Surface Pro 4 i7 gaming performance

[ian50000x]

So when I first bought my sp4 back early this year, I optimized it for gaming with a fan pointed at the heat sensor, cs disabled, high performance power plan, intel graphics drivers, and a slight undervoltage (-110mv worked best for me). Back then, there was a definite difference in games between balanced and high performance power settings. I noticed recently that this doesn't seem to be the case any more. I have run through a variety of games, and in more GPU heavy games like World of Warcraft, there is no noticeable difference between the two power options, and in CPU heavy use (I used PCSX2 running Dragon Quest VIII), balanced is actually a boost of maybe 4 or 5 fps. What could be causing this? Like I said, when I first did this set-up, there was maybe a 10fps increase using High Performance. Where did it go?

 

[ian50000x]

A little follow-up: I have found some situations in WoW where balanced is also a slight boost to fps over high performance. Based on intel extreme tuning utility's monitor, it seems like in balanced the core frequency is slightly lower, but in high performance i am hitting the current limit a lot. I should note I am using the 65W AC adapter, and it's the same one I've always used.

 

[GreyFox7]

So is the performance lower than it used to be with High Performance profile or higher with the balanced profile?

If lower, it may be more stringent controls were placed on the thermal envelope. otherwise ... it would seem they are zeroing in on the best optimization.

 

[ian50000x]

It's hard to say for sure, but I think it's lower than it used to be, and balanced is about where it was, but I'm not 100% sure. Also, I don't THINK it's thermal controls, since the way the SP4 controls that is by modifying the TDP, which shows up in Intel Extreme Tuning as power limiting, and I'm mostly seeing current limiting.