CPU Clock Speeds/Frequencies dropping very low during gaming after repaste

[Pepperonis]

Hey guys,

 

I am on a gaming laptop (Dell G7 7588) and my cpu is the i7 8750h. My graphics card is the gtx 1060 max q.

 

So I've been having this problem for a while now but sometimes it would just fix itself somehow. This time though, my cpu clock speeds keep dropping constantly. For example, when I am playing games like Battlefield 4 or MW Warzone, the cpu is at 3.4 Mhz for the first minute or two of gaming but drops down to like 1607 Mhz after that, drastically affecting my performance. This also started to happen after repasting my cpu and gpu. I got good repastes on them with the max q staying low at 66 degrees C, but the cpu somewhat hot at 85 degrees to 90 degrees C. 

 

Something I also want to mention is that my cpu is undervolted in  throttlestop. The offset voltages are at -100.6 in the performance & gaming tab; they basically have the same settings. One thing I tried to fix the problem was to cap the turbo ratio limits in the TPL setting of throttlestop to 3.0MHz max on my cpu. This lowed my temps on the cpu drastically going down to 78 degrees C when gaming but, of course, this did not work. I apologize for being ignorant with this kind of topic and I really hope someone can help me out.

 

Thanks for the help!

[RejZoR]

You clearly did something wrong if it happened after repasting. You should check the cooler mounting, particularly pressure and if you set it back correctly and screwed it in securely.

 

Just as a side note since you don't mention what kind of paste you used, I also don't recommend using liquid metal. Like, at all. This crap diffuses into everything and just dries itself up as a result. I had it stain nickel platted CPU IHS (everyone saying it doesn't affect nickel platted surfaces, but it did) and stain everything copper on AiO and graphic card. It also worked great for a while and then suddenly I started getting horrible performance and stability issues because it diffused into copper and just disappeared so to speak. I'm not touching that crap ever again. Use best regular thermal paste like Kryonaut instead. Also laptops often use aluminium parts for retention which get eaten by liquid metal so beware.

[Pepperonis]

26 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

You clearly did something wrong if it happened after repasting. You should check the cooler mounting, particularly pressure and if you set it back correctly and screwed it in securely.

 note since you don't mention what kind of paste you used, I also don't recommend using liquid metal. Like, at all. This crap diffuses into everything and just dries itself up as a result. I had it stain nickel platted CPU IHS (everyone saying it doesn't affect nickel platted surfaces, but it did) and stain everything copper on AiO and graphic card. It also worked great for a while and then suddenly I started getting horrible performance and stability issues because it diffused into copper and just disappeared so to speak. I'm not touching that crap ever again. Use best regular thermal paste like Kryonaut instead. Also laptops often use aluminium parts for retention which get eaten by liquid metal so beware.

Unfortunately, I have already used liquid metal before on my gpus and cpus. My copper heatsink is stained from where the liquid metal/paste is pressed down onto the cpus and gpus but my actual cpu die is always clean and does not have a stain on the die. I'm not too sure if my gpu is fine, but I haven't had really bad problems with it like I do right now with my cpu after using liquid metal.

 

When I had done my repaste, I made sure all the scews were tightened all the way so I don't think thats the problem. Now that you bring it to my attention though, the liquid metal stain might have been the problem on the copper heatsink area where its pressed down onto the cpu/gpu.

 

If the liquid metal stain is the problem, I will probably try and buy a new heatsink but I want to know for sure that that is the problem, because in previous repastes using the stained copper heatsink, my performance was not as bad as it is now. It was actually really decent. I heard in another really similar post that it might be power limit throttling.

 

Thank you for the response!

[RejZoR]

Yes, copper that has liquid metal diffused into it will have a much lower thermal conductivity than clean copper. Still not sure if there would be such drastic change. Laptops do work on the limit as is when it comes to thermals so it might be worse than with PC cooler.

 

Personally, I polished the copper parts with sandpaper. Used quite fine one to remove staining on my old AiO and also on graphic card. After polishing it was nice shiny copper again.

