CPU Throttling on 15 inch Surface Book 2 after 1709?

[Seneleron]

What "Theveterans" said.

Also, I highly suggest trying Intel XTU as well, as you not only get a temp graph and CPU frequency readout, but it also shows thermal, power limit, and current plus real time CPU voltage, etc. Not that there's anything WRONG with Aida 64, mind you, but XTU really helps to see what's going on CPU side in realtime.

 

[Cimmerian]

Thanks for the advice I've been using Core Temp and AIDA64 in tandem to get my data up until now.

Anyways:

 

[Theartiszan]

One other weird thing I noticed is that on my Surface Book gen 1, when I hover over the battery indicator, it tries to estimate how much remaining battery life is left in time. I have yet to see that on the Surface Book 2. Do any of you see this at all on the new one?

 

[Seneleron]

When I mouse over the battery indicator all I get is battery %.

There's always:

Download BatteryBar for Free

 

[Darkhan]

@Cimmerian, I would be happy with those temps, looks like you got a good machine.

 

[Theartiszan]

@Cimmerian, I would be happy with those temps, looks like you got a good machine.

Yeah. If those are the temps I would see (which I expected to see based off my old one) I would be happy. I'm not expecting full desktop CPU performance but dang. Let's cook breakfast on mine.

 

[Theartiszan]

So i tested the replacement today. With full load the processor settled in at about 87 c or so with full load while plugged in at best performance. I only ran it for a few minutes though too. Might try a longer test later like yours to see if it gets back down to the 70s. But it showed no sign of thermal throttling when i tested it either which is a improvement. Plus when graphics is under aload too i didn't hear a whistle from the fan either. Stove was running then so i will need to test that again later to make sure. Overall The replacement seems to be a lot better overall. And, like Microsoft told me, they did send a brand new retail box. If this holds up, I'll be very happy with this one now i think.

 

[starstreak]

Theartiszan- Wow, these SB is pretty good. On my SP4, just doing a long windows update, the fan will kick on and unit will get very warm. Once it gets warm and I check using the intel monitor, I can see it turning on the throttling.

 

[Seneleron]

So i tested the replacement today. With full load the processor settled in at about 87 c or so with full load while plugged in at best performance. I only ran it for a few minutes though too. Might try a longer test later like yours to see if it gets back down to the 70s. But it showed no sign of thermal throttling when i tested it either which is a improvement. Plus when graphics is under aload too i didn't hear a whistle from the fan either. Stove was running then so i will need to test that again later to make sure. Overall The replacement seems to be a lot better overall. And, like Microsoft told me, they did send a brand new retail box. If this holds up, I'll be very happy with this one now i think.

Sounds about like mine. Single threaded turbo may push that up to 90-92c, but still well within spec. Hope it holds up for you, The laptop is a BEAST of a machine! If MS backpedals on the whole "max performance = battery discharge" thing, It could easily blow away most mid-line gaming notebooks overall with it's combination of battery life and power

 

[wynand32]

Sounds about like mine. Single threaded turbo may push that up to 90-92c, but still well within spec. Hope it holds up for you, The laptop is a BEAST of a machine! If MS backpedals on the whole "max performance = battery discharge" thing, It could easily blow away most mid-line gaming notebooks overall with it's combination of battery life and power

The only way Microsoft can back off of the power supply issue is to provide a different power supply. And I'm guessing there has to be some reason for why they're limiting things this way -- the Surface Connect port can't handle more power, the machine would overheat, or something. For whatever reason, Microsoft apparently just doesn't want the thing cranking at full throttle for extended periods of time.

 

[Theartiszan]

So I did a fresh test on the new one I got. Better than the one I will be sending back but not as good as what Cimmerian is reporting.
After a fresh reboot and just running the test, this is what I got. There is a dip in temps there for a little as I walked away for a little while and the screen went to sleep. Still hits into the 90s briefly but does not throttle at all. This is right after doing a reset on the machine after it updated to 1709. So it seems to be working okay and doesn't constantly throttle like the old one. Under certain circumstances it will still throttle thermally if it spins up the processor before the cooling solution can catch up but is no where near as bad.
I can also undervolt it a bit (which I tried before the reset and this test) which allows it to run at faster speeds longer with lower temperatures.
How do you guys think this looks?

 

[Darkhan]

Are you sure undervolting is working? From my testing neither Throttlestop nor XTU effects the temps.

My replacement unit is acceptable and a keeper, however I think Microsoft needs to make a more aggressive fan curve for best performance mode.