[SOLVED] CPU speed dropping randomly while gaming

[papirain]

For about a month now, I have been having trouble playing games on my gaming laptop. This is mostly noticeable in big games like Halo infinite where it occurs almost once a minute, but the frames seem to drop massively and the CPU speed is going from 4 to 0.87 for a few seconds and then back. I assumed this was a temperature problem as the computer was running hot, so I cleaned it out entirely and replaced the thermal paste. However the issue persists while the CPU is now running at normal temperatures. My computers specs are
Intel Core i7-9750H;
6Gb NVidia GeForce 1660ti;
16Gb DDR4-2666MHz RAM;
512Gb SSD; 1Tb HDD

 

[Phaaze88]

Yeah, it probably still is a temperature problem, just not from the cpu.
The VRM/power delivery likely is getting too hot and throttling, thus starving the cpu for power.

 

[papirain]

messed around with it more, and saw that during the moments of it dropping CPU speed, the charger was flashing and indicating it was connecting and disconnecting a bunch. Also without the charger it seems to run at a consistent but less powerful speed, so I wonder if there is some kind of fault in the charging port or the charger itself causing it to not get enough power.

 

[papirain]

Yeah, it probably still is a temperature problem, just not from the cpu.
The VRM/power delivery likely is getting too hot and throttling, thus starving the cpu for power.

How would I go about checking if thats the problem? Is there a way to track that temperature?

 

[Phaaze88]

I think even hwinfo is a little wonky with getting an accurate reading on VRM. Easier to just monitor the cpu's clock behavior.

When you're not playing games, and just browsing the web, can you confirm that all the cpu's cores are still throttling down to 0.8-0.9ghz? That's an easy-peasy load, and they shouldn't ever need to drop down that low - maybe 1.2ghz if you have C-states along with balanced or power saver plans active.

Without the charger plugged in, it should default automatically to power saving.

 

[papirain]

I think even hwinfo is a little wonky with getting an accurate reading on VRM. Easier to just monitor the cpu's clock behavior.

When you're not playing games, and just browsing the web, can you confirm that all the cpu's cores are still throttling down to 0.8-0.9ghz? That's an easy-peasy load, and they shouldn't ever need to drop down that low - maybe 1.2ghz if you have C-states along with balanced or power saver plans active.

Without the charger plugged in, it should default automatically to power saving.

After watching it for a while, it did drop down to 0.78 ghz a few times when browsing. When the charger is not plugged in, everything including gaming runs at a consistent 2.5 ghz. Could it be an issue of the charger not providing the required power to keep up?

 

[uWebb429]

@papirain - Run ThrottleStop and try clearing the BD PROCHOT box. Turn on the Log File option and try running a game while plugged in. The log file might record the problem.

Attach a log if you need help.