If your laptop fans start sounding like jet engines anytime you open more than three browser tabs and everything slows to a crawl, you’re likely facing the consequences of CPU throttling. It’s not a nice feeling, because not only does your laptop become borderline unusable, it also heats up to the point where it becomes uncomfortable to use.
For those who don’t know what CPU thermal throttling is and how it affects performance, just know that it’s not a good thing for your laptop to experience. Thankfully, the fix is easier than you think.
Check the vents and fans
Your laptop needs to breathe, too
One of the first things you should do when your laptop is overheating is to clean the vents. This is often the only solution you’ll need to fix an overheating laptop.
Your CPU, GPU, and other internal components need to vent out the heat generated during regular operations. This is why almost every laptop is equipped with fans and a cooling solution that drives the internally generated heat out to the heatsinks, which are in turn cooled by the fans. If the vents providing airflow to the fans are blocked, all that heat has nowhere to go.
I’ve got an annual ritual that keeps my Windows laptops running like new, and it primarily focuses on cleaning out any dust and debris stuck in the vents. I also disassemble the fans and clean the individual blades in addition to swapping the thermal paste. If these terms sound foreign to you and you haven’t had your laptop vents cleaned in years, it’s about time you do so.
Most laptops are quite easy to disassemble, and you should be able to access the vents and fans immediately after removing the back panel. In case you’re confused, try looking for a disassembly tutorial for your laptop model on YouTube.
For cleaning, it’s best to remove the fans, as this reduces the risk of electrical damage when moving them around to dislodge dust. Fully removing the fans also makes it easier to reach into the vents and give them a good scrub. If removing the fans is too much effort, unplug the cable connecting them to the motherboard to keep the rest of your laptop safe.
You don’t need any fancy tools for this either. Just an old toothbrush and a can of compressed air will suffice. Avoid using blowers and vacuum cleaners inside your laptop—the static electricity can damage internal components.
Once the fans are fully cleaned and vents are clear, I move on to changing the thermal paste. You don’t have to replace the thermal paste on your laptop often, but I prefer doing so just for mental peace.
If you’re not comfortable taking apart your laptop, any repair shop will do the entire process described above for a relatively low price. Once you’re done, your laptop will breathe better and overheat less. Not only does this bring a more comfortable user experience, but you’ll also have a lot more thermal headroom for your CPU, RAM, and GPU to work at peak performance.
Fine-tune your settings
Optimized software is just as important as clean vents
If the vents and fans are clean and working as intended, there are software tweaks you can make to keep your laptop running cooler. Start off by adjusting fan curves for optimal performance. It’s simpler than it sounds, and changing this one setting keeps my laptop cool far better than I expected.
Essentially, you’re telling your fan to spin faster as internal temperatures rise. While manufacturer-made fan curves will do the job in most cases, setting up a custom fan curve for your CPU and, if possible, the GPU, can help reduce heat further while maintaining performance.
How exactly you adjust the fan curves varies from laptop to laptop. Most laptops will come with manufacturer utilities pre-installed that let you control performance modes and fan curves. But there are third-party tools like MSI Afterburner and Fan Control that can help you as well.
Another set of settings you need to keep an eye on is performance modes. More often than not, laptops come with control utilities that have different performance modes suited for certain tasks. Lower power modes offer better battery life, but they also run the fan at a lower speed, assuming you’re not doing performance-intensive tasks.
If you’re using a lower power mode but are taxing your CPU, your laptop is going to run slowly and hotter. Check to make sure your laptop is in the right performance mode for the task you’re trying to do. You’ll often find these settings in the same control software tools that let you adjust fan curves.
Undervolting can help in extreme cases
Run cooler and get more battery life
Undervolting refers to reducing the power going to the CPU without reducing the core clock speed. Less voltage means less power consumption, which can significantly reduce how hot your CPU gets. As a nice bonus, you can also improve your battery life since the CPU isn’t consuming as much power.
The process of undervolting your CPU, however, can be a little technical and requires patience along with thorough testing to ensure a stable underclock. You have to find the sweet spot where your CPU runs efficiently without being overfed with power.
However, most modern CPUs are quite power-efficient out of the box. You shouldn’t have to undervolt your laptop if you’ve purchased it anywhere in the last three to four years. It is an effective solution, but it can be intimidating if you’ve never done it before, and it can result in random crashes and shutdowns if not done right.
You’re also going to need a third-party tool to undervolt your CPU. I use ThrottleStop, but there are alternatives like QuickCPU, AMD Ryzen Master, and Intel Extreme Tuning Utility. You might find the interface on one tool easier to understand than another, so I recommend trying several options. In rare cases, you might find CPU voltage settings in the BIOS, too.
Once you’ve decided on the tool you’re going to use, the undervolting process is a simple task of reducing the power to your CPU in small increments and testing for stability. If the laptop starts crashing, or the CPU core clocks start to fall, you’ve reduced the power way too much. Once you land in the right spot, however, you’ll notice massive improvements in CPU temperatures without sacrificing performance.
Laptop CPU throttling is easy to fix
A few tweaks and regular maintenance go a long way
High internal temperatures on laptops have been around as long as laptops themselves. Thankfully, they’re relatively easy to fix, and most laptop manufacturers test them internally to ensure your laptop doesn’t run too hot out of the box.
Regular maintenance, such as cleaning the vents, replacing your thermal paste every few years, checking the fan speeds, and using the right performance modes, is all you need to do in most cases to get temperatures under control. If your laptop still runs hot, undervolting is well worth the effort.
These fixes are easily accessible to anyone willing to spend a little time learning about their machine, and the improvements are significant. Your productivity will improve, and your laptop will run at peak performance for longer. Sometimes the best solutions are simpler than we think—and this is one of those times.
