A guide how to properly handle Thermal Throttling

When it comes to pc gaming, we will all have to face that one day our rigs will be obsolete. This may be due to years of use on a desktop or simply the newest parts are the standards compared to the ones we got. If you were to use a graphics card from 2010 to try and run a game from today you might cause more harm than good to your computer, especially if you try to run a game on max settings. What will occur is that your processors (both CPU and GPU) will experience temperatures that far exceed their ability to cool off and cause major damage. This is what we like to call thermal throttling.

Thermal Throttling is a safety mechanism used in processors in an attempt to reduce the heat being used by them. This is a good safety precaution, however, if this occurs on your pc or laptop it’s a sign that something bad has occurred. If this occurs chances are your hardware has the potential to be permanently damaged which will usually result in decreased performance in a system or even worse total failure. It’s important that we have ways to treat this so we can ensure that our PCs remain healthy. I do have about two general solutions which I will be going into detail for the second one since that’s mainly a DYI project which will give you a better understanding of how your device of choice works

 

Solution 1: Get help from someone who specializes in computer repairs.

This one is pretty obvious but it still needs to be stated. If you have any issues regarding your computer and don’t feel as though you should do your own repairs on it for fear of damaging it, even more, get into contact with someone who specializes in computer repairs. This could be anyone from the GeekSquad from BestBuy to various computer stores across the US. These people have expert knowledge on how to treat your computer with ease and usually do a good job in preventing your pc from thermal throttling again. It will be the more expensive option out of the two but is usually the most secure.

 

Solution 2: Do the repairs yourself:

If you feel as though you are familiar enough with computers on a technical level and can navigate through the various pieces that make up a computer, by all means doing it yourself is a good option. There are some expenses thrown in there such as costs for new thermal paste, tools designed to operate on computers & laptops, isopropyl alcohol, etc. This will be generally cheaper than sending it to someone who could cost up to hundreds of dollars while the tools you ordered will most likely be underneath $100. However, you may have to spend a great amount of time resolving the issue in comparison to someone else doing it.  Anyways I’ll provide a short guide on how to solve this problem

 

Step 1. Find a tutorial on Youtube.

Now, this step might be really confusing since I stated that I’ll provide steps regarding solving an issue. However, this is a really crucial step in figuring out how to set your computer. I don’t know what your pc build, or laptop is so I really can’t provide any knowledge if I have no idea what device you have. Luckily there are dozens of YouTube videos where that provide great detail into where all the parts go on these types of videos. Chances are you will find the model you are looking for and the creator has provided a wonderful solution to that. Also, make sure you use the

Step 2: Gather the necessary equipment

Before we can operate, it’s important we have the tools on hand to perform this surgery.  Most commonly for computer repairs, you’ll have plenty of screwdrivers, plastic wedges to open without damaging the project, thermal paste to replace the old paste, and isopropyl alcohol to clean off without electrocuting yourself. It’s also important to do this on a clean desk as since we are opening this laptop, we don’t want tons of dust or various other pieces of junk to wind up back to our computer literally.  Not to get a good light on the area you work to provide visibility on the hardware you are operating.

Step 3: Open up PC/Laptop and clean up old gunk where the CPU and GPU are usually located.

Depending on what device you have you will have to open up your computer. Usually, brands have all a similar way of how to open them. Sometimes it's relatively easy to open up the computer and other times you can spend hours just trying to pry two plastic pieces apart. Once you get access to the inside of the hardware it’s time for a general cleanup. This can be done with the mention of isopropyl as it’s able to clean electronics really well without risking or electrocuting yourself.

Step 4: Apply new paste

After you find the areas where you cleaned it, it’s now time to use a new paste to help prevent cooling onto our processors. Make sure you use a decently small drop. What this ensures is that the drop is able to cover the processors successfully as well as not get it over everything that isn't in the CPU. You are able to spread that with a small scrapper or if you have a laptop, it’s possible to close it together and let nature handle the spreading for you.

Step 5: Close everything back up

Once you got your new paste on there it seems like it’s time to put everything back together. Make sure all the pieces that you had to take out to get access to the hardware are too as one faulty screw can really screw us over. If it’s a laptop, make sure you press the top part to the bottom part to redo the seal. Otherwise, it has a chance and is not ready to spew our microchips in a heartbeat.

Step 6: Test Run

After finally putting your computer back together it's time to test run. What’s important in this part is selecting a few games to set somewhat of a standard when it comes to this part to ensure that the procedure was able to be applied successfully. I would recommend two games you know run fine on your computer before the thermal throttling and the latest game to cause it. However, if you would like to use the latest game, please make sure you go for lower visual and gameplay settings to ensure that you don’t have to do this all over again.

 

There goes for my main two solutions regarding how to treat thermal throttling.  Depending on your relation to computers, this may help you as you know what to do just in case your computer is overheating. However, as I mentioned before in the beginning that computer hardware can easily become obsolete on its own just to rapid use of the product which will eventually downgrade your computer. There is one result that may occur if your computer is either damaged enough or your computer is too old to be usable. The result is that you may need a new PC as there really isn’t anything we can do in order to truly restore our hardware. I would make more sense and cost-efficient to buy new parts instead of wasting time restoring a processor that can’t handle the data of a modern-day computer.

 

PC Pete