Laptop underperforming when plugged in

[Kevocalypse]

For some reason when ever I play BF3 when plugged in my cpu speed drops to 1.8 from 2.8. This causes the game to run at 25-30 fps in multiplayer which isn't very smooth. When I unplug however my cpu goes back to 2.8 and my fps goes up to 45-50 and sometimes even 60 in multiplayer. However it randomly drops to 9-12 fps every couple of seconds and skyrockets back up which makes it unplayable. This doesn't really make much sense. My temps aren't high and I'm running on high performance mode for both plugged and unplugged.
CPU: A8-5557m
GPU: 8750m w/ 2gb of vram
8 gb ram
Acer Aspire v5 552g-8632

 

[rtsurfer]

Check the power options and under that the advanced power settings..

Most probably the max CPU state is limited to something lile 50% when plugged in.

 

[Kevocalypse]

Actually everything in my power options are set to run at full speed

 

[rtsurfer]

Actually everything in my power options are set to run at full speed

Then I am clueless.

Maybe someone else can weigh in.

 

[R0H1T]

Perhaps you can post screenshots of the current/active power scheme & include the "processor power management" options, after expanding the three subsections in it. I have an A8 5550m based model with pretty much the same problem but mostly it's due the inadequate cooling laptops have in general.

 

[sm625]

Run this from a command line:

POWERCFG.EXE -QUERY > powercfg.txt

That will create a report called powercfg.txt. Find that file and post the contents here. Remove any personal information from the file if you wish.