Sandybridge Throttle Issue and Workaround

[Chastity@ASUS]

When the system is under load, especially when the GPU and CPU max out, like say, when you are gaming, the BIOS/Chipset has a safety feature that will throttle down the system to prevent damage. Unfortunately I feel that the protection is triggered too easily, and many people will have a performance loss while playing their favorite games.

This will require a BIOS fix, but until then, there is a great workaround provided by Unclewebb. It's called ThrottleStop, and version 3 was updated to support Sandybridge systems. The culprit is the Bidirectional PROCHOT function, which handles this throttle feature. What you want to do is disable it, and it only needs to be configured once every boot-up, until a BIOS update exists. Also config it to Start Minimized if you are going to have it start at Windows boot.

ThrottleStop_320b2.zip

Go ahead and download the current build, and install it. When you got it running, click on options. You want to enable the BD PROCHOT control here.

ts.jpg

Then you can untick BD PROCHOT on the main screen and then Save it. This way whenever you start up TS, it will autodisable the setting. Then just throw a shortcut of TS into your StartUp folder, and you'll be good to go. Once it's set, yo can minimize it, or close the application. The setting will stick until your next reboot.

[G74 Guru]

dont forget everyone, you can go into the Throttlestop CFG file and add the line "ExitTime=1" so on startup it loads the program and closes it immediately. saw you forgot to add that in your post Chastity

[dkillone]

It probably would have been easier to just sticky my post, it explains the problem much better/in more detail. Though, with G74 still having the issue, guess I should edit in for that model as well. Other companies such as Dell, HP and Sager do NOT having sandybridge throttling problems.

http://www.asusrog.com/forums/showth...-how-to-fix-it

Edit: Also, as a side note, they do not need to go into the options and tick the Unlock BD. By default, the BD PROCHOT is already unticked upon first run. Not to mention, as Unclewebb stated:

"Intel does not document MSR 0x1FC bit[0] but that's the bit that ThrottleStop toggles on and off to solve this problem.

BD PROCHOT stands for Bi-Directional Processor Hot. This allows other items to signal the CPU to tell it that the CPU is hot and that it should throttle even when it isn't. It might be the GPU or the power regulator when it gets too hot or starts putting out too much power that signals the CPU to throttle and conserve power and cool down the overall system temperature.

A better idea would be for manufacturers to start designing adequate cooling solutions with a power supply beefy enough to power the CPU and GPU at their rated speed. This would let a user buy a gaming laptop and actually be able to play a modern off the shelf game like GTA4 without it trying to throttle to a crawl."

So, technically it shouldn't be even triggered at all in the first place, no matter what. Especially since the G73/53 and G74 can easily handle the loads temperature wise due to having 2 individual fans for CPU/GPU, and an overall good cooling design. In which, this whole being triggered thing isn't even becuase of temperatures, it's definitely something to do with power draw, NOT high temps.

[Chastity@ASUS]

thx for the updates, both of you.

[andressergio]

Hi guys

is this intended just for mobile chips ?

i cant find B. PROCHOT on the MIVE but i opened TStop and its unticked by default...

[Chastity@ASUS]

It works for desktop chips, but I don't believe they have this issue.

[Boosted_R]

wont let me enable the BD PROCHOT, any ideas ? or is it just me

Running Bios 202, Win 7 Ultimate 64bit

thanks

[alfmoonspace]

Can't enable it as well

[Selenarious]

Is this a problem for the G53SW too?

[Frostedflames]

Just got my g53sw-a1 followed the instructions in this thread doesn't seem to do anything in any source engine game it will run at 200 fps then flicker and drop to 20-30 fps constantly. any ideas? throttle stop 3.00 bdprochot is unchecked and saved Of course the majority of the the time I will be using it plugged in but just wondering if there is anything