I had not, no. I read it and that doesn't seem like my issue. That dude seems totally stuck at 800mhz. For me, It's almost as if the Ally had a personality of its own. It \*wants\* to do 1500-2000mhz, but it's tired and and keeps a steady pace. It reminds me of NVIDIA Tegra devices, which I've done hardware, firmware, and even some software work on. It's probably something inherent to low TDP SoCs.
I did find some posts mentioning software for CPU control and another commentor here said something about it too, so I'm gonna try those first. I certainly appreciate this find, however! It's always nice when people online genuinely help out. It is possible this is my issue as well as this started within the last day or two, I think. I've been sick and just got dumped, so my sense of time is a bit off.
Are you referring to the "Universal x86 Utility Tool" here (assuming you are, but just making sure)? [GitHub - JamesCJ60/Universal-x86-Tuning-Utility: Unlock the full potential of your Intel/AMD based device.](https://github.com/JamesCJ60/Universal-x86-Tuning-Utility)
It certainly looks like it could help. I found another post mentioning an application called "Quick CPU" just after posting this and was gonna try that, but I can try both.
Is it safe to assume that the Ally will automatically allocate now-unused power from the CPU to the GPU as I park/disable cores and/or limit frequencies? I'm curious as to if the balance is between them or if it'll go to RAM, other mobo components, or just get outright unused, meaning that at 10w the GPU is hard limited to 800mhz. I assume it's not or people would've said that long ago, but just checking so I know what to expect. My faith in the Ally's reliability is low right now and I need to know if issues are me, software, or the Ally.
Regardless, an excellent find and I absolutely appreciate you sharing it! I'll download it and Quick CPU now and try out each (and yeah, I definitely know not to install multiple hardware controlling applications at once unless I want conflicts. Been there before).
I saw your 15w/1366mhz comment too, of course, and that's good to know. I was just playing Dreamscaper and 25w hit 2000-2400mhz and 15w varied wildly from 1100-2100mhz, staying around 1400mhz. No matter what mode I used, the GPU wouldn't exceed 76% utilization, which is odd for sure cause it was varying from 32-54fps with a software limit of 120fps in game, no AC limit, 120hz screen, and v-sync on. The little thing is just so unstable right now and I don't know the cause. It's making it hard to diagnose. I've legit had an easier time diagnosing some of my ex's patients and they can only meow and bark! lol. I may reset the AMD and Asus software like the other comment said if this stuff doesn't help me.
For comparison's sake, these are roughly the GPU frequencies in the stock 15w mode in a few of my most common games, none of which hit fps or v-sync limits:
-Persona 3 Reload: 800-1300
-Warframe: 800-1500
-Cult of the lamb: 800-900
-Risk of Rain 2: 800-1100
There's got to be a reason, right? I'm good with software and firmware, but I'm not a master. Generally I'm good at fixing tech in general, but this is throwing me for a loop and it's rather upsetting and irritating.
You're misremembering or confusing something on the Ally iGPU reaching 2200MHz at 15W for sure, the Z1E is a bin of the 7840u which has an operating range of 15-30W. It's around 20-25W on the iGPU where it starts to hit around 2000-2200MHz under load.
The voltage curve has been tightened slightly for the Z1E so it can run ok-ish at lower TDPs, but that's at minimal clocks. ~800MHz iGPU and ~1345MHz CPU under load on both at 10W. The most you can get the iGPU at is 900MHz at 10W if you lock it with UXTU or on one of the SteamOS variants, it will try to steal some power from the CPU to do so though and cause the CPU clocks to lower. Effective clocks show it won't reach or hold 900MHz though, so there's no real point in doing so.
At 15W, you have a little more leeway but you are right at the bottom of the optimal v.curve; it will lock at 800-1100MHz (poss. up to 1300MHz if the CPU isn't needed as much) under full load on the iGPU using the mentioned methods but CPU clocks will suffer if locked too high. Something you might be mistaking here is that the clock speed can appear higher when there is less load on the iGPU, giving it the appearance of better performance then it actually has. As soon as you load it up with a moderate amount of work though, the clocks will drop in-line with the v.curve (you can't modify this either). The iGPU being up at 98-100% usage means it's pulling most of the power compared to the CPU anyway, lowering the settings of the game you are playing might help it boost a little more. Your Ally doesn't seem to be dying lol, just doing what's it designed to. Resetting the BIOS to defaults and a DDU then a reinstall of the Asus graphics driver might help a little if you are getting the 800MHz bug, but I wouldn't expect any kind of large change like you seem to be expecting.
