Laptop CPU usage much lower than base speed

Frick · Oct 15, 2019

iamtowbee said:
Mm I might have to open it up myself then. What's "bad heatsink compound" please?

It ain't hard. Look up a video of your model and use a spatula, IIRC them consumer HPs have a tendency be a bit fiddly. As for thermal paste Arctic MX4 is cheap and good.

R0H1T said:
Also if it hasn't been mentioned before, use Throttlestop

Sure, once the thermals are ok and if the cooling system actually can handle the components during sustained loads. I don't know how well that particular laptop handles heat, but some consumer HPs have definitely had underwhelming cooling.

iamtowbee · Oct 15, 2019

Guys, I finally took the laptop apart and cleaned the fan and heatsink. Also, repasted the CPU and GPU, then coupled it back. Did a memtest and hard disk test just to be safe; all tests passed. On booting, I fired up HWinfo and monitored the temps. On idle, it goes around 49-69°C.

I then ran PES 2017 and gameplay was very smooth at over 2.4GHz. During this period, HWinfo reported temp hitting critical values (99, 96, 96, 95 for the 4 cores), although there was no thermal throttling.

The problem started again when I ran PES 2019: lagged a bit and the CPU heated up fast. I checked the CPU speed, it was stuck at 0.79 GHz again. Also, HWinfo reported critical temps same as above but thermal throttling for all CPU components was set to Yes this time.

I went back to PES 17 and the only max reported temp was 85°C or thereabouts, although the CPU speed was still stuck at 0.79GHz.

I'm getting worried guys. I just bought it and it's already acting up when I know returning the laptop isn't an option. Please help me..

Frick said:
Sure, once the thermals are ok and if the cooling system actually can handle the components during sustained loads. I don't know how well that particular laptop handles heat, but some consumer HPs have definitely had underwhelming cooling.

Can I use ThrottleStop in this case?

eidairaman1 · Oct 15, 2019

iamtowbee said:
Guys, I finally took the laptop apart and cleaned the fan and heatsink. Also, repasted the CPU and GPU, then coupled it back. Did a memtest and hard disk test just to be safe; all tests passed. On booting, I fired up HWinfo and monitored the temps. On idle, it goes around 49-69°C.

I then ran PES 2017 and gameplay was very smooth at over 2.4GHz. During this period, HWinfo reported temp hitting critical values (99, 96, 96, 95 for the 4 cores), although there was no thermal throttling.

The problem started again when I ran PES 2019: lagged a bit and the CPU heated up fast. I checked the CPU speed, it was stuck at 0.79 GHz again. Also, HWinfo reported critical temps same as above but thermal throttling for all CPU components was set to Yes this time.

I went back to PES 17 and the only max reported temp was 85°C or thereabouts, although the CPU speed was still stuck at 0.79GHz.

I'm getting worried guys. I just bought it and it's already acting up when I know returning the laptop isn't an option. Please help me..

Can I use ThrottleStop in this case?

Read this

CPU energy save settings

Hi all, Could somebody please explain for me (like a noob) the 3 common CPU energy save technologies (C-State, C1E, EIST) and their affection by enabling/disabling them to the performance/frequency/voltage/power consumption/heat referring to the desktop and games as well? My exact goal should...

www.techpowerup.com

Zach_01 · Oct 15, 2019

Had any dust on heatsink?
Cleaning fan/heatsink improve the airflow at all?

By your first postage of HWinfo seems your problem is thermals. I dont see any overvoltage, or any excessive wattage. Temp seems the only problem and any kind of energy saving settings would not make any difference.
Maybe a defective fan? I dont really know...

To use throttle stop right now in your situation could only damage the CPU by removing the self protections.

Mussels · Oct 15, 2019

Try again, this time with pics of the thermal paste application? Maybe you did it incorrectly or used the wrong amount (or a cheap/bad paste)

Also, dont forget to repaste the GPU as well as the CPU while you're in there

jsfitz54 · Oct 16, 2019

Mussels said:
Try again, this time with pics of the thermal paste application? Maybe you did it incorrectly or used the wrong amount (or a cheap/bad paste)

Also, dont forget to repaste the GPU as well as the CPU while you're in there

HP often uses thermal pads. There is an air gap if they were replaced with TIM only. May need to purchase pads of required thickness or this is not going to work.

