Poor performance on a good laptop after five months of use
Poor performance on a good laptop after five months of use
Check your temps first, and confirm if the CPU is genuinely throttling. MSi Afterburner tracks and records CPU temps. Alternatively, tools like HWMonitor or HWiNFO can help.
Your image clearly displays the CPU reaching the advertised 4.2 GHz during gaming sessions. Are you experiencing high temperatures around 90°C while playing? For academic purposes, you might want to use specific educational apps for meetings. Your screenshot only shows CPU usage and frequency, not temperature readings.
I captured this again while gaming in Minecraft, and it looks like the temperatures are above average.
The CPU is clearly experiencing thermal throttling at around 98°C to 100°C. This usually means the cooling system isn't working properly or the thermal paste is degraded. You'll likely need to replace the cooling fan or reapply thermal paste. Both tasks will require you to access the laptop's interior.
Absolutely, this CPU is acting up quite a bit. The laptop would benefit from a thorough cleaning, thermal paste replacement, and pad installation. A cooling pad could also help if you plan to play games on it for a while. When bringing it to a repair shop, request they take it apart and clean it completely. Some shops might only use an air compressor to blow dust out, which isn't ideal for long-term fixes.
No, you wouldn't need to clean your laptop every five months unless specified by a particular service or manufacturer.