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July 3rd, 2024 05:37
XPS 8950, CPU locked at 400 Mhz
I've used a couple of programs including one by Intel. It shows my CPU running 400 Mhz and thermal throttled. Looking at another with the same issue, the Intel diagnostic said his voltage to cpu was 7 volts and it should be something like 1.7 volts. Mine is showing 6 volts. I've tried setting to factory defaults, removing the battery, pressing the power button for 30 seconds. Nothing changes the voltage. Is there some other option for this?
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Harai
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July 3rd, 2024 05:38
I have a Dell 8950 i7-12700. Did have 128 g ram but pulled out two sticks while trying to troubleshoot. The CPU shows to be running at 105 F while it is Thermal Throttled.
Chino de Oro
9 Legend
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8.1K Posts
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July 3rd, 2024 06:39
You can try RTC reset to restore BIOS default (similar as what you did but with the power connected) https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-ie/xps-8950-desktop/xps-8950-service-manual/real-time-clock-rtc-reset?guid=guid-87b228f9-c91a-4409-88f0-7099a90421a9&lang=en-us
(edited)
RoHe
10 Elder
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45.2K Posts
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July 5th, 2024 00:42
You probably need to resolve the thermal throttling problem before you will be able to improve CPU speed.
Power off and unplug PC. Press/hold power button for ~15 sec. Open case and make sure all fans (CPU, case and GPU) are clean and turn freely. Use canned air to clean dust off fan blades, CPU heat sink, motherboard, RAM, case vents, etc. When done, close up and reconnect mouse, monitor and keyboard.
Reboot and tap F12 when you see the Dell splash screen. Select option to run Diagnostics. Run the fan tests. Review the report on the diagnostics screen to see if any of them has problems.
If there are no fan issues reported by the diagnostics after cleaning up inside the case, it's possible the thermal paste between CPU and heat sink has dried out.
You'd have to remove the heat sink, gently clean top of CPU (don't remove it from the socket) and bottom of heat sink. Then apply a thin, even coat of fresh thermal paste. Reinstall the heat sink and fan, reconnect fan to motherboard. If you need help doing this, there are lots of youtubes how to apply fresh thermal paste. Then see if CPU is still being heat throttled...