Fix Laptop Thermal Throttling

You all know it is normal for a laptop to produce heat. But when they bring out more heat due to heavy load, it impacts the performance and slows down the PC. Sometimes, overheating could cause permanent damage to components like GPU, CPU, memory modules, and other hardware. The PC has a safety mechanism called thermal throttling for Windows PC to protect it from excessive heat, designed by Microsoft. If you are worried about thermal throttling laptops, read this guide to perform a thermal throttling test and fix laptop thermal throttling.

Fix Laptop Thermal Throttling

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.

  • 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.

1. Type Control Panel on the Windows search bar and select Open as shown.

Type Control Panel on the Windows search bar and select Open

2. Set View by as Large icons. Then, locate the Power Options button and select it.

Select Power Options. Fix Laptop Thermal Throttling

3. 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.

Choose High Performance on the power plan

Note: If you cannot find this option. Then, click on the battery icon in the system tray. Move the slider to Best performance.

click on the battery icon in the system tray. Move the slider to Best performance. Fix Laptop Thermal Throttling

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.

1. Type Control Panel on the Windows search bar and select Open as shown.

Type Control Panel on the Windows search bar and select Open

2. Set View by as Large icons. Then, locate the Power Options button and select it.

Select Power Options

3. Here, select Change plan settings as shown.

click on the Change plan settings. Fix Laptop Thermal Throttling

4. Then, click the Change advanced power settings on the Edit Plan Settings page as highlighted.

Click on the Change advanced power settings

5. On the Power Options window, locate the Processor power management option and expand it as shown.

Select the Processor power management under Advanced settings power options window

6. Select and expand the Maximum processor rate option as shown. Change On battery and Plugged in options to 100%.

Set Maximum processor state as 100 percentage. Fix Laptop Thermal Throttling

7. Now, select the Minimum processor state option and set On battery and Plugged in options to 100% as shown.

Set Minimum processor rate to 100 percentage

8. Finally, select Apply and then click OK to save the changes.

9. 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.

1. Press Windows + R keys together and open the Run dialog box.

2. Type regedit in the dialog box as shown and hit Enter key.

Type regedit on the Run dialog box

3. Click Yes in the User Account Control prompt.

4. On the Registry Editor window, navigate to the path:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control

5. Locate the Power folder in the left pane and right-click on it.

Navigate to the path and right click the power folder

6. Select New and then click the Key option on the sub-menu as depicted.

Select Key to create a new folder. Fix Laptop Thermal Throttling

7. Name the new Key folder as PowerThrottling as shown.

Create a PowerThrottling folder

8. Right-click on the empty area in the right pane. Select New and then DWORD (32-bit) Value.

Right-click on the empty area in the right pane. Select New and then DWORD 32 bit Value. Fix Laptop Thermal Throttling

9. Name the newly created key as PowerThrottlingOff and hit Enter.

10. Double-click the PowerThrottlingoff string.

11. Set the Value data as 1 from 0 and click OK to finalize the changes.

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.

Locate the PowerThrottling key in the Power folder and right click on it. Then select the Delete option to enable power throttling. Fix Laptop Thermal 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.

thermal paste on CPU

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

1. Press Windows + R keys together and open the Run dialog box.

2. Type perfmon.exe /res and hit Enter key.

Type perfmon.exe res and hit Enter. Fix Laptop Thermal Throttling

3. You can find the Resource Monitor tool on your display as illustrated.

You can find the Resource Monitor tool on your display

4. 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.

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys simultaneously to open Task Manager.

2. Go to the Details tab.

3. Right-click on any of the column headers.

Go to the Details tab. Right click on any of the column headers. Fix Laptop Thermal Throttling

4. Choose the Select columns option.

Choose the Select columns option

5. Scroll down and select Power throttling. Click OK.

Scroll down and select Power throttling. Click OK. Fix Laptop Thermal Throttling

If all the processes are Disabled, your system is in the best performance.

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.

1. Download the HWiNFO application on your system.

2. Click Download to install [v7.16] HWiNFO Beta version.

Click Download to install v7.16 HWiNFO Beta version. Fix Laptop Thermal Throttling

3. Click on the downloaded installer file.

Click on the downloaded installer file

4. Double-click the setup file. Click Extract all in the pop-up.

Double-click the setup file. Click Extract all in the pop up. Fix Laptop Thermal Throttling

5. Select the location and click Extract.

Select the location and click Extract

6. Now, double-click the application to launch it.

double-click the application to launch it. Fix Laptop Thermal Throttling

7. Click Yes in the User Account Control prompt.

8. Select the Sensors only option and click the Start button as shown to start the installation process.

Select the Sensors only option and click the Start button as shown to start the installation process

9. Scroll down and check the temperature value of the DTS section of the processor.

Scroll down and check the temperature value of the DTS section of the processor. Fix Laptop Thermal Throttling

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:

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.

1 thought on “Fix Laptop Thermal Throttling”

  1. If I buy top tier hardware in a laptop, I at least want it to be designed to perform as it is spec’d. If thermally it is compromised, then I am not getting what I paid for. It does seem like it’s getting more difficult to control temperatures in laptops as performance increases.
    Maybe the PC makers will have to try other new ways to improve thermals? Otherwise, maybe laptop gaming is not the way to go, and desktop gaming is the only solution.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *