I have a Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 with an i7-11370H, and ever since I factory-reset it through Windows Settings, the CPU has been running extremely hot while the charger is connected. At around 50–60% usage, temperatures climb to 90–102°C, causing thermal throttling and severe stuttering. When I unplug the charger, the temperature immediately drops by roughly 30°C, even at similar usage, and the system actually feels smoother. I know battery mode reduces power, but I don't notice a meaningful performance loss in this case. Unfortunately, the battery only lasts about 15 minutes, so running unplugged isn't practical. I've cleaned the laptop, had it repasted by a technician, reinstalled Windows and chipset drivers, disabled Turbo Boost, lowered the maximum processor state to 93%, and tried limiting power to 50 watts, but none of that fixed the issue. This behavior didn't happen before the reset. What power, BIOS, driver, or thermal setting could have changed, and how can I get normal plugged-in temperatures back?
3 Answers
Plugged-in operation normally allows the CPU and dedicated GPU to draw much more power than battery mode, so higher temperatures are expected. An H-series processor in an IdeaPad Gaming chassis can reach the high 90s under load. Disabling Turbo Boost or lowering the processor limit reduces heat by cutting performance, which is why those fixes may not have changed things the way you expected.
The reset may have changed your power plan or Lenovo performance mode. Check Lenovo Vantage and Windows power settings, especially whether the laptop is set to Performance mode while plugged in. That mode can raise CPU and GPU power limits and make the fans react too late. Also compare the BIOS and chipset versions from before and after the reset if possible.
That seems possible because the problem started immediately after resetting. I’ll compare the Lenovo performance modes and reinstall the power-management drivers rather than only the chipset package.
A 50-watt limit may not help because the processor’s normal boost and platform limits can behave differently from the setting you changed. Check actual package power, clock speeds, and temperatures with HWiNFO while testing. If the fans are not ramping up properly, reinstall Lenovo’s hotkey or power-management software and check the BIOS fan behavior. If everything is configured correctly, undervolting or a modest CPU power limit may be the remaining options, assuming the BIOS allows them.
Repasting won’t solve a power-profile problem if the heatsink is mounted correctly. It’s worth checking whether the CPU fan speed increases under load and whether the GPU is also consuming power, since shared cooling can make the CPU spike.
I understand that plugged-in temperatures should be higher, but this became dramatically worse only after the reset. Before that, the same laptop and charger were usable without immediately hitting the thermal limit.