The Ryzen 5 5600H struggles to turbocharge during gaming sessions.
The Ryzen 5 5600H struggles to turbocharge during gaming sessions.
As the title suggests, I've been using a new gaming laptop -- Dell G5515 Ryzen Edition -- for a little over a month now, and I love it... But there's one major flaw. Firstly, specs are as follows: CPU: Zen3 7nm Ryzen 5 5600 - 6c/12T - 45w TDP- Base clock 3.3, Turbo 4.2 Motherboard - O6TJV1 - Dell Inc. (same motherboard that ships in their Dell/Alienware's M15 gaming laptop) RAM: 16GB x 2 - Crucial DDR4 3200 - CL22 Storage: PCI-e NVMe GPU: RTX 3050 4GB laptop variant - 80W TDP BIOS: Updated to most recent Dell_G15_5515_1.9.0 This laptop is absolutely blistering fast compared to the i7 7700HQ it replaced, which I felt was very fast on its own already. I'm really enjoying it, but it's slightly limited in it's capability at the moment. I began noticing that when I loaded up games that taxed the CPU higher than 50%, I would start to get awful instability. It would reach max capable frames for a minute or two, and then every 5 second intervals thereafter, it would dip as low as 10-15 frames per second. Anywhere between 2-5 minutes after these frame dips begin, the laptop would inevitably shut off -- with no BSOD -- just a hard shut down (similar to holding power button for 10 seconds). In order for me to power it back on, I need to disconnect the AC from the back of the laptop, wait 3-5 seconds, plug back in and fire it up. Again, it'll run anything in windows without a hitch, only during gaming load. So the next question was, is this a thermal throttle? I monitored HWM and Task managers Performance/CPU tab while the games were running to determine what the voltages and temperature's were looking like at any given time through out a benchmark. I tried to only use a select few game's benchmarks, as to reproduce the same GPU and CPU stress in a repeated manner. At time's the temperatures under full load would slightly exceed 95c, but never over 98-99c if my ambient temp was warm due to central air system (winter time heating). The CPU would turboboost no higher than 3.8 to 3.9ghz, all cores, under this average 95c thermal reading, which is great considering the 5600H's thermal limit is 105c . I then removed all intake vent dust screens, and removed the rear casing to expose the heatsinks and unobstructed airflow to the CPU & GPU fans. This dropped the temps 10-15c -- I'm now confident I'm not thermal throttling and crashing. The voltages however seemed very unstable, so I ran Hitman 3's benchmark to push it relatively hard, and sure enough; *Power began fluctuating anywhere from 55W to 15W (one percent lows of 7-8W) *The CPU VDD would peak anywhere between 56A and 12A (very one percent lows of 7A) During these drops in voltage and wattage, CPU core clocks would drop as low as 400mhz on some individual cores, while others may drop to 800-1200mhz. It seems as if the CPU is receiving instable voltage from the VRM's. I suspect the VRM's and not the GPU because when disabling "Processor Performance Boost Mode" under "Processor Power Management" within Power Options, it locks all six cores at 3.3ghz and games run rock-solid stable. Temps while gaming locked at 3.3ghz average 65-75c, no higher. I should note that when the voltages begin to fluctuate, the " Processor Performance Boost Mode " is set to " Aggressive " by default, out of the 7 available options . I'll include a screenshot of these 7 options -- of which I've tried just about all and each produces the same apparent results. So I'm forced to game at a locked clock of 3.3ghz, and while this laptop at it's base clock runs all of the games at a satisfactory level of performance, I know it could pump out another 20-30fps in nearly every title I play, if I could solve this issue of instability. My worst fear is that the entire VRM stacks on the motherboard might be bad. I'd hate to have to purchase a $300-400 replacement motherboard and do the repair, just to be able to play games at it's fullest performance potential. So I ask if there are any guru's out there that might have any insight to share? Thoughts and ideas are more than welcome here! PS. Sorry if this is in the wrong thread section mods, please move to the correct sub if that's the case. Thanks all!
Your system is functioning perfectly. It’s reaching the maximum performance of the 5600H. If your CPU had inconsistent power supply, it could cause issues. The VRM is being controlled by the CPU because of reduced clock speeds.
I think you misunderstood the message. It actually crashes consistently whenever I play for extended periods beyond 3 to 5 minutes, even on factory settings. To ensure stability, I need to turn off all core turboboost features that come with the CPU and controlled by the motherboard. This shouldn’t be required at all. Unfortunately, it was bought used, so the warranty would likely be void.
Could you clarify if you're looking for a practical method to adjust the board and case for better airflow?
I see the front view of the board. The case is covering the VRM with a heat sink. It might be worth swapping out the CPU and GPU and adding some fresh thermal paste to the VRM if it could help.