Question CPU Core clocks fluctuating hard while playing Valorant.

[VO1D]

I have an Asus F570zd laptop with ryzen 5 2500u and GTX 1050. I don't play too many games, so not much info from other games, but whenever I'm playing valorant, all my 8 cpu core/thread clocks fluctuate really hard, between 1.5ghz to 3ghz.

I guess this is a major reason why I'm not getting great fps. On 720p lowest settings, I play at around 60-90 fps in competitive and 80-100 in deathmatch, all of that fps also being unstable.

My cpu reachers 80°C max while gaming, while my igpu and and dgpu both reach 70°C max. I've also set my power plan to ryzen balanced.

Any help would be appreciated 👍.

 

[drea.drechsler]

I have an Asus F570zd laptop with ryzen 5 2500u and GTX 1050. I don't play too many games, so not much info from other games, but whenever I'm playing valorant, all my 8 cpu core/thread clocks fluctuate really hard, between 1.5ghz to 3ghz.

I guess this is a major reason why I'm not getting great fps. On 720p lowest settings, I play at around 60-90 fps in competitive and 80-100 in deathmatch, all of that fps also being unstable.

My cpu reachers 80°C max while gaming, while my igpu and and dgpu both reach 70°C max. I've also set my power plan to ryzen balanced.

Any help would be appreciated 👍.

Ultimately, it's a laptop with limited cooling so the only thing it can do when temps get too high is throttle back.

 

[VO1D]

Ultimately, it's a laptop with limited cooling so the only thing it can do when temps get too high is throttle back.

Are you sure that's the case? I've already had the laptop repasted a month back as well with Gelid GC Extreme thermal paste, which helped the cpu temps drop from 95 tops to 80°C max, and gpu temps from 85-88 tops to 70°C max, however, the performance is basically similar to before.

It's also kinda classified as a gaming laptop, wouldn't asus let the laptop have a little higher temperature limit? Is there any way I can check if my laptop is thermal throttling?

View: https://youtu.be/k-lQrHl4wqc
: This is an hp omen 15 ax200nb, with a worse processor (I think), a worse gpu (I have GTX 1050 4GB whereas this laptop has GTX 1050 2GB), the same amount of ram but in dual channel (I have single channel 8gb memory), with very similar temperatures, giving 120+ fps in 1080p. Surely my laptop can give similar performance?

How much performance gain do you think I'll get if I install another 8gb ram 2400 MHz stick in my laptop to unlock dual channel memory?

Also I was playing valorant yesterday and mid game all my cpu cores/threads suddenly downclocked to 1600mhz, and stayed like that even after I exited and until I restarted my laptop. In fairness that was the first and only time that has happened to me (if I've kept track correctly), but it was definitely weird. At that time my cpu temps were hitting 68°C.

Maybe there are a few bios settings here n there which will help me (idk lol, just guessing)? If my laptop actually can't handle the temperatures, then that's a bummer.

Thanks for the help 👍.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Are you sure that's the case?......

If a desktop you could explore improved cooling solutions like bigger air cooler, liquid cooling, even a high airflow case. There's just not much more you can do with a laptop.

 

[TommyTwoTone66]

Are you sure that's the case? I've already had the laptop repasted a month back as well with Gelid GC Extreme thermal paste, which helped the cpu temps drop from 95 tops to 80°C max, and gpu temps from 85-88 tops to 70°C max, however, the performance is basically similar to before.

Definitely the case, yes. CPUs tend to thermal throttle around 85C, with the aim of the throttling being to get the CPU down to around 80C. What you are describing is absolutely CPU throttling, and unsurprising that it is happening in Valorant, which is a CPU-heavy, poorly-optimised modern game that needs an absolute ton of CPU.

Although your laptop is classed as a "gaming" laptop, it still doesn't have enough CPU cooling to keep that CPU happy while gaming. AMD laptop CPUs run a lot hotter than their Intel equivalents, so although the Intel laptop in the video you linked to has a "worse" CPU than the CPU you have, in reality it runs a lot cooler and as such can run at max speed for longer without throttling than yours can. Ultimately the laptop in the video you linked would start throttling at some point if they ran games on it long enough, but it might take hours rather than minutes.

Surely my laptop can give similar performance?

It can, yes, provided you can keep it cool enough, which is very difficult on an AMD gaming laptop.

How much performance gain do you think I'll get if I install another 8gb ram 2400 MHz stick in my laptop to unlock dual channel memory?

A little. Maybe 3%? But anything you gain will disappear once the laptop starts thermal throttling again.

Maybe there are a few bios settings here n there which will help me (idk lol, just guessing)? If my laptop actually can't handle the temperatures, then that's a bummer.

No, there's no BIOS settings you can change other than underclocking the CPU, and most laptops don't allow this. You might be lucky and yours does. In which case I'd suggest reducing the CPU clock by about 20% and see if that helps. Definitely change your power plan to "Performance" or "Max" or whatever it's called, not "Balanced".

Your laptop can technically handle the temperatures, it does so by reducing the core clocks until the temps come down. Although as gamers this is never what we want to hear.