Mussels · Oct 16, 2019

jsfitz54 said:
HP often uses thermal pads. There is an air gap if they were replaced with TIM only. May need to purchase pads of required thickness or this is not going to work.

good advice

iamtowbee · Oct 17, 2019

Really sorry for the radio silence guys. The problem has only gotten worse, with CPU package temp now hitting 100C.

eidairaman1 said:
Read this

CPU energy save settings

Hi all, Could somebody please explain for me (like a noob) the 3 common CPU energy save technologies (C-State, C1E, EIST) and their affection by enabling/disabling them to the performance/frequency/voltage/power consumption/heat referring to the desktop and games as well? My exact goal should...

www.techpowerup.com

Hard to wrap my head around that tbh. Seems like the C states are some sort of power-saving mode at a deeper level. How do I enable them?

Zach_01 said:
Had any dust on heatsink?
Cleaning fan/heatsink improve the airflow at all?

By your first postage of HWinfo seems your problem is thermals. I dont see any overvoltage, or any excessive wattage. Temp seems the only problem and any kind of energy saving settings would not make any difference.
Maybe a defective fan? I dont really know...

Nope, no dust on the heatsink as I cleaned both the fan and heatsink. The fan runs noisy on high temps, which is prolly normal right? How do I detect a fault fan?

Zach_01 said:
To use throttle stop right now in your situation could only damage the CPU by removing the self protections.

True, the only thing keeping CPU & GPU from getting fried is the thermal throttling itself.

Mussels said:
Try again, this time with pics of the thermal paste application? Maybe you did it incorrectly or used the wrong amount (or a cheap/bad paste)

Also, dont forget to repaste the GPU as well as the CPU while you're in there

I think so too. I was eyeing the engineer when he added the paste but he said it only needed a little amount; maybe too little in this case.

Kwadratowicz · Oct 17, 2019

If I may suggest to change in power options Maximum Processor state to around 90% and then check if it can handle full load with aida 64, if not turn it to 85, or if it can handle turn it up to 95, and check again. Modern laptops are not designed to remove heat from the processor with continuous load.

iamtowbee · Oct 17, 2019

Kwadratowicz said:
If I may suggest to change in power options Maximum Processor state to around 90% and then check if it can handle full load with aida 64, if not turn it to 85, or if it can handle turn it up to 95, and check again. Modern laptops are not designed to remove heat from the processor with continuous load.

What will Mininimum State be? I'm currently on Balanced

Kwadratowicz · Oct 17, 2019

I use 5% (Maximum processor state around 90-95 % can help reduce temps and throttling, with minor drop with cpu performance), and about the 800 mhz check if your charger is rated for specs of laptop, cause friends laptop was stuck to 800mhz because he had bad laptop charger and bios was limiting cpu performance, after change of charger cpu is no longer at 800.

iamtowbee · Oct 17, 2019

Here are Aida64 results: aida1 was during the test. Thermal throttling occurred and that's during the test I think, hence aida2

Guys, I also want to point out, after the CPU speed is thermal throttled, it NEVER goes back up to normal until I perform a restart.

Kwadratowicz said:
I use 5% (Maximum processor state around 90-95 % can help reduce temps and throttling, with minor drop with cpu performance), and about the 800 mhz check if your charger is rated for specs of laptop, cause friends laptop was stuck to 800mhz because he had bad laptop charger and bios was limiting cpu performance, after change of charger cpu is no longer at 800.

I doubt if that's the issue. Reason is, when I start my laptop, it runs normally, cycling between highs of 3.2 GHz when doing minor work to around 1.2 GHz when idle. The 800 MHz throttling only happens when the CPU overheats, in most cases when I run games like PES 2019.

Kwadratowicz · Oct 17, 2019

It's a shame that did not work for you, some ppl in Internet says it's due to the exceed of the power that battery /wall charger can input to parts. Can you try to play pes 2019 with max procesor state on 90% and check temperatures? If this won't work I don't know what could help you, sorry.

Zach_01 · Oct 17, 2019

iamtowbee said:
Nope, no dust on the heatsink as I cleaned both the fan and heatsink. The fan runs noisy on high temps, which is prolly normal right? How do I detect a fault fan?

Yes it runs noisy, but does it push air out? Can you feel the exhaust hot air?
If the fan is doing the job as it should there must be a good amount of air volume coming out hot. If it don’t... then something is wrong about the air circulation.
Maybe the fan has issues, or maybe the intake opening.
Do you operate the lap top on a desk? Sorry for the dumb question...

iamtowbee · Oct 26, 2019

Zach_01 said:
Yes it runs noisy, but does it push air out? Can you feel the exhaust hot air?

I can feel the air but I don't think it's enough..

