Question Intel i7-7700K locked to 0,80 GHz

[n3sts]

Hi!

I recently upgraded my PC from a GTX 1060 to a RTX 3060 in order to get better FPS. Before switching cards I made a factory reset to wipe my files from the computer(storage was so full that it had an effect on the performance). I also redownloaded the newest versions of all drivers that I could find. The issue is that the CPU starts at 4,20GHz only to drop down to 0,80GHz after about 10 seconds or so. It is not overheating as the cooling is enough to keep it between 45-60 C depending on workload. I have tried most solutions that I could find online and usually they haven't helped. Yesterday I was able to play games for a whole night without issues and that made me think it had been miraculously solved, but today it is back at being locked to 0,80GHz. I have set all my BIOS settings to default(except for Intel Adaptive Thermal Monitor), I have set the Windows power options to 100% and I have tried switching back to my old GPU to no avail.

I appreciate any and all suggestions and/or help!

My specs:
MSI Z270 Gaming Pro
Intel Core i7-7700K
Corsair 16GB(8x2) 3000MHz
Bitfenix Whisper M 750W
MSI GeForce RTX 3060 12GB Gaming X

 

[punkncat]

Did you go to motherboard man. website and load all the base level drivers from there? Chipset drivers?

You might try this tool. It works pretty well at finding and installing the proper things for Intel.

Intel® Driver & Support Assistant

 

[n3sts]

Did you go to motherboard man. website and load all the base level drivers from there? Chipset drivers?

You might try this tool. It works pretty well at finding and installing the proper things for Intel.

Intel® Driver & Support Assistant

I used the Intel Driver & Support Assistant but there were no new drivers or software to be downloaded, and as far as I know I have all the drivers for the motherboard.

 

[Phaaze88]

Try reinstalling the Cpu EPS cable. That 0.80ghz means there's no power - usually.

 

[n3sts]

Try reinstalling the Cpu EPS cable. That 0.80ghz means there's no power - usually.

I just did that. The cable felt like it was seated correctly, but I still removed it and put it back. When I started the PC it began at 0,80GHz, then shortly increased to 4,40 GHz, to then go to -4,20GHz(Which nobody has managed to explain to me why it does), and now it is going back and forth between 4,40GHz and -4,20GHz.

 

[Phaaze88]

4.40ghz is the all core boost frequency, 4.20ghz is base, only a single core active is 4.5ghz.
When it's observed to be changing so often, that's how the cpu saves power; they sleep when not being used.
If the cores are stuck at 0.80ghz when you're trying to work, then something's wrong with hardware - which is why I asked about the cable - or bios settings.

What's the Vcore mode? Manual/override, offset, adaptive, auto? If not auto, then return it to auto.
Is Intel Speed Shift or Speed Step enabled? Don't have both enabled, but enable/leave enabled Speed Step; Speed Shift may be broken.

 

[n3sts]

4.40ghz is the all core boost frequency, 4.20ghz is base, only a single core active is 4.5ghz.
When it's observed to be changing so often, that's how the cpu saves power; they sleep when not being used.
If the cores are stuck at 0.80ghz when you're trying to work, then something's wrong with hardware - which is why I asked about the cable - or bios settings.

What's the Vcore mode? Manual/override, offset, adaptive, auto? If not auto, then return it to auto.
Is Intel Speed Shift or Speed Step enabled? Don't have both enabled, but enable/leave enabled Speed Step; Speed Shift may be broken.

Vcore is set to auto, and I have Speed Step activated. I also have Intel Turbo Boost activated. Could that be related to the problem?

 

[Phaaze88]

Vcore is set to auto, and I have Speed Step activated. I also have Intel Turbo Boost activated. Could that be related to the problem?

No; I recently found out that Adaptive mode and Speed Shift may not work correctly, that's why I asked what they were set to.

I have set all my BIOS settings to default(except for Intel Adaptive Thermal Monitor)

Why was this changed?

