Ryzen 7 7840HS is not running at full speed

[Neurrone]

> I don't trust the Notebookcheck reviews 100% anymore. I've commented about false and misleading information many times this last year on their pages. I mostly use Laptopmedia and some Asia-based review sites nowadays.

Am curious where else on Notebookcheck you've seen false info?

Besides Laptopmedia, which review sites would you recommend?

I've tried setting the energy performance preference to max battery with seemingly no effect, likewise with the --power-saving flag in ryzenadj. I notice that under hwinfo, most of the power draw actually comes from the GPU, with core powers being almost zero.

I'll be talking to support again tomorrow, so lets see how that goes.

[TzortzisG]

Which Windows flavour are you using? Windows can be resistant to 3rd party programs changing hidden values. Unlike Linux distros. Win11 is almost completely locked in that respect. This is what you need to test:

For the GPU, the above mentioned Project-sbc github program might help -you should try it.

[inthemirror]

I feel like ryzenadj is not yet fully functional under Windows which could explain why it doesn't work. Or maybe some Windows driver reverts the changes as soon as they are detected.

Under Windows --power-saving and --max-performance do nothing.

And --power-saving under Linux is not free either: it significantly reduces performance especially for heavy multi-threaded workloads.

[Jy_D]

You should find that if your laptop has hardware problem. Today I test my zbook power g10 a in windows, and I can play a 2560*1440 vp9 video for 12 hours

[Neurrone]

@inthemirror would you be willing to help report the idle pdraw problem to the business line you got, if you haven't done so already?

My local consumer HP support claims they have no way of talking to the team responsible for the Elitebook's bios.

Support here is terrible. My "next business day onsite warranty" was somehow not updated on their internal database even though I got it as part of the laptop purchase. Hence, it took 1.5 weeks for them to verify the warranty, during which time support did nothing even after I sent them proof of extended warranty purchase or did not respond to any of my emails requesting a status update.

Adding insult to injury, they told me today they don't have a motherboard with the processor I have on hand for a replacement to rule out hardware problems, and they couldn't even give me a rough ETA on how long it would take them to get it. Naturally, they didn't check for the part availability while twiddling their thumbs waiting for my warranty update on their database. I understand not having availability of the parts, but this whole experience has been a textbook example of how to alienate customers.

With how this is going, I'll probably be returning my laptop if they still don't have an ETA on motherboard replacement availability in a week or two. I am willing to wait for a fix if one its coming, but I'm afraid of not being able to return the laptop for a full refund if I wait too long for a fix that will never come.

[TzortzisG]

This new Notebookcheck review of the HP ZBook Firefly 14 G10 A , which has the same firmware as the 845 G10 (as seen here), proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the artificial limit to the CPU frequency is there on BIOS versions 01.01.09 and 01.01.10. The reviewer Florian Glaser starts out by informing us that the 7640HS on this model operates at 4.3 to 5 GHz under load. Then we are shown the BIOS version:

Finally, a stress test on the system gives us these screenshots:

The CPU max speed reaches 4.5GHz and doesn't budge, no matter what...... I'm not exactly sure when  Florian Glaser expects the CPU to go to 5GHz, if not on the stress test!

This issue has been fixed with post-01.01.10 BIOS firmwares. Apparently (according to posts on forums that got the 845 G10 model when it first came out), the original 01.01.08 firmware reached 5GHz and showed excellent battery times. Both the max clock throttle bug and the high idle power draw issue "magically" appeared when the BIOS firmware was updated to the 01.01.09. The idle power draw issue has yet to be adressed by HP support. Until a BIOS update fixing this is uploaded by HP, those struggling with this issue can either use inthemirror's Linux tweak, or visit this Reddit thread where there is an ongoing discussion, and a workaround has been offered (again for Linux).

[Neurrone]

I've since had a motherboard replacement, which unsurprisingly does not fix the idle power draw issue. I'm in contact with support, but its just been rounds of providing some diagnostic or info before they ask me for yet more info a few days later.

Unfortunately there is an even worse problem now. When running on battery power, the fan randomly goes to 100% speed and never spins down, regardless of the actual temperatures. When this happens, keyboard and mouse input doesn't work reliably, making the system unuseable. The only way to use the machine again is to restart it. This never happened for me when I first got the laptop, so my hypothesis is this being introduced in a buggy update. This has been confirmed by at least one other person.

I'll be returning this laptop at this rate if they don't fix it within a few weeks. I don't understand how the firmware or drivers can be so terrible. Such a shame though because the hardware is excellent.

[TzortzisG]

Thank you for your input. I've been following the Reddit thread and noticed this information. Unfortunately, I agree with everything you said, especially your closing sentence. I tried the 865 G10 (same firmware) in a store a while back and it really is a beaut! It really is a pity that the BIOS is coded so badly. As I mentioned earlier on this thread, a Vietnamese forum that reviewed the 845s warned everyone to stay on 01.01.08. Newer is not always better (when it comes to BIOS versions)......

[MaximeBurg]

Hi; I aml interested in a hp zbook firefly 14 G10 with amd ryzen 9 7940 HS, 64 go DDR5 5200 (32*2), and display IPS WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
What do you think about heat, battery life and noise?
I am looking for a premium laptop (to last 5 or 6 years) to use for work and during travels (even for very well built, powerful enough, with good battery, with good display, good webcam, good audio with nice options (for example nanosim or 4gLTLE and good security) (a premium laptop, quite silent, efficient)
My other choice could be the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 4 (AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 7840U, 32GB LPDDR5X-6 400MHz, 780M, IPS display with 500 nits, 1 to SSD)
What would you recommend TO me?
Thank you!

[inthemirror]

Do not upgrade to BIOS 01.03.05 Rev.A - it destroys performance like crazy.

In GeekBench 5 single threaded test I get 84% of my normal performance, in multi-threaded mode I get 72% of my normal performance.

Secondly, after a few suspend resume cycles the CPU gets stuck at a 500MHz frequency and using the laptop becomes impossible.

Sadly I've now downgraded to BIOS 01.03.02 Rev.A and the results haven't improved. I've no idea what's going on. 😞