CPU limited to 30W and frequency drops as soon as CPU is loaded

System:
Kernel: 6.17.8-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 15.2.1
clocksource: tsc avail: acpi_pm
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
root=UUID=a89700c4-2a54-4cfa-990c-148a307d12bf rw rootflags=subvol=@
vt.default_red=30,243,166,249,137,245,148,186,88,243,166,249,137,245,148,166
vt.default_grn=30,139,227,226,180,194,226,194,91,139,227,226,180,194,226,173
vt.default_blu=46,168,161,175,250,231,213,222,112,168,161,175,250,231,213,200
quiet loglevel=3
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.5.3 tk: Qt v: N/A wm: kwin_wayland dm: SDDM
Distro: Garuda base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 83F3 v: Legion Pro 5 16IAX10
serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 10 v: Legion Pro 5 16IAX10 serial: <filter>
Mobo: LENOVO model: LNVNB161216 v: SDK0T76485 WIN serial: <filter>
part-nu: LENOVO_MT_83F3_BU_idea_FM_Legion Pro 5 16IAX10
uuid: e080fcff-b758-4dc9-8997-a82bdd36c0fc UEFI: LENOVO v: Q6CN26WW
date: 05/01/2025
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 66.9 Wh (80%) condition: 83.6/80 Wh (104.5%) volts: 16.82
min: 15.52 model: SMP L24M4PC0 type: Li-poly serial: <filter> charging:
status: not charging type: long_life avail: long_life,standard cycles: 3
CPU:
Info: model: Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX socket: U3E1 bits: 64 type: MCP
arch: Arrow Lake level: v3 note: check built: 2024+ process: Intel 20a (2nm)
family: 6 model-id: 0xC6 (198) stepping: 2 microcode: 0x11A
Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 11 cores: 20 smt: <unsupported>
cache: L1: 2 MiB desc: d-12x32 KiB, 8x48 KiB; i-20x64 KiB L2: 36 MiB
desc: 8x3 MiB, 3x4 MiB L3: 30 MiB desc: 1x30 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 4991 min/max: 800/5100:5300:4500 base/boost: 4059/5200
scaling: driver: intel_pstate governor: performance volts: 0.9 V
ext-clock: 100 MHz cores: 1: 4991 2: 4991 3: 4991 4: 4991 5: 4991 6: 4991
7: 4991 8: 4991 9: 4991 10: 4991 11: 4991 12: 4991 13: 4991 14: 4991
15: 4991 16: 4991 17: 4991 18: 4991 19: 4991 20: 4991 bogomips: 115200
Flags-basic: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3
Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel Arrow Lake-S [Intel Graphics] vendor: Lenovo driver: i915
v: kernel alternate: xe arch: Xe2-LPG process: TSMC n3 (3nm) built: 2025+
ports: active: eDP-2 empty: DP-2,DP-3 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:7d67
class-ID: 0300
Device-2: NVIDIA GB206M [GeForce RTX 5060 Max-Q / Mobile] vendor: Lenovo
driver: nvidia v: 580.105.08 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm
non-free: 550-580.xx+ status: current (as of 2025-08) arch: Lovelace
code: AD1xx process: TSMC n4 (5nm) built: 2022+ pcie: gen: 1
speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 8 link-max: gen: 5 speed: 32 GT/s lanes: 16 ports:
active: none empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1,eDP-1 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:2d59
class-ID: 0300
Device-3: Syntek Integrated Camera driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 3-11:6 chip-ID: 174f:11b5
class-ID: fe01 serial: <filter>
Display: unspecified server: X.Org v: 24.1.9 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.9
compositor: kwin_wayland driver: gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1600 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 677x423mm (26.65x16.65")
s-diag: 798mm (31.43")
Monitor-1: eDP-2 model: Samsung ATNA60HS01-0 built: 2024 res:
mode: 2560x1600 hz: 165 scale: 100% (1) dpi: 191 gamma: 1.2
size: 340x220mm (13.39x8.66") diag: 405mm (15.9") modes: 2560x1600
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris drv: nvidia platforms: device: 0
drv: nvidia device: 1 drv: iris device: 3 drv: swrast gbm: drv: iris
surfaceless: drv: nvidia x11: drv: iris inactive: wayland,device-2
API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 25.2.7-arch1.1
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel Graphics (ARL)
device-ID: 8086:7d67 memory: 30.05 GiB unified: yes
API: Vulkan v: 1.4.328 layers: 7 device: 0 type: integrated-gpu
name: Intel Graphics (ARL) driver: mesa intel v: 25.2.7-arch1.1
device-ID: 8086:7d67 surfaces: N/A device: 1 type: discrete-gpu
name: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Laptop GPU driver: nvidia v: 580.105.08
device-ID: 10de:2d59 surfaces: N/A device: 2 type: cpu name: llvmpipe
(LLVM 21.1.5 256 bits) driver: mesa llvmpipe v: 25.2.7-arch1.1 (LLVM
21.1.5) device-ID: 10005:0000 surfaces: N/A
Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: nvidia-smi wl: wayland-info
x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
