Lenovo Legion Pro 7 16IRX8H high idle / office temps

[Alatriste]

Hi everyone,

I recently got a new Legion Pro 7 16IRX8H laptop, with i9 13900hx, and I just can't seem to keep temps at bay. CPU idles at 52-54°C (sitting on a IETS GT500 cooling pad!), with just Office, Chrome and Whatsapp opened.

I undervolted and configured TS following some of the tutorial posts on this website, but I am aware I might have some of the settings wrong or not ideal for my particular case...

Ironically, when I am gaming usually there isn't any throttling and temps never go above 95º (usually sits around 80-85), it's when I am working (Office) and Windows that temps are unusually high.

First of all, if any of my settings could be improved in any way, any feedback would be highly appreciated. Also, I'd like to know if there is any way to lower the power consumption while on Windows (Internet) mode in order to lower temps, and then keep Performance for full-power / gaming?

Power Draw usually sits a 20-30W at idle.

Thanks a lot in advance for the help!

 

[unclewebb]

Power Draw usually sits a 20-30W at idle.

Your definition of idle and my definition of idle are quite different. An idle computer without a bunch of crap running in the background can have cores spending 99% of their time in the low power core C7 C state. That is how Intel CPUs run cool when idle.

Your screenshot shows two cores spending almost 50% of their time in the C0 state as they are busy working on something. That is not idle at all. Open the Task Manager, go to the Details tab and organize the running tasks by CPU usage. It is always a good idea to do this after a fresh install of Windows so you have a baseline to compare to later on.

It is a constant battle. Inefficient software is everywhere. One poorly written program or driver can wreck a computer.

Most your ThrottleStop settings look OK. I prefer not to check the Speed Shift EPP box on the main screen of ThrottleStop when using the Windows Balanced power plan. Let Windows manage this setting so ThrottleStop and Windows do not have to fight over control of the EPP value.

 

[Alatriste]

Thanks for the reply @unclewebb.

I see that my C7 state Averages 93%.
Now, I can see that cores 2 and 3 are busy working on something, question is, is there any way of knowing exactly what they're working on??

On the other hand, this is whast my Task Manager shows as far as CPU usage:

Lastly, I'd really like to know if I can cap Power Draw on Throttlestop for Balanced mode to reduce the heat (is that even possible?)

 

[unclewebb]

The CPU Utilization numbers reported by the Task Manager are not that accurate at light load and they are not the same as CPU Usage. Try using Process Explorer. Maybe it can help you find what is running in the background on your computer.

Process Explorer - Sysinternals

Find out what files, registry keys and other objects processes have open, which DLLs they have loaded, and more.

learn.microsoft.com

You can use ThrottleStop to cap the power draw. Lower the values in the Power Limit Controls section of the TPL window. Also check both Clamp boxes in that section.