Performance of Overwatch 2 has experienced a sudden decline.
Performance of Overwatch 2 has experienced a sudden decline.
The log indicates the CPU hits 100°C and thermal throttling occurs. Cooling is barely sufficient. Throttling starts once power use reaches 45W, which caps performance. 12th Gen mobile CPUs might need at least double that power. The main issue seems to be GPU throttling. Setting a low power cap for the GPU will reduce its clock speed and frame rate. In the ThrottleStop Options window, this information will appear in the log. Clear the old log file during testing. Also, look at the MMIO Lock option in the top-right corner of the TPL window.
DATE TIME MULTI C0M CKMOD BAT_mW TEMP NVIDIA GPU VID POWER 2023-09-04 18:23:00 39.38 17.2 100.0 0 98 1642 84 1.1610 44.2 TEMP 2023-09-04 18:23:01 38.78 19.2 100.0 0 99 1642 84 1.1632 46.2 TEMP 2023-09-04 18:23:02 38.70 18.9 100.0 0 100 1642 84 1.2214 44.7 TEMP 2023-09-04 18:23:03 39.26 17.9 100.0 0 100 1642 84 1.1814 42.9 TEMP 2023-09-04 18:23:04 39.23 17.9 100.0 0 100 1687 84 1.2279 45.5 TEMP 2023-09-04 18:23:05 39.78 18.4 100.0 0 100 1687 84 1.2301 45.9 TEMP 2023-09-04 18:23:06 38.81 19.3 100.0 0 100 1612 84 1.2013 43.9 TEMP 2023-09-04 18:23:07 39.31 17.8 100.0 0 100 1612 84 1.1931 44.1 TEMP 2023-09-04 18:23:08 37.19 21.6 100.0 0 99 1657 84 1.1304 47.8 TEMP 2023-09-04 18:23:09 39.09 18.5 100.0 0 100 1657 84 1.2136 47.4 TEMP 2023-09-04 18:23:10 39.08 18.8 100.0 0 100 1605 84 1.0917 46.6 TEMP Your log file indicates roughly eight minutes where the CPU temperature fluctuated around 100°C. This suggests the cooling system from Dell isn’t sufficient. It struggles to maintain a stable temperature. The load stays under 20%. A larger heatsink would help prevent the CPU from throttling during gaming. When the CPU hits 100°C, the GPU starts warming up gradually. At 18:25:19, its speed drops significantly—about one-sixth of normal. I’m uncertain about the exact cause at that moment. My thought is that the GPU overheating is the main issue. The CPU throttles but still performs adequately. A subpar cooling setup is limiting overall performance. Think about using ThrottleStop or lowering the power limits to reduce heat output. This would help keep the GPU from reaching 85°C. That temperature appears to be what triggers the major slowdown. Edit – Consider using GPU-Z to monitor GPU hotspots. It likely shows readings well above 85°C.
They probably just need to dust the laptop, focusing on vents and fans, and swap out the thermal paste since it was working well before. There’s no sudden change in performance from Dell design, but overheating can happen over time due to dust buildup and worn paste.
I purchased the laptop last month. Adjusting the CPU power seemed to resolve the issue. I plan to experiment with keeping the CPU around 95% instead of full capacity. The GPU is also a bottleneck generally, so this shouldn’t significantly impact performance. One possible reason for the problem was the absence of air conditioning at Michigan Tech. It’s hard to maintain a room temperature below 80°F during the day due to extreme heat.
Previous monitoring tools definitely had issues. The CPU temperature kept rising to 100°C during use. Applying thermal paste might wear out quickly under constant high heat. Room conditions also played a role—around 70°F likely kept the GPU below 85°C, but higher temperatures could have pushed it too low. This temperature shift was likely what caused the significant GPU throttling.