Zach_01 said:
If the fan is doing the job as it should there must be a good amount of air volume coming out hot. If it don’t... then something is wrong about the air circulation.
Maybe the fan has issues, or maybe the intake opening.
Do you operate the lap top on a desk? Sorry for the dumb question...

Most times, I operate it on a flat surface.

TheMadDutchDude · Oct 27, 2019

Your issue could also be from the flat surface. You need to elevate the laptop so it can breathe properly. Try lifting the back with a book or something to see if it gets better.

iamtowbee · Nov 3, 2019

The laptop's power rating is 120W and I'm using a 65W power adapter. Could that be the issue? Laptop doesn't charge sometimes for hours especially when running power-hungry software.

Zach_01 · Nov 3, 2019

iamtowbee said:
The laptop's power rating is 120W and I'm using a 65W power adapter. Could that be the issue? Laptop doesn't charge sometimes for hours especially when running power-hungry software.

That would not cause the CPU to overheat and throttle...

R-T-B · Nov 3, 2019

The power adapter can indeed induce cpu throttling if it's falling back to battery.

Zach_01 · Nov 3, 2019

R-T-B said:
The power adapter can indeed induce cpu throttling if it's falling back to battery.

Yes of course... Its a basic function of laptops, unless you mess with the power plans. but anyway... the issue here is over heat (100C) and then throttling.

R-T-B · Nov 3, 2019

Zach_01 said:
Yes of course... Its a basic fuction of laptops, unless you mess with the power plans. but anyway... the issue here is over heat (100C) and then throttling.

Oh, must've missed the overheat bit. Yes, conquer this first.

System Name	Black MC in Tokyo
Processor	Ryzen 5 5600
Motherboard	Asrock B450M-HDV
Cooling	Be Quiet! Pure Rock 2
Memory	2 x 16GB Kingston Fury 3400mhz
Video Card(s)	XFX 6950XT Speedster MERC 319
Storage	Kingston A400 240GB \| WD Black SN750 2TB \|WD Blue 1TB x 2 \| Toshiba P300 2TB \| Seagate Expansion 8TB
Display(s)	Samsung U32J590U 4K + BenQ GL2450HT 1080p
Case	Fractal Design Define R4
Audio Device(s)	Line6 UX1 + some headphones, Nektar SE61 keyboard
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x v3
Mouse	Logitech G602
Keyboard	Cherry MX Board 1.0 TKL Brown
VR HMD	Acer Mixed Reality Headset
Software	Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	Rimworld 4K ready!

System Name	HP ENVY 15 TS
Processor	Intel Core i7-4702MQ @ 2.2GHz
Memory	8.0 GB DDR3
Video Card(s)	NVIDIA GeForce GT750M (4GB VRAM)
Storage	ST1000LM014-1EJ164-SSHD 932 GB

System Name	PCGOD
Processor	AMD FX 8350@ 5.0GHz
Motherboard	Asus TUF 990FX Sabertooth R2 2901 Bios
Cooling	Scythe Ashura, 2×BitFenix 230mm Spectre Pro LED (Blue,Green), 2x BitFenix 140mm Spectre Pro LED
Memory	16 GB Gskill Ripjaws X 2133 (2400 OC, 10-10-12-20-20, 1T, 1.65V)
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon 290 Sapphire Vapor-X
Storage	Samsung 840 Pro 256GB, WD Velociraptor 1TB
Display(s)	NEC Multisync LCD 1700V (Display Port Adapter)
Case	AeroCool Xpredator Evil Blue Edition
Audio Device(s)	Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR
Power Supply	Seasonic 1250 XM2 Series (XP3)
Mouse	Roccat Kone XTD
Keyboard	Roccat Ryos MK Pro
Software	Windows 7 Pro 64

System Name	PC on since Aug 2019, 1st CPU R5 3600 + ASUS ROG RX580 8GB >> MSI Gaming X RX5700XT (Jan 2020)
Processor	Ryzen 9 5900X (July 2022), 150W PPT limit, 79C temp limit, CO -9~14
Motherboard	Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro (Rev1.0), BIOS F37h, AGESA V2 1.2.0.B
Cooling	Arctic Liquid Freezer II 420mm Rev7 with off center mount for Ryzen, TIM: Kryonaut
Memory	2x16GB G.Skill Trident Z Neo GTZN (July 2022) 3600MHz 1.42V CL16-16-16-16-32-48 1T, tRFC:288, B-die
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Nitro+ RX 7900XTX (Dec 2023) 314~465W (387W current) PowerLimit, 1060mV, Adrenalin v24.3.1
Storage	Samsung NVMe: 980Pro 1TB(OS 2022), 970Pro 512GB(2019) / SATA-III: 850Pro 1TB(2015) 860Evo 1TB(2020)
Display(s)	Dell Alienware AW3423DW 34" QD-OLED curved (1800R), 3440x1440 144Hz (max 175Hz) HDR1000, VRR on
Case	None... naked on desk
Audio Device(s)	Astro A50 headset
Power Supply	Corsair HX750i, 80+ Platinum, 93% (250~700W), modular, single/dual rail (switch)
Mouse	Logitech MX Master (Gen1)
Keyboard	Logitech G15 (Gen2) w/ LCDSirReal applet
Software	Windows 11 Home 64bit (v23H2, OSB 22631.3155)

