How to Fix Laptop Thermal Throttling
The CPU has a critical temperature of nearly 80 degrees Celsius. When a Windows PC reaches a high temperature, its performance is reduced to stop excessive heat from piling up and start cooling.
How to Fix Laptop Thermal Throttling Preliminary Steps Method 1: Enable Best Performance Mode Method 2: Edit Power Plan Settings Method 3: Modify Registry Editor Method 4: Use Thermal Paste How to perform Thermal Throttling Test Option 1: Through Resource Monitor Tool Option 2: Through Task Manager Option 3: Through Third-party Tool-HWiNFO
Overall, it optimizes the power usage by automatically adjusting the speed of a microprocessor and preventing internal heat and damage to components. It is primarily due to thermal trip error caused by overheating generated by CPU or GPU, whenever it takes a lot of loads and heavy usage, which happens when you play an intensive game, poor airflow, prolonged laptop usage, and overclocking. If you overlook the thermal throttling issue and rectify it, your laptop may get damaged permanently.
Therefore, it is very crucial to check its usage often and resolve it at an earlier stage itself. Note: The critical temperature varies with respect to the processor’s manufacturer and model.
Preliminary Steps
Below are the basic fixes to prevent thermal throttling.
Ensure you do not have dust in the laptop’s internal components as they could block airflow and clog it due to its compact nature and leave no space for adequate cooling, which in turn causes overheating. Try to minimize laptop usage as thermal throttling can happen when the PC is used for a long time with a heavy workload. Decrease the graphic quality settings while playing games. Perform monitoring software checks regularly, which helps to detect laptop thermal throttling. Increasing the clock rate makes the processor work faster than the usual speed, significantly raising the temperature. Try to reduce the clocking speed. A cooling pad or even a chill mat could help you keep the overall temperature of the laptop down. Therefore, place a pad or mat below the laptop and use it.
Also Read: Fix Ntoskrnl.exe High CPU Usage
Method 1: Enable Best Performance Mode
Sometimes, battery saver mode could be the reason behind the thermal throttling issue. Here, power saving is the goal that could increase the temperature during continuous consumption of the laptop. To change your performance mode, implement the steps given below.
Type Control Panel on the Windows search bar and select Open as shown.
Set View by as Large icons. Then, locate the Power Options button and select it.
Then, change the power plan to High Performance mode as shown. Note: If you do not have the option then, click on Create a power plan in the left pane and select High Performance option.
Note: If you cannot find this option. Then, click on the battery icon in the system tray. Move the slider to Best performance.
Always keep the power plan of your laptop as high or best performance mode to prevent thermal throttling issues in the future. This method can fix the thermal throttling problem and be considered a preventive measure.
Method 2: Edit Power Plan Settings
Another way to control thermal throttling is to edit power plans in Windows 10 and change them. Here, you need to keep the minimum and maximum processors to 100. If it is below 100, it impacts the laptop to throttle under high usage. To keep these states as 100, follow the steps given below.
Type Control Panel on the Windows search bar and select Open as shown.
Set View by as Large icons. Then, locate the Power Options button and select it.
Here, select Change plan settings as shown.
Then, click the Change advanced power settings on the Edit Plan Settings page as highlighted.
On the Power Options window, locate the Processor power management option and expand it as shown.
Select and expand the Maximum processor rate option as shown. Change On battery and Plugged in options to 100%.
Now, select the Minimum processor state option and set On battery and Plugged in options to 100% as shown.
Finally, select Apply and then click OK to save the changes.
Restart your PC once for the changes to be effective on the settings. Also Read: 7 Ways to Fix CPU Fan Not Spinning
Method 3: Modify Registry Editor
Disable thermal throttling via the Registry Editor can be unsafe, and it is possible to lose all the data in your PC. Therefore, ensure to make a backup for the whole laptop. Also, this method will prevent laptop Thermal Throttling. To disable it, follow the steps given below.
Press Windows + R keys together and open the Run dialog box.
Type regedit in the dialog box as shown and hit Enter key.
Click Yes in the User Account Control prompt.
On the Registry Editor window, navigate to the path:
Locate the Power folder in the left pane and right-click on it.
Select New and then click the Key option on the sub-menu as depicted.
Name the new Key folder as PowerThrottling as shown.
Right-click on the empty area in the right pane. Select New and then DWORD (32-bit) Value.
Name the newly created key as PowerThrottlingOff and hit Enter.
Double-click the PowerThrottlingoff string.
Set the Value data as 1 from 0 and click OK to finalize the changes.
Note: If you want to enable it later, follow Steps 1–4 in this method. Locate the PowerThrottling key in the Power folder and right-click on it. Then, select the Delete option to enable power throttling.
Method 4: Use Thermal Paste
Applying thermal paste could be a fix for thermal throttling laptops. All computers have a thermal system that is small which connects the CPU. Due to its compact nature, there is no air between them. Still, some air can get in between those gaps.
You are well aware that air is a bad conductor of heat. So, when the CPU heats up, the thermal conductivity decreases due to the air present, which does not allow the CPU’s excess heat outside. Also, it prevents the cooling process of the CPU and thus leads to thermal throttling. Applying the thermal paste to the gap blocks the air and allows the thermal system to cool down with better thermal conductivity.
How to perform Thermal Throttling Test
If you are suspicious that your PC is being throttled, ensure to perform laptop thermal throttling test often. This test would keep an eye on your laptop processor, which could protect against hardware component damage.
Option 1: Through Resource Monitor Tool
Press Windows + R keys together and open the Run dialog box.
Type perfmon.exe /res and hit Enter key.
You can find the Resource Monitor tool on your display as illustrated.
Use your laptop in the same way as earlier. The Maximum Frequency value as highlighted explains your CPU’s current power consumption. Here, if the value does not go above a certain point, then it means your laptop is being throttled.
Option 2: Through Task Manager
You can also perform laptop thermal throttling test using Task Manager. Follow the below steps.
Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys simultaneously to open Task Manager.
Go to the Details tab.
Right-click on any of the column headers.
Choose the Select columns option.
Scroll down and select Power throttling. Click OK.
If all the processes are Disabled, your system is in the best performance.
Also Read: How to Check Your CPU Temperature in Windows 10
Option 3: Through Third-party Tool-HWiNFO
To perform this laptop Thermal throttling test via a third-party tool, install an HWiNFO application on your laptop. To do so, implement the steps given below.
Download the HWiNFO application on your system.
Click Download to install [v7.16] HWiNFO Beta version.
Click on the downloaded installer file.
Double-click the setup file. Click Extract all in the pop-up.
Select the location and click Extract.
Now, double-click the application to launch it.
Click Yes in the User Account Control prompt.
Select the Sensors only option and click the Start button as shown to start the installation process.
Scroll down and check the temperature value of the DTS section of the processor.
Here, note down the values of temperature. If the values are very high than usual and the processor in your laptop is running too hot, it will throttle. Recommended:
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We hope that this guide was helpful and you were able to learn to fix laptop Thermal throttling. If you have any queries or suggestions, please drop them in the comments section. Let us know what you want to learn next.
