Lenovo Y50 CPU Throttling Issue

[CPUGeek]

Hi all,

I recently bought a Lenovo Y50, because I'm a gamer who also needed a laptop for school, and it seemed like the best fit. I'm extremely happy with it, but there's a really weird CPU throttling issue that I'm extremely confused about. Whenever I put a heavy load on the CPU (video/image rendering) it turbos up to 3.2GHz, as it should, and temps are only at ~65 degrees, but then after about 7 seconds or so, the CPU downclocks all the way to stock, and the temperatures hover around ~60 degress. Is this normal? It just seems odd to me that the CPU would throttle without even breaking 70 degrees. If this is a problem, is there anything I can do to fix it?

Thanks in advance.

Forgot to mention, CPU is i7-4700HQ

 

[Jonathan Sifleet]

"Thats a feature, not a bug"

CPUs that support turbo boost will only do so assuming everything's okay power and temperature wise. Evidently 65 degrees is not a good temperature for turbo boost

 

[CPUGeek]

"Thats a feature, not a bug"

CPUs that support turbo boost will only do so assuming everything's okay power and temperature wise. Evidently 65 degrees is not a good temperature for turbo boost

I mean, yeah I do know that it's not going to keep clocking up when it's not good on power and temperature, it just seems strange to me that 35 degrees below the chips' recommended max temperature is too hot.

Whatever though, more than anything I just wanted the input of someone else. Thank you.

 

[miguelavin]

This is not realy a solution but... here goes.

I think the power brick might be a problem. It's simply incapable of supplying the power needed for the processor to operate safely. Either that... or the bios is SUPER conservative. I'm afraid it might be the latter I'm VERY concearned about this since I bought the machine as a replacement for my Thinkpad w520 and I make a living out of this.

I use these machines professionally for 3d rendering, motion graphics and some video editing. The power brick on my w520 is A MONSTER (google lenovo w520 power brick), just... massive; and rated at 170 watts since it had to power even the w520's that came equiped with the extreme edition 2nd gen CPU's wich where quite power hungry.

The y50's brick is only rated at 148.3 watts, but since the haswell architecture is so much more efficient i figured it might not need such a big adapter,

In some impromptu render comparisons I have made, the y50 (i7 4710QM 2.2 Ghz) is only about 20% faster than my w520 (4710HQ 2.5Ghz) because the processor throttles down from 3.5 Gz turbo boost to 2.5 Ghz after about 7 seconds. You can hear the fans starting to spin up, only to spin down, temps are also ridiculously low.

In comparison, under the same workload the w520's thermal capacity reached after 25 to 30 minutes and it throttles down to 2.8 Ghz, only to throttle up as the temps go down. But the fan NEVER SLOWS DOWN.

Both machines have performance power options maxed and are both connected to the power (not running on battery).

Needless to say... I'm quite disappointed by this development. and am fearfull this might be an overzelous bios. Since, when gaming, the fans go full blast all the time, and i'm sure the 860m video card is drawing A LOT of power. My rendering tests have been CPU only (no cuda enabled rendering engines or effects) so yeah... this sucks.

Maybe I'll have to sell this machine and get myself a w540.

 

[miguelavin]

Ooooook... quick update. I (kind of) solved this issue. I got a monitoring and management program called "Throttlestop"

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2288/throttlestop-6-00/

I set the multiplyer to 35 and turned the management on... and BOOM speeds are now hovering @3.0 Ghz, while rendering my test scene with temps at 76 degrees C, a maximum temp of 81 degrees C and the fan spinning at around half maximum speed. The 4710 is suposed to be safe up to 100 degrees so... for sustained loads I think this might be a good setting.

The VID was around 48watts, so factoring in the display and other systems, i think the power adapter will be fine.

BE CAREFULL when messing with this stuff READ UP all the documentation BEFORE attempting this. If you are unsure about this DON'T TRY TO BE SMARTER THAN LENOVO ENGINEERS and end up KILLING YOUR MACHINE.

