Processors

[frogman]

Dear community!

I have a rog strix gaming laptop with a ryzen 9 5900hx cpu and an rx 6800m graphics card. I'm avid gamer and lately i have had some problems with my rig. While playing the new baldurs gate i have been getting some micro stutters even when i lowered settings, but it wasnt anything major so i just disregarded it. After a while though i had some problems like my machine shutting down mid game suddenly. after 2 or 3 times this happened i started looking into this. i used amds own software for the monitoring.

i noticed that my cpu temps were abnormally high, not only in the previously mentioned game, but some other games as well, like xcom 2, which is an old game. it was a consistent 92-93 celsius, but the weird thing was that it only showed 10-15% usage. my gpu readings were normal, around 70celsius, usage spiking from 60-100%. fans were cleaned a little more than a month ago and i play on a flat surface, with up to date drivers.

even weirder thing is i downloaded furmark to do a stability test, run both the gpu and cpu tester at the same time and it didnt give me anything close to the temp readings as when i was gaming, giving me somewhere around 70celsius. the machine wasnt turning off either, like when i was gaming(note that suddenly turning off wasnt a common occourance, happened around 3 times in 140h of play). fur mark tests at supposedly max capacity, so this doesnt make any sense. it should be hotter? and way less hot at 10-15%?

What could be wrong with my laptop?

[BigAl01]

It sure sounds like the cooling system for your CPU is having problems.  They generally use heat pipes and fans to transfer heat out of the laptop's ports.  I suspect the 'fan cleaning' that was performed a month ago.  Perhaps something was forced or jammed into the fan ports and has stopped one or more of them from rotating.  Maybe a power connector to one of the fans was pushed off when blowing air into the ports.  Since heat pipes are generally very reliable (they use them on spacecraft) I suspect the fans.  

So, what can you do?  You might need to investigate how many fans are in your laptop and if they are all working.  Taking apart a laptop is not an easy thing and could result in damage.  If you are not up to it, I would suggest taking the laptop to a computer shop.

[frogman]

it is possible i suppose, but all the fans seem to be working, there is airflow out of both sides and as far as i remember this machine only had two fans when i took it apart. as far as the cleaning process, i held the fan in place with plastic "sticks" and cleaned it out with compressed air.

what baffles me is the fact that the computer seems to have no heat problems with performance testing programs.

[BigAl01]

Well, a CPU getting that hot with only 10-15% usage means it's not being cooled adequately.  As for the computer running through the performance tests without overheating, maybe they are of short enough duration that the CPU doesn't have time to reach it's peak operating temperature.

It's good that you can determine both fans to be operating.  Maybe there is some type of setting in the BIOS of the laptop that sets the fan curves for the CPU / GPU and they are not kicking in to full speed until it's already too hot for the components.  Check your BIOS fan settings.

[frogman]

i start the games and it gets to peak in a minute or two, so it is extremely strange air gets relatively hot too. in fact it even drops back to 50-60 few seconds after stopping the game. so either the cooling is in fact efficient, or the thermostat may be faulty? either way i will take it to a mechanic next week if i find a good one.

[BigAl01]

Check the BIOS settings before you take it anywhere.  I would even consider looking for an updated BIOS, or at least checking to see if one is available.

[frogman]

newest bios installed, vents and fans cleaned, still overheating. what i noticed in the meantime that the laptop only does this when connected to the power network. it runs just fine from the battery.

[BigAl01]

Windows might have a setting for reduced performance when running on just battery power.  If it's running fine for you while under battery power, check the power plan that's been configured in the Windows power plan settings.  Maybe you can tweak a few things for running while plugged into household power.

[pickin]

I also use a laptop with same specs which is 5800HX and 6800M. What I have found is that the processor is using higher voltage than normal and being boosted aggressively when plugged in. These two factors are the main reason of the crazy high temperature of the cpu either during idle (fluctuating between 60 to 93 degrees Celsius) and under load (steady 93 to 97 degrees Celsius).

Hence, to keep the temperature under control, undervolting and disabling the boost on the cpu are required.