'm well aware, I'm looking forward to getting a second RAM stick, regardless, that doesn't stop the CPU from boosting. I'm also aware that it is single core boost, I previously stated it in my post, and as I said, not a single core is boosting to 4.0ghz, they all stay at 3.7, I'm making sure with hwinfo

https://imgur.com/a/dQS0xvh

View: https://imgur.com/a/dQS0xvh

What are you using to get a single core ONLY task? The software you listed in the first post will generally run on all cores.

 

[LauroSalvatore]

What are you using to get a single core ONLY task? The software you listed in the first post will generally run on all cores.

Perhaps that's my issue, if you could specify any task to stress test a single core I'll happily do it to prove that it is not boosting.

 

[uWebb429]

@LauroSalvatore
The core C states have to be enabled in the BIOS for Intel Turbo Boost to work correctly.

Run ThrottleStop.
https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-throttlestop/

When your computer is idle at the desktop, open its C state window and check if the C states are enabled. Post screenshots of the FIVR and TPL windows.

Run the built in TS Bench test and set this to a 1 Thread test. While this test is in progress, is there any sign of any higher turbo multipliers? There should be. You can also use Cinebench to run a single core test.

Edit - Open up the Task Manager and make sure all of your cores and threads are being reported. Did you have a different CPU installed in this computer before? What was it?

 

[LauroSalvatore]

I ran the TS bench on a single thread and no core boosted at all, they all stayed at 3.7ghz, was checking closely both on ThrottleStop and on hwinfo.
These are the stats of ThrottleStop at idle:

https://imgur.com/a/3upS2Jm

View: https://imgur.com/a/3upS2Jm

I had an i3 6100 installed before upgrading to the i7 6700.
Task manager stats:

https://imgur.com/a/EAdxMT3

View: https://imgur.com/a/EAdxMT3

Also, ran Cinebench on single core mode, once again, to no avail, no core boosted whatsoever, they still remain all at 3.7ghz

P.S. after doing all that also made sure C states were enabled, but that also doesn't seem to have solved the issue either

 

[Joseph_138]

Your CPU is only going to boost to 4ghz if it is using 1 core. 3.7ghz is the limit, when all 4 cores are in use. That's probably what's happening. Whatever you're using to stress test the CPU is using all 4 cores, and not just 1.

 

[kanewolf]

I ran the TS bench on a single thread and no core boosted at all, they all stayed at 3.7ghz, was checking closely both on ThrottleStop and on hwinfo.
These are the stats of ThrottleStop at idle:

https://imgur.com/a/3upS2Jm

View: https://imgur.com/a/3upS2Jm

I had an i3 6100 installed before upgrading to the i7 6700.
Task manager stats:

https://imgur.com/a/EAdxMT3

View: https://imgur.com/a/EAdxMT3

Also, ran Cinebench on single core mode, once again, to no avail, no core boosted whatsoever, they still remain all at 3.7ghz

What is strange is that your CPUs never drop either. They should have minimum below 3.7. I might do a BIOS reset and load optimized defaults.

 

[LauroSalvatore]

Your CPU is only going to boost to 4ghz if it is using 1 core. 3.7ghz is the limit, when all 4 cores are in use. That's probably what's happening. Whatever you're using to stress test the CPU is using all 4 cores, and not just 1.

Well, I used Cinebench and ran a render on single core mode and the result is the same; 3.7ghz on every single core.

 

[LauroSalvatore]

What is strange is that your CPUs never drop either. They should have minimum below 3.7. I might do a BIOS reset and load optimized defaults.

So I reset the BIOS to optimized defaults and nothing changed but Ring/LLC Clock, which now reaches 4ghz, but the cores still seem to be stuck at 3.7ghz when under usage (single core stress tests).

 

[uWebb429]

@LauroSalvatore

When your computer is idle, none of the cores are spending any time in any of the low power C states. If the C states are disabled in the BIOS, there will not be any Turbo Boost. Go into the BIOS and enable the C states.

The second problem is the turbo ratios in the FIVR window are not set correctly. The default turbo ratios are shown; 40, 39, 38, 37 from top to bottom. Your CPU is set to 37 whether 1, 2, 3 or all 4 cores are active. Intel Turbo Boost is not going to work correctly unless the turbo ratios in the FIVR window are set correctly.

Get both of those problems fixed and turbo boost should start working properly. If you make any changes in the BIOS, delete the ThrottleStop.INI configuration file before running ThrottleStop. If you do not do this, ThrottleStop will use the settings that you previously saved to ThrottleStop and it will ignore any BIOS changes you have made.

 

[LauroSalvatore]

@LauroSalvatore

When your computer is idle, none of the cores are spending any time in any of the low power C states. If the C states are disabled in the BIOS, there will not be any Turbo Boost. Go into the BIOS and enable the C states.

The second problem is the turbo ratios in the FIVR window are not set correctly. The default turbo ratios are shown; 40, 39, 38, 37 from top to bottom. Your CPU is set to 37 whether 1, 2, 3 or all 4 cores are active. Intel Turbo Boost is not going to work correctly unless the turbo ratios in the FIVR window are set correctly.

Get both of those problems fixed and turbo boost should start working properly. If you make any changes in the BIOS, delete the ThrottleStop.INI configuration file before running ThrottleStop. If you do not do this, ThrottleStop will use the settings that you previously saved to ThrottleStop and it will ignore any BIOS changes you have made.

Thing is, C states are enabled, I just made sure of that. What bugs me is the fact that as you say the ratios are all set to 37, any idea on how to fix that and make them be 40, 39, 38, 37?

 

[uWebb429]

@LauroSalvatore
You can use ThrottleStop to change the turbo ratios in the FIVR window. That will not help though if the C states are disabled. Switching CPUs might have changed something in Windows to break the C states.

