I've got a Dell M6600 notebook (if you can call it that) with an Nvidia Quadro 4000M GPU. For months i've been trying to diagnose a problem with random lockups.
Basically, i'll be using the computer and suddenly it will become unbearably slow. Video refreshes at 1 frame per second. Hitting ctrl-alt-delete takes at least 40 seconds. It's completely unusable. Often, i'm not even doing anything strenuous on the computer. Most of the time, i'll be working on office documents with a few chrome tabs open. I formatted the computer, looked at everything that could be using all it's resources. Disabled CPU throttling in the BIOS. Nothing seemed to work.
For a month or two, it randomly seemed to get better, so I forgot about it. When it started acting up again, I decided just to live with it. The problem kept getting worse. I'd look at the task manager and see my CPU pinned at 100% usage, when all the individual processes and services added up to 20 or 30%.
I was looking in the BIOS and realized that I had CPU throttling disabled. I turned it back on. Nothing changed, but I realized that whenever my computer froze up again, the task manager would indicate that the CPU was throttling down. I couldn't figure out why, because my temps were fine. But then I realized that it was my GPU that was getting hot.
At idle, my CPU sits around 50c. GPU runs at 70 minimum. During regular use, i've seen the CPU hit 70 degrees. Using a benchmark, I managed to push it to 89 before I shut it off. But the GPU will often hit the mid 90s during standard web browsing. This seems way to high. I'm guessing that the GPU is forcing the CPU to throttle down with it? Is there anything I can do to manage this?
I don't do anything that should put a lot of stress on the GPU. I run dual monitors most of the time, and 90% of my tasks involve microsoft office and google chrome. Maybe the video ads on websites, but that's all I can think of. Maybe I could underclock the GPU somehow, or allow it to throttle down without bringing the CPU with it? I also find it strange how, with CPU throttling disabled, it will still throttle without indicating so in the task manager.
Basically, i'll be using the computer and suddenly it will become unbearably slow. Video refreshes at 1 frame per second. Hitting ctrl-alt-delete takes at least 40 seconds. It's completely unusable. Often, i'm not even doing anything strenuous on the computer. Most of the time, i'll be working on office documents with a few chrome tabs open. I formatted the computer, looked at everything that could be using all it's resources. Disabled CPU throttling in the BIOS. Nothing seemed to work.
For a month or two, it randomly seemed to get better, so I forgot about it. When it started acting up again, I decided just to live with it. The problem kept getting worse. I'd look at the task manager and see my CPU pinned at 100% usage, when all the individual processes and services added up to 20 or 30%.
I was looking in the BIOS and realized that I had CPU throttling disabled. I turned it back on. Nothing changed, but I realized that whenever my computer froze up again, the task manager would indicate that the CPU was throttling down. I couldn't figure out why, because my temps were fine. But then I realized that it was my GPU that was getting hot.
At idle, my CPU sits around 50c. GPU runs at 70 minimum. During regular use, i've seen the CPU hit 70 degrees. Using a benchmark, I managed to push it to 89 before I shut it off. But the GPU will often hit the mid 90s during standard web browsing. This seems way to high. I'm guessing that the GPU is forcing the CPU to throttle down with it? Is there anything I can do to manage this?
I don't do anything that should put a lot of stress on the GPU. I run dual monitors most of the time, and 90% of my tasks involve microsoft office and google chrome. Maybe the video ads on websites, but that's all I can think of. Maybe I could underclock the GPU somehow, or allow it to throttle down without bringing the CPU with it? I also find it strange how, with CPU throttling disabled, it will still throttle without indicating so in the task manager.