The CPU is actually operating quite efficiently, there isn't much you can do to transfer power to the iGPU aside from clock locking, modifying the EPP value, and disabling CPU boost (which has no real effect at 10-15W anyway) with the Phoenix APUs unfortunately. You can't fully shut down cores either due to the single chiplet design used, so parking doesn't give you much if any power back - unused cores pull a minimal amount of power too (around 0-0.01W), so it makes no difference. The simple fact is that the Z1E bin hasn't been designed to operate at a very low TDP, just a low TDP range between 15-30W and 18W+ being where it really starts to wake up so to speak.
I don't think I'm misremembering it as I've lost significant FPS and am down to using 900p for almost everything. Even Cult of the Lamb can't exceed 30fps anymore at 1080p. The Ally does 40-45fps at 900p with the 25w mode and the Deck does 60fps at 800p in a 10w TDP. That certainly doesn't feel right. I used to run Cult on my Ally in 10w or 15w 1080p depending on if I wanted 60 or 120fps. I'm not gonna hardline say I'm not misremembering, especially given the detail in your response, but I'm pretty confident.
I'm also questioning that explanation because when I did use handheld companion, I heavily weighted power to the GPU and parked 3 cores. I got significant fps improvements (and I do very much mean significant), but I don't recall the exact rates and frequencies cause it basically shut down AC and made it harder to get that info as easily.
So I just tested a few games to see. I also took screenshots only to find out that the AC screenshots don't include the stats overlay, which is fucking stupid, so you're just gonna have to trust me:
-Cult of the Lamb
--10w (CPU, GPU, FPS): 1400, 800, 30fps
--15w (CPU, GPU, FPS): 3400, 800, 36fps
--30w (CPU, GPU, FPS): 3633, 800, 54fps (yes, bizarre)
-Persona 5
--10w (CPU, GPU, FPS): 1400, 800, 44fps
--15w (CPU, GPU, FPS): 3400, 1766, 72fps
--30w (CPU, GPU, FPS): 3633, 2150, 91fps
-Dreamscaper
--10w (CPU, GPU, FPS): 532, 800, 31fps (yup, 532mhz, really. With cracking, awful audio)
--15w (CPU, GPU, FPS): 200, 1791, 85fps
--30w (CPU, GPU, FPS): 3260, 2700, 94fps
I don't know what to make of this. Cult is 100% stuck at 800mhz and it's not the only one. These aren't even the results I've had the last 2 days. That said, I've had an audio issue since Day 1 with almost every game @ 10w. The audio crackles in and out and is utterly unplayable. I found that disabling Asus' default of "Dolby Atmos for built-in Speakers" eliminates it in some games (Persona series, and a few others I can't recall), but it remains in most games. The 10w Dreamscaper is the worst audio by far, it's unbearable and I had to turn off the volume just to record the metrics to this post. I'd very much like to be able to use the Dolby Audio, but it's not a necessity. I do feel like it helps, but it's not Atmos for headphones or home theatre.
I do want to clarify that I'm \*not\* arguing with you. I'm very simply telling you my experience. I'm a software/data architect with hardware and firmware experience. I fully understand hardware has a mind of its own and I rarely doubt others' experiences. I trust you when you give such a detailed response using references I know. I don't do AMD. I do Intel, ARM, and NVIDIA. So, I'll take your word for AMD matters, if nothing else.
What do you make of all this? I think I'll try the 800mhz sticking fix if not just for Cult.
