Help with 6900HX restarting laptop at 80°C

[DJ_Influenza]

I use an ASUS Zephyrus Duo 16 (2022) laptop (Ryzen 9 6900HX, 3080 ti, 64 GB RAM, NVME Gen 4 SSD), and lately while running practically any game or mildly CPU-intensive apps, it's been crashing/restarting as temp hits ~80°C. I've been logging sensor data with HWINFO to figure out what was going on whenever I play a game (e.g., Baldur's Gate 3, Dragon Quest XI, Hades, etc.) or run CPU-intensive apps (e.g., Photoshop, Blu-Ray Ripping/Burning apps, even PDF generation using Acrobat Pro).

My 6900HX idles around 55°C. When I start any of the above apps, within 2-4 minutes, it goes up to ~80°C and hits 100% of the CPU Thermal Limit. My monitor (an external 1440p 120hz) goes black, and the laptop restarts. I've tried running games on their absolute lowest settings, overclocked and underclocked the CPU, disabled almost every background app, reinstalled Windows, and updated to the latest drivers.

Is there a way to increase the thermal limit so it doesn't reach 100% at ~80°C? Or would that be a bad idea? It just seems crazy to me that this fairly new laptop with solid components wouldn't be able to handle these relatively mild apps. I ran Cyberpunk 2077 at its lowest settings as a test and couldn't get past the character creator. Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!

 

[Shamalow]

Hi,

The first thing to do is clean your fans.
Since 2022, dust must prevent good cooling.
I do it every 3-4 months.

La deuxième chose que je conseillerais est de désinstaller Armory Crate. Il exécute plusieurs processus et services et utilise les ressources de votre ordinateur portable. Utiliser l’utilitaire de désinstallation ASUS.
Also deactivate any software that is running in the background and that you do not need.

Replace Armory Crate with the excellent Ghelper. it will allow you to obtain cooler temperatures at idle and has different settings to lower temperatures.

Finally use the CPU power modes adapted to the tasks you are doing. Switch between silence (light stains) and performance.
Turbo mode raises the temperature terribly and doesn't do much for games or heavy tasks.
Games need 60W max, no need more.

Personally I use mainly Silent mode, even for games .
My idle temperature is 40-45° and is below 80°C in games.
(I have a Tuf 2022 F17)

Good Luck.

 

[DJ_Influenza]

Hi,

Thank you so much for your reply and all of your suggestions. I've followed all of them, but my idle temps still stick around 55-60°C. I've even tried undervolting the CPU using Ghelper. I see the change in voltage, but the temperature still doesn't move. I'm wondering if something has gone wrong with the CPU itself. I've only had this laptop since Nov 2022 so it would be quite a hit if it's malfunctioning now. My next laptop will definitely be one from Frame.work. At least then I could replace components if needed or to upgrade.

 

[DJ_Influenza]

I was able to drop the idle temp by about 5°C by disabling turbo boost, so that's something.

 

[Shamalow]

It's not normal that your temperature does not drop when you lower the CPU TDP...

In Ghelper, don't forget to check "apply limit" after applying a CPU limit.
Some models also need to check "apply curve" for the limit to work.

Try resetting windows power plan to defaults
Copy and paste the command below into Windows Terminal or Powershell as Admininstrator
powercfg -restoredefaultschemes

With Ghelper, you must use Windows balanced power Plan.

 

[DJ_Influenza]

That seemed to do it! I’m now idling at 47°C! Now for a battery of tests to see if my games/apps are good. Thank you very much for all your help.

 

[Shamalow]

Good !

To test your games, I advise you to start by coloring the interesting values to monitor in HWinfo.

Then install Riva Tuner Statistic Server (RTSS) to display these values in the game (TDP, Temp, etc.)
In HWinfo you will be able to configure RTSS for each value to get the display and colors you want.

 

[DJ_Influenza]

Hello again!
Thank you once more for the guide and screenshots. They have been immensely helpful.

One strange thing happened. I started up a game and within three seconds, before getting out of the splash screen, my system crashed and restarted. When I took a look at my CPU temp after restarting, it was idling at 41°C! I can’t explain exactly why. I made a few changes and I guess it just needed a restart to apply them.

Now Baldur’s Gate 3, which was giving me the most trouble when it shouldn’t based on my specs, is running super smoothly. Using RTSS and HWINFO, I’ve been able to see where there were potential problems before. But I also saw that it now runs around 55°C most of the time.

The one very minor issue I have is that the RTSS window is extremely small. I connect my laptop up to my Sony A95L 65’ tv. For some reason the RTSS window won’t resize like every other app does (like it’s still sized for my laptop’s 16’ screen). The only other app that does this is MSI Afterburner.

Oh well. It’s a small problem (pun intended). Otherwise, it has worked wonderfully. So thank you yet again. I’ll be trying out Cyberpunk 2077 next and see what I can get away with. Cheers!

 

[DJ_Influenza]

I apologize for asking for help once more; it appears I'm having another problem.

When I'm playing BG3 and it hits 75°C, it crashes to the desktop. RTSS shows me the Thermal Limit, and at 75°, it's at 80%. I've tried many different tests, and it always CTDs at 75°C.

I'm a bit at a loss for what to do or whether it's a product of something I've done. So, I'm including screenshots of my GHelper panels. I'm also attaching my last HWINFO log from my last BG3 play session (which lasted around 2-3 minutes).

I hope this might help in diagnosing what might be causing my system to respond this way.

Main GHelper Panel with Fans + Power Panel



GHelper Advanced CPU Panel