 

Did this increase of temperature happen right away after repasting or it took few days? When I used LM on my CPU and GPU, it was fine for several days and then suddenly weird stability issues until I pinpointed the issue. Then I put Kryonaut on polished surfaces and never had issues after that. Twice actually, because I couldn't believe it to be issue as everyone is hyping LM so much. Now I'm just avoiding the thing entirely and sticking with highest end paste money can buy. Much more reliable and easier to clean.

[Pepperonis]

19 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

Yes, copper that has liquid metal diffused into it will have a much lower thermal conductivity than clean copper. Still not sure if there would be such drastic change. Laptops do work on the limit as is when it comes to thermals so it might be worse than with PC cooler.

 

Personally, I polished the copper parts with sandpaper. Used quite fine one to remove staining on my old AiO and also on graphic card. After polishing it was nice shiny copper again.

 

Did this increase of temperature happen right away after repasting or it took few days? When I used LM on my CPU and GPU, it was fine for several days and then suddenly weird stability issues until I pinpointed the issue. Then I put Kryonaut on polished surfaces and never had issues after that. Twice actually, because I couldn't believe it to be issue as everyone is hyping LM so much. Now I'm just avoiding the thing entirely and sticking with highest end paste money can buy. Much more reliable and easier to clean.

Thanks for responding again.

 

 If you are asking and referring to the temperature increase I mentioned in my first post (" but the cpu somewhat hot at 85 degrees to 90 degrees C"), I repasted about a week ago with Thermal Artic Silver 5 thermal paste (sorry forgot to mention that). I did not use liquid metal. I also stopped using that crap awhile ago and have just been using regular thermal paste on the stained heatsink surfaces. I also bought corsair's TM30 thermal paste for when my Artic Silver 5 does run out so I will be using that in the future.

 

I had the same experience with you so thats why I stopped using liquid metal (really regret using that stuff). My temperatures on the cpu and gpu as of now are actually not too bad compared to 99 degrees C on the cpu and 77 degrees C gpu even though I said they were kinda high earlier.

 

I might open up my laptop again tomorrow and use fine sandpaper to try and get rid of the stain and try and update you then. 

 

[Pepperonis]

36 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

Yes, copper that has liquid metal diffused into it will have a much lower thermal conductivity than clean copper. Still not sure if there would be such drastic change. Laptops do work on the limit as is when it comes to thermals so it might be worse than with PC cooler.

 

Personally, I polished the copper parts with sandpaper. Used quite fine one to remove staining on my old AiO and also on graphic card. After polishing it was nice shiny copper again.

 

Did this increase of temperature happen right away after repasting or it took few days? When I used LM on my CPU and GPU, it was fine for several days and then suddenly weird stability issues until I pinpointed the issue. Then I put Kryonaut on polished surfaces and never had issues after that. Twice actually, because I couldn't believe it to be issue as everyone is hyping LM so much. Now I'm just avoiding the thing entirely and sticking with highest end paste money can buy. Much more reliable and easier to clean.

Sorry for asking after a little while and being so ignorant about this topic, but just to summarize, I should use really fine sandpaper when trying to remove the stains on the copper heatsink? Can you maybe tell me how fine your sandpaper you used was? I may also try and take pictures to show you how stained the copper heatsink is if that helps. 

 

Thanks again.

[RejZoR]

I think I used 800 and 1200 grit sandpaper. It was only a very thin layer deep so I didn't need much sanding. I don't think staining should affect temps this much, I think it's something else, but you'll have to take it apart and inspect it.

 

I always apply thermal paste by spreading it across entire surface in a very thin layer. I just never trust the X or pea drop and hoping it spreads right. Never had issues.

[Pepperonis]

10 hours ago, RejZoR said:

I think I used 800 and 1200 grit sandpaper. It was only a very thin layer deep so I didn't need much sanding. I don't think staining should affect temps this much, I think it's something else, but you'll have to take it apart and inspect it.

