Dell XPS CPU only running at 65% speed

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Blobfish101

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Oct 27, 2015
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I have found while benchmarking my dell XPS 13 that the processor, despite being rated at 1.8GHz, will only reach 1.3GHz. I have been running Cinebench r15 and task manager only shows the laptop reaching about 65% utilization accross all cores and shows the CPU speed as 1.3 GHz. I also checked with HWMontor. This said that the cores were running at 100% utilization, but also said that they were only running at 1.3GHz. This isn't a cooling problem, as the cores were only getting up to about 65 degrees celcius during testing, and also the fans weren't even coming on most of the time (and they do work).

I have tried different power plans within Windows and I also looked in BIOS for anything which might stop the processor from reaching the 1.8GHz, but I haven't found anything.

Does anyone know how I might be able to get the processor on this computer to run at its quoted speed?

Many thanks,
Sam

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Solution
jojesa
Was your laptop like that from the time of purchase or the issue just started?
Can you create a new power plan, under Power options?

I have a Dell with i5 8250U and I get multicore 577 running at 2.68 Ghz / single 148 running at 3.38 Ghz.
I removed all Dell installed apps (e.g. Dell Power Manager Lite, Dell Support Assist, etc), so I don't know if there is some type of energy saving setting that could cause the issue you are experiencing.
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Blobfish101

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Oct 27, 2015
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The CPU is an i7 8550U and when running prime95, it also only goes up to 65% usage according to task manager, and 100% usage according to HWMonitor but both say that it's only running at 1.3GHz, despite the quoted base clock of the CPU being 1.8 GHz on intel's website with a supposed boost of 4GHz.

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jojesa

jojesa

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Dec 6, 2006
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It looks like the CPU might not be getting the power it needs to operate at higher frequency.

Your CPU power could be configured from 10W - 25W by the manufacturer (Dell) and that will determine its top speed.
Check if there is a BIOS update for your system.

You could use Intel XTU to see the power usage of your CPU.

Also check Power settings:
Go to Power Options, make sure High Performance plan is selected , then click on Change Plan settings link on the right.
Click the Change advance power settings link to open Power Options windows.
Scroll down to Processor power management and and click the + to expand it.
Click the + next to Maximum processor state and make sure both, On battery and Plugged in are at 100%.
Click the + next to System cooling policy and make sure both, On battery and Plugged in are Active.
Reboot the system.


 
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Blobfish101

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Oct 27, 2015
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I tried installing Intel XTU, though the installer said that it "attempted to install on an unsupported platform" and subsequently failed the install.

In windows Power Options, there are a number of preloaded power plans that I can choose from, though there is a very limited number of options that I can change if I go into "Change advanced power settings". The only categories in the Advanced settings for the power plan are:
Desktop Background settings,
Sleep
Power buttons and lid
Display
Battery.

None of these categories contained an option for changing the maximum processor state or the system cooling policy.
I have tried all of the preloaded power plans and none of them appeared to have any effect on the CPU.

I have tried updating the BIOS. According to the installer, I was already running the most recent bios from Dell, though I ran the updater anyway, and there has been no change in how my processor has been running. I got the BIOS update from here: https://www.dell.com/support/home/uk/en/ukbsdt1/product-support/product/xps-13-9360-laptop/drivers

Unless there's anything else I've missed, I don't think that I'm going to be able to fix this in software, so I will try to get a warranty replacement. I've run Cinebench, and according to that, my laptop gets a mult core score of 205 to 273 (I ran the benchmark twice) and a single core score of 62, whereas according to the website: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-i7-8550U-SoC-Benchmarks-and-Specs.242108.0.html, with the CPU I have, I should be getting a multi core score of 570 (2.09x faster) and a single core score of 163.5 (2.64x faster). I'm hoping that this is enough evidence that I'm not getting the performance out of the machine that I should be getting. Also I'm within 6 months of purchase, so I'm hoping that a warranty replacement or repair will be possible.
 
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jojesa

jojesa

Glorious
Dec 6, 2006
7,180
551
47,440
Was your laptop like that from the time of purchase or the issue just started?
Can you create a new power plan, under Power options?

I have a Dell with i5 8250U and I get multicore 577 running at 2.68 Ghz / single 148 running at 3.38 Ghz.
I removed all Dell installed apps (e.g. Dell Power Manager Lite, Dell Support Assist, etc), so I don't know if there is some type of energy saving setting that could cause the issue you are experiencing.
 
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Solution
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Blobfish101

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Oct 27, 2015
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4,510


Thank you very much!!! Dell Power Manager was the problem. Have now uninstalled it and the CPU is now turboing up to almost 4GHz. I just ran cinebench and got a multicore score of 630 and a single core score of 169.
 
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