CPU Running Hotter per Day While Idle

[Koish_ii]

Hello,
Recently I've noticed that my CPU has been steadily getting hotter over the past few days. Where it would once run at a cool 35C with nothing but my browser and Discord up, it now runs at around 43C in the exact same environment. What's more, I spotted that the C0%, Package Power, and clock speeds have increased quite a lot; from a ~2% C0% to now 7%, 2 or 3 watts becoming average 6 watts, and often running at over 2.5GHz while I keep my mouse still and have nothing playing. While not urgent because 43C is still arguably in the "safe range" for a CPU to stay idle at, the gradual increase has become a cause of concern for me.
Another big concern I have is that opening anything on my laptop or trying to download/upload something nearly instantly brings my CPU temps to the PROCHOT threshold, at best for a few seconds before falling right back down and at worst for the entire operation. This is also new and unusual behaviour and is very scary to me.
I wish to be able to restore that cooler idle temperature I once had, and to find out why the temperature has become so volatile. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Marcus L]

Have you ever repasted it? it was released 5 years ago, so your laptop is maybe 4 years old? also not sure where you live but for most of the northern hemisphere countries it is getting into summer and daily ambient temps are rising, that can affect your idle temp, though tbh 43c "idle" while browsing is not in anyway bad or detrimental to the CPU lifespan or general health/performance. Undervolting can help bring temps down and avoid throttling also, though a repaste would be my go to option if you have never done that with this laptop

 

[DaemonForce]

Repasting isn't going to do much. You have some errant process eating CPU cycles, that's how you got there.
Might be time to go over task manager and drivers with a fine comb.

 

[Koish_ii]

Have you ever repasted it? it was released 5 years ago, so your laptop is maybe 4 years old? also not sure where you live but for most of the northern hemisphere countries it is getting into summer and daily ambient temps are rising, that can affect your idle temp, though tbh 43c "idle" while browsing is not in anyway bad or detrimental to the CPU lifespan or general health/performance. Undervolting can help bring temps down and avoid throttling also, though a repaste would be my go to option if you have never done that with this laptop

I repasted the laptop about a month or so ago, with Arctic MX-4; with that going, it's been behaving very well up until now.

Repasting isn't going to do much. You have some errant process eating CPU cycles, that's how you got there.
Might be time to go over task manager and drivers with a fine comb.

Whenever I open Task Manager, I can't seem to pick out any tasks that are standing out in terms of CPU usage. This does seem like the most possible option, but I haven't the faintest idea as to how I would figure out who's messing about with my CPU.

 

[P4-630]

I'd try Kryonaut Extreme paste.

 

[Marcus L]

I repasted the laptop about a month or so ago, with Arctic MX-4; with that going, it's been behaving very well up until now.

Whenever I open Task Manager, I can't seem to pick out any tasks that are standing out in terms of CPU usage. This does seem like the most possible option, but I haven't the faintest idea as to how I would figure out who's messing about with my CPU.

Could be thermal paste pump out, do another repaste if the temps go down you know this to be the cause

You can get thermal pads, Honywell PTM7950 is one that often gets mentioned and has very good reviews and recommendations

 

[P4-630]

Could be thermal paste pump out

What I was thinking.

 

[xtreemchaos]

43 C isn't bad at all for a laptop bud, its summer things are warming up and so is electronic's. i would'nt worry about mate.

 

[P4-630]

If the "cool 35C" was before summer then yeah...

 

[Koish_ii]

Could be thermal paste pump out, do another repaste if the temps go down you know this to be the cause

You can get thermal pads, Honywell PTM7950 is one that often gets mentioned and has very good reviews and recommendations

Would this pump-out phenomenon affect the C0% value? After looking up what it means, it sounds plausible but this value is suspiciously rising along with the temperature, and I fear that if I check for pump-out and I end up being wrong, I'd have to clean and repaste once again...

43 C isn't bad at all for a laptop bud, its summer things are warming up and so is electronic's. i would'nt worry about mate.

If the "cool 35C" was before summer then yeah...

It was indeed during the spring time-- temperatures are starting to become more angry over here in California, but I didn't imagine it would have such a powerful effect on my laptop! I did think it was strange that the fan speed was much quieter while the AC was on as well... Perhaps it isn't anything to worry about, but I would still appreciate the piece of mind of seeing those nice and low numbers again.