 

I always apply thermal paste by spreading it across entire surface in a very thin layer. I just never trust the X or pea drop and hoping it spreads right. Never had issues.

Hey again,

 

So its the next day now of course and one thing to mention is that this drop in clock speeds only happens in high demanding games like battlefield and mw warzone. Games like valorant and genshin impact run fine.

 

I'm not sure if that helps with pinpointing my problem, but I think that may be somewhat helpful. I can also provide you with my BIOS settings in the performance tab if that may help or some other specific settings that may help pinpoint my problem like in throttlestop.

[Heliian]

What happens if you return it to stock voltage? 

[Pepperonis]

50 minutes ago, Heliian said:

What happens if you return it to stock voltage? 

Hey thanks for coming,

 

I'm not sure what would happen if I go back to stock voltave but I did turn off throttlestop and tried running bf4 again but it still would drop from loke 3.2 Mhz to 1.6Mhz.

 

Right now im repasting and just sanded my copper heatsink so that the liquid metal stain does not show much or at all. 

[Pepperonis]

 

1 hour ago, Heliian said:

 

My cpu, gpu, and copper heatsink after opening, repasting, cleaning, and sanding again

[Heliian]

Looks clean, just make sure that the heatsink is making good contact with all the components.  Was there any pads in there? 

[Pepperonis]

2 minutes ago, Heliian said:

Looks clean, just make sure that the heatsink is making good contact with all the components.  Was there any pads in there? 

Yes, im cutting out thermal pads that are 1mm thick right now which was i think the same size as the stock ones. 

 

Im going to use corsairs TM30 paste this time and not Artic Silver 5 because im a bit low on that. 

 

Lets hope things are alright.

 

Also one question, when I boot up again, should I reset thr BIOS to default? Ive skipped this in the past repastes and just press continue so Im not sure if that would help fix my problem. 

[Heliian]

Shouldn't hurt to reset the defaults.  

[Pepperonis]

1 minute ago, Heliian said:

Shouldn't hurt to reset the defaults.  

Alright Ill try that. Ill be going back to reassembling now and update you in a bit if you're still willing to help. 

 

Thanks for the help!

[Kredbu]

Okay... I'm not entirely certain that you did it, but it looks like maybe you did based on the images. 

 

Do NOT sand an exposed chip. Neither of those have an IHS on them, which you would be able to sand, but gpus and laptop cpus generally don't have IHS's. It's just exposed silicon, it won't be damaged by galvanic corrosion, just leave that alone.

[Pepperonis]

1 hour ago, Pepperonis said:

Alright Ill try that. Ill be going back to reassembling now and update you in a bit if you're still willing to help. 

 

Thanks for the help!

So after repasting, sanding my copper heatsink to clean off the dried liquid metal, replacing my thermal pads, and even resetting to BIOS default, my core clock is stil fluctuating and even sometimes just constantly stays at 1607 Mhz in a battlefield 4 game.

 

I did go into throttlestop right after rebooting and changed the speed shift max in the TPL section from 32 to 41 so it doesn't cap at 3200 Mhz anymore.

 

Temperatures on the desktop are at 55-65 degrees C while not playing games and the gpu is at 59 degrees C while not play games too.

 

[Pepperonis]

11 minutes ago, Kredbu said:

Okay... I'm not entirely certain that you did it, but it looks like maybe you did based on the images. 

 

Do NOT sand an exposed chip. Neither of those have an IHS on them, which you would be able to sand, but gpus and laptop cpus generally don't have IHS's. It's just exposed silicon, it won't be damaged by galvanic corrosion, just leave that alone.

I already did that but it doesn't seem to be affecting anything.

 

EDIT: sorry i misunderstood your questions, I did not sand the IHS (dont wry im not that dump). I only sanded the heatsink where it touches the dies of the cpu and gpu like shown in the previous picture. I think it looks like I sanded the dies because its the stain from the Liquid metal i used before awhile ago.

[Kredbu]

Yeah. It did look that way, which is why I mentioned it (both for you and anyone else reading that doesn't know). There is generally some extra silicon there for safety, but you don't ever want to do that again. That isn't a piece of metal, it is the chip itself.

