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[MISINFORMATION - THREAD IS NOW CLOSED] Don't BUY G634JZ ROG Strix SCAR 16 (2023)

ElSm0K3
Level 10

TD;DR: All HX series i9 mobile processors exhibit a peculiar PL4 power limit bug. Whenever there's a frequency fluctuation, throttling is triggered without apparent reason, regardless of the actual power consumption. This means that your processor will never be able to run at its maximum performance due to this dumb issue during gameplay. It appears that Intel has been aware of this problem for some time but has been reluctant to address it.

Detail:
In February, I purchased the G634JZ ROG Strix SCAR 16 (2023) gaming laptop and soon noticed an unusual issue: the CPU frequently triggered Electrical Design Point/Other (EDP Other) throttling, even during idle. Based on my experience and online resources, I suspected that current limits were causing this. I accessed the BIOS and set both TDC and Icc Max to their maximum values, but the throttling persisted. I then theorized that ASUS's Embedded Controller (EC) might be enforcing these limits, rendering BIOS adjustments ineffective.

I sought assistance on official forums and Chinese platforms like Tieba (similar to Reddit) but received no responses. Frustrated, I began vocally criticizing ASUS on these platforms. (I know I sound like an ******.) This drew significant attention, and many Chinese users became aware of the frequent throttling issues with ASUS laptops. In May, Zhang Hongguo (张洪国) from Beijing Shengyuan Liyue Technology Co., Ltd. (北京圣元利业科技有限公司), an ASUS retailer, reached out to me. He expressed interest in collaborating with me and ASUS's Taiwan headquarters to test solutions for the throttling problem.

Mr. Zhang suggested that I try disabling DTT (Dynamic Tuning Technology) to see if it could resolve the throttling issue, and here's the conversation:

Me: Disabling DTT still resulted in frequent throttling.
Zhang: Alright, got it. Please send me the specific impacts or symptoms you're experiencing during gameplay, and I'll report them to the Taipei headquarters. I'll update you as soon as I have any news.

Mr. Zhang told me, "We’ve roughly figured out where the problem lies—it’s related to the PL4 value." I also conducted some research, and indeed, one of the potential triggers for EDP Other is the PL4 value. Therefore, the frequent throttling occurs because the power consumption frequently reaches the PL4 threshold.

After several days of waiting, Mr. Zhang finally sent me a BIOS update that "resolved" the throttling issue. This BIOS increased PL4 from 240W to 330W. After flashing the BIOS, I no longer experienced frequent throttling during idle periods. However, I noticed that when playing games, the throttling still occurred just as frequently as before. So, I continued sending Mr. Zhang various data to help them identify the root cause of the problem.

A month later, during which I kept asking him in hopes of finding a complete solution to the throttling issue, Mr. Zhang finally explained to me on June 20th why the PL4 power limit throttling occurred so frequently and why they couldn’t resolve it. Here's the conversation:

Me: Is it possible to completely fix the frequent throttling that still occurs during gaming?
Zhang: There isn't a good solution for this. Throttling during gaming is mainly caused by Intel's PPP estimation values. Unless PL4 is forcibly set to over 400W, the throttling will still occur. We’ve tested it, and even setting PL4 to 370W or 380W still triggers throttling.


Zhang: Before discussing PL4, it’s important to understand the concept of Potential Peak Power (PPP). This power value is Intel’s theoretical estimate of the maximum possible power consumption. Since it’s an estimate, it doesn’t represent the actual power consumption, but rather a prediction of what the instantaneous power consumption of the system might be at a given moment. PL4 is used to limit the PPP value. When the estimated PPP exceeds the PL4 value, the system will throttle the CPU to prevent "overload."

Zhang: With a 330W adapter and the battery together, the maximum power provided is still less than 400W.
Zhang: When the CPU starts to turbo (increase the frequency), Intel CPU will estimate the PPP value.
Zhang: When the estimated PPP exceeds 330W, throttling will be triggered.


Me: It does feel similar to the recent bug with Intel’s desktop eTVB algorithm. If the mobile PPP estimation is behaving like this, it could indeed be considered a bug as well. It seems like Intel is facing a lot of issues lately, and this problem with throttling is just another example of that.

Zhang: Yeah, the actual real power consumption isn’t enough to trigger throttling. The discrepancy between the PPP estimation and the actual power consumption is just too large, which causes unnecessary throttling.
Zhang: In gaming, as long as the CPU engages in turbo mode (increasing CPU frequency), PPP takes the highest priority, as it is used to prevent overload.
Zhang: After that, PL1, PL2, or temperature throttling is used to limit the frequency.
Zhang: Let’s wait and see if the next microcode update can fix this issue.
Zhang: I suspect that during gaming, when the frequency of a single core rises, the algorithm might incorrectly predict that all cores will increase in frequency, leading to an overestimation of the PPP.
Zhang: I’ve heard from 火鸡 (蒸気火鸡, a famous Chinese tech video creator) that Intel is aware of this issue, but whether they will fix it is still uncertain. This problem seems to be more noticeable on the Ultra series.


This throttling issue exists across all HX series i9 processors. I’ve searched and asked around on various Chinese social media platforms, and everyone who has tested it experiences the same problem. If you also have an HX series i9 processor, you can test it as well. I believe you’ll encounter the same issue.

