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Somehow my laptop's default maximum wattage got set to 8 watts, severely limiting what I'm able to do with it. Using Intel XTU I found out it was due to current limiting. I'm able to set this up to the recommended value which allows it to run normally.

The problem with using Intel XTU is that when the Windows feature "Virtual Machine Platform" is enabled, the register that Intel XTU writes to to set this value is read-only. I use WSL2 daily for work which requires this feature to be enabled.

I looked through my BIOS settings and can't find anything related to power throttling. I also tried re-flashing my BIOS with the latest version to see if it was a bug or something that became corrupt.

My laptop is an ASUS VivoBook S15 S530FA.

Screenshot of Intel XTU showing 8 watt default value

Monoxide
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  • Has Turbo Boost just been set to Automatic (normal, I think). ....... https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000007359/processors/intel-core-processors.html – John May 04 '22 at 19:42
  • My limited understanding is that the that number is tied to (and locked to it in some manufacturers'mainboards) the rated TDP of the processor. It is the "P1" number. Not sure what processor you have, but some of the i-5 models I see in ecommerce search for that asus model are 15W TDP. This number represents a rolling average of sorts and can boost to much higher, but will throttle back when the "average" over a contiguous window (a "tau" calculation) hits that number. Depending on the processor, this could be a proper default? (Some Atom processors are 8W TDP for example) – Yorik May 04 '22 at 19:47
  • @Yorik This is the processor - 15w TDP https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/149088/intel-core-i58265u-processor-6m-cache-up-to-3-90-ghz.html So my "high power' mode maximum is about half of that. It's worth noting that this only started happening a year or two after I got the laptop. I noticed it when Minecraft suddenly became unplayable, when I used to be able to run it easily at close to 60 FPS. – Monoxide May 04 '22 at 21:06
  • @John Intel XTU says "enable" for turbo boost – Monoxide May 04 '22 at 21:13
  • My error as always. – John May 04 '22 at 21:56

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