Control Center Operating Modes Advice

[Rixx]

Hello recently bought a new laptop: Elimina Pro series in the hopes to play a few more recent games, (i'll try post my specs in next post) but would like some advice on the Control Center.
So far I have only installed my largest (GTAV) & most modern (ME:Andromeda) games that I had running on my older laptop, but on first playing the fans were so loud I've been trying to figure out some kind of solution before I progress.

At first I think GTAV at least was trying to run on the onboard Intel UHD rather than using the 3060. So I downloaded the Nvidia Control Panel to specify those games use the correct graphics card, also set it in Windows 10 Graphics settings (not sure if I need to do just 1 or both, or if they are likely to conflict?) this helped with in-game performance but the fans were unaffected so i've been trying to figure this out with the Control Center.

In Game Mode which was the default if I play either of those games, the CPU temp will jump to 70-80 just from the game menu or idling in-game & CPU fan will be on fairly loudly, actively playing the game the CPU temps will range from 80-90 & fan must be on close to max speed. The GPU temp is usually around 50-55 but will rarely go above 60 (though I haven't put the games to max settings)
Checking in the perfomance tab on task manager while actively playing shows CPU load generally around 50-80%, & dedicated GPU only about 30%, but also the Intel GPU still running at 30-50% (50% being while the game is in windowed mode so I assume this is partly because it is handling displaying other programs) in the "3D" graph.

If I change to Office Mode though then the games still run mostly ok, though I believe the framerate is poor when graphics settings are high.
The temperatures though are much better: CPU around 60, GPU despite higher load isnt much hotter than Game Mode at around 60-65)
Now the fans are much quieter (I don't think they go over 50%)
It seems to affect how resources are shared as in task manager the CPU load is lower, but the dedicated GPU load is 90%+ and the Intel GPU is almost doing nothing (which is what I thought it should have been when I set the games to run on the dedcated card)

I'm wondering is there any way to set some sort of middle ground between Office & Game Mode so that the CPU isn't so taxed? For example why in Game Mode is the Dedicated GPU used so litte but the Intel GPU still being used (would this be contributing to increased CPU temp)

Is there anything I can do to stop the CPU being so taxed in game mode?
There's a page for SPC settings in the control centre but I don't really know what any of those do so haven't messed with them, if I alter the PL1, PL2 & PL4 levels would that help?

Thanks

 

[Rixx]

Chassis & Display
Elimina Pro Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor 10750H (2.6GHz, 5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2933MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 3060 - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 3 in 1 Card Reader (Full Size SD / SDHC / SDXC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 180W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery
Elimina Pro Series Integrated 62Wh Lithium Ion Battery (RTX 3060)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless Network Card
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 M.2 GAMING + BLUETOOTH 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.1 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
ELIMINA PRO SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland

 

[barlew]

Hello recently bought a new laptop: Elimina Pro series in the hopes to play a few more recent games, (i'll try post my specs in next post) but would like some advice on the Control Center.
So far I have only installed my largest (GTAV) & most modern (ME:Andromeda) games that I had running on my older laptop, but on first playing the fans were so loud I've been trying to figure out some kind of solution before I progress.

At first I think GTAV at least was trying to run on the onboard Intel UHD rather than using the 3060. So I downloaded the Nvidia Control Panel to specify those games use the correct graphics card, also set it in Windows 10 Graphics settings (not sure if I need to do just 1 or both, or if they are likely to conflict?) this helped with in-game performance but the fans were unaffected so i've been trying to figure this out with the Control Center.

In Game Mode which was the default if I play either of those games, the CPU temp will jump to 70-80 just from the game menu or idling in-game & CPU fan will be on fairly loudly, actively playing the game the CPU temps will range from 80-90 & fan must be on close to max speed. The GPU temp is usually around 50-55 but will rarely go above 60 (though I haven't put the games to max settings)
Checking in the perfomance tab on task manager while actively playing shows CPU load generally around 50-80%, & dedicated GPU only about 30%, but also the Intel GPU still running at 30-50% (50% being while the game is in windowed mode so I assume this is partly because it is handling displaying other programs) in the "3D" graph.

