The HP Elitedesk mini PC works adequately for remote tasks but is running very slowly and feels unresponsive.
The HP Elitedesk mini PC works adequately for remote tasks but is running very slowly and feels unresponsive.
Hello everyone, I’m seeking some guidance on tech support for this issue. Working from home has become really challenging lately. My company provided a simple mini PC for basic remote tasks, mainly to avoid downloading sensitive files. The machine is old but functional enough for Chrome browsing with up to 10 tabs, Nuance Dragon for speech-to-text, and that’s about it. It features an AMD 3400G processor, 16GB RAM, 512GB NVMe SSD, and a 1TB SATA drive.
The problem is severe: the system runs extremely slow. Even with just a few open tabs, it feels hot—around 65-75°C. The fan works, but performance drops noticeably when I double-click or right-click. Typing causes noticeable delays, and playback of videos like YouTube lags by half a second or more. I’ve used an older system with 8GB RAM for this work, which runs smoothly on a 12-year-old machine.
I’ve tried cleaning the thermal paste, checking the heatsink and heat spreader, even adding a larger fan, but nothing improves it. I’m also considering malware or excessive logging software, so I attempted a clean install of Windows 11, but results were unchanged.
Any suggestions or insights would be invaluable. Thanks in advance.
Did you set up the AMD chipset driver from HP for your PC model? Have you attempted to update the BIOS? It seems the APU is attempting to lower its clock speeds. Have you used any monitoring tools like hwinfo to see what CPU/iGPU clocks are showing when it enters low performance mode? This might indicate thermal problems, though I’d hope it stops increasing to minimum settings. Power management could be misconfigured—try adjusting the iGPU and CPU clock limits, and follow this link: https://amdaputuningutility.com/#install
I installed all the necessary drivers, including the chipset, and verified the BIOS is current. I'm using HWInfo to track performance. For example, this morning I started two Chrome windows with five tabs each in efficiency mode while playing a 720p video through VLC. The system ran on a cooling plate with a fan blowing directly onto it. CPU temps stayed between 64°C and 96.1°C, core clocks ranged from 1.36 to 4.1 MHz, and the iGPU temps were 60°C–74°C. The Vcore stayed around 0.85–1.555V, which is higher than the recommended limit of about 1.45V. I'm considering a tuning utility to check if this is causing overheating issues.