Dell 5539 - throttle down and overheating

Hi all,

My Dell 5539 i7 was experiencing extremely low performance, with the processor’s frequency continuously dropping to 0.4GHz. As a result, using the laptop was a frustrating experience—it couldn’t even handle a decent stream or YouTube video!

After extensive searching and experimenting, I finally downloaded and installed Dell Power Manager. When I ran it, I was surprised to find that the Thermal Management tab was set to Silent by default!

This setting keeps the fan at a minimum speed and aggressively throttles down the CPU to maintain lower temperatures, which, in turn, leads to ridiculously low performance.

As soon as I switched the setting to Optimal—and later to High Performance—the laptop’s performance improved dramatically! It started running incredibly well and was finally delivering its full potential.

However, after this successful tweak, I encountered an overheating issue. Even under moderate loads, CPU temperatures hover between 70-80°C, occasionally spiking up to 95°C!

Now that I’ve resolved the throttling issue, is there any way to reduce CPU temperatures?

For context, I have already repasted the CPU with high-quality thermal paste and thoroughly cleaned the entire interior, including the heatsink.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!