Your laptop's CPU performance stopped working without any apparent cause.
Your laptop's CPU performance stopped working without any apparent cause.
Hello, I possess a 2018 Acer Nitro 5 AN515-52 that I've relied on for gaming and work tasks. I've faced several challenges over time and managed to address them. My laptop performed satisfactorily, delivering results close to expectations. I've also used third-party tools such as ThrottleStop and Afterburner to boost its speed within safe limits. My gaming library consists mainly of AAA racing games like Forza Horizon 5, where I consistently achieved around 50 FPS with medium-high 1080p settings. Through Acer Nitrosense monitoring, the GPU operated at full capacity while the CPU remained under 90% usage. Recently, however, a new issue emerged just before the year change. Now, even with identical graphics settings, my game runs at only about 40 FPS, often with noticeable stutters and drops to as low as 30 FPS. Aiming sensor data showed excessive CPU load near 100% and GPU usage swinging between 80% and 100%. This behavior has never occurred before during three and a half years of regular use. I suspect a background crypto-mining program might be at play, confirmed by thorough scans with Malwarebytes. I performed a memory dump using Intezer Analysis but found no malicious activity. I also doubted hardware wear from ThrottleStop and Afterburner, noting that my GPU voltages stayed stable, core and memory clocks were elevated (190+Mhz/core, 200+Mhz/memory), and the CPU was undervolted by -0.150V. Temperatures were normal—CPU at 89°C, GPU at 82°C under load, with a single hotspot on the GPU. Storage health checked via CrystalDiskInfo showed no issues, and drivers were up to date. I’m unsure what’s causing the problem and need guidance. Please consider reviewing the attached usage and temperature data for Forza Horizon 5 during your online session. The game hasn’t been updated recently either. My system specs are: Intel i5 8th gen (i5-8300H, Turbo capped at 3.0GHZ with ThrottleStop), NVIDIA GTX 1050TI (4GB GDDR5, 2666MHz), 128GB SK Hynix RAM, 1TB M.2 SSD (5400 RPM), Toshiba HDD. Motherboard details are unknown. Operating system is Windows 10 Pro 64-bit.
Consider reaching out to Acer support to verify warranty status. Besides that, it seems your CPU might be experiencing an issue, which is the result. If you're okay with handling it, I'll inspect for a loose pin or contact problems. If you prefer not to open it, contacting Acer would be the next step.
It might be the problem, though he didn’t express any complaints about random restarts or power loss.
I've observed my battery performance declining steadily during use, even with the laptop kept plugged in for optimal speed. There hasn't been any unexpected shutdowns or charging issues while it was connected.
It could depend more on software than hardware. Given how many tests you performed, a virus or software issue is probably the cause and may not be fixable.
Keeping your laptop connected all the time boosts performance yet shortens battery life significantly. It seems unlikely this raises CPU activity, but it still isn’t ideal for your device.
I understood it too, yet I've heard numerous differing views, so I chose to let this matter unfold naturally.
I'm wondering whether there could be any microcode-based over-the-air updates for my CPU that alter its functionality. This is making me really anxious because I don’t want to pinpoint the issue clearly.