[SOLVED] Laptop CPU speed drops only when gaming

[Edgar003]

Hello everyone, first post on this forum, let's see if someone will be able to help me understand or solve my problem.

I have an HP Omen 15 dc-1028nf (a laptop) with an Intel i5 8300H (base speed: 2.3GHz, turbo speed: about 4GHz), an RTX 2060 and 16GB of RAM.
Back when I bought it there were no problems to play without any fps loss but things happened and I had to reset it, and since then I can't play fine anymore.

When I'm doing anything on my laptop the CPU is running between 2.0 and 2.3GHz (in normal power plan). When I start the performance mode the CPU goes up to 4GHz and stays at this frequency. But when I launch any game the CPU goes back to 1.5GHz and never goes above 1.8GHz for a reason I don't know, resulting in an awful game experience with at most 30fps and temperatures nearly reaching 100°C.

The task manager shows that the usage is often between 70% and 99% when I play.
The load is parted on the different cores, there isn't one core taking more load than the others.
I've already checked the advanced power plan settings, my CPU is set to run between 99% and 100% with active cooling (not that there's any difference if I change the min or max percentages).
My turbo boost is already enabled.

I can't think of any reason why my CPU would act like this, so it would be awesome if anyone could help me !

 

[uWebb429]

Most gaming laptops start thermal throttling before they reach the Intel specified 100°C value. When was the last time you cleaned your laptop inside and replaced the thermal paste? Gaming laptops need regular maintenance. Many of them have barely adequate cooling so can start thermal throttling if they are on the zero maintenance program.

Try using ThrottleStop.

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-throttlestop/

The main screen will show you what the thermal throttling (PROCHOT) temperature is set to. Post some screenshots of the various windows.

Turn on the Log File option and then go play a game for at least 15 minutes. It will record your CPU speed and temperature and the log file will include any reasons for throttling. These are two of the most common reasons why Intel CPUs throttle but there are lots of other reasons too. When finished testing, exit the game and then exit ThrottleStop so it can finalize the log file. Attach a log file to your next post or copy and paste the data to www.pastebin.com and post a link here.

In the Windows Power Options, the Maximum processor state has to be set to 100%. If you set this to 99%, Intel Turbo Boost will be completely disabled. It is never a good idea to follow any guide that suggests doing this.

 

[Edgar003]

Most gaming laptops start thermal throttling before they reach the Intel specified 100°C value. When was the last time you cleaned your laptop inside and replaced the thermal paste? Gaming laptops need regular maintenance. Many of them have barely adequate cooling so can start thermal throttling if they are on the zero maintenance program.

Try using ThrottleStop.

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-throttlestop/

The main screen will show you what the thermal throttling (PROCHOT) temperature is set to. Post some screenshots of the various windows.

Turn on the Log File option and then go play a game for at least 15 minutes. It will record your CPU speed and temperature and the log file will include any reasons for throttling. These are two of the most common reasons why Intel CPUs throttle but there are lots of other reasons too. When finished testing, exit the game and then exit ThrottleStop so it can finalize the log file. Attach a log file to your next post or copy and paste the data to www.pastebin.com and post a link here.

In the Windows Power Options, the Maximum processor state has to be set to 100%. If you set this to 99%, Intel Turbo Boost will be completely disabled. It is never a good idea to follow any guide that suggests doing this.

Thanks for your answer!
Strangely my gameplay has not been that smooth for months (at least it was smooth during the first 15/20 minutes with constant 60 fps before going back to the usual 20/30 fps). Maybe that was due to the fact I played with throttlestop open in the background?

The PROCHOT is set to 97°C.
Here is the log file of my session (Genshin Impact with lowest settings since without full CPU power it's unplayable with higher settings): https://pastebin.com/cRPA5nLQ
The log begin when I was in normal power plan, then I started performance power plan, then I started the game.

I opened my laptop quite recently to change my second drive so I tried to clean as much dust as I could, and it basically changed nothing, so I assume it's not a dust problem. However I never touched to the thermal paste.

In power options the max processor state has always been set to 100% and it's my current setting. The one I tried to edit was the minimum processor state but it didn't change anything.

Screenshots (all taken before playing):

Spoiler

Normal power plan:

https://imgur.com/jK9zS5Q

View: https://i.imgur.com/jK9zS5Q.png

Performance power plan:

https://imgur.com/XbXfF8b

View: https://i.imgur.com/XbXfF8b.png

FIVR:

https://imgur.com/IBaiyee

View: https://i.imgur.com/IBaiyee.png

TPL:

https://imgur.com/YAzGHF8

View: https://i.imgur.com/YAzGHF8.png

 

[mdd1963]

Whatever the laptop's total power budget is will certainly have to be adjusted when gaming due to allocation of 'x' amount of power to graphics processing.

(I'd suspect this behavior is normal)

You can try to at least partially override it by selecting Performance in any power plans, and/or, possibly seeing if Intel's XTU allows any flexibility with overriding power budgets and/or boost duration....

 

[uWebb429]

@Edgar003 No need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that log file. As soon as you apply a load, the CPU immediately starts thermal throttling. The more you play the more it throttles. There is no way to get maximum and smooth performance if your CPU is constantly overheating.

Your CPU has a 45W TDP rating. The log file shows that even when the CPU is only at 8W, the CPU is still overheating. I have to be honest and say that this is one of the worst looking log files I have seen.

If you have recently cleaned out the dust then it is time to replace the thermal paste. No need to be afraid of doing this. Watch some YouTube videos if you are a rookie. If you know how to disassemble your laptop, the rest of the job is easy.

Find a quality paste like Noctua NT-H2. Some thermal pastes that are popular in the desktop community do not perform great long term when used on a direct CPU die like laptops use. Newer pastes like NT-H2 have a higher working temperature compared to older pastes. Some pastes will liquify and start to pump out in as little as a week.

Once you get this problem solved your laptop will run 100% better. More like 200% better. It really is that bad.

Edit - Just saw another problem. When using Windows 11, you need to disable VMX in the BIOS. ThrottleStop has zero access to your CPU voltages until this is done. Exit ThrottleStop and delete the ThrottleStop.INI configuration file.

When you see weird looking turbo ratios in the turbo ratio limits section and when you see a voltage value of 0.3799, these are both signs that ThrottleStop is being blocked from reading and writing your voltages to the CPU. This is just one problem. The thermal issues are still the biggest problem. Here is some more info.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329/page-1315#post-11103818

 

[Edgar003]

So it's been a few days, I changed my thermal paste with the one you recommended and cleaned an awful lot of dust that was stuck between the fans and the "radiators" (I don't know if that's what it's called) and it seems it did the trick!
I just fear I put a little too much on the GPU but that's still better than before.

Before:

• Doing normal tasks: 65 - 75 °C
• While gaming: 85 - 100 °C

After cleaning and putting new paste:

• Doing normal tasks: 50 - 60 °C
• While gaming: 60 - 70 °C

I didn't imagine a second that doing this would result in a 30 degrees change while gaming so I won't forget to maintain my laptop more often!
So far I haven't spotted FPS drops or anything so I guess it's perfect. Thanks for the advices @uWebb429 !