If you were to add additional cooling, eg a cooling pad, an external "blower" or maybe even an external liquid cooling solution, you'd probably find your performance stabilised a bit, but ultimately even with extra cooling the longer you play the hotter it gets, and since laptops are very small, compact and enclosed, there's not really anywhere for the heat to go.

One cooling "hack" is to run the laptop without the battery installed. The battery is responsible for generating and holding on to a lot of heat so if your laptop can run with the power adapter plugged in and the battery removed (most can) then you might find it runs cooler that way

 

[VO1D]

Definitely the case, yes. CPUs tend to thermal throttle around 85C, with the aim of the throttling being to get the CPU down to around 80C. What you are describing is absolutely CPU throttling, and unsurprising that it is happening in Valorant, which is a CPU-heavy, poorly-optimised modern game that needs an absolute ton of CPU.

Although your laptop is classed as a "gaming" laptop, it still doesn't have enough CPU cooling to keep that CPU happy while gaming. AMD laptop CPUs run a lot hotter than their Intel equivalents, so although the Intel laptop in the video you linked to has a "worse" CPU than the CPU you have, in reality it runs a lot cooler and as such can run at max speed for longer without throttling than yours can. Ultimately the laptop in the video you linked would start throttling at some point if they ran games on it long enough, but it might take hours rather than minutes.



It can, yes, provided you can keep it cool enough, which is very difficult on an AMD gaming laptop.



A little. Maybe 3%? But anything you gain will disappear once the laptop starts thermal throttling again.



No, there's no BIOS settings you can change other than underclocking the CPU, and most laptops don't allow this. You might be lucky and yours does. In which case I'd suggest reducing the CPU clock by about 20% and see if that helps. Definitely change your power plan to "Performance" or "Max" or whatever it's called, not "Balanced".

Your laptop can technically handle the temperatures, it does so by reducing the core clocks until the temps come down. Although as gamers this is never what we want to hear.

If you were to add additional cooling, eg a cooling pad, an external "blower" or maybe even an external liquid cooling solution, you'd probably find your performance stabilised a bit, but ultimately even with extra cooling the longer you play the hotter it gets, and since laptops are very small, compact and enclosed, there's not really anywhere for the heat to go.

One cooling "hack" is to run the laptop without the battery installed. The battery is responsible for generating and holding on to a lot of heat so if your laptop can run with the power adapter plugged in and the battery removed (most can) then you might find it runs cooler that way

Hey, first of all, thanks for all the help, appreciate it.

No, there's no BIOS settings you can change other than underclocking the CPU, and most laptops don't allow this. You might be lucky and yours does. In which case I'd suggest reducing the CPU clock by about 20% and see if that helps.

I'm pretty sure ryzen 2500u is a locked cpu, so I can't do any undervolting / underclocking kinda stuff on it, and there's no ai tweaker tab in my advanced bios either.

What I have tried tho is changing the maximum processor state in the power options to 99%, which all it did was cap the cpu at 1.7ghz, which I obviously don't want. Also, changing the power plans between ryzen balanced, bitsum highest performance, ultimate performance, etc. didn't have any noticeable difference either.

There's something I found out though. Basically, my default ryzen stapm tdp limit is 15W, and I was using ryzen controller to increase the tdp to 20W to give me that extra performance which I wanted, which didn't really work according to plan. I guess that's what caused my cpu temps to reach 80°C

I played 1 hour of valorant without ryzen controller and therefore default cpu tdp values, and observed that along with my igpu and dgpu, my cpu too didn't exceed 70°C. But what didn't change was the fact that my all my cpu core clocks were still fluctuating hard in the same fashion.

Would this mean that the problem of cpu throttling lies not in thermal limitations, but some other problem?

 

[VO1D]

Hey, first of all, thanks for all the help, appreciate it.
I'm pretty sure ryzen 2500u is a locked cpu, so I can't do any undervolting / underclocking kinda stuff on it, and there's no ai tweaker tab in my advanced bios either.

What I have tried tho is changing the maximum processor state in the power options to 99%, which all it did was cap the cpu at 1.7ghz, which I obviously don't want. Also, changing the power plans between ryzen balanced, bitsum highest performance, ultimate performance, etc. didn't have any noticeable difference either.

There's something I found out though. Basically, my default ryzen stapm tdp limit is 15W, and I was using ryzen controller to increase the tdp to 20W to give me that extra performance which I wanted, which didn't really work according to plan. I guess that's what caused my cpu temps to reach 80°C

I played 1 hour of valorant without ryzen controller and therefore default cpu tdp values, and observed that along with my igpu and dgpu, my cpu too didn't exceed 70°C. But what didn't change was the fact that my all my cpu core clocks were still fluctuating hard in the same fashion.

Would this mean that the problem of cpu throttling lies not in thermal limitations, but some other problem?

Edit: Nevermind, hwinfo just gave me a wrong rtss reading in-game, when I look at hwinfo itself my max temp is always 79-80°C. I guess the problem lies in thermal throttling then. Is there a setting so I can make the max temp before throttling from 80 to 85 or something?