 

[CiambyITA]

Ooooook... quick update. I (kind of) solved this issue. I got a monitoring and management program called "Throttlestop"

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2288/throttlestop-6-00/

I set the multiplyer to 35 and turned the management on... and BOOM speeds are now hovering @3.0 Ghz, while rendering my test scene with temps at 76 degrees C, a maximum temp of 81 degrees C and the fan spinning at around half maximum speed. The 4710 is suposed to be safe up to 100 degrees so... for sustained loads I think this might be a good setting.

The VID was around 48watts, so factoring in the display and other systems, i think the power adapter will be fine.

BE CAREFULL when messing with this stuff READ UP all the documentation BEFORE attempting this. If you are unsure about this DON'T TRY TO BE SMARTER THAN LENOVO ENGINEERS and end up KILLING YOUR MACHINE.

Can you please describe the exactly procedure you did? I have the same issue... Is it really safe to play games with this "mod"?

 

[unclewebb]

Lenovo added this feature to their Y50 as well as their Y510P and probably quite a few other laptop models too. Lenovo decided that if you are gaming, you probably won't notice if Turbo Boost gets disabled in the background. As soon as you are done gaming, the CPU speed quickly returns to normal and most users are none the wiser.

Intel Turbo Boost is a feature built into Intel's CPUs. A user that buys a laptop with one of these CPUs should expect that it runs at the Intel specification. Imagine if an auto manufacturer decided to disable half of your engine. As you go to pass someone, you step on the accelerator pedal and all of a sudden cylinders randomly deactivate and your car starts running like a slug. Now imagine if a company did this, provided no notification to the user of what just happened and worse than that, never mentioned in any of their documentation that this feature even existed. You call to complain and the help desk people also deny that this feature exists. This little problem would end up on 60 Minutes and a class action lawsuit would soon follow. Computer manufacturers are allowed to get away with stuff like this because the media rarely talks about throttling so most consumers are in the dark. ThrottleStop has been around for over 5 years now for a reason. Throttling is not a new problem.

Many games are not very CPU dependent so Lenovo has been able to get away with this trickery. Games that are CPU dependent will run poorly when this feature kicks in. Intel designed the 4700MQ and 4710HQ to use full Turbo Boost right up until the 100C thermal throttling temperature is reached. Disabling Turbo Boost is a problem that Lenovo will never admit to let alone fix. It is by their design.

I have used ThrottleStop for over a year to bypass this problem in my Y510P. It still runs just fine. ThrottleStop can not prevent your CPU from thermal throttling if it gets too hot. No software can prevent an Intel CPU from protecting itself from damage. The warning message on ThrottleStop is so users will take responsibility for their actions. It is your laptop. If you do not feel comfortable running your CPU at its Intel rated speed then do not use ThrottleStop.

To fix this problem, check the ThrottleStop - Set Multiplier box and set that value to the maximum which should be 35 T for the 4710HQ or 34 T for the 4700MQ. Use the Windows High Performance power profile when using ThrottleStop. Make sure the BD PROCHOT box is clear and then click on the Turn On button to take ThrottleStop out of monitoring mode and you are done. Minimize ThrottleStop to the System Tray and then go play a game at the full Intel rated speed and enjoy. It can keep track of your maximum CPU and GPU temperature. As long as your maximum CPU temperature is under the 100C thermal throttling temperature, you are operating your CPU within the Intel specification.

Here is an example of how to setup ThrottleStop.

http://i.imgur.com/UsdwVPK.png

Intel included +2 bins of turbo overclocking with these CPUs so this 4700MQ is setup to use that feature. I can understand if a laptop manufacturer decides to turn off the overclocking feature but I disagree with turning off the entire Turbo Boost feature when gaming. That is cheating users out of what they paid for.

 

[CiambyITA]

Lenovo added this feature to their Y50 as well as their Y510P and probably quite a few other laptop models too. Lenovo decided that if you are gaming, you probably won't notice if Turbo Boost gets disabled in the background. As soon as you are done gaming, the CPU speed quickly returns to normal and most users are none the wiser.

