CPU throttling itself to 1.7GHz for no clear reason

[UniversalCredit]

Hello all. it's been about 10 years since I've been on here so here goes;

 

The title says it all, my CPU randomly throttles itself (mainly in FiveM, I can't reliably replicate this in any other game. It starts out normally, then after 5-30 mins throttles) and I can't figure out why for the life of me. Temps are 'fine' (toasty but under 95c), chipset/GPU drivers and Windows are up to date, I reset the EC yesterday and while that kind of fixed another problem I had (if you put any load on the CPU it would throttle itself down to about 1.2GHz) it still does this. The only way to get it to go back to normal is by rebooting. It also randomly shut off earlier with no BSOD or anything but i actually have the hwinfo logs from when it did that. I'm pretty sure (not 100%) as well this started AFTER I upgraded my RAM a few weeks ago. In light use there are no issues whatsoever and it performs absolutely fine. 

 

I've no idea what I'm doing when it comes to troubleshooting I'll be honest so any pointers would be a massive help. 

 

Specs are:

MSI Katana A15 AI B8VG (the Nissan Altima of gaming laptops)

Ryzen 9 8945HS

64GB (2x32GB) Kingston HyperX Fury DDR5 5600 CL40

RTX 4070 Laptop

2x2TB Samsung 990 Pro SSDs

Windows 11 Enterprise (couldn't get 10 to run stable lol)

[OddOod]

Welcome (back) to the forums!
 

15 minutes ago, UniversalCredit said:

Temps are 'fine' (toasty but under 95c),

How exactly are you checking those? HWInfo? Is that hotspot temp? 
That laptop shares heat pipes across CPU and GPU (and maybe even one for the chipset?) so it can definitely be a heat soak issue. With those specs, I'd assume it's a pretty new device, but if you regularly put it in a bag or set it on carpet or anything, it's entirely possible that the heat sink fins are already felted over with lint. 

I also assume you're testing this plugged in and fans set to performance mode rather than "quiet" or anything like that.

[KidKid]

34 minutes ago, UniversalCredit said:

Hello all. it's been about 10 years since I've been on here so here goes;

 

The title says it all, my CPU randomly throttles itself (mainly in FiveM, I can't reliably replicate this in any other game. It starts out normally, then after 5-30 mins throttles) and I can't figure out why for the life of me. Temps are 'fine' (toasty but under 95c), chipset/GPU drivers and Windows are up to date, I reset the EC yesterday and while that kind of fixed another problem I had (if you put any load on the CPU it would throttle itself down to about 1.2GHz) it still does this. The only way to get it to go back to normal is by rebooting. It also randomly shut off earlier with no BSOD or anything but i actually have the hwinfo logs from when it did that. I'm pretty sure (not 100%) as well this started AFTER I upgraded my RAM a few weeks ago. In light use there are no issues whatsoever and it performs absolutely fine. 

 

I've no idea what I'm doing when it comes to troubleshooting I'll be honest so any pointers would be a massive help. 

 

Specs are:

MSI Katana A15 AI B8VG (the Nissan Altima of gaming laptops)

Ryzen 9 8945HS

64GB (2x32GB) Kingston HyperX Fury DDR5 5600 CL40

RTX 4070 Laptop

2x2TB Samsung 990 Pro SSDs

Windows 11 Enterprise (couldn't get 10 to run stable lol)

What power plan are you on? I once had my CPU run at 1Ghz or something crazy because I accidentally set the power plan to Eco. Also, under 95c is still pretty hot, even 90 is.

[UniversalCredit]

20 minutes ago, OddOod said:

Welcome (back) to the forums!
 

How exactly are you checking those? HWInfo? Is that hotspot temp? 
That laptop shares heat pipes across CPU and GPU (and maybe even one for the chipset?) so it can definitely be a heat soak issue. With those specs, I'd assume it's a pretty new device, but if you regularly put it in a bag or set it on carpet or anything, it's entirely possible that the heat sink fins are already felted over with lint. 

I also assume you're testing this plugged in and fans set to performance mode rather than "quiet" or anything like that.

Yeah it is hwinfo I'm using to get these temps and yeah I believe it is the hotspot temp (tctl/tdie), the highest I've seen that get is I think 99 but that was when I first got it after about half an hour running a combined CPU and GPU stress test. I bought it in October last year but not actually used it thaaaaat much really. Fans are constantly cranked to 100% (I use headphones so I don't really notice the jet engine sound) and the laptop is indeed plugged in whilst in use. I hadn't thought about the heatsink fins being full of dust to be honest but they at least feel like they're pushing out a fair bit of air . And yeah the heatpipes are shared between the CPU and GPU. The GPU has a thermal limit of 87c though apparently (I've never seen it higher than 85)

 

10 minutes ago, KidKid said:

What power plan are you on? I once had my CPU run at 1Ghz or something crazy because I accidentally set the power plan to Eco. Also, under 95c is still pretty hot, even 90 is.

I'm using the 'High Performance' power plan within Windows, in MSI centre the "user scenario" is set to 'extreme performance' and the "user scenario" in the BIOS is set to 'performance mode' although the issue persists when it's in 'balance mode' 

[DreamCat04]

In HWinfo, there should be a section listing the limiting reasons. Does any limiting reason appear?

If you want to lower your temps, lifting the laptop off the table can help a fair bit