XPS 15 9570, i9 overheating, solved with undervolting technique

Hi all.

I've been having a hard time with the new XPS 9570 with i9 processor: it just overheats gettting close to burn my hand after hours of working. I'm a software engineer, so, there is no option for me other then work to get paid, and this means typing a lot.

The CPU temperature were going really high here (63-70 degrees Celsius). I just couldn't work anymore as my hands were literally burning (specially the left one).

After some online research, I found about a technique called Undervolting. The processor, obviously, is an eletric device and the more processing it does, the more power it needs. And the i9 processor does it really well, getting over 4.0 Ghz easily, This also means that more voltage/power/energy is used by the processor, and the more energy it uses, the hotter it gets. Everybody knows that.

So, undervolting basically means reducing how much energy can be sent to the processor at once. You can do it on Windows using Interl Xtreme Tuning Utility and on Linux using the MBR kernel module with a neat piece of code named (guess what?) undervolt that does... undervolting!!! That did not only made my processor to stop burning like crazy, but also make my battery life longer!! On Linux now, using the NVidia driver (but setting it to use Intel) with undervolting -125mv from core, cache and gpu , my battery now lasts about 6-7 hours!!! I'm currently with 70% and have a battery life of over 5h.

The safest value I could undervolt it without crashing the system was -125mv on all 3 options on Linux.

Here are my temperatures before undevolting:

phackwer@phackwer-XPS-15-9570 ~/P/p/poc> sensors
coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Package id 0: +53.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 0: +52.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 1: +52.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 2: +53.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 3: +53.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 4: +51.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 5: +51.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)

acpitz-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1: +25.0°C (crit = +107.0°C)

pch_cannonlake-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1: +63.0°C

And now, after undervolting, fresh reboot, almost nothing running:

phackwer@phackwer-XPS-15-9570 ~> sensors
coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Package id 0: +35.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 0: +34.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 1: +34.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 2: +35.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 3: +35.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 4: +34.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 5: +33.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)

acpitz-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1: +25.0°C (crit = +107.0°C)

pch_cannonlake-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1: +33.0°C

Temperatures with undervolting after I start all my processes for a normal coding day (Docker - at least 6 instances per
project, Intellij Idea, DBeaver, Terminator, Chrome, Franz, Mailspring, Gnome Calendar, etc, etc)

phackwer@phackwer-XPS-15-9570 ~/P/p/platform> sensors
coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Package id 0: +45.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 0: +44.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 1: +45.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 2: +45.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 3: +45.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 4: +44.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 5: +43.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)

===================================================

EASIEST WAY TO DO IT ON LINUX:

You will install msr-tools and pip to get undervolt (https://github.com/georgewhewell/undervolt) working:

$ sudo apt-get install msr-tools python-pip
$ sudo pip install undervolt

And add to your rc.local or whatever boot start scripts you use:

/home/{$USER}/.local/bin/undervolt --core -125 --cache -125 --gpu -125

-125 has been proven a nice value to undervolt those 3 processors in your computer.

===================================================

ON WINDOWS

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/24075/Intel-Extreme-Tuning-Utility-Intel-XTU-

===================================================

So, what does that means: first, I don't need to run this note at 4Ghz fulltime! So, undervolting not only made battery lasts longer but also made the whole experience more pleasant.

NONE OF THOSE TOOLS DO A PERMANENT CHANGE TO YOUR MACHINE, so you always need to open those apps or load the profile during boot.

Here is a printscreen showing machine details and the battery life using powertop to check it.

It would be great if Dell could make a bios upgrade that did this undervolting in a more definitive way.