If I change to Office Mode though then the games still run mostly ok, though I believe the framerate is poor when graphics settings are high.
The temperatures though are much better: CPU around 60, GPU despite higher load isnt much hotter than Game Mode at around 60-65)
Now the fans are much quieter (I don't think they go over 50%)
It seems to affect how resources are shared as in task manager the CPU load is lower, but the dedicated GPU load is 90%+ and the Intel GPU is almost doing nothing (which is what I thought it should have been when I set the games to run on the dedcated card)

I'm wondering is there any way to set some sort of middle ground between Office & Game Mode so that the CPU isn't so taxed? For example why in Game Mode is the Dedicated GPU used so litte but the Intel GPU still being used (would this be contributing to increased CPU temp)

Is there anything I can do to stop the CPU being so taxed in game mode?
There's a page for SPC settings in the control centre but I don't really know what any of those do so haven't messed with them, if I alter the PL1, PL2 & PL4 levels would that help?

Thanks

Sorry this got missed and its such a late reply.

First of all its important to realise that gaming laptops tend to be loud when running games.

There are things we can do to try to optimize the heat generated and dissipation.

From what you have said your temperatures look fine.

Would you set the Control Panel to gaming mode and then send a screen shot of your SPC settings so we can see your default config.

 

[Rairun]

I bought a Recoil 15.6 last June, so I have some experience with a newer Tongfang chassis (albeit with a Ryzen CPU). My prior experience had been with a Vortex laptop from 2014 (a Clevo chassis with an Intel CPU). With my old laptop, temperatures were very much related to how heavy the games I tried to run were. The more intensive the game, the hotter it got. Keeping the game open on the menu screen led to lower temperatures than when playing in areas with lots of polygons, etc.

This has absolutely NOT been my experience with my new Tongfang. Launching a game - any game, even pretty old ones - makes the CPU temperatures shoot up to the mid 80s/low 90s, and they stay pretty constant throughout the play session. The good news is that yes, adjusting the PL1, PL2 & PL4 options (they are called SPL, sPPT and fPPT for AMD processors, but same idea) will change that equilibrium temperature. I created a second game profile with significantly lower settings than the default ones, and it still performs a LOT better than Office Mode, while keeping temperatures in the 70s. I only use the default Game Mode if the laptop is struggling to run a specific game.

I'm not sure about Intel CPUs, but I've heard that AMD CPUs do this by design. The idea is that it is not high temperatures that reduce the lifespan of the components (up to a point, obviously; you don't want 95º+ temps), but the repeated dilatation/shrinkage of the components that come from variations in temperature. So the new CPUs are designed to shoot temperatures to a constant, say, 90º instead of varying wildly between 70º and 90º depending on how intensive the game is at any given moment.

 

[Rixx]

Sorry this got missed and its such a late reply.

First of all its important to realise that gaming laptops tend to be loud when running games.

There are things we can do to try to optimize the heat generated and dissipation.

From what you have said your temperatures look fine.

Would you set the Control Panel to gaming mode and then send a screen shot of your SPC settings so we can see your default config.

No problem, I thought I might have written too much, I tend to try figure things out myself then when it comes to asking for help I end up writing paragraphs.

I understand they run hot and wouldn't mind if it wasn't that even with the game on really low settings (e.g. matching my previous PCS laptop which is 5yo with a 960M) the CPU was still in the high 80s with the fans trying to initiate a runway take-off.

It just seems odd to me that in gaming mode it doesn't utilise the GPU as much as in office mode, as if it's transferring some of the load to the CPU which is why that gets hot (though apparently up to 90 is deemed ok).

That being said I am wondering if it could also be game related, as I bought Horizon: Zero Dawn, and that seems to be capable of running in game mode on low settings without maxing out the CPU, so maybe more modern games will work better with the way game mode is configured, but older games won't?

I've attached the SPC settings for al three modes, The office profile is different in that it has "Whispermode", initially this was set to "Quiet" but I changed it to "Balanced" to see how that would fare. Otherwise the only difference is the PL1 & 2. I didn't want to mess with them till I knew what they do.