Fully open the ThrottleStop C states window, press the >> box to do this. Check the C States - AC box, select the On radio button and then press the Apply button. Is there any C state activity in the monitoring table? If not, go back into the BIOS and try setting the C states to AUTO.

Lots of motherboards from this era had issues with the C states not working correctly. You might have to reinstall Windows with the C states enabled in the BIOS before you get started. Without any C states, the maximum multiplier will always be 37.

 

[LauroSalvatore]

@LauroSalvatore
You can use ThrottleStop to change the turbo ratios in the FIVR window. That will not help though if the C states are disabled. Switching CPUs might have changed something in Windows to break the C states.

Fully open the ThrottleStop C states window, press the >> box to do this. Check the C States - AC box, select the On radio button and then press the Apply button. Is there any C state activity in the monitoring table? If not, go back into the BIOS and try setting the C states to AUTO.

Lots of motherboards from this era had issues with the C states not working correctly. You might have to reinstall Windows with the C states enabled in the BIOS before you get started. Without any C states, the maximum multiplier will always be 37.

Huh, interesting thing happened, idk if it was supposed to, but when I check the 'C States - AC' options and hit apply it goes back to being unchecked.

Also, idk if this changes anything, but I'm running W11

 

[LauroSalvatore]

@uWebb429 Now that I think about it... A long ago in my interest of fully optimizing my PC I tweaked a few things in the registry, and I came to find this:

https://imgur.com/a/lKG7lIZ

View: https://imgur.com/a/lKG7lIZ

I saved that as a .reg and ran it, so those are the current registry settings for those values.
Could any of those settings be disabling C states? If so, which of them do I need to change for C states to be functional again?

And a somewhat off-topic-related question; I mostly play e-sport shooters, like CS:GO, Overwatch, and Valorant, do I really wanna enable C-States in order to get turbo boost or would it be more optimal for my case to leave c-states off when it comes to stability and latency?

 

[Mr.Spock]

1st line sets Cstates to 0!?

as other have said Boost only occurs when multiple cores are idle and 1 maybe two threads are active. CPU-Z single core bench can easily confirm if it's working as will any of the numerous benchmarking tools

 

[LauroSalvatore]

1st line sets Cstates to 0!?

as other have said Boost only occurs when multiple cores are idle and 1 maybe two threads are active. CPU-Z single core bench can easily confirm if it's working as will any of the numerous benchmarking tools

So uh... Apparently yeah, those 2 first lines are in charge of disabling c states, thing is, I'm pretty sure the one should be set to 1, but the second line has a completely different value which I simply don't know its default. I'm guessing its default value is the same in all computers? If so, could I copy the value of any computer that has c states enabled and change the value my PC currently has?
And yes, as I also said I KNOW that turbo boost becomes active during single core tasks, I mentioned it QUITE a few times in all my previous replies. I see no point in reminding the obvious, despite, as @uWebb429 mentioned a couple of times; C-states must be enabled for turbo boost to work, and as implied; c-states are disabled, I see your whole reply rather pointless, if not to help I'd appreciate no replies whatsoever.

 

[kanewolf]

So uh... Apparently yeah, those 2 first lines are in charge of disabling c states, thing is, I'm pretty sure the one should be set to 1, but the second line has a completely different value which I simply don't know its default. I'm guessing its default value is the same in all computers? If so, could I copy the value of any computer that has c states enabled and change the value my PC currently has?

This might be a good time to think about a clean Windows install. Registry hacks are never a good thing if you don't know what they do.

 

[LauroSalvatore]

This might be a good time to think about a clean Windows install. Registry hacks are never a good thing if you don't know what they do.

That's kinda why I asked if I'll even get any benefit from turbo boost in my case when it comes to e-sports titles, because a clean install is a hassle, and if it'll bring me worse performance than I'm currently getting then it's rather pointless.

 

[kanewolf]

That's kinda why I asked if I'll even get any benefit from turbo boost in my case when it comes to e-sports titles, because a clean install is a hassle, and if it'll bring me worse performance than I'm currently getting then it's rather pointless.

Yes a clean OS install is a hassle. I can't answer if your game performance will improve or not. It can improve other performance, by not having years of junk in the registry. If you are a person that installs and uninstalls LOTS of random software, I would recommend a clean OS install just to get rid of all the junk.

Your performance WILL improve when you fix your RAM bandwidth problem.

 

[LauroSalvatore]

Yes a clean OS install is a hassle. I can't answer if your game performance will improve or not. It can improve other performance, by not having years of junk in the registry. If you are a person that installs and uninstalls LOTS of random software, I would recommend a clean OS install just to get rid of all the junk.

Your performance WILL improve when you fix your RAM bandwidth problem.

I'm well aware of the RAM topic.
When it comes to the OS, the last clean install was around September, so there aren't many changes to be restored.

 

[uWebb429]

@LauroSalvatore
My computer that is running Windows 10 does not use some of the items that you have added to your registry. I am not sure what the default values should be. Your CPU uses a very small percentage of turbo boost. I would leave the registry and C states as is. It is not worth bothering with. Definitely not worth installing Windows again because of this.

At least now you know the reason why Intel Turbo Boost is not working correctly for you. Some people who recommend these registry tweaks do not realize that turbo boost depends on having the C states enabled.

If you are going to use ThrottleStop, I would enable Speed Shift in the TPL window. On the main screen I would check the Speed Shift EPP box and change it from 128 to 0. This tells the CPU to run at maximum speed regardless of load. That is perfect for gaming.

If you want your CPU to slow down when lightly loaded, change the EPP value from 0 to 84.