It might be worth checking in your case to see if NHC is "enabled" to control stuff. I think the default is that it doesn't interfere, but maybe if it sees no other controlling going on... In which case, tweaking the options it offers might get a bit more performance.
It does in fact offer a pretty comprehensive selection of tweaks to voltages, speeds, and the like. The "paid for" version does even more.
On my ThinkPad, it reports but doesn't touch, although I'm contemplating changing that.