 

[Rixx]

I bought a Recoil 15.6 last June, so I have some experience with a newer Tongfang chassis (albeit with a Ryzen CPU). My prior experience had been with a Vortex laptop from 2014 (a Clevo chassis with an Intel CPU). With my old laptop, temperatures were very much related to how heavy the games I tried to run were. The more intensive the game, the hotter it got. Keeping the game open on the menu screen led to lower temperatures than when playing in areas with lots of polygons, etc.

This has absolutely NOT been my experience with my new Tongfang. Launching a game - any game, even pretty old ones - makes the CPU temperatures shoot up to the mid 80s/low 90s, and they stay pretty constant throughout the play session. The good news is that yes, adjusting the PL1, PL2 & PL4 options (they are called SPL, sPPT and fPPT for AMD processors, but same idea) will change that equilibrium temperature. I created a second game profile with significantly lower settings than the default ones, and it still performs a LOT better than Office Mode, while keeping temperatures in the 70s. I only use the default Game Mode if the laptop is struggling to run a specific game.

I'm not sure about Intel CPUs, but I've heard that AMD CPUs do this by design. The idea is that it is not high temperatures that reduce the lifespan of the components (up to a point, obviously; you don't want 95º+ temps), but the repeated dilatation/shrinkage of the components that come from variations in temperature. So the new CPUs are designed to shoot temperatures to a constant, say, 90º instead of varying wildly between 70º and 90º depending on how intensive the game is at any given moment.

Interesting, seems to be similar to my experience. My previous was an Optimus from 2015, not sure what chassis that model would have been (are they always either Clevo or Tongfang?)

I attached the SPC settings in the previous post, game mode has PL1 & 2 at 60W..... if I understand correctly if I lowered these slightly this would lower the CPU draw? Basically if I can balance it so that the fans run at 50-60% speed that's a perfectly tolerable noise level. There is no scale on the fan settings graph but from what I can tell the fans turn on at 30% when it's 45^C, so if the graph is in increments of 5 then as soon as CPU goes over 75^C the fans go up to 65%, then 75%, and although I dont think it shows it on the graph I think they run at 90% when the CPU gets to 90^C

 

[barlew]

No problem, I thought I might have written too much, I tend to try figure things out myself then when it comes to asking for help I end up writing paragraphs.

I understand they run hot and wouldn't mind if it wasn't that even with the game on really low settings (e.g. matching my previous PCS laptop which is 5yo with a 960M) the CPU was still in the high 80s with the fans trying to initiate a runway take-off.

It just seems odd to me that in gaming mode it doesn't utilise the GPU as much as in office mode, as if it's transferring some of the load to the CPU which is why that gets hot (though apparently up to 90 is deemed ok).

That being said I am wondering if it could also be game related, as I bought Horizon: Zero Dawn, and that seems to be capable of running in game mode on low settings without maxing out the CPU, so maybe more modern games will work better with the way game mode is configured, but older games won't?

I've attached the SPC settings for al three modes, The office profile is different in that it has "Whispermode", initially this was set to "Quiet" but I changed it to "Balanced" to see how that would fare. Otherwise the only difference is the PL1 & 2. I didn't want to mess with them till I knew what they do.

Good god those power limits are high!!! God bless Intel, no wonder your laptop sounds like it is taking off!

So your PL states are the power levels supplied to your CPU.

PL1 = Normal processor state. This is the power limit for the CPU during its normal state.
PL2 = Boost state or as Intel call it Turbo mode. Typically this is the maximum amount of power supplied to your CPU for up to 100s when the CPU is boosting, if there is the thermal headroom for it.
PL4 = This is a further micro boost which will happen for an incredibly short period of time, around 10ms.

Right, now that is out of the way you will notice that your PL1 and PL2 values are the same. This is quite normal, I am not entirely sure why hardware manufacturers set them to the same value. I believe it evens out the performance of the processer so that there isn't a large disparity between the base clock and the boost clock but I am not entirely sure.

So with my Valeon the default values are:

SPL (PL1): 55W
sPPT (PL2): 55W
fPPT (PL4): 90W

After a whole load of testing I have reduced them to:

SPL (PL1): 25W
sPPT (PL2): 25W
fPPT (PL4): 90W

Whilst this technically reduces the performance of the CPU, In practice the reduction in thermals far outweigh any loss in performance when gaming. The CPU temp has dropped around 10-15C and on average I only lose about 3FPS.