 

I don't know much about your specific laptop, but thermal throttling at high loads is pretty common in laptops, since the the thermal solution is generally never good enough keep max boost for more than a few seconds. If it is behaving a lot worse than it was before the  changed paste, you can check to make sure the fans didn't get damaged, but if this has been the way it behaved before as well, and if everything is tight together, properly pasted, the most you can really do is make sure the vents have lots of space for air to get in when you are using it.

[Pepperonis]

1 minute ago, Kredbu said:

Yeah. It did look that way, which is why I mentioned it (both for you and anyone else reading that doesn't know). There is generally some extra silicon there for safety, but you don't ever want to do that again. That isn't a piece of metal, it is the chip itself.

 

I don't know much about your specific laptop, but thermal throttling at high loads is pretty common in laptops, since the the thermal solution is generally never good enough keep max boost for more than a few seconds. If it is behaving a lot worse than it was before change, you can check to make sure the fans didn't get damaged, but if this has been the way it behaved before as well, and if everything is tight together, properly pasted, the most you can really do is make sure the vents have lots of space for air to get in when you are using it.

My laptop is a Dell G7 7588. It has a gtx 1060 max q, i7 8750, 16 gb of ram, 1 tb hdd and a 128 gb ssd. I ended up testing a few games after the repaste and...

 

In bf4, the clock speed is still fluctuating and sometimes just stays at 1607 Mhz for a minute or 2. In valorant, the core clock also drops but instead drops to 1907 Mhz. The temperatures in both games of the cpu drop as well from somewhere like 90 degrees C to 69-77 degrees C. 

 

I looked up my problem elsewhere and it seems like power limit throttling. In the past, this was a problem for me but it instead affected my gpu and cpu but this time around, my cpu is the only one affected while my gpu is fine. (I don't know if power limit throttling is affecting the cpu though).

 

I've also seen online that turning on and off some settings in the BIOS settings of the performance tab may solve this problem like disabling C-states or enabling/disabling speed step. 

[RejZoR]

Reason clocks drop under heavy load is due to temperature. Higher temperature, lower clocks. Disabling C states and SpeedStep will only make it worse.

 

Now that you're mentioning thermal pads your problem is most likely there. If pads are preventing you from having good contact or enough pressure, you'll see what you're seeing.

[Pepperonis]

9 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

Reason clocks drop under heavy load is due to temperature. Higher temperature, lower clocks. Disabling C states and SpeedStep will only make it worse.

 

Now that you're mentioning thermal pads your problem is most likely there. If pads are preventing you from having good contact or enough pressure, you'll see what you're seeing.

Yes that is very true and could be a possibility.

 

I am using 1mm thick pads right now but I'm not sure if that is too thick. The this is I don't know why its only affecting my cpu and not my gpu or cpu.

 

Do you think I can possibly squish/flatten the pads out a bit for for good contact on the cpu/gpu?

[Pepperonis]

So this is what happens in basically all the games when I try to play

 

As you can see, the clock speed goes all the way down to 1706 Mhz or some other really low value. It will go back up to 3200 Mhz (which is what i capped it at in throttlestop) from time to time but its kinda rare. My gpu is fine staying at a good temp and good clock speed but my cpu isnt. 

[RejZoR]

Also be aware that starving modern CPU's of voltage means they won't boost as high.

[Pepperonis]

To anyone who still looks at this post to help, this is an update

 

So a miracle happened and somehow my core clocks went back to normal. The cpu stays decently at the range of 2800-3300 Mhz when gaming and at a temp of 85 degrees C but my gpu went back to 77 degrees C when gaming and lowered the clock speed slightly from 1700 to 1400 Mhz which is not bad at all. 

 

I hope this can stay constant in the future and THANK ALL OF THE PEOPLE that helped me. I cannot appreciate you guys enough.

 

If the problem occurs once again, I'm probably going to make another post, but I hope that won't be the case

 

Thank you all again!