Intel I5 4210U thermal throttling?

[JShep3]

Hello.

Recently I have encountered a serious problem with my laptop. Using my limited knowledge of computers I have found that the cause of this problem might be the CPU.

The problem is the CPU throttling to about 800 MHz when it reaches a certain temperature (63-64 °C). This in turn makes the performance of the laptop so bad that it's unbearable.

This only happens when I use the laptop to play games (I know that it's not really meant for that).

I have found a way around this problem for some games using ThrottleStop, but for the majority of my games it doesn't work and the same problem persists (the frequency doesn't drop but the CPU usage does). It might also be a problem with the GPU as I've noticed the drop occurs when it also reaches 63-64 °C.

Using ThrottleStop on the games that it does work on (e.g. Saints' Row IV) lets the temperatures exceed the 63-64 °C mark without a performance drop.

The weird thing is that before I was able to play much more demanding games without this issue (e.g. Watch_Dogs, Shadow of Mordor, Grand Theft Auto IV etc.) and I'm pretty sure the temperatures were higher than 65°C. This issue also came out of nowhere one day without warning (after trying MGS:Ground Zeroes).

I have tried to find a solution all over the internet, but it seems no one else has had this issue. I've also tried ThrottleStop and reinstalling Windows entirely (upgraded from 7 to 8), but the problem still persists and is annoying the hell out of me. The drivers are up to date.

I hope you guys can help me.

Specs:

Laptop- Asus X550LN

OS- Windows 8.1 PE(build 9200), 64bit

CPU- http://ark.intel.com/products/81016/Intel-Core-i5-4210U-Processor-3M-Cache-up-to-2_70-GHz ARK | Intel® Core™ i5-4210U Processor (3M Cache, up to 2.70 GHz)

GPU- http://www.geforce.com/hardware/notebook-gpus/geforce-840m/specifications GeForce 840M | Specifications | GeForce

RAM- 8Gb (bought +4Gb separate)

BIOS- American Megatrends Inc. X550LN.301

P.S. I still have an active warranty.

[Jose_H_Intel1]

I recommend checking with the system manufacturer about possible fixes in BIOS updates or the cooling solution.

[RViei71]

I do have the exact same issue with the exact same notebook.

ASUS X550LN, Core i5 4210U. Bios version 305 (there is 306, but it doesn't point to a fix of that).

Processor runs fine at 2300-2400MHZ when system is booted. When I start converting an HD video, clock goes down to 800MHZ. I haven't discovered what to do so far. Have you?

[Jose_H_Intel1]

You may run the http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/CS-031726.htm Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool

However, I would certainly ask the http://www.intel.com/support/oems.htm system manufacturer.

[JShep3 · Accepted solution]

The problem might not have been the CPU, but instead the GPU.

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/800968/geforce-mobile-gpus/geforce-gt-840m-underperfoming-after-a-while-performance-cap-power/1/ https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/800968/geforce-mobile-gpus/geforce-gt-840m-underperfoming-after-a-while-perform…

Lots of people have reported the same or similar problems with their laptop. The solution might be in the newest nvidia drivers (353.30).

I'm going to test it out and reply if it fixes the problem.

Edit:

Yup, seems to have fixed it as I had no significant usage or frame drops. The temperatures were on average 69 for the CPU and 64 for the GPU (not representative as it is quiet hot where I live).

I recommend doing a clean install of the driver, using http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html DDU to completely remove the previous ones. If the newest driver doesn't work rolling back to the 344.xx drivers might help but at the cost of performance.