What is throttling and why is it needed?


Let's start from afar. Computing performance is growing exponentially. Often for this you have to sacrifice the dimensions of the components. For example, the release of video cards of the NVIDIA Ampere series approved new production standards for the cooling system for video cards - a length of at least 30 cm, a height of almost three slots. Powerful tower coolers and water cooling systems have long been commonplace for gaming PCs. In the smartphone market, the search for the perfect also does not stop, and manufacturers regularly experiment with liquid cooling and passive radiators. All these searches have one goal - to keep the temperature of the system normal. In particular , processors and video cards, which are most affected by overheating.

And throttling is an important tool in the war against overheating. This term means a forced decrease in processor performance by reducing the clock frequencies of its cores. When throttling, it does not work at the limit of its capabilities, which leads to a drop in temperature. To simplify, throttling is a banal foolproof protection that prevents the processor from failing when overheated.

Usually, the central processor of a computer or laptop boasts excellent health and longevity - usually RAM, a drive or a video processor fails, and only a conventional 10-year-old processor can safely retire, running out of time without replacement. In the case of smartphones and other mobile equipment, the throttling mechanism manifests itself individually and, usually, hits the processor harder, because each device has its own temperature threshold, and there is much less space inside the smartphone case than inside the laptop. Therefore, some CPUs work quietly at a temperature of 60 - 70 ° C, while others take their foot off the gas pedal when they reach 50 ° C.

How does throttling manifest itself?


Symptoms of throttling appear in all patients in a similar way:

  • The device suddenly became slower to work. And when you run resource-intensive applications like Lightroom, it naturally freezes.
  • The actual frequency of the processor is much lower than the theoretical one. You can peep these numbers in the system monitor or a third-party application ala AIDA64 and CPU-Z.
  • The cooling system goes crazy - the fans buzz (if any), and the case heats up noticeably. This is most evident in thin gaming laptops, in which performant hardware is literally fried in a narrow case.

Below you will find a video with a good example of throttling in top smartphones, where you can see how, after a short period, the Galaxy Note10 Plus with the Exynos 9825 processor immediately starts to drop frequencies.

Is it possible to disable throttling?


It is possible, but is it necessary? The fact is that engineers are not stupid and no one wants to fight back on Twitter from a disgruntled crowd because of burnt cores. Therefore, they are constantly looking for the optimal consensus between reliability and performance. For example, both desktop and mobile processors have long implemented automatic overclocking technologies, when most of the time the processor cores operate at the main frequency of 3 GHz, but if necessary, the CPU can push the trigger to the floor and overclock all the cores to 4.5 GHz, having received the necessary strength to pull. As soon as temperatures approach the limit, the frequencies and performance of the processor are reduced so that the chip has time to cool down. In general, it's like a can of spinach for the sailor Popeye - consumed as needed. Otherwise, it will be hard work.

To make auto-overclocking more efficient, processor manufacturers came up with the idea of dividing cores by type. Theoretically, the more powerful cores in a processor, the better. In fact, many programs and applications do not use even a third of the entire force, and 100% of firepower is required more likely on holidays. Therefore, both Intel and Apple gradually came to the idea of hybrid processors, which consist of powerful performance cores and energy-efficient auxiliary cores. The former are involved in serious computational tasks in the manner of video rendering, complex mathematical calculations or compilation, the latter work on the hook and solve rather small system problems.

Given all of the above, you need to disable throttling with triple caution, clearly understanding why you need it. After all, you actually turn the device into a sort of suicide bomber who wants to die heroically from the “chip dump”. On a computer or laptop, it can be removed by disabling the temperature control function in the BIOS. Or by installing one of the overclocking programs, which fixes the core frequencies at a given level. Android smartphones and tablets have applications a la Kernel Adiutor for this purpose. However, they require root access or firmware kernel modification. On iPhones and iPads, diagnosing and controlling throttling is somewhat more problematic due to the closed nature of the system. All the details are waiting for you below.

Instead of completely disabling this protective feature, we offer customized strategies for smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops.

How to deal with smartphone or tablet throttling


As already mentioned, modern smartphones enter the market with optimal processor settings. And if the phone does not have heat pipes or other cooling aids inside, an attempt to bypass it by disabling or changing the firmware restrictions will only lead to the fact that the device will get very hot and consume the charge faster. And over time it can fail.

To diagnose throttling on Android, you need to download one of the popular stress tests - in our case, this is the CPU Throttling Test application. Install the application, run it, select the CPU stress test and watch the graph. If it does not blush, then everything is ok. But at Apple, problems with throttling are rare and, on the contrary, concern older devices, and not brand new flagships. The main reason for slowing down the system is usually a dead battery.

How to deal with computer throttling


For desktop PCs, throttling is less common. The system unit drawer allows you to install a powerful cooler, so for a desktop, throttling is not a normal mode of operation under load, but a signal of problems with the cooling system. If you notice that the PC suddenly started to go dumb, the processor does not gain frequency in the "turbo" mode, the fan began to howl, and the temperatures go off scale, then it's time to start diagnosing. This is not difficult. First, install the software for diagnosing overheating - AIDA64 on PC or Hot on MacOS. Launch the application and select the "System stability test" tab. In the menu that appears, select the CPU stress test and monitor the performance. If the processor starts throttling, then AIDA64 will immediately report this.


The reason is likely to be either dried-up thermal paste, or a dense felt boot made of dust and dirt, which clogged the processor cooler heatsink. If a vacuum cleaner and new thermal paste still don't help, you need to dig deeper. The most obvious option is that the power of the cooler is simply not enough to effectively cool the processor. Then you need a replacement. Also, the case can stand in an unfortunate place - for example, near the battery or in a narrow recess in the table, the wall of which closes the air intakes of the computer case. In this case, either move it away from the battery, or remove the side wall, it is still not visible in the table.

How to deal with laptop throttling


Unlike desktop computers, laptop components are in constant darkness, like five families in a Soviet communal apartment. Therefore, the main weapon in the fight against throttling is to maintain an optimal temperature regime. To diagnose overheating and reset frequencies, we use the same tools as with desktop PCs - AIDA64 for the Windows platform, or Hot for computers based on MacOS

To begin with, a banal advice: if you want it or not, you will have to regularly clean the laptop case and update the thermal paste. “Regularly” everyone has their own - someone does it once every six months, someone once and a half. Depends on the situation and the specific laptop. It will not be superfluous to periodically blow through the case to clean the blades, motors and grilles from dust that interferes with the free passage of air. This is especially true for gaming laptops with massive air intakes at the bottom of the case. With the enthusiasm of a vacuum cleaner, they suck in all the dust, hair and debris they can find.

If the laptop is used to work with resource-intensive applications, then it is not recommended to place it on a sofa, chair, or any other soft surface that covers the lower air intakes. Here it is better to go the other way and buy a laptop stand with an active cooling system, which will help the laptop to be normal even during video rendering or code compilation.

In cases where all this does not help, and a powerful processor throttles precisely because of the design, the so-called undervolting can be a solution to the problem. To simplify, this is a kind of overclocking in the opposite direction, aimed at limiting the incoming power of the processor. You can do it right in the BIOS or in any smart overclocking application a la MSI Afterburner.

Summing up

So, there is no point in fighting smartphone throttling, this is a normal working phenomenon. It is better to choose a smartphone in advance that is not too prone to this problem. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to recognize this problem in advance by characteristics and photographs, you need to look at reviews and reviews. To combat throttling in a laptop, cleaning the cooling system, buying a cooling pad, or undervolting the processor helps. However, for a laptop, this is also a familiar process. But throttling in a desktop PC is definitely a bad signal. In most cases, it is solved by cleaning the case and replacing the thermal paste, less often you will have to upgrade the processor cooler.