Surface Book 2 throttles excessively, often down to 0.4 GHz

Question

I've recently purchased a 15" Surface Book 2.

When compiling large projects in Visual Studio 2017, I find that the processor often throttles excessively, often down to 0.4 GHz. As a result, compilation takes several times longer than it does on my 5 year old MacBook Pro. 

The Core Temp app shows that the CPU at this point is at 50-55 degrees Celcius or so.

The following question touched upon this problem, but the proposed solution did not work for me:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows\_10-performance-winpc/cpu-clock-speed-sometimes-capped-at-04ghz/315d06ac-a40a-41f8-8314-b370f8b51618

Any ideas on how to fix this?

Thanks.

T

Answer 1

Same problem here.

The SB2 worked fine until recently. I don't know it's the temperature (I bought SB2 in winter and there's no throttle problem encountered by that time) or updates, they said there is battery drain problem because of the poor power supply. Maybe they lowered the frequency in order to solve this.

Setting to Best Performace didn't fix the throttle at all.

Here is a test chart by XTU, it's tested under Best Performace setting, room temperature 30℃.

The valley of the frequency curve is 0.4GHz.

Core temperature never goes beyond 65℃. Actually, if the throttle was caused by heat protection, it's too conservative. Other laptops trigger its' heat protection at 80-90℃ normally.

Answer 2

Hi T,

Newer devices have an adjustable power mode to allow you to balance your preference between best battery life and best performance. To view this setting, select the battery icon on the task bar. If your device supports it, move the Power Mode slider to either the Better performance or Best performance setting.

You may check the this article for tips on how to improve your device performance in Windows 10.

Here are few things that you can also try:

Run the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit. The toolkit runs through a series of tests to diagnose your Surface device. The diagnosis and repair time averages 15 minutes or less, but can take an hour or longer. This will also download the latest updates for your device. Please click here for more information about the toolkit.

Run the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool to determine whether your Surface memory is working properly.

1. Select the search box in the taskbar, enter memory, and from the search results, select Windows Memory Diagnostic.
2. Select Restart now and check for problems (recommended).

When your Surface restarts, the diagnostic tool will run and display the test status on the screen. Although the test may appear inactive, it’s still running. Windows will restart automatically after the test is complete.

Run the Error Checking tool to scan for errors on your hard drive.

1. Open File Explorer in the taskbar and select This PC.
2. Press and hold (or right-click) Windows (C:) and select Properties.
3. Select the Tools tab, and under Error checking, select Check.

Let us know if you need further assistance.

Answer 3

Thanks for the reply,

I tried troubleshooting & safe mode today. There's no problem found by troubleshooting. And unluckily, I can not run any benchmark or heavy load programs on safe mode.

So I do not have any conclusion what the CPU behaves during heavy load on safe mode.

But I noticed 3 details you might take as clues:

1. The throttling issue only happens during the daytime (30-35℃), which is 5 or more Celsius degrees higher than the nighttime(25-28℃). So I think there might be a threshold at 30℃.
2. During throttling, if you change Power Mode (just change it, from Highest to Lowest or from Lowest to Highest doesn't matter), the throttling issue will be gone for a very short period, like 10-20 seconds.
3. Put an ice bag behind the screen, where CPU is will stop throttling.

I believe this is an overheat protection. And I still believe it's too conservative. The engineers might think a comfortable touchscreen cannot go beyond 60℃. However, sometimes I don't use the touchscreen and prefer better performance. You know, an option could go beyond Best Performance mode without a 3rd party overclocking software.

Answer 4

I got exactly the same problem with you. Even the 0.4 Ghz

Before I moved into a room with no air conditioner 2 weeks ago, the throttle wouldn't happen.

And the temperature of my new house always stays at about 30 ℃ (or higher)

And I noticed that while charging, the temperature is higher, and the throttle will more likely happen.

Answer 5

Hi William,

Throttling issues can be caused by several factors. Have you done any troubleshooting steps? You might want to boot the Surface in safe mode with networking, check if the issue persists. Click this link for steps on how to start your Surface in safe mode.

Let us know how it goes.

Regards.