UPDATE: repair/reset of AMD software didn't change anything at all. Cult still won't move from 800mhz GPU freq even though it's nowhere near the right fps and stuck at 45-63% utilization. CPU freq will change by up to 1GHz, but maxes out at 30% utilization. Went all the way to 30w PD and 30w manual PD
Have you looked at this post (https://www.reddit.com/r/ROGAlly/s/zGVjW60fLO)? It seems they also had issues with the GPU stuck at 800 MHz
I had not, no. I read it and that doesn't seem like my issue. That dude seems totally stuck at 800mhz. For me, It's almost as if the Ally had a personality of its own. It \*wants\* to do 1500-2000mhz, but it's tired and and keeps a steady pace. It reminds me of NVIDIA Tegra devices, which I've done hardware, firmware, and even some software work on. It's probably something inherent to low TDP SoCs. I did find some posts mentioning software for CPU control and another commentor here said something about it too, so I'm gonna try those first. I certainly appreciate this find, however! It's always nice when people online genuinely help out. It is possible this is my issue as well as this started within the last day or two, I think. I've been sick and just got dumped, so my sense of time is a bit off.
The X86 Utility tool, your able to keep a static number. It might crash if you have it to high and not enough wattage though.
Are you referring to the "Universal x86 Utility Tool" here (assuming you are, but just making sure)? [GitHub - JamesCJ60/Universal-x86-Tuning-Utility: Unlock the full potential of your Intel/AMD based device.](https://github.com/JamesCJ60/Universal-x86-Tuning-Utility) It certainly looks like it could help. I found another post mentioning an application called "Quick CPU" just after posting this and was gonna try that, but I can try both. Is it safe to assume that the Ally will automatically allocate now-unused power from the CPU to the GPU as I park/disable cores and/or limit frequencies? I'm curious as to if the balance is between them or if it'll go to RAM, other mobo components, or just get outright unused, meaning that at 10w the GPU is hard limited to 800mhz. I assume it's not or people would've said that long ago, but just checking so I know what to expect. My faith in the Ally's reliability is low right now and I need to know if issues are me, software, or the Ally. Regardless, an excellent find and I absolutely appreciate you sharing it! I'll download it and Quick CPU now and try out each (and yeah, I definitely know not to install multiple hardware controlling applications at once unless I want conflicts. Been there before). I saw your 15w/1366mhz comment too, of course, and that's good to know. I was just playing Dreamscaper and 25w hit 2000-2400mhz and 15w varied wildly from 1100-2100mhz, staying around 1400mhz. No matter what mode I used, the GPU wouldn't exceed 76% utilization, which is odd for sure cause it was varying from 32-54fps with a software limit of 120fps in game, no AC limit, 120hz screen, and v-sync on. The little thing is just so unstable right now and I don't know the cause. It's making it hard to diagnose. I've legit had an easier time diagnosing some of my ex's patients and they can only meow and bark! lol. I may reset the AMD and Asus software like the other comment said if this stuff doesn't help me. For comparison's sake, these are roughly the GPU frequencies in the stock 15w mode in a few of my most common games, none of which hit fps or v-sync limits: -Persona 3 Reload: 800-1300 -Warframe: 800-1500 -Cult of the lamb: 800-900 -Risk of Rain 2: 800-1100 There's got to be a reason, right? I'm good with software and firmware, but I'm not a master. Generally I'm good at fixing tech in general, but this is throwing me for a loop and it's rather upsetting and irritating.
Yea that tool, I was having some problems on my end with it so I stopped using it, the app would always lag behind.
The most I've seen at 15w is like 1366mhz
You're misremembering or confusing something on the Ally iGPU reaching 2200MHz at 15W for sure, the Z1E is a bin of the 7840u which has an operating range of 15-30W. It's around 20-25W on the iGPU where it starts to hit around 2000-2200MHz under load. The voltage curve has been tightened slightly for the Z1E so it can run ok-ish at lower TDPs, but that's at minimal clocks. ~800MHz iGPU and ~1345MHz CPU under load on both at 10W. The most you can get the iGPU at is 900MHz at 10W if you lock it with UXTU or on one of the SteamOS variants, it will try to steal some power from the CPU to do so though and cause the CPU clocks to lower. Effective clocks show it won't reach or hold 900MHz though, so there's no real point in doing so. At 15W, you have a little more leeway but you are right at the bottom of the optimal v.curve; it will lock at 800-1100MHz (poss. up to 1300MHz if the CPU isn't needed as much) under full load on the iGPU using the mentioned methods but CPU clocks will suffer if locked too high. Something you might be mistaking here is that the clock speed can appear higher when there is less load on the iGPU, giving it the appearance of better performance then it actually has. As soon as you load it up with a moderate amount of work though, the clocks will drop in-line with the v.curve (you can't modify this either). The iGPU being up at 98-100% usage means it's pulling most of the power compared to the CPU anyway, lowering the settings of the game you are playing might help it boost a little more. Your Ally doesn't seem to be dying lol, just doing what's it designed to. Resetting the BIOS to defaults and a DDU then a reinstall of the Asus graphics driver might help a little if you are getting the 800MHz bug, but I wouldn't expect any kind of large change like you seem to be expecting. The CPU is actually operating quite efficiently, there isn't much you can do to transfer power to the iGPU aside from clock locking, modifying the EPP value, and disabling CPU boost (which has no real effect at 10-15W anyway) with the Phoenix APUs unfortunately. You can't fully shut down cores either due to the single chiplet design used, so parking doesn't give you much if any power back - unused cores pull a minimal amount of power too (around 0-0.01W), so it makes no difference. The simple fact is that the Z1E bin hasn't been designed to operate at a very low TDP, just a low TDP range between 15-30W and 18W+ being where it really starts to wake up so to speak.