System Name	Rainbow Sparkles (Power efficient, <350W gaming load)
Processor	Ryzen R7 5800x3D (Undervolted, 4.45GHz all core)
Motherboard	Asus x570-F (BIOS Modded)
Cooling	Alphacool Apex UV - Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora + EK Quantum ARGB 3090 w/ active backplate
Memory	2x32GB DDR4 3600 Corsair Vengeance RGB @3866 C18-22-22-22-42 TRFC704 (1.4V Hynix MJR - SoC 1.15V)
Video Card(s)	Galax RTX 3090 SG 24GB: Underclocked to 1700Mhz 0.750v (375W down to 250W))
Storage	2TB WD SN850 NVME + 1TB Sasmsung 970 Pro NVME + 1TB Intel 6000P NVME USB 3.2
Display(s)	Phillips 32 32M1N5800A (4k144), LG 32" (4K60) \| Gigabyte G32QC (2k165) \| Phillips 328m6fjrmb (2K144)
Case	Fractal Design R6
Audio Device(s)	Logitech G560 \| Corsair Void pro RGB \|Blue Yeti mic
Power Supply	Fractal Ion+ 2 860W (Platinum) (This thing is God-tier. Silent and TINY)
Mouse	Logitech G Pro wireless + Steelseries Prisma XL
Keyboard	Razer Huntsman TE ( Sexy white keycaps)
VR HMD	Oculus Rift S + Quest 2
Software	Windows 11 pro x64 (Yes, it's genuinely a good OS) OpenRGB - ditch the branded bloatware!
Benchmark Scores	Nyooom.

Laptop CPU usage much lower than base speed

Frick

Fishfaced Nincompoop

iamtowbee

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman

CPU energy save settings

Zach_01

Mussels

Freshwater Moderator

jsfitz54

Mussels

Freshwater Moderator

iamtowbee

CPU energy save settings

Kwadratowicz

iamtowbee

Kwadratowicz

iamtowbee

Attachments

Kwadratowicz

Zach_01

iamtowbee

TheMadDutchDude

iamtowbee

Zach_01

R-T-B

Zach_01

R-T-B

Processor	Intel i7 970 // Intel i7 2600K
Motherboard	Asus Rampage III Formula // Asus P8P67 Deluxe
Cooling	Zalman CNPS9900MaxB // Zalman CNPS11X
Memory	GSkill 2133 12GB // Corsair V 2400 32GB
Video Card(s)	ASUS GTX1080 // MSI GTX1070
Storage	Samsung 870EVO // Samsung 840P
Display(s)	HP w2207h
Case	CoolerMaster Stacker 830se // Lian Li PC-9F
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	Seasonic X 850w Gold // EVGA 850w G2
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Keyboard	Dell
Software	W10 Pro 22H2

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Processor	AMD ryzen 2700
Motherboard	MSI b450 tomahawk
Cooling	Silentiumpc grandis 2
Memory	2x8gb corsair venegance
Video Card(s)	Zotac gtx 1070 Ti mini noctua industrial 140mm fan
Storage	500 GB Samsung 970 Evo plus, 3tb Toshiba p300, 1tb WD blue
Display(s)	Dell 21 inch fhd
Case	SilentiumPC regnum rg4t
Audio Device(s)	Integrated
Power Supply	Seasonic focus plus gold 550
Mouse	Logitech Mx master 2s, g100, corsair dark rock pro rgb
Keyboard	Motospeed ck104
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Software	Windows 10 ltsc

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Processor	Ryzen R9 7950X
Motherboard	GIGABYTE Aorus Elite X670 AX
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15 + A whole lotta Sunon and Corsair Maglev blower fans...
Memory	64GB (4x 16GB) G.Skill Flare X5 @ DDR5-6000 CL30
Video Card(s)	XFX RX 7900 XTX Speedster Merc 310
Storage	2x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs
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Software	Gentoo Linux x64