I've done some research and I've decided to buy some Arctic MX-6 thermal paste. From what I can see, it's much more viscous than my current MX-4-- sounds like it would be just what the doctor ordered. (And it would arrive tomorrow if I order it now!) It sounds like my Throttlestop settings are perfectly fine, and whenever I open Task Manager I'm greeted with very low CPU usage percents, so using a new paste seems like the best course of action.
One other question: What exactly does this C0% value mean? Should I be so nervous about it, or can it be safely ignored?

 

[DaemonForce]

I can't seem to pick out any tasks that are standing out in terms of CPU usage. This does seem like the most possible option, but I haven't the faintest idea as to how I would figure out who's messing about with my CPU.

You know your computer better than we do. The usual idle speed, temps, tasks and driver loadout are all subject to change with the environment, updates and a whole host of requests.
My main workstation is running a 65(↗88)W entry level desktop chip pinned at 4GHz and with two streams going half the time I admit, idle is a little high.

Looking at this bench I'm guessing the 9750H is pretty close to what I run but in a mainstream mobile package.

Close enough.

Bench temps look outstanding for 45W. I don't have anything that really lines up with either of those zones.
It's probably fine. If you're worried about creeping temps, it's probably best to keep it operating in a cool room.

 

[unclewebb]

Arctic MX-4

I cannot recommend using this paste applied direct die to a mobile CPU. Pump out troubles are frequently reported by laptop owners that are using MX-4. Problems often times start within the first week or two. Here is a good example of what can happen if you are new to pump out.

I've done some research and I've decided to buy some Arctic MX-6 thermal paste.

When you did your research were you looking at the results when MX-6 was applied to a desktop CPU that uses an integrated heat spreader or were you looking at MX-6 results when applied direct die to a mobile CPU? The vast majority of thermal paste tests on the internet are using desktop CPUs and they tend to be very short term tests. If you have 10 different pastes to test, you will be lucky if each paste is tested for at most 10 or 15 minutes. It is next to impossible to find any long term test results on mobile CPUs. No one has 10 months available to test 10 different thermal pastes on a mobile CPU.

A paste that is great for 15 minutes might all pump out a week or two later. If you try MX-6, keep a close eye on your temperatures. If the temperatures start to creep up with the same load and same ambient temperatures then the paste has likely started to fail. If you have any long term problems, try using Honeywell PTM 7950. Most laptop owners are very happy with the consistent long term results when using PTM 7950.

What exactly does this C0% value mean? Should I be so nervous about it, or can it be safely ignored?

A CPU will enter the C0 state when it has a task to perform. When that task is completed, it will go back into the low power C7 state where it will wait until the next task needs processing. If you want a cool running CPU, reduce the background tasks. This will allow the CPU to spend a bigger percentage of time in the low power C7 state. An efficient computer without a lot of junk running in the background will need to spend hardly any time in the C0 state working on tasks when a computer is idle.

I would recommend that you ignore the nice looking graphs in the Task Manager. The CPU Utilization data that the Task Manager graphs is often times confused with CPU Usage. Most users do not realize that Usage and Utilization are two different things.

Keep an eye on the C0% value that ThrottleStop reports. It is a much more precise look at what a CPU is doing internally. If you have noticed that idle C0% has increased, it is likely that some crap ware got installed onto your computer. Bad program, maybe Discord or an updated driver, or perhaps a Windows Update has gone rogue. When my computer is idle at the desktop, the cores truly are idle. I never dreamed that a 10 core CPU with all 10 cores running at 5000 MHz could run so cool and quiet when idle. No need for any case fans at these temperatures.

Use the C0% data combined with the Task Manager Details tab to track down any bad stuff. Keep a close eye on the C0% data after you install anything new. The lower you can get the idle C0%, the cooler your laptop will run.

 

[AleXXX666]

Repasting isn't going to do much. You have some errant process eating CPU cycles, that's how you got there.
Might be time to go over task manager and drivers with a fine comb.

windows defender.
or some other "windows built-in optimization".

these words are enough to understand the BS happening on windows pcs nowadays.