Processing demands spike during gameplay.
Processing demands spike during gameplay.
I mentioned about 6 or 7 months ago. It's running all eight cores smoothly. My CPU isn't slowing down. The room temperature has dropped now. Still, I think the thermal paste might be the issue—my builder used a lot of it. I should have brought it up earlier, but I didn’t.
The surface parts are designed for their specified limits, meaning they won’t last beyond those ranges. Expect a lifespan of about 20 years or less if they stay within specs, otherwise the machine will likely fail soon. Begin by swapping the paste and see if that helps, then move on to replacing other components.
I checked my BIOS and found the voltage set to 1.16V instead of 1.24V. I adjusted it to 1.30V and everything seems to work now. After a while of playing, CPU usage stayed under 70% and overall temperatures were lower. Thanks everyone. I’ll mark @emosun’s answer as the solution since she referenced the undervoltage issue. I’ll continue testing and update you. Appreciate the help!