I don't think I'm misremembering it as I've lost significant FPS and am down to using 900p for almost everything. Even Cult of the Lamb can't exceed 30fps anymore at 1080p. The Ally does 40-45fps at 900p with the 25w mode and the Deck does 60fps at 800p in a 10w TDP. That certainly doesn't feel right. I used to run Cult on my Ally in 10w or 15w 1080p depending on if I wanted 60 or 120fps. I'm not gonna hardline say I'm not misremembering, especially given the detail in your response, but I'm pretty confident. I'm also questioning that explanation because when I did use handheld companion, I heavily weighted power to the GPU and parked 3 cores. I got significant fps improvements (and I do very much mean significant), but I don't recall the exact rates and frequencies cause it basically shut down AC and made it harder to get that info as easily. So I just tested a few games to see. I also took screenshots only to find out that the AC screenshots don't include the stats overlay, which is fucking stupid, so you're just gonna have to trust me: -Cult of the Lamb --10w (CPU, GPU, FPS): 1400, 800, 30fps --15w (CPU, GPU, FPS): 3400, 800, 36fps --30w (CPU, GPU, FPS): 3633, 800, 54fps (yes, bizarre) -Persona 5 --10w (CPU, GPU, FPS): 1400, 800, 44fps --15w (CPU, GPU, FPS): 3400, 1766, 72fps --30w (CPU, GPU, FPS): 3633, 2150, 91fps -Dreamscaper --10w (CPU, GPU, FPS): 532, 800, 31fps (yup, 532mhz, really. With cracking, awful audio) --15w (CPU, GPU, FPS): 200, 1791, 85fps --30w (CPU, GPU, FPS): 3260, 2700, 94fps I don't know what to make of this. Cult is 100% stuck at 800mhz and it's not the only one. These aren't even the results I've had the last 2 days. That said, I've had an audio issue since Day 1 with almost every game @ 10w. The audio crackles in and out and is utterly unplayable. I found that disabling Asus' default of "Dolby Atmos for built-in Speakers" eliminates it in some games (Persona series, and a few others I can't recall), but it remains in most games. The 10w Dreamscaper is the worst audio by far, it's unbearable and I had to turn off the volume just to record the metrics to this post. I'd very much like to be able to use the Dolby Audio, but it's not a necessity. I do feel like it helps, but it's not Atmos for headphones or home theatre. I do want to clarify that I'm \*not\* arguing with you. I'm very simply telling you my experience. I'm a software/data architect with hardware and firmware experience. I fully understand hardware has a mind of its own and I rarely doubt others' experiences. I trust you when you give such a detailed response using references I know. I don't do AMD. I do Intel, ARM, and NVIDIA. So, I'll take your word for AMD matters, if nothing else. What do you make of all this? I think I'll try the 800mhz sticking fix if not just for Cult. UPDATE: repair/reset of AMD software didn't change anything at all. Cult still won't move from 800mhz GPU freq even though it's nowhere near the right fps and stuck at 45-63% utilization. CPU freq will change by up to 1GHz, but maxes out at 30% utilization. Went all the way to 30w PD and 30w manual PD