Question Why am I getting BD-PROCHOT??

[Deadeye5s]

I have a zbook studio g8 with i7-11850h and rtx 3070 max-q. Recently when playing games my laptop has been throttling to base clock speed showing a red 'power' sign, and in the limits the BD-PROCHOT is the reason why.

This is happening even though my CPU temps never exceed mid 80's and GPU temps never exceed low 70's. It is really decreasing my performance and has been annoying me for ages, and I cannot uncheck the BD-PROCHOT box as it is greyed out. I'm not sure but recently I reset my laptop and it got updated to windows 24h2 so maybe it could be linked but I'm not entirely sure if that's the reason why.

This laptop is only 4 months old so I doubt thermal paste needs to be replaced. I can attach a log file if needed of when it is under load.

 

[Ralston18]

Full laptop specs and OS information?

What games, source?

Look in Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer for any error codes, warnings, or even informational events being captured just before or at the times that the throttling occurs.

Look in Windows Update History for any failed or problem updates.

 

[KingLoki]

Also, what powerplan is windows set to?

 

[Deadeye5s]

Full laptop specs and OS information?

What games, source?

Look in Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer for any error codes, warnings, or even informational events being captured just before or at the times that the throttling occurs.

Look in Windows Update History for any failed or problem updates.

Specs:
11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-11850H @ 2.50GHz
NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 Laptop GPU (Max-Q Variant)
Intel (R) Wi-Fi 6 AX201 160MHZ
32GB DDR4 RAM @ 3200MT/S
Storage - Micron NVME MTFDKBA512TFH-1BC1AABHA
Windows 11 Pro Version 24H2 (I believe before I reset it was either 22H2 or 23H2)
BIOS Version/Date HP T92 Ver. 01.10.00, 18/07/2022

I tend to play FPS games so CS2 and Rainbow Six Siege, therefore I need high clock speeds.

I checked the reliability event viewer and there are no unusual error codes when throttling.
This happens whether or not windows power plan is set to high performance or balanced.

I have also actually just flashed to an old bios (went from 1.18 to 1.10) and managed to disable BD PROCHOT in Throttlestop now so I don't get that error but I am still having the problem where it is power limiting for no reason and going back down to base clock speed :/
You can see in the image after I did this BD PROCHOT no longer shows up in limits when I am playing which is good.
https://postimg.cc/v1CyGCRd

I put an example of the laptop power throttling with red 'POWER' icon when I was playing CS2, as you can see the max temp reached was 84 (well below the temp throttle limit). In HWINFO it shows that the core power limit is being exceeded as well, but no temperature limits were reached in any components.
https://postimg.cc/NKfBD18Z

I have also shared my TPL settings that I was using while playing the game. By the way in my power plan I also limit the processer frequency to 3.9GHZ as It can't do much higher without reaching high temperatures which I've tested before.
https://postimg.cc/w1G8knjs

 

[Ralston18]

As I understand it all, BD PROCHOT is a throttle stop when the CPU hits a maximum temperature somewhere in the range of 100 - 105 C.

Your screen appears to show BD PROCHOT is/was set at 98 C.

The second image indicates core temperature to TJMax having a minimum of 16 C and an average of 31 C.

Although per your post you have since disabled that BD PROCHOT - correct?

My thought is that gaming is causing brief temperature spikes. BD PROCHOT is triggered, temperatures drop very quickly, and you simply do not see the temperature spike as a reading.

Likewise with BD PROCHOT disabled then other safeguards are cutting power back but may be allowing temperature spikes even higher than before. Take closer look at the temperatures being presented minimum, average, max. What is the + or - accuracy there?

Be sure that you fully understand all of the configurations settings and available options or settings within those options.

Now going out of my comfort zone a bit.

With the premise that protecting/saving the laptop is the priority, reset BD PROCHOT and maybe set it a bit lower. I would expect more throttle stops if lowering BD PROCHOT is the only change.

Next scale back on clock speeds until the throttling reduces in frequency or even stops. After that, increase BD PROCHOT, making no other changes. Objective simply to achieve stable performance with no throttlestops. (Very likely that no matter how fast the laptop is the game play will sooner or later be dependent on the connections to the server anyway.)

Then start changing clock speeds etc. if and as necessary to recover gaming performance.

The end objective being to learn more about what temperatures are being hit, where and when.

Plus what temperatures ( + or - ) trigger BD PROCHOT, and what other thermal temperature stops may be in place.

Doing so will require some time and patience. Be methodical, keep notes, change only one thing at a time.,

Beyond that, I will defer to those such as @KingLoki regarding the specific details of testing, trying, and experimenting.

Protect the laptop.

 

[uWebb429]

As I understand it all, BD PROCHOT is a throttle stop when the CPU hits a maximum temperature

BD PROCHOT throttling occurs when a sensor external to the CPU sends a throttling signal to the CPU. The type of sensor used for this is never publicly documented. It may be a temperature sensor but it does not have to be. It can also be power related. Some Dell laptops used to use BD PROCHOT throttling when a non Dell OEM power adapter was detected. It is usually not CPU temperature related. BD PROCHOT and PROCHOT (processor hot) are two different throttling signals.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/213799/intel-core-i711850h-processor-24m-cache-up-to-4-80-ghz/specifications.html?wapkw=i7 11850h

@Deadeye5s
If HP configured the 11850H to use the 45W TDP-up mode, it should be able to run at 2.50 GHz without power limit throttling. That is far less than the 4.80 GHz maximum turbo speed which would require far more power. To run all cores fully loaded with something like Cinebench might require 80W or 90W.

The ThrottleStop TPL window shows that the PL1 and PL2 power limits are set to only 33W. That could be the cause of power limit throttling. HP often times uses a separate embedded controller EC which can dynamically vary the EC turbo power limits. These limits are separate from the MSR and MMIO power limits that ThrottleStop gives you access to. One of your screenshots shows power limit throttling at only 26W and the other at only 20W. That is lower than the 33W MSR power limits you have set so I have to conclude that your laptop is throttling because the EC power limits are set quite low.

With good cooling, the 11850H has the potential to be a very fast processor as long as all of the power limits are set high enough to avoid power limit throttling. When a manufacturer sets a low ball EC power limit, performance can be reduced significantly. The HP bios typically does not have any settings to increase the EC power limits. The EC limit values can vary from one bios version to the next and whatever the trigger conditions are can also vary.

There is usually no need to check the Clock Mod box. Most laptops have not used this type of throttling for years.

ThrottleStop 9.7.2 is the latest version.