0

I have an i7-8550U processor in my laptop, which is a locked processor.

And I'm using Turbo Ratio Limits feature in ThrottleStop software to limit the Turbo Boost clock speed of my laptop processor to a certain number.

The default Turbo boost clock is up to 4000 MHz. And if I reduce the values for 4 cores of the processor (as shown in screenshot below), it limits the speed to around 2400 MHz, which is the desired result.

enter image description here

(This software works better for me as compared to disabling Turbo Boost in BIOS which limits it to the base clock which is too low).

The guide I'm following to do so, is this answer.

The answer says that you can also consider under-volt to save more energy and heat. But I'm not doing so. My laptop runs much better (games don't drop FPS) with just reducing those numbers for each core. I understand that the processor would be called less powerful because of this but I don't need more than that anyway.

Now recently, I saw a video on YouTube, (the link of this video was provided with the software installation files), where the guy in video says that if "your laptop processor is locked, don't touch it (Turbo Ratio Limits feature)". I suppose this video is made by ThrottleStop team member or someone who is very familiar/expert with it.

Instead, he recommends to use under-volt the processor option to improve thermals.

Now, I might just use under-volt option and don't touch the Turbo Ratio Limits, but I just find the under-volt thing a bit risky especially because I don't understand it much. Turbo Ratio Limits seems much easier to use.

After watching that video, I'm confused. I've seen many references (including the SE answer I shared above) where people have suggested to use this Turbo Ratio Limits to control boost clock speed and none of them shared any concern like Locked or Unlocked processor.

My question is, are there any negative effects or harm to processor if you just use the Turbo Ratio Limits feature for a laptop which has a locked processor?

In other words, is under-volting necessary if you're reducing core values in Turbo Ratio Limits for a locked processor?

Vikas
  • 744

1 Answers1

1

It sounds like that is the wrong way round. A locked processor would not have the ability to fine tune the voltage and so limiting the turbo clocks would be the simplest and easiest way to underclock it.

From Intel What Is the Difference between an Unlocked and a Locked Processor?

Unlocked processors are processors that are unlocked to custom tune the processor settings. If the processor is unlocked, you can adjust the power, voltage, core, memory settings, and other key system values for more performance.

Limiting turbo ratios will do nothing more than stop the processor overclocking itself. It should not cause any damage whatsoever.

This page on notebookcheck gives an alternative way of quickly turning turbo boost on and off using power plans.

Basically you change the "Balanced" power plan CPU maximum speed to 99% which has the effect of disabling turbo boost. Then you can simply use the power toggle in the toolbar to swap between High Performance (boost enabled) and Balanced (boost disabled).

Mokubai
  • 95,412