Intel Turbo Boost is a feature built into Intel's CPUs. A user that buys a laptop with one of these CPUs should expect that it runs at the Intel specification. Imagine if an auto manufacturer decided to disable half of your engine. As you go to pass someone, you step on the accelerator pedal and all of a sudden cylinders randomly deactivate and your car starts running like a slug. Now imagine if a company did this, provided no notification to the user of what just happened and worse than that, never mentioned in any of their documentation that this feature even existed. You call to complain and the help desk people also deny that this feature exists. This little problem would end up on 60 Minutes and a class action lawsuit would soon follow. Computer manufacturers are allowed to get away with stuff like this because the media rarely talks about throttling so most consumers are in the dark. ThrottleStop has been around for over 5 years now for a reason. Throttling is not a new problem.

Many games are not very CPU dependent so Lenovo has been able to get away with this trickery. Games that are CPU dependent will run poorly when this feature kicks in. Intel designed the 4700MQ and 4710HQ to use full Turbo Boost right up until the 100C thermal throttling temperature is reached. Disabling Turbo Boost is a problem that Lenovo will never admit to let alone fix. It is by their design.

I have used ThrottleStop for over a year to bypass this problem in my Y510P. It still runs just fine. ThrottleStop can not prevent your CPU from thermal throttling if it gets too hot. No software can prevent an Intel CPU from protecting itself from damage. The warning message on ThrottleStop is so users will take responsibility for their actions. It is your laptop. If you do not feel comfortable running your CPU at its Intel rated speed then do not use ThrottleStop.

To fix this problem, check the ThrottleStop - Set Multiplier box and set that value to the maximum which should be 35 T for the 4710HQ or 34 T for the 4700MQ. Use the Windows High Performance power profile when using ThrottleStop. Make sure the BD PROCHOT box is clear and then click on the Turn On button to take ThrottleStop out of monitoring mode and you are done. Minimize ThrottleStop to the System Tray and then go play a game at the full Intel rated speed and enjoy. It can keep track of your maximum CPU and GPU temperature. As long as your maximum CPU temperature is under the 100C thermal throttling temperature, you are operating your CPU within the Intel specification.

Here is an example of how to setup ThrottleStop.

http://i.imgur.com/UsdwVPK.png

Intel included +2 bins of turbo overclocking with these CPUs so this 4700MQ is setup to use that feature. I can understand if a laptop manufacturer decides to turn off the overclocking feature but I disagree with turning off the entire Turbo Boost feature when gaming. That is cheating users out of what they paid for.

Thanks man that's a good news that Throttlestop avoids the problem 'cause I'm not satisfied of my y50... On youtube I see people playing with the y50 without problems, hours of gameplay and the framerate doesn't drop (I know youtube runs at 30fps, so i refer to videos with fraps), are they fake or what? With that Throttlestop configuration the power brick will blow up? Is completely safe?

 

[unclewebb]

Many games are GPU limited and whether your CPU is using Turbo Boost or not will not make any noticeable difference. Even with Intel Turbo Boost disabled, a hyper threaded Core i7 running at only 2400 MHz or 2500 MHz is still a very fast and powerful CPU. I just prefer to run my Core i7 at its full Intel designed and rated speed.

My Y510P uses a 120 Watt power brick and it is more than adequate. At least Lenovo didn't cheap out on that. If you are concerned, buy a Kill-a-Watt meter or similar and see how much power your laptop is drawing from the wall. You shouldn't have any problems.

Do some Google research. If power bricks were blowing up because of ThrottleStop, it will be easy to find unhappy users. After 5 years of development, happy ThrottleStop users are a lot easier to find than unhappy ones.

 

[Divy Kumar Singh]

Ooooook... quick update. I (kind of) solved this issue. I got a monitoring and management program called "Throttlestop"

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2288/throttlestop-6-00/

I set the multiplyer to 35 and turned the management on... and BOOM speeds are now hovering @3.0 Ghz, while rendering my test scene with temps at 76 degrees C, a maximum temp of 81 degrees C and the fan spinning at around half maximum speed. The 4710 is suposed to be safe up to 100 degrees so... for sustained loads I think this might be a good setting.

The VID was around 48watts, so factoring in the display and other systems, i think the power adapter will be fine.