Before Intel fixes this issue, I wouldn't recommend any gaming enthusiasts to buy Intel G634JZ ROG Strix SCAR 16 (2023) gaming laptops, because you won’t be able to fully enjoy the performance you paid for. Your performance will always be limited by this stupid issue.

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18 REPLIES 18

eXplode
Level 13

And what are the problems that you get from this Electrical Design Point/Other (EDP Other) throttling ?

Stutters, low FPS, and similar issues. Your CPU isn’t reaching its full potential. Check my other posts for details—it’s caused by EDP throttling at just 65°C, which makes no sense. This is a known issue with Intel, as proven in the evidence provided above.

We must be realistic; we can't pressure anyone. We will not be united, and we will not make these companies fix this problem.

I've had this problem even with the i7-13650HX, i9-13980, and i9-14900. Even when idle, I get EDP throttling, but I never find this to be a big problem, because we must be realistic: you will not get the full potential of your CPU, no matter what you are doing, because full potential = overheating and potentially melting your motherboard. For this reason, your max TDP is 175 watts for the CPU, and the total laptop TDP is 230-240 watts.

This CPU needs optimization and undervolting. Also, Windows needs optimization for the best performance and latency.

With everything I’ve done to the system, I don’t have latency problems, and I don’t experience stutters in any game. Just look at the graphs and frame times; they are always flat. and the MAX voltage for the CPU dont get more than 1.385v

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ASUS has to be one of the biggest letdowns in the laptop industry. I paid 2800 EUR for this so-called "high-end" junk, and what do I get? A CPU stuck at 65W and EDP throttling like it's some budget toy. It's an absolute joke—a slap in the face to anyone expecting performance. MSI would've been the far better choice since they actually let you tune the BIOS properly and force performance the way you want.

Meanwhile, ASUS locks everything down and ships you a slow, underperforming piece of garbage. This isn't a Windows issue—it's 100% Intel and ASUS nonsense. IXTU and ThrottleStop can't fix it because the problem is embedded in their trash-tier engineering.

And if you check the Reddit threads and the Chinese forums, even ASUS's own factory engineers are admitting to this mess. They're fully aware of how bad this is and still shipping laptops like this.

If you want performance, stay away from ASUS. This is the last time I'll trust their overpriced garbage. MSI next time, without question.

Agreed 👌I couldn't have said it better myself. To add to your statement.. even Lenovo BIOS officially have some degree of advanced options being available to users and they can get unlocked to show the hidden BIOS settings as well which allows full control of how the CPU behaves.

==========================================================================================================================
Some ask Who put
The Boss in charge?
They wonder Why's
The Boss so boss?​

The answer true:
His work looms large
It makes them cry
As they take the loss

Don't wait for ASUS or Intel to fix your laptop—try to fix it yourself, because you won't get any help from them. As you can see, the newest BIOS has power limitations even for synthetic benchmarks. When I tried BIOS 331, the result was a maximum of 120 watts power usage in Cinebench, so you can see my performance, temps, and power usage in games, as well as the frametime and FPS. If you want, I can give you some tips on what to do, but don't wait for help from ASUS, Intel, or Nvidia. Even the coil whine in my laptop was very loud, but Nvidia won't fix it, so I undervolted the GPU, and now it's better. So don't wait for someone to fix your system—take matters into your own hands.

Let me make this clear: there is no “fix it myself” solution here. This isn’t a Windows issue, not a driver problem, not something undervolting or tweaking can fix. My temps are perfectly fine, yet the CPU still EDP throttles at 65W. Let that sink in—65W for a CPU that’s supposed to deliver KING performance.

This is a hardware-level limitation set by ASUS and their ECC ******ery, and the only solution is a proper BIOS update—which only ASUS can deliver. Anything less is fraudulent behavior. They advertise 100W+ CPU package performance, but in reality, you’re stuck with crippled power delivery and throttling, even when the hardware temps are good.

This is a scam, plain and simple. ASUS’s blatant bull******ery has betrayed paying customers like me who expected the best but got neutered hardware instead. No undervolt, no trick fixes this. ASUS needs to own up to their garbage engineering and release a proper fix.

I will keep refusing the RMA until they admit fault and deliver what was promised. In the meantime, I’ll make sure this issue is well-known—Intel forums, Reddit, wherever it takes. Next time? I’ll go MSI or Lenovo with AMD, because ASUS clearly doesn’t deserve anyone’s trust.

 

I understood everything from the first time, and yes, one of the solutions is to send it back until they fix it. Another option is to downgrade the BIOS version to 318, where you don’t face such a significant limitation, and you’re able to use 100+ watts while gaming. If you choose the second option, you can still send it back before the warranty expires. If the laptop is sent in three times for the same problem and it is not fixed, by law, they must refund you the full amount you paid.

 

Honestly, I don't think ASUS can even fix this. Their engineers would need to develop a proper BIOS update, but every new BIOS they release seems to throttle the system even more. It's like they're actively crippling performance instead of fixing it.

At this point, I have zero faith in ASUS delivering a solution. It feels like they’re intentionally locking down the hardware, leaving us with a throttled, underperforming mess. For a laptop that costs 2800 EUR, this is completely unacceptable.

If they can’t solve this, they shouldn’t be selling premium machines under false promises. ASUS has some explaining to do, because their so-called “updates” are only making things worse, not better.