Aspire 5 fps dropped to under 100 fps with a lot of fluctuation

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SrHasslo
SrHasslo Member Posts: 17 New User
edited 5:12PM in Aspire Laptops

Can someone who knows this stuff explain what the heck this is: an Aspire 5 with a Ryzen 7 5700U and integrated graphics. I created a custom power plan in power saver mode, setting both minimum and maximum processor state to 99%. That disables Turbo Boost (which kicks in at 100%) and forces the CPU to run at its 1.8 GHz base frequency, with no variation. With that setup, I got a steady 120 fps in Minecraft, with the CPU at 65 °C—which is very satisfying.

However, I also ran a test by switching to performance mode with a 95% minimum and 100% maximum state, and then again with 100% minimum and 100% maximum. In those modes the CPU stayed below 80 °C, so I don’t see any evidence of thermal throttling. Yet my fps dropped to under 100 fps (with a lot of fluctuation). In HWMonitor I saw huge swings in the individual core clocks (this also happens often in Windows’ default Balanced mode), for example:

1700 MHz

4300 MHz

1800 MHz

i.e. randomly varying between near-base-clock and max-clock values.

[Edited the thread to add model name to the title]
[Edited the thread to add issue detail]