 

[n3sts]

No; I recently found out that Adaptive mode and Speed Shift may not work correctly, that's why I asked what they were set to.



Why was this changed?

Because I got informed that it stops my CPU from frying itself if it gets too hot, and that I should turn it off just to see if the sensors were faulty

 

[Phaaze88]

Hmm. Well I'm stumped...

 

[uWebb429]

@n3sts

Many MSI motherboards use a LN2 switch that allows overclockers to boot up at 800 MHz. After they safely get into Windows, they can toggle the switch and get a quick screenshot of their full overclock in CPU-Z.

Wonderful stuff until inevitably these switches fail or get full of dust and short out. Then they start sending random throttling signals directly to the CPU. This can happen at any temperature or any CPU load.

The next time your CPU is stuck at 800 MHz, run ThrottleStop, open the Limit Reasons window and see if BD PROCHOT is glowing red. That is the reason for throttling. On the main screen try clearing the BD PROCHOT box and see if your CPU goes back up to full speed. Disabling BD PROCHOT prevents these external throttling signals from getting to the CPU. The CPU will still be able to thermal throttle and slow down to protect against any damage if it gets too hot whether BD PROCHOT is checked or not. BD PROCHOT only blocks external throttling signals.

I am sure that many MSI boards have ended up in the trash because of this common issue.

 

[n3sts]

@n3sts

Many MSI motherboards use a LN2 switch that allows overclockers to boot up at 800 MHz. After they safely get into Windows, they can toggle the switch and get a quick screenshot of their full overclock in CPU-Z.

Wonderful stuff until inevitably these switches fail or get full of dust and short out. Then they start sending random throttling signals directly to the CPU. This can happen at any temperature or any CPU load.

The next time your CPU is stuck at 800 MHz, run ThrottleStop, open the Limit Reasons window and see if BD PROCHOT is glowing red. That is the reason for throttling. On the main screen try clearing the BD PROCHOT box and see if your CPU goes back up to full speed. Disabling BD PROCHOT prevents these external throttling signals from getting to the CPU. The CPU will still be able to thermal throttle and slow down to protect against any damage if it gets too hot whether BD PROCHOT is checked or not. BD PROCHOT only blocks external throttling signals.

I am sure that many MSI boards have ended up in the trash because of this common issue.

When I opened the Limit Reasons window BD PROCHOT was yellow, but there was something called PL 1 that was red. What does that mean?

 

[uWebb429]

@n3sts

PL1 is power limit throttling. This can happen if the power limits are set too low or if they are set incorrectly by the BIOS. Post some ThrottleStop screenshots if you want help with this. Include the main window as well as the TPL and FIVR windows. Use an image hosting site like www.imgur.com

I would clear the BD PROCHOT box on the main ThrottleStop screen regardless. If BD PROCHOT is yellow, that is a sign that there was some previous BD PROCHOT throttling since the last time you booted up. When a box is red in Limit Reasons, that indicates that throttling is in progress.

 

[n3sts]

@n3sts

PL1 is power limit throttling. This can happen if the power limits are set too low or if they are set incorrectly by the BIOS. Post some ThrottleStop screenshots if you want help with this. Include the main window as well as the TPL and FIVR windows. Use an image hosting site like www.imgur.com

I would clear the BD PROCHOT box on the main ThrottleStop screen regardless. If BD PROCHOT is yellow, that is a sign that there was some previous BD PROCHOT throttling since the last time you booted up. When a box is red in Limit Reasons, that indicates that throttling is in progress.

Here are the ThrottleStop images.

https://imgur.com/a/JhatDJF

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

 

[uWebb429]

Either the BIOS is not setting your turbo power limits correctly or else you are running some software on your computer that is setting both turbo power limits to 0. Are you using Dragon Center or any similar programs like that? Does this only happen when playing certain games? There was an issue like this last year about this time but I never followed it too closely. People used ThrottleStop to fix their problem but never bothered to follow up to help others.

Open the ThrottleStop Turbo Power Limits window. Clear the Disable Controls check box. Set both Long Power PL1 and Short Power PL2 to 125. On my desktop computer I have both of these set to 300 which is fine too. The CPU will only use as much power as it needs to run at full speed.

Press the Apply button and you should see the power limit values change at the top.

With both of your turbo power limits set to 0, this is telling the CPU to run as slow as possible so it does not exceed 0 Watts. Of course that is impossible. This is what is causing the CPU to run at 800 MHz and why it never runs faster than that.

Double check your BIOS settings. See what the turbo power limits are set to in the BIOS. If you make any changes when you are in the BIOS, you need to delete the ThrottleStop.INI configuration file before running ThrottleStop. If you do not do this, your BIOS changes will be ignored and ThrottleStop will set the CPU to the previous values that you saved in ThrottleStop.

Post some updated screenshots and maybe a log file too if you get this problem solved. You can copy and paste log file data to www.pastebin.com

 

[n3sts]

Either the BIOS is not setting your turbo power limits correctly or else you are running some software on your computer that is setting both turbo power limits to 0. Are you using Dragon Center or any similar programs like that? Does this only happen when playing certain games? There was an issue like this last year about this time but I never followed it too closely. People used ThrottleStop to fix their problem but never bothered to follow up to help others.

Open the ThrottleStop Turbo Power Limits window. Clear the Disable Controls check box. Set both Long Power PL1 and Short Power PL2 to 125. On my desktop computer I have both of these set to 300 which is fine too. The CPU will only use as much power as it needs to run at full speed.

Press the Apply button and you should see the power limit values change at the top.

With both of your turbo power limits set to 0, this is telling the CPU to run as slow as possible so it does not exceed 0 Watts. Of course that is impossible. This is what is causing the CPU to run at 800 MHz and why it never runs faster than that.

Double check your BIOS settings. See what the turbo power limits are set to in the BIOS. If you make any changes when you are in the BIOS, you need to delete the ThrottleStop.INI configuration file before running ThrottleStop. If you do not do this, your BIOS changes will be ignored and ThrottleStop will set the CPU to the previous values that you saved in ThrottleStop.

Post some updated screenshots and maybe a log file too if you get this problem solved. You can copy and paste log file data to www.pastebin.com

I did not find anything that would necessarily limit the turbo in BIOS(probably because lack of expertise). What I did find however, was that if I set the TPL-windows long and short(PL1 and PL2) to 300 and launched ThrottleStop as soon as I started the PC the clock would never go lower than 4,20GHz. But as soon I exit ThrottleStop the limiter would be once again set to 0,80GHz

 

[uWebb429]

as soon I exit ThrottleStop the limiter would be once again set to 0,80GHz

The limiter is setting the power limits to 0. The low GHz are because of the power limit. If this is happening while you are in Windows then it is not a BIOS issue. Look harder on your computer for a program that can control the power limits.

Did you install any new MSI software when you installed your new MSI graphics card? Big mistake if you did. Download Nvidia GPU drivers from Nvidia and do not install any MSI control software. Remove anything MSI related from Add / Remove programs.

If you still cannot find anything, check the Lock box in the Power Limit Controls section with the two PL1 and PL2 power limits set appropriately. Once the MSR and MMIO power limits are both locked, no software will be able to make any changes. Each time you reboot, or do a sleep resume, you will need to run ThrottleStop to keep the turbo power limits locked.

Edit - I seem to remember that this issue was related to one specific game but I cannot remember which game was doing this. No game should be touching the turbo power limits and they definitely should not be setting them both to 0. I think the bug is that the maximum value that the power limit register can contain is 4095.875W. Some helpful software thought it would be a good idea to round this up to 4096W. Big mistake. Trying to write 4096 to this register causes it to overflow so this register ends up containing 0W. This bug has been around for at least a year.

 

[n3sts]

I'm very late to reply, but I've been busy. The advice that I got regarding Throttle Stop seems to have done the trick. I have never dipped down to 0,80GHz since. Thanks a lot for all of the help that I got here!