BE CAREFULL when messing with this stuff READ UP all the documentation BEFORE attempting this. If you are unsure about this DON'T TRY TO BE SMARTER THAN LENOVO ENGINEERS and end up KILLING YOUR MACHINE.[/quotemsg]

Can you please describe the exactly procedure you did? I have the same issue... Is it really safe to play games with this "mod"?
[/quotemsg]

Can you explain this settings more briefly, because i am getting confused with so many options in this software

 

[unclewebb]

ThrottleStop 8.00 beta 1
https://www.sendspace.com/file/hxhifj

The latest version has a few more features for the 4th and 5th Gen CPUs.

Setup is easy. You can solve a lot of throttling problems by clicking on Set Multiplier and setting that to the maximum value, uncheck BD PROCHOT and then click on the Turn On button. This will help out the Lenovo Y510P or Y50. If you need more help with the program, contact the author. The email address is in the About box of ThrottleStop and you can find that by right mouse clicking on the Notification Area icon.

 

[ObviousOne]

ThrottleStop 8.00 beta 1
https://www.sendspace.com/file/hxhifj

The latest version has a few more features for the 4th and 5th Gen CPUs.

Setup is easy. You can solve a lot of throttling problems by clicking on Set Multiplier and setting that to the maximum value, uncheck BD PROCHOT and then click on the Turn On button. This will help out the Lenovo Y510P or Y50. If you need more help with the program, contact the author. The email address is in the About box of ThrottleStop and you can find that by right mouse clicking on the Notification Area icon.

hey, i've down the steps mentioned above and yet under open hardware monitor, i still get 2494 mhz occasionally, is that anything to worry about? i hit 3292 mhz most of the times with 35 multiplier and BD PROCHOT unchecked

 

[arcieres]

Hello, I ll get a Lenovo Y50-70 with i7-4720HQ CPU, GTX 860M GPU and IPS display the next week, and I m wanting to use ThrottleStop. It is supposed that the turbo frequency of this processor is 3600MHz (1 core), 3500 MHz (2 cores), 3400 MHz (3 or 4 cores), so I wonder which would be the correct multiplyer. I wonder which would be the complete set of options to adjust with ThrottleStop to get the best performance without risks too. It would be great if someone could orient me. Thanks anyway.

 

[unclewebb]

My previous post explains what you need to do. Here is how the program should look when it is setup correctly.

http://i.imgur.com/gsYHCyo.png

A 4720HQ at its default settings uses the same multipliers as an overclocked 4700MQ so the Set Multiplier value should be set to 36 T. T means that the CPU will be using Intel Turbo Boost to reach this multiplier.

Play around with the program. Don't be afraid of it. In the FIVR window you can change the CPU voltage. Avoid doing this if you do not know what you are doing. ThrottleStop has a pile of options but you do not need to use them all on the first day. Just a few minor mouse clicks can make a world of difference on many Lenovo laptops that have this particular CPU throttling issue.

I also said that if you have any questions, contact the author directly. Stephane has sent me 26 emails in the last couple of months and each one was answered.

ThrottleStop 800 beta 2
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0dpSo9k93jDTE1fcHNtbUMwdGc&authuser=0

 

[arcieres]

Thanks for answer unclewebb. I hadnt answer before because I got my new Lenovo y50 Laptop until now; the only difference with what I had mentioned is that this one have a 960m Graphics Card.

My only doubt is which version of ThrottleStop I should download, the 7 Beta 3 or the 8 Beta 2. I guess that the last one but Im not sure. Thank you anyway.

 

[arcieres]

I decided try with ThrottleStop 8.00 Beta 2. The curious thing is that the default Set Multiplier that appeared at the moment I run the program the first time was 38 T. Does it mean that the i7-4720 HQ can be overclocked 2 bin?

 

[rawrhammer]

I had similar problems with my ASUS n550jv i7-4700hq.
Massive, 1-2second long fps drops for no apparent reason while playing CS:GO (from 160fps to 30 while standing still).

My problem was that the minimum processor state was set to 100%
This caused my processor to go above 80+degrees and regularly the cpu speed dropped to 0.77Ghz for 1-2 seconds.

With the minimum processor state set to lower (30-50%) my cpu is at constant 2.4Ghz while playing and the temperature stays around 65-70degrees. No more fps drops.

Hope this helps