Laptop CPU throttling at ~50-60c

[lukeshep42]

I'm using a Dell Precision 5520 laptop, with an Intel i7-7820HQ @ 2.9GHz CPU, an NVIDIA Quadro M1200 GPU, and 32GB RAM.

I regularly experience my CPU throttling down to ~0.78GHz when playing games, while temps typically peak at 65c, though they are usually between 50-60c.

The throttling typically continues for 5-10 min after I've closed any game, and I'm unsure how to fix, I've tried undervolting and I constantly use a laptop fan in order lower my temps, but to no avail.

Any advice or solutions? It'd be much appreciated, since I can't play any games like it is now.

 

[phanbuey]

vrms are overheating - this used to happen to my alienware laptop. CPU and GPU temps would be fine but the clock would throttle down to 800mhz.

Check your system board/vrm temps - it helps to undervolt the chip and turn turboboost off.

The reality is that chassis isn't designed to handle gaming at all, so if you're already using a fan for underneath and undervolting: you might be better off selling that thing and getting something else.

 

[newtekie1]

It seems like an issue with Dell that is causing it to throttle early, possibly CPU VRM overheating. That CPU should not start to throttle until over 90°C.

Considering what you paid for it, I'd take the issue up with Dell. The computer should not be throttling.

 

[Gorstak]

which power plan do you use when you play games, and does it happen when set to high performance or ultimate power plan?

 

[lukeshep42]

Ultimate power plan? And I always have my laptop set to high performance, so yes it does happen when set to that

 

[Gorstak]

since build 1803, you can enable ultimate power plan. I can't remember if high does this too, but ultimate keeps my cpu freq at max at all times.

You can enable it by opening an elevated command prompt and pasting in this line:

powercfg -duplicatescheme e9a42b02-d5df-448d-aa00-03f14749eb61

After that, simply enable it in your power plan, by right clicking start menu and choosing power options, then additional power settings.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Did it use to work well without throttling?

I constantly use a laptop fan

Do you mean a cooling pad? Those help IF the notebook has vents on the bottom. Sitting a desk fan to the side of the notebook and pointing it so it blows across (left to right or right to left) might help pull some of the heat away too. If you feel comfortable opening the case, you might do that to make sure the interior is clean of heat-trapping dust (probably not a problem if it has been throttling since new).

Of course, ambient (room) temps could be adding to your problem too - if high.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

If you haven't already, try updating the BIOS on the laptop. Enter your service tag on the Dell website and it will list updates if any are available.

Does the underside of the computer get noticeably warm/hot? A cooling pad might help if it does.

Did it use to work well without throttling?

If it did, unload some canned air into all of the laptop orifices.

 

[phanbuey]

If you google it, this laptop is notorious for throttling.

^ dell gaming laptop bottom...

5520 bottom with comparable components. Pretty sure throttling is inevitable unless you take off/mod the bottom panel.

You can try to undervolt and shut off turboboost so it stays at a contsant 2.5Ghz or whatever the base clock is - that way you won't saturate the cooling system and then throttle, and also undervolt the gpu, but honestly, it's the macbook pro of computers. Designed for some email, to look cool in a boardroom, and the occasional spreadsheet/photoshop session.

In any case it's a bios throttle because one of the mobo components is dangerously close to cooking itself. Updating bios is the best bet, followed by some band aid settings - followed by the inevitable move to a $700-$800 gaming rig that works way better.

 

[newtekie1]

5520 bottom with comparable components. Pretty sure throttling is inevitable unless you take off/mod the bottom panel.

Some throttling, yes, but not to the level the OP is seeing here. I've got a similarly specced laptop, and this is what the bottom looks like:

I think it actually has worse ventilation than the Dell, and while the temps will get up to the 90°C range when I'm playin games, I only see minor throttling. In fact, I've never even seen the CPU go down to the base clock, it is always turboing when gaming, even at 90°C. And the GPU only lowers a few bins.

If the CPU is only at 60-65°C and it is throttling down to below base clock, all the way down below 1GHz, there is something else going on with the laptop. I mean, cooling might be the issue, as mentioned before the VRMs might be overheating. But that isn't because of a lack of ventilation in the bottom, that's because of some other poor design choice by Dell, like deciding to not actively cool the CPU VRMs.

Edit: Looking at a teardown of a Precision 5520 compared to my laptop, outwardly the cooling actually looks pretty similar. However, I found this post that talks about the throttling issue actually being caused by the RAM temperature sensor. He says that padding the sensor to the bottom case helps a lot, padding meaning putting thermal pads on the sensor to the bottom case. It isn't actually the RAM overheating, but the fact that the sensor on the RAM is too close to the heatpipes. It seems putting thermal pads on the RAM so they use the bottom of the computer case as a heatsink seems to help, per this post. It seems Dell really f'd up the design of these laptops.

 

[bubbleawsome]

If you google it, this laptop is notorious for throttling.

View attachment 113589

^ dell gaming laptop bottom...

View attachment 113590

5520 bottom with comparable components. Pretty sure throttling is inevitable unless you take off/mod the bottom panel.

You can try to undervolt and shut off turboboost so it stays at a contsant 2.5Ghz or whatever the base clock is - that way you won't saturate the cooling system and then throttle, and also undervolt the gpu, but honestly, it's the macbook pro of computers. Designed for some email, to look cool in a boardroom, and the occasional spreadsheet/photoshop session.

In any case it's a bios throttle because one of the mobo components is dangerously close to cooking itself. Updating bios is the best bet, followed by some band aid settings - followed by the inevitable move to a $700-$800 gaming rig that works way better.

Is that really the precision case too? If it is then I think he might have a different issue than ventilation. My XPS 9560 uses the same chassis and doesn’t thermal throttle the CPU during gaming. Either the precision VRMs/VRM cooling is significantly poorer quality or maybe his thermal pads are bad.

 

[Bill_Bright]

or maybe his thermal pads are bad.

Nah! TIM (thermal interface material) doesn't go bad. TIM will easily last 10, 12, 15 years or longer AS LONG AS the cured bond between the mating surfaces is not broken through abuse or rough handling. That means the notebook would have been dropped to the floor, thrown against the wall or kicked, or the heatsinks forcefully twisted. Not likely. Yes, new TIM might yield a "few" degrees improvement, but if you are that close to the threshold where thermal protection modes (throttling in this case) kicks in, there are other more severe problems that need addressing first.

The risk of causing ESD or other physical damage just replacing the TIM is not worth the risk for a couple degrees of improvement when what is needed is 2 or 3 "dozen" degrees of cooling improvement.