I recently tried repasting my 4-year-old HP Pavilion Gaming laptop after watching a tech tutorial. I ordered some Arctic MX-4 thermal paste and cleaned up the old, dried-up paste. After carefully applying the new paste using the 'X method' for the CPU, GPU, and an additional die, I reassembled everything. However, I noticed my CPU was throttling to 100% during tests, which was actually worse than before. After some investigation, I realized that the BIOS settings had reset due to disconnecting the battery, resulting in virtualization and hyperthreading being re-enabled. Once I turned both features off and rebooted, the throttling issue was largely resolved, with a maximum of only 1% now. So, I'm curious, what role do virtualization and hyperthreading play in CPU performance, and why did turning them off make such a difference?
3 Answers
The reason is pretty straightforward: when you enable hyperthreading, your CPU can handle two threads per core, so if it's set up for that, you're effectively working with a 12-core CPU. If you disable it, you're limiting it to just 6 cores, which can significantly drop your performance. If your CPU was throttling, it may have been due to thermal limits, which was exacerbated by the hyperthreading feature. Disabling it means your CPU doesn't have to work as hard, allowing it to run cooler and more efficiently.
Honestly, you shouldn't have to sacrifice so much performance just to get your laptop running right. Disabling virtualization and hyperthreading shouldn't be the only solution. It could be a sign of an underlying issue, like temperature management or power settings misconfigured during the repasting process.
Just to add, if hyperthreading is causing your CPU to throttle, there might be another issue at play. Check your thermal paste application and cooling; ensuring airflow might solve the throttling while still keeping hyperthreading enabled.
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