Topic: Intel N100 + Windows 11 minipc stuck at 800MHz 600MHz 400MHz maximum CPU speed

[devnullius]

I've been wasting a few days on this one... Thought I might share because apparently I'm not the only one. I even had help, I couldn't figure it out.

Whenever my minipc needed to do *anything* with the CPU, the CPU's speed would go down from 3+ GHz all the way down to 950MHz, 800MHz (default) and even lower. Playing a 1080 video? Forget it. 4K video? GET THE FRACK OUT OF HERE!

It made zero sense. It still doesn't. But the problem is solved...

Program needed: https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-throttlestop/

----> JUST INSTALLING THE PROGRAM AND SETTING ITS OPTIONS *did not* WORK, completely. WHAT *did* WORK WAS:
1. configuring throttle stop,
2. configuring the BIOS, and
3. some VOODOO!

Apparently, my MeLe Quieter 4C F5Q N100-16GB-512GB and its powerplug aren't good enough. Or so the theory of my friend went.

So he asked me to use my Ugreen 100W USB C power adapter. I did, and plugged it in the mini PC's USB C power port. The speed was still slow.

So he asked me to put the original charger in the USB C data port. The PC wouldn't even power the power led.

NOW FOR THE MAGIC TRICK: power the mini-PC with the Ugreen 100W USB C Power Adapter PLUGGED IN TO THE USB C *data* PORT! THEN and only THEN ThrottleStop will be able to make a difference. I now play 4K video without a problem. When I power the miniPC with the USB C power port and the original charger, the CPU would slowly but within a minute fall back to 800MHz, or lower (depending on some deeper driver activities which I couldn't pinpoint).

I also made a BIOS change, per advise of the AI chat assistant they have.
Go to Advanced CPU Power management. Set Platform PL1 Power to 10000 (=10W)  and PL2 Power to 15000. Do the same in Throttlestop (my friend did this so you'll have to play around for yourself (I'll reply the correct settings next).

If anyone can make sense of it... Do share :)

Enjoy!


And Samker, nice to see you are still around and I love you and all that, buuuuuut... It's time to archive Devnullius's Choices ;-)

xxxxxxxxx

[devnullius]

Replies from my tech friend...

"yeah the device definitely won't work on the data port with old ac adapter, the old adapter isn't USB PD (power delivery)"

Why not?

"the usb port won't negotiate the right voltages when you plug a laptop usb-c PD charger. The Ugreen worked because it probably defaulted to like 5V 1.5A output"

---

Even without the weird power / data usb c port and chargers sheit... Why are we still needing an overclock tool to unlock regular performance? On Windows 11, and by the looks of it not on Linux or Windows 10?

"ThrottleStop is not for overclocking perse, but lets you control the firmware's gain limits, temperature & voltage controls + power control. You can use it for either speeding a device up, or limit it to preserve battery life. It looks like a bug but I haven't found a single cause just yet, besides it always being Intel devices. And it often being fixed by switching power to the USB C data port...

When the system starts pulling load, it can only provide 12V and 1A (maybe) which makes even the GPU power down to the slowest speeds. Or your system's hardware is just faulty ;p."

-------

Models impacted according to my friend: Intel n95, Intel n97, Intel n100, Intel n150, Intel n200, Intel n300, Intel n305. He loves them all dearly and is a big fan.


Peace to Josh!

[devnullius]

To get released of the cursed locked 0.8GHz CPU speeds of your Intel device... Set ThrottleStop as follows:

Select the Performance profile
Select TPL settings.

ENABLED options for TPL are:
Sync MMIO
Long Power PL1 and PL2 + Clamp: 10 and 15 (this is the total wattage, my device supports 24W)
Turbo Time Limit: 28
Power Limit 4: 78 + 78 (because why not, also in Watt)
Power Balance: 9 + 14 iGPU (felt right to me: no need to overheat anything here).

DISABLED options for TPL are:
Disable Controls
Speed Shift
PROCHOT Offset
PP0 Power Limit + Clamp: 0
PP0 Turbo Time Limit: 0.0010

PS: the Lock settings are free to enable or disable and have no influence on performance.

Press OK.
If you haven't, press SAVE. Press TURN ON. Press [Stop Data] if you are happy with the results.

Peace!