Question Ryzen 5500u normally runs at 3.5 to 4 ghz but when using dual channel ram, it spikes down to 0.4 ghz every 5 seconds.

Oct 6, 2022
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I'm new to this site so bear with me...
I have a laptop that I got about 6 months ago.

Here are the specs...

Product number-341K4UA
Product name-HP Laptop 17-cp0013dx
Microprocessor-AMD Ryzen™ 5 5500U (up to 4.0 GHz max boost clock, 8 MB L3 cache, 6 cores, 12 threads)
Chipset-AMD Integrated SoC
Memory, standard-8 GB DDR4-3200 MHz RAM (1 x 8 GB)
Video graphics-AMD Radeon™ Graphics Integrated
Hard drive-256 GB PCIe® NVMe™ M.2 SSD
Display-17.3" diagonal, FHD (1920 x 1080), IPS, anti-glare, 250 nits, 45% NTSC
Wireless connectivity-Realtek RTL8821CE-M 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (1x1) Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® 4.2 combo
Power supply type-45 W Smart AC power adapter
Battery type-3-cell, 41 Wh Li-ion
Battery life mixed usage-Up to 8 hours and 15 minutes
Video Playback Battery life-Up to 7 hours and 45 minutes

I didn't like that it had only 8GB of ram so I added another stick of ram. The second stick of ram has the same specs as the original stick except for the brand. The original stick is Samsung and the new one is crucial. Ever since I installed the second stick, my computer has been way faster than before. but a few months ago I started having issues. I was getting FPS drops in most games I played, even csgo. I watched task manager and every time my FPS would drop, my CPU usage would go down and my GHz would go from 4 to 0.4. I feel like I tried everything to fix it. I even factory reset my computer. The only way to fix the CPU drops is to take one of the sticks out of the laptop (It doesn't matter which one), but then of course my laptop would get slower altogether.

I figure that the reasonable option would be to buy another stick of ram that matches exactly with one that I already have even the brand because I know that each brand makes their ram a little bit differently. The only problem here is the CPU spiking down and I figured that I would ask if the ram might be the cause before I go out and spend 30 bucks on another stick.
 
That's a chart of utilization. To look at clocks, use something like HWInfo64 or HWMonitor.

But more importantly: ignore them since Ryzen is so dynamic and constantly dithering clocks. This will be even more pronounced with a laptop that is thermally constrained. Look at performance, check it with benchmarks.