Question Why does Power Limit Throttling Turn On?

[gilgamesh2134]

Ever since I changed some things with my PC, it gets really loud and my CPU utilization spikes when I open any program. Also, I ran test today on Cinebench and Intel XTU, where my utilization maxed at 100%, but I think it was suppose to (tell me if wrong please) and my temps stayed good around 40-50 C. Whenever I open a game and play, the temps are always normal and utilization, just when it starts up. But I realized on Intel XTU, Power Limit Throttling turns on and I don't believe this ever happened before. I'm not sure what's causing it and how to fix it.

I have an I7-10700 CPU@2.90GHz in a PRIME Z490-V motherboard. I just switched my case to a Corsair - iCUE 4000X RGB Tempered Glass Mid Tower. I changed my air CPU cooler to the H100i Elite Capellix and upgraded to 32 GB of 3200 ram. I don't know if my AIO is on correctly and that's what is causing it or if there is another reason for the throttling.

I hope someone can help me out, I don't want to do anything further until I get help, so I don't push something wrong even more. If it is the AIO, I will be confused because it's my third on installing and I can't really see where I would have gone wrong, unless it's something with the standoff screws I installed in the front of motherboard.

 

[rgd1101]

that the freq when it throttled?
if it is not temp, it likely power

 

[DRagor]

Power throttling happens when CPU does not get enough power to raise clocks to the level it wants. Reasons might be numerous but most common would be power limit enabled in BIOS. The other common would be connecting only 4-pin EPS cable to motherboard instead of 8-pin.

 

[gilgamesh2134]

Where would I find the power limit in BIOS? Also, I do have 8 EPS cable plugged into the motherboard, I could plug in another 4 pin cable to make it 12 pin cable plugged in, would that help?

 

[DRagor]

Where would I find the power limit in BIOS? Also, I do have 8 EPS cable plugged into the motherboard, I could plug in another 4 pin cable to make it 12 pin cable plugged in, would that help?

Always plug all EPS cables you can.
As for BIOS I can't give you precise answer. I think you should first switch to Advanced Mode (F7), then go to AI Tweaker>Internal CPU power management. There should be the options you seek.

 

[gilgamesh2134]

Hello, sorry for such a late response, I've been away for the time. I've done more research about this issue and some people have said to raise my Turbo Boost Power Max in Intel XTU application, but it's already set to 65W which is the advertised TDP. So would it be bad to raise it to stop the throttling too?

 

[DRagor]

Hello, sorry for such a late response, I've been away for the time. I've done more research about this issue and some people have said to raise my Turbo Boost Power Max in Intel XTU application, but it's already set to 65W which is the advertised TDP. So would it be bad to raise it to stop the throttling too?

Now you are mixing two different things: thermal throttling and power throttling. TDP is measurement of heat generated by CPU and should not be used as value for power throttling. If you set power limit to 65 then you are basically cut off any turbo as this CPU can use over 200 W of all core turbo.

 

[uWebb429]

@gilgamesh2134
At default settings for an i7-10700, the bios will set the long term PL1 turbo power limit equal to the rated TDP. During any long term full load stress test, the CPU will throttle and reduce its speed so the CPU does not exceed 65W. That is what it means when XTU shows power limit throttling.

If you do not want your CPU to slow down like this then raise the PL1 and PL2 power limits in the bios. Many motherboards have an option in the bios to set these two power limits to the highest possible value, 4095W, so they do not interfere with maximum performance. Setting these to 200W should be OK. 4095W is OK too.

 

[gilgamesh2134]

Okay so I understand what your both saying final (hopefully). I should set my PL1 & PL2 to 200W and it will be okay. I looked at my BIOS and they were set to Auto, but the PL2 was already set to 224W, where PL1 is at 65W. But what I don't get is that it won't let me tweak them, they won't change off of Auto. Is there a way to do that or is it okay to just change them in Intel XTU?

 

[uWebb429]

@gilgamesh2134
If the BIOS does not let you change the turbo power limits then try using ThrottleStop. If the BIOS is locked, Intel XTU might be locked too.

 

[gilgamesh2134]

Is ThrottleStop an application or in bios? And does it unlock everything or something else?

 

[uWebb429]

ThrottleStop is an application similar to XTU. You can try XTU first.

 

[gilgamesh2134]

I changed both to 200W and ran a stress test. It doesn't Power Limit Throttle anymore! Thank you guys so much! I'm assuming that my pc is louder because of the CPU running higher wattage right?

 

[gilgamesh2134]

I've notice that my CPU utilization will spike to like 20% max randomly and pc gets loud. That's not a concern right?

 

[DRagor]

CPU can't be louder, but your fans can. With higher power going on to CPU the amount of heat your cooler has to dissipate has increased (and probably significantly) so the fans on your AIO as well as case fans have to increase speed, hence the system gets louder.