It is important to bear in mind that I have an AMD processor and they perform much better with lower power settings than Intel. So basically what I would suggest is gradually lower your settings and then run benchmarks, confirm the CPU is still stable and see what impact the reduction has had on performance vs the thermal efficiency gain.

Finally you should increase your dynamic boost value to the full 15W. Dynamic boost is a technology that allows your GPU to utilise extra power up to 15W to increase its performance, if there is sufficient thermal headroom in your cooling system. Reducing the heat your CPU is kicking into the cooler will give it that headroom.

Key points from me are to reduce your settings slowly and thoroughly test the laptop with gaming benchmarks before further decreasing.

 

[Rixx]

Good god those power limits are high!!! God bless Intel, no wonder your laptop sounds like it is taking off!

So your PL states are the power levels supplied to your CPU.

PL1 = Normal processor state. This is the power limit for the CPU during its normal state.
PL2 = Boost state or as Intel call it Turbo mode. Typically this is the maximum amount of power supplied to your CPU for up to 100s when the CPU is boosting, if there is the thermal headroom for it.
PL4 = This is a further micro boost which will happen for an incredibly short period of time, around 10ms.

Right, now that is out of the way you will notice that your PL1 and PL2 values are the same. This is quite normal, I am not entirely sure why hardware manufacturers set them to the same value. I believe it evens out the performance of the processer so that there isn't a large disparity between the base clock and the boost clock but I am not entirely sure.

So with my Valeon the default values are:

SPL (PL1): 55W
sPPT (PL2): 55W
fPPT (PL4): 90W

After a whole load of testing I have reduced them to:

SPL (PL1): 25W
sPPT (PL2): 25W
fPPT (PL4): 90W

Whilst this technically reduces the performance of the CPU, In practice the reduction in thermals far outweigh any loss in performance when gaming. The CPU temp has dropped around 10-15C and on average I only lose about 3FPS.

It is important to bear in mind that I have an AMD processor and they perform much better with lower power settings than Intel. So basically what I would suggest is gradually lower your settings and then run benchmarks, confirm the CPU is still stable and see what impact the reduction has had on performance vs the thermal efficiency gain.

Finally you should increase your dynamic boost value to the full 15W. Dynamic boost is a technology that allows your GPU to utilise extra power up to 15W to increase its performance, if there is sufficient thermal headroom in your cooling system. Reducing the heat your CPU is kicking into the cooler will give it that headroom.

Key points from me are to reduce your settings slowly and thoroughly test the laptop with gaming benchmarks before further decreasing.

Thanks, I'll give that a go.
For gaming benchmarks, do you mean the in-game benchmark tests or another program? (I think I have seen a couple mentioned in these forums like Firestrike)

 

[barlew]

Thanks, I'll give that a go.
For gaming benchmarks, do you mean the in-game benchmark tests or another program? (I think I have seen a couple mentioned in these forums like Firestrike)

Yes I mean in game benchmarks.
You can run fire strike but because it has dedicated physics benchmarking you will get a lower score due to turning the wattage down on the CPU. This won't really be reflective of real world performance.

It would be good if you could let us know what sort of results you get. I am intrigued as to how well this works with Intel.

 

[Rixx]

Yes I mean in game benchmarks.
You can run fire strike but because it has dedicated physics benchmarking you will get a lower score due to turning the wattage down on the CPU. This won't really be reflective of real world performance.

It would be good if you could let us know what sort of results you get. I am intrigued as to how well this works with Intel.

So far done a few tests moving PL1 & 2 down to 40W & it hasn't really impacted the benchmark scores of either Horizon: Zero Dawn nor Assassins Creed: Origins.... weirdly Origins got the lowest score with the laptop on Turbo mode (so 75W).
GTA benchmark doesn't give results but it still seems to run fine (I think maybe it averages a lower FPS now than before seemed to be mostly hovering around 100-110FPS in the final part of the test originally, now more like 70-80FPS)
ME: Andromeda doesn't seem to have a benchmark test.

CPU Temperatures seem to be better but not yet done the same checks I did before (running the game windowed watching the temps & task manager) I think it seems to be running in the 75-85 degree range when playing GTA whereas before I think it was 80-90.

