Lenovo E490 thermal throttling with "low" temps?

[Smooooochy]

Hi everyone,

Hope this is the correct board to post this in.

I have a Lenovo ThinkPad E490 (i7-8565U/RX550), and for I've had thermal issues for a while now.
I went ahead and bought a cooling pad (CoolerMaster L2) and started using TPFanControl/ThrottleStop. It helped for awhile, but now for some unknown and super weird reason (maybe 2004 update?), the computer is HEAVILY thermal throttling, even with decent gaming temperatures?

(the "THERMAL" sign beneath "Core" and "GPU" was flashing red, just accidentally caught it while yellow)


As you can see, CPU temp was averaging around ~57c (max ~64c), and the GPU temp was averaging at ~54-59c all game long.
The drops were constant, and heavy (around 200-300MHz). It was a pain to (try) game like this.

While I'm not 100% positive that I have the optimal settings in ThrottleStop (or anywhere else, to be exact), I never had this issue with such low temps. Up until recently it only throttled around ~75c.

What could be the cause?

Thanks!

Anyone?

 

[unclewebb]

I think I just answered this question on reddit. Go in the Options window and adjust the PROCHOT Offset variable and lock it was my answer. This option is available in ThrottleStop 9.0.

If your laptop does not have a Clock Modulation throttling problem, there is no need to check this option in ThrottleStop. Not many recent laptops still use this throttling method.

 

[Smooooochy]

I think I just answered this question on reddit. Go in the Options window and adjust the PROCHOT Offset variable and lock it was my answer. This option is available in ThrottleStop 9.0.

Yes, you did

Thank you, again! as soon as I get to sit on my laptop today I'll try, and report back.

 

[Smooooochy]

Hey!

So as I already mentioned on Reddit, everything (gaming-wise) is working perfect. High speed is maintained all along, which is great.

As I'm pretty new at this, I still feel like I don't have optimal settings in TS, this is what I currently have set:

(LEFT - somewhat idle, RIGHT - after 5 minutes in-game)

When not touching anything, C0% is somewhere between 1%-5% (~3.4W-6W). Also when idle, temps are averaging ~46c (with the cooling pad...). This E490 has some baaaad thermal design; I had a T-series before that, and while the CPU and GPU were worse than what I have now, the thermals were a world of difference. But again it had a way beefier design, and slower components.
- Also, surprised that the GPU doesn't seem to be throttling (I saw max of 80c), I wonder what's its limit.

TPL:

Again, not sure if these are fine- probably needs a bit of adjusting.

FIVR:

Same here. UVs are:
* CPU Core (-95.7), IccMax 255.75
* CPU Cache (-95.7), IccMax 255.75
* System Agent (-38.1)
* Intel GPU (-38.1), IccMax 255.75
* iGPU Unslice - nothing (default)

Any further help/tips/guidance would be super appreciated! thank you!

 

[unclewebb]

This E490 has some baaaad thermal design

The 8565U has a 15W TDP rating so Lenovo built the cooling system to meet that spec. Most people would agree that your decision to set the turbo power limits to 3 and 4 times the 15W rated TDP is excessive. It is nice that ThrottleStop can help you do this but don't be surprised when your CPU gets hot.

Intel rates their CPUs to be able to run 100% reliably up to 100°C. Why did you set the thermal throttling temperature to only 90°C? You do not need to do this. Let it run hot. You are not going to hurt your CPU. It will look after itself whether it throttles at 90°C or 100°C. I would probably set the turbo ratios back to their default values. I like fast and hot. Turn on the log file option in ThrottleStop and go play a game for 15 minutes or so. Attach a log file to your next post if you want me to have a look. You seem to be getting a good understanding of ThrottleStop. Try running a few different setups to see what gets you the best and smoothest overall gaming performance.

Most people set the Intel GPU and iGPU Unslice offset voltages equally. The Intel GPU might ignore this part of your undervolt if these two voltages are not synced.