____
EDIT :
--> When running benchmarks and stress tests, the P-Core ratios seem to be applied correctly. When stress testing all cores, the stress test runs at the speed set for 8 active cores. When benchmarking 1 core, it runs at the speed set for 1 active core.
--> I tested in another game and it seems to work for settings of 3 to 7 active cores. (it was hard to tell because the game never used much CPU). So higher than 8, which is what I was trying to see.
This suggests my issue is specific to the game I'm currently playing.
I have been exchanging emails with Intel support. In their last message, they told me that XTU monitoring was intended to be used for stress testing, not for gaming. They said this in response to me questioning whether the information provided in XTU and in particular the "Active Core Count" was accurate.
Basically the game officially runs on 4 cores, but XTU is showing only 1 active core count, so I was asking "is it the game running on 1 core even though it officially runs on 4? Or is it XTU saying it is running on 1 even though it is running on 4?"
Even though they didn't literally say it, it is clear that Intel is implying that information shown by XTU when using XTU outside of stress testing can be inaccurate.
So I looked for other ways to monitor the number of active cores, couldn't find any, so in the end used MSI Afterburner's chart to check CPU core utilisation. This showed that all the cores are being used when I play this game, the utilisation for each of them was similar to all of them. I intuitively feel that this isn't normal, however I'm not competent enough to even have any idea to explain it.
It might be that, in this game, my computer is using all the cores together even though it shouldn't.
__
Hi,
I have been trying to overclock my i7-12700KF CPU. I've been using XTU and haven't touched the BIOS except to set XMP profile.
I thought I had achieved a stable profile, with no crashing and safe temperatures (bellow 90°C during stress test and usually bellow 60°C during gaming but with peaks of up to 80°C).
I followed this guide : https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/intel-alder-lake-cpu-overclock-guide
I don't have all active cores at the same ratio, I played around with them a bit and currently have them set to 1 Active Core 53x, the next 6 Active Cores on 52x and the last one (8) on 51x.
So for example with that set up, while in game, my Max Core Frequency will cap at 5.1GHz and not 5.3GHz.
In the guide, it is recommended to set Windows power settings to balanced. When I do this, the CPU max frequency drops to around 2.8GHz while idle or browsing internet (that's intended) and increases during gaming to whatever I set the 8 active core ratio too . If I set Windows power settings to ultimate, then the CPU frequency goes up to 5.3GHz while idle or browsing internet but then drops to whatever I set the 8 active core ratio too (currently 51x = 5.1GHz).
I wrote to intel support, they replied that they couldn't help me because I had overclocked my CPU. I wrote to the support of the company who sold me the CPU and they said the same thing. They did mention though that this was probably due to a lack of "tension", that the CPU was limiting itself due to lack of power. Thing is, I tried increasing the voltage offset, changing turbo settings, but nothing worked.
In the end, I also tried reducing the Performance Active Core ratios way down to factory settings but the problem is still the same, simply at a different speed : when I game, the Max Core Frequency caps at whatever Active Core ratio I have set for 8 active cores.
EDIT :
--> When running benchmarks and stress tests, the P-Core ratios seem to be applied correctly. When stress testing all cores, the stress test runs at the speed set for 8 active cores. When benchmarking 1 core, it runs at the speed set for 1 active core.
--> I tested in another game and it seems to work for settings of 3 to 7 active cores. (it was hard to tell because the game never used much CPU). So higher than 8, which is what I was trying to see.
This suggests my issue is specific to the game I'm currently playing.
I have been exchanging emails with Intel support. In their last message, they told me that XTU monitoring was intended to be used for stress testing, not for gaming. They said this in response to me questioning whether the information provided in XTU and in particular the "Active Core Count" was accurate.
Basically the game officially runs on 4 cores, but XTU is showing only 1 active core count, so I was asking "is it the game running on 1 core even though it officially runs on 4? Or is it XTU saying it is running on 1 even though it is running on 4?"
Even though they didn't literally say it, it is clear that Intel is implying that information shown by XTU when using XTU outside of stress testing can be inaccurate.
So I looked for other ways to monitor the number of active cores, couldn't find any, so in the end used MSI Afterburner's chart to check CPU core utilisation. This showed that all the cores are being used when I play this game, the utilisation for each of them was similar to all of them. I intuitively feel that this isn't normal, however I'm not competent enough to even have any idea to explain it.
It might be that, in this game, my computer is using all the cores together even though it shouldn't.
__
Hi,
I have been trying to overclock my i7-12700KF CPU. I've been using XTU and haven't touched the BIOS except to set XMP profile.
I thought I had achieved a stable profile, with no crashing and safe temperatures (bellow 90°C during stress test and usually bellow 60°C during gaming but with peaks of up to 80°C).
I followed this guide : https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/intel-alder-lake-cpu-overclock-guide
I don't have all active cores at the same ratio, I played around with them a bit and currently have them set to 1 Active Core 53x, the next 6 Active Cores on 52x and the last one (8) on 51x.
So for example with that set up, while in game, my Max Core Frequency will cap at 5.1GHz and not 5.3GHz.
In the guide, it is recommended to set Windows power settings to balanced. When I do this, the CPU max frequency drops to around 2.8GHz while idle or browsing internet (that's intended) and increases during gaming to whatever I set the 8 active core ratio too . If I set Windows power settings to ultimate, then the CPU frequency goes up to 5.3GHz while idle or browsing internet but then drops to whatever I set the 8 active core ratio too (currently 51x = 5.1GHz).
I wrote to intel support, they replied that they couldn't help me because I had overclocked my CPU. I wrote to the support of the company who sold me the CPU and they said the same thing. They did mention though that this was probably due to a lack of "tension", that the CPU was limiting itself due to lack of power. Thing is, I tried increasing the voltage offset, changing turbo settings, but nothing worked.
In the end, I also tried reducing the Performance Active Core ratios way down to factory settings but the problem is still the same, simply at a different speed : when I game, the Max Core Frequency caps at whatever Active Core ratio I have set for 8 active cores.
Last edited: