[SOLVED] Intel i7-8750H throttling and overheating.

[Nour Eldeen]

I have a Dell G7 7588 laptop that I got back in 2018. Recently, when I play games the CPU throttles hard and freezes at 800MHz while having a ridiculous temperature like 80 ~ 85 Celsius or something. Previously I was able to play games and temps wouldn't even cross 77 Celsius across CPU and GPU, now both of them started throttling like crazy. First, the GPU started to throttle at 78 Celsius and drops drastically in clock rate that the FPS dropped to like 1 and I managed to cure that with ASUS GPU Tweak software by raising the temperature target to the max but then it started overheating and hitting 90 ~ 95 Celsius on heavy load but has over 80 Celsius on less demanding games like Valorant. Shortly after, the CPU followed by throttling which makes games at times totally unplayable.

I uninstalled the ASUS GPU Tweak software and then I tried undervolting the CPU core and cache using ThrottleStop by -125mV and also the iGPU Unslice by -125mV but thermals didn't change much. Tried to raise the Tubro Boost long power max to 55 and it just stalled the throttling a bit but it still happens. When I disable the turbo boost and play Valorant on these settings both CPU and GPU throttle after an hour or so. Is there any solutions to solve the high temps and throttling issue with both CPU and GPU because frankly most games are barely playable now?

Here are screenshots of my Throttlestop setting:

FIVR: https://prnt.sc/urmvxg
TPL: https://prnt.sc/urmwek
Main window and limit reasons (These were taken after using Cinebench R20): https://prnt.sc/urmwyc

 

[Lutfij]

After a firmware(BIOS) update anything you do in terms of undervolting on the 8th Gen of Intel's mobile processors is pointless. Trying to patch Plundervolt has resulted in a lot of people just giving up on undervolting on that generation of processors, including me.

You could try repasting it but there's no escaping that undervolting...doesn't do anything since in reality you've put in numbers but your temps don't drop.

If you're on a very old BIOS version(not concurrent) you can try and use Intel XTU and see if your results vary.

 

[Mr.Spock]

if you haven't changed the firmware, then check your laptop fan and vents - may be a buildup of dust bunnies over time.
a vacuum might help the temps. the fan may also be turning at reduced efficiency with age

 

[uWebb429]

Here are screenshots of my ThrottleStop

Your screenshots show that your undervolt is still being applied correctly.

If you are going to undervolt the Intel GPU, you need to undervolt both the Intel GPU and the iGPU Unslice. The Intel GPU is not used when gaming so most people do not bother and leave this set to an offset of +0.0000.

The big problem with some Dell laptops is that once they start running hot, they have a feature that kicks in which reduces the turbo power limits to ridiculously low levels. To test what is going on, start by downloading ThrottleStop 9.2. In the Options window turn on Nvidia GPU monitoring and on the main ThrottleStop screen, check the Log File option.

Play a game for at least 15 minutes. When finished testing, exit the game and then exit ThrottleStop. Look at the log file in the ThrottleStop / Logs folder. In the far right column do you see lots of PL1 or PL2 power limit throttling? Does this happen when the CPU is at 45W or does it happen when the CPU is only at 15W or 20W? Attach the log file to your next post or copy and paste the data to www.pastebin.com if you need help understanding what the log file is telling you.

You do not have to set the core and cache offset voltages equally. That is an old myth. All the guides on YouTube etc. need to be updated. Many 8750H CPUs are stable with the cache at -125 mV and the core as high as -200 mV. Use Cinebench R20 when adjusting your voltages. Increase the core offset in steps of -25 mV until you find the best temps and the best scores in Cinebench.

If your laptop used to work correctly, you need to replace the thermal paste. Noctua NT-H2 works well in laptops.