# Intel i5-10210U Throttling



## lastendconductor (Feb 14, 2021)

Hey! I have an Acer Swift 3 (SF314-58G, with Intel i5-10210U and NVIDIA MX250), and while I'm playing any videogame, I've noticed that the first few minutes the FPS are pretty stable and overall good (60fps), but then it just goes down. From what I've seen on the information that ThrottleStop shows, it would seem that once the CPU reaches about 80°C, it starts throttling, going down to 70°C. A few days ago I undervolted the CPU from -60mv to -75mv, along other tweaks that I don't remember, and that somehow improved performance, but as seen in screenshots it stills throttles.

If I "Disable and Lock Turbo Power Limits" I doesn't throttle, but the temps get higher, which I guess is expected, however, I feel that is kind of an extreme solution, since I don't know if it is safe to have the CPU at 80-85°C for a few hours every single day. I have read different opinions on this matter, and I'm still unsure of this, so that's why I would like to take a different approach first. I'll also change the thermal paste of my laptop for the first time to something more decent, which I hope will lower the temperatures.

I have attached the things that may be useful to figuring this out, and also added the logs from ThrottleStop after playing for about 15 minutes.


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## unclewebb (Feb 14, 2021)

lastendconductor said:


> I don't know if it is safe to have the CPU at 80-85°C


Intel sets the thermal throttling temperature to 100°C for the 10210U.









						Product Specifications
					

quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.




					ark.intel.com
				




They do this because they are confident that their CPUs can run reliably at high temperatures. Intel could easily lower this temperature if it was causing problems but they don't. Intel has consistently set the thermal throttling temperature to 100°C for the vast majority of Core i CPUs produced since 2008. I have confidence that Intel knows what they are doing. Most modern gaming laptops with Intel CPUs run for hours on end at over 90°C. This is a normal and safe operating temperature.

The 10th Gen U series have a 15W TDP rating. With good cooling and unlocked turbo power limits, they can run way, way beyond that conservative limit.



http://imgur.com/NQHgK5G


Your first screenshot shows your CPU power limit throttling at only 9.5W. That is too low. I would definitely be using the Disable and Lock feature to try to prevent that. Acer has this wonderful CPU running below spec. With better cooling, I would also increase the 15W Turbo Boost Long Power Max value. Some laptops allow this but some are hard locked to 15W internally.

I also see that you have set your turbo ratios much lower. Poor cooling is forcing you to run your CPU 500 MHz slower than its rated speed. Hopefully some new thermal paste can help you achieve maximum performance. Noctua NT-H2 works well in laptops.


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## timothy1430 (Dec 16, 2021)

Hi Op, may I ask how were you able to unlock undervolting in your i5-10210U?

Because mine has the same processor as yours but undervolting is locked, even tried searching in the internet but unfortunately others who had the same processors as ours also had their undervolting locked.


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