[SOLVED] 20C increase in CPU temperature when gaming while plugged in?

[jojokiw3]

Hey all!

An issue I've been noticing are these sudden drops in CPU utilization alongside GPU utilization from like 90ish% to 10ish% then back up. The result is several seconds of stuttering, where the audio/gameplay just stutters for a brief several seconds. After checking in the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility, it seems that these drops are being caused by thermal throttling. I checked with HWMonitor and the CPU core temperatures basically hit 100C all the time. However, this only happens when the computer is plugged in. I tested this by unplugging the laptop, setting the power plan to the best performance, and playing the same video game, and I don't see the same stutters. It reaches maybe 80C max at worst. I haven't overclocked anything, and, in fact, have been undervolting by -.128

Even on idle, while plugged in, my CPU is reaching mid 80Cs. However, once unplugged, it hovers around low 60Cs with the same best performance power plan. Is it typical for there to be a 20C difference between plugged/unplugged? Fans seem to be working afaik. My GPU temperature reaches max low 70C when plugged in, and is usually around mid 60Cs when gaming, so it doesn't seem to be the issue here.

Basically, in sum:
Ambient Temperature: 25C

Plugged in (Best Performance):
CPU temp (no gaming): 70-80C
CPU temp (gaming): 95-100C

Battery (Best Performance):
CPU temp (no gaming): 55-65C
CPU temp (gaming): 75-80C

Why it so different??

I also have a cooling pad coming in, but I just want to figure out what's going on. Because this wasn't a problem before and just started happening recently, I'm going to reapply thermal paste/clean out the fans and see how that goes.

OS: Win 10 Home
CPU: i7-9750H @ 2.6 GHz
GPU: GTX 1650 Max-Q

 

[vMax]

The 20 degree temp difference does seem quiet high and providing everything is clear of dust then possible it could be with the battery, the CPU and GPU are balancing power to performance against battery life but when plugged in the CPU and GPU have no constraints other than the TDP constraints and thus is fully utilising the power envelope even when not gaming...With laptops, heat is the biggest issue in boost and temps so getting the cooling pad may help a bit an also make sure all the vents are always clear and definitely dust the laptop every now and then...

I am sure there are others way better than me on laptops who will do a much better job than me at explaining and will jump in shortly.

 

[Phaaze88]

Gaming laptops are an oxymoron.

After checking in the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility, it seems that these drops are being caused by thermal throttling. I checked with HWMonitor and the CPU core temperatures basically hit 100C all the time. However, this only happens when the computer is plugged in.

Plugged in allows it to run at 100% of it's 'horsepower'.

I tested this by unplugging the laptop, setting the power plan to the best performance, and playing the same video game, and I don't see the same stutters. It reaches maybe 80C max at worst. I haven't overclocked anything, and, in fact, have been undervolting by -.128

It's only going to run so high on battery - even if you set high performance - or the battery won't last very long.

Why it so different??

It happens to them ALL at some point.

I'm going to reapply thermal paste/clean out the fans and see how that goes.

It's a start.
-stock paste could've dried up - no telling what kind of crap they put on those chips these days.
-paste application may be bad.
-fan failure, or doesn't spin up as high as it used to - dunno, crap happens.


Cooling pads themselves don't do all that much - it's the ELEVATION that does it. All you need is something laying around your home and raise the back end.

The weakness of laptops is the size of the package. The ideal gaming laptop:
-bulky and heavy
-expensive: over 2000USD easily. You're not getting a decent one below that.
-well vented at the bottom, and not some worthless flashy design that does jack-all for cooling.
^It should still be elevated, so the vents actually DO something.
-cpu and gpu are on separate heatsinks, and not a shared one
-loud, because some 40-60mm fan with an inaudible 1000rpm maximum is gonna get tons of heat out, right?

 

[digitalgriffin]

Hey all!

An issue I've been noticing are these sudden drops in CPU utilization alongside GPU utilization from like 90ish% to 10ish% then back up. The result is several seconds of stuttering, where the audio/gameplay just stutters for a brief several seconds. After checking in the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility, it seems that these drops are being caused by thermal throttling. I checked with HWMonitor and the CPU core temperatures basically hit 100C all the time. However, this only happens when the computer is plugged in. I tested this by unplugging the laptop, setting the power plan to the best performance, and playing the same video game, and I don't see the same stutters. It reaches maybe 80C max at worst. I haven't overclocked anything, and, in fact, have been undervolting by -.128

Even on idle, while plugged in, my CPU is reaching mid 80Cs. However, once unplugged, it hovers around low 60Cs with the same best performance power plan. Is it typical for there to be a 20C difference between plugged/unplugged? Fans seem to be working afaik. My GPU temperature reaches max low 70C when plugged in, and is usually around mid 60Cs when gaming, so it doesn't seem to be the issue here.

Basically, in sum:
Ambient Temperature: 25C

Plugged in (Best Performance):
CPU temp (no gaming): 70-80C
CPU temp (gaming): 95-100C

Battery (Best Performance):
CPU temp (no gaming): 55-65C
CPU temp (gaming): 75-80C

Why it so different??

I also have a cooling pad coming in, but I just want to figure out what's going on. Because this wasn't a problem before and just started happening recently, I'm going to reapply thermal paste/clean out the fans and see how that goes.

OS: Win 10 Home
CPU: i7-9750H @ 2.6 GHz
GPU: GTX 1650 Max-Q

And this is why laptops are crap for gaming.

Unless the laptop has the heatsink bolted down to the CPU, they should use a thermal pad. Every time you drop of "justle" it around, it will shake that heatsink a little. If the paste is dried, this will cause cracking and lower heat transfer efficiency. For loose heatsinks, (not screwed down) thermal pads are better because they are more "flexible" and more resistant to sudden movement.

Best you can do is get a "Can-O-Air" and blow out all the laptop ports.
Next buy a laptop platform with fans that blow up into the unit

 

[jojokiw3]

Thanks for the notes. I reapplied thermal paste and dusted it, as well as propped it up but the temperature didn't go down by much. Also its an X1 Extreme if that helps.

I then booted the laptop from a USB Ubuntu drive, and the resulting temperature is only 35-45C plugged in from Ubuntu, compared to the 70-80C idle plugged in from Windows. This feels like a significant difference. Any ideas on what may be going on? Running a stress test on Ubuntu gets me high 80c to low 90c

 

[Phaaze88]

I've never used Ubuntu, so I, at least, couldn't tell you exactly what's going on.

 

[jojokiw3]

Alright guys. I figured out. One of my programs (Rainmeter -_-) was somehow causing a 30C increase when I'm gaming. After deleting it, games run at 70C on average.

 

[Phaaze88]

Alright guys. I figured out. One of my programs (Rainmeter -_-) was somehow causing a 30C increase when I'm gaming. After deleting it, games run at 70C on average.

A rather resource-hungry app that was, eh? LOL!

 

[digitalgriffin]

Thanks for the notes. I reapplied thermal paste and dusted it, as well as propped it up but the temperature didn't go down by much. Also its an X1 Extreme if that helps.

I then booted the laptop from a USB Ubuntu drive, and the resulting temperature is only 35-45C plugged in from Ubuntu, compared to the 70-80C idle plugged in from Windows. This feels like a significant difference. Any ideas on what may be going on? Running a stress test on Ubuntu gets me high 80c to low 90c

[Edit] I see you figured it out. Well Done. [/EDIT]
You have a process in windows that's eating a significant amount of CPU bandwidth. If it's not showing in task manager (high CPU usage) I would get malware bytes and do a rootkit scan.

A popular thing of late is to infect systems to run coin mining.