I'll do some more testing this weekend.

Attached are the scores for Horizon & Origins from the laptops default Game mode (60W), default Turbo (75W) & new Game mode profile at 40W.

 

[barlew]

So far done a few tests moving PL1 & 2 down to 40W & it hasn't really impacted the benchmark scores of either Horizon: Zero Dawn nor Assassins Creed: Origins.... weirdly Origins got the lowest score with the laptop on Turbo mode (so 75W).
GTA benchmark doesn't give results but it still seems to run fine (I think maybe it averages a lower FPS now than before seemed to be mostly hovering around 100-110FPS in the final part of the test originally, now more like 70-80FPS)
ME: Andromeda doesn't seem to have a benchmark test.

CPU Temperatures seem to be better but not yet done the same checks I did before (running the game windowed watching the temps & task manager) I think it seems to be running in the 75-85 degree range when playing GTA whereas before I think it was 80-90.

I'll do some more testing this weekend.

Attached are the scores for Horizon & Origins from the laptops default Game mode (60W), default Turbo (75W) & new Game mode profile at 40W.

That all looks good to me and if your temps are averaging between 75- 85C then that's a really good result.
I would imagine the reason Origins had a worse result when using Turbo would be due to aggressive thermal throttling.

It is good to see that altering the boost states on Intel has similar results to AMD!

Keep us updated.

 

[Rixx]

That all looks good to me and if your temps are averaging between 75- 85C then that's a really good result.
I would imagine the reason Origins had a worse result when using Turbo would be due to aggressive thermal throttling.

It is good to see that altering the boost states on Intel has similar results to AMD!

Keep us updated.

Got my Game profile down to 25W now, Horizon benchmark score still seems unaffected, the AC:Origins score does seem to decrease geometrically with wattage below 50W but it's still averaging 68FPS at 25W so think i'll leave it at that and if the game has any problems while running i'll lower in-game settings a little. (in the benchmark it seemed to drop into the 50FPS range for a time, I think that's the yellow section on the graph)

At 25W it seems to top the CPU temp out around 77 or 78^C

I figure i'll make a separate profile for Turbo mode too & set it around 45-50W (instead of the 75W it is now) then if I get some more modern games that struggle I have a more powerful option just a button click away, but still should stop it reaching 90^C

Just out of interest, is it worth messing with the PL4 or should I just leave it given that it's such a short boost period?

Also, Office mode is still set at 35W, I figure i'll leave that as is even though it's now set higher than Game mode, but would there be any advantage/disadvantage to increasing or lowering PL1 & 2 for Office mode? Clearly there is more going on that affects CPU & GPU use between the modes than the PL states as Office benchmark for games is really low even with higher wattage.

Thanks for the advice. When I get a more recent game i'll post the benchmarks of those if anyone is interested.

 

[barlew]

Got my Game profile down to 25W now, Horizon benchmark score still seems unaffected, the AC:Origins score does seem to decrease geometrically with wattage below 50W but it's still averaging 68FPS at 25W so think i'll leave it at that and if the game has any problems while running i'll lower in-game settings a little. (in the benchmark it seemed to drop into the 50FPS range for a time, I think that's the yellow section on the graph)

At 25W it seems to top the CPU temp out around 77 or 78^C

I figure i'll make a separate profile for Turbo mode too & set it around 45-50W (instead of the 75W it is now) then if I get some more modern games that struggle I have a more powerful option just a button click away, but still should stop it reaching 90^C

Just out of interest, is it worth messing with the PL4 or should I just leave it given that it's such a short boost period?

Also, Office mode is still set at 35W, I figure i'll leave that as is even though it's now set higher than Game mode, but would there be any advantage/disadvantage to increasing or lowering PL1 & 2 for Office mode? Clearly there is more going on that affects CPU & GPU use between the modes than the PL states as Office benchmark for games is really low even with higher wattage.

Thanks for the advice. When I get a more recent game i'll post the benchmarks of those if anyone is interested.

So for my custom gaming profile I have brought the PL4 (for me its fPPT) down to 55W it seems to impact thermals but have very little impact on performance. Like you said it bursts to that level for such a small amount of time It probably only has an impact on serious productivity workloads.