Question Undervolting issue with a 7700HQ core

[csaxon]

I have been having some issues with my laptop (Inspiron 7567) including thermals so I have been undervolting it.

Its been fine on all my stress tests up to -0.120mv (haven't tried further). The issue is when its on idle, my lately laptop will randomly restart. It is very obvious on battery. If I have nothing running or open on my laptop and I come back in half an hour it will have restarted.

I thought that I may have undervolted too much so I kept increasing the voltage. I have to have the voltage at least -0.06mv to get rid of power throttling, however the issue persisted. I then put it on -0.015mv but as soon as it was on idle on battery for a period of time (put PC to sleep is currently on never as I am monitoring it), it randomly restarted. I am concerned about this as -0.015mv is very similar to the normal voltage.

My questions are is this normal for a laptop or does it mean there is an issue with the motherboard/CPU? And also do random restarts sound like an undervolting issue (no BSOD so no dump files)?

 

[Mr.Spock]

Rather than undervolting it - which can can crashes - you can reduce the CPU cycles in power mgmt or add a cooling pad.
both can help and thermal issues can happen with new laptops due to compact format and gaming trends

 

[csaxon]

This laptop is 1.5 years old. Its actually a very thick laptop and is supposed to have good cooling. I had the heatsink repasted with MX-4 also.

The motherboard was replaced with a new one as the temps kept reaching 100C and thermal throttling kept occurring on the old one. The new motherboard has max temp of 93C and no thermal throttling, but still has power-limit throttling unless its undervolted to -.06.

The reason I undervolt though, is the fans make horrible noise (been replaced 5 times; see my other threads), so I'm trying to stop them switching on as long. I am just concerned of why on battery it restarts with only a tiny undervolt and does this mean there is an issue with the CPU/motherboard as its very close to normal voltage levels.

On battery it often only draws 1 Watt of power on idle, while on AC on idle it draws about 11 Watts. I don't know if this is linked?

C-states are also disabled as when their on, the CPU makes crackling noises so its not going into a low power state.