Question Intel XTU CPU Power limit gets automatically reset to 35.00W instead of 15.00W(default). Terrible Thermal Throttling!! Help Please!!

[souvik33]

I am a complete idiot for installing an unsupported version of Intel XTU on my i5-8250U laptop. At first, I thought the thermal paste had dried up. But I discovered that despite of changing the Turbo boost power max to the default TDP of 15.00W, after every restart it changes automatically to 35.00W. Even after uninstalling, this persists. Every 5 minutes, my Fps in Project CARS and Far Cry 4 drops from 35 to 19. And a steep rise in temperature is observed. Using MSI afterburner. I am not considering undervolting since it is not a permanent solution. Any leads would unanimously appreciated!!
Thanks in advance and Regards

 

[mdd1963]

If you do a repair install, or completely reinstall that should certainly remove any remnants of XTU potentially causing the jump to a 35W TDP...(you might also double check that you might be in performance mode within Windows power plan, which might override some of the 15W power saving features...)

As XTU will allow you to specify a max clock speed,I'd install the current XTU, and perhaps you could easily tailor your settings (max time at turbo, max TDP, max clock speeds when 1,2 ,4 cores active, etc..) to desired heat/power/performance levels....

(A 15 watt stock TDP is only going to sustain a decent single core clock speed for a few seconds, and not really allow sustained gaming at all core clocks of 2.5-3 GHz, for example...; many folks see the high turbo of some of these and think they will make nice gaming laptops)

 

[TJ Hooker]

Do you have an option to set TDP in the BIOS? Or just reset BIOS to defaults. Making sure you have the latest BIOS version probably wouldn't hurt either.

 

[souvik33]

Update: I reset my bios, changed my power plan to balanced, yet XTU shows 35W in Power max. Then I used Throttle stop and pressed the "PKG limits" button. Are you sure that this button will restore the TDP? And I have a feeling that XTU is showing incorrect values that do not tally with my Actual TDP. I ran a test play of Project CARS in rain(more intensive) and I was getting 30-36 fps and it didn't even throttle once. Also, the temperatures were around 81-83 degrees. They never crossed 83 degrees.
However, I am still not fully convinced that this has been resolved. If it occurs again, I will update the thread. Kindly reply with your views on this update.
Regards

 

[TJ Hooker]

It's not unusual for laptop CPUs (especially low power U series) to have to throttle back due to temperature or power limits. How long have you had this laptop? Are you sure the performance is actually any different than before you installed XTU?

 

[souvik33]

I purchased this laptop back in October 2018. The throttling issue began after I unparked my remaining virtual cores. I wasn't what was causing it, so called an engineer, who either couldn't figure it out. I resolved it using park control, but don't remember how. Do you think unparked cores on a laptop can cause this throttling? Also, I noticed this problem after altering the TDP manually. Very regretful about using XTU now.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Sorry, I don't know anything about core (un)parking.

What exact laptop model do you have?

 

[souvik33]

Asus Vivobook , Intel core i5-8250U CPU, 4 cores, 8 threads 6MB Smartcache, up to 3.40Ghz. 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, 2 GB Nvidia Geforce 940mx, Windows 10 single language. I know that the GPU is going to Bottleneck the CPU badly, but still that doesn't really explain the thermal issue. I hope that it doesn't happen again. The support provided by Asus is totally unsatisfactory. They have failed to diagnose and contain the problems every single time.