Device-1: NVIDIA GB206 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
pcie: gen: 5 speed: 32 GT/s lanes: 8 link-max: lanes: 16 bus-ID: 02:00.1
chip-ID: 10de:22eb class-ID: 0403
Device-2: Intel vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
alternate: snd_sof_pci_intel_mtl bus-ID: 80:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:7f50
class-ID: 0401
API: ALSA v: k6.17.8-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api tools: N/A
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.4.9 status: n/a (root, process) with:
1: pipewire-pulse status: active 2: wireplumber status: active
3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Lenovo driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
port: 4000 bus-ID: 81:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp129s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Realtek RTL8922AE 802.11be PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: Lenovo driver: rtw89_8922ae v: kernel pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s
lanes: 1 port: 3000 bus-ID: 82:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8922 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp130s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Info: services: NetworkManager, smbd, sshd, systemd-timesyncd,
wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Realtek Bluetooth Radio driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 1.0
speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 3-14:7 chip-ID: 0bda:d922
class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.3
lmp-v: 12 status: discoverable: no pairing: no class-ID: 6c010c
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 953.87 GiB used: 158.95 GiB (16.7%)
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung
model: MZAL81T0HFLB-00BL2 size: 953.87 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter>
fw-rev: 4L1QKXF7 temp: 54.9 C scheme: GPT
SMART: yes health: PASSED on: 12d 1h cycles: 153
read-units: 23,630,688 [12.0 TB] written-units: 15,885,426 [8.13 TB]
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 340.01 GiB size: 340.01 GiB (100.00%)
used: 158.91 GiB (46.7%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5
maj-min: 259:5
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 260 MiB size: 256 MiB (98.46%)
used: 46.8 MiB (18.3%) fs: vfat block-size: 512 B dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
maj-min: 259:1
ID-3: /home raw-size: 340.01 GiB size: 340.01 GiB (100.00%)
used: 158.91 GiB (46.7%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5
maj-min: 259:5
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 340.01 GiB size: 340.01 GiB (100.00%)
used: 158.91 GiB (46.7%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5
maj-min: 259:5
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 340.01 GiB size: 340.01 GiB (100.00%)
used: 158.91 GiB (46.7%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5
maj-min: 259:5
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 30.77 GiB used: 1.43 GiB (4.6%)
priority: 100 comp: zstd avail: lzo-rle,lzo,lz4,lz4hc,deflate,842
dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 50.2 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
Memory: total: 32 GiB note: est. available: 30.77 GiB
used: 16.07 GiB (52.2%)
Processes: 439 Power: uptime: 4m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
suspend, test_resume image: 12.26 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,upowerd
Init: systemd v: 258 default: graphical tool: systemctl
Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1835 libs: 350 tools: octopi,paru Compilers:
clang: 21.1.6 gcc: 15.2.1 Shell: Bash (sudo) v: 5.3.3 running-in: konsole
inxi: 3.3.39
Garuda (2.11.1-1):
System install date:     2025-11-24
Garuda release:          251103
Last full system update: 2025-11-25
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut nvidia-utils nvidia-open-dkms garuda-hardware-profile-nvidia garuda-hardware-profile-standard
Windows dual boot:       Yes
Failed units:            cpupower-gui.service
--- System Health Check Report ---
26/26 checks run in 1.67 seconds ⌛
Powered by garuda-health 🦅

--- LOW ---
- Failed systemd services found: cpupower-gui.service

Hey all, i have this weird issue. Monitoring my CPU I see it’s not pushing past 30W while on windows it can easily reach 60-70W during heavy workloads. The result being as soon as I stress the CPU it refuses to cross 30W and frequency gets limited to less than 2Ghz and temperature being around 57C which is far from the throttle temperature.

Do note, Windows could sustain higher clocks and power draw.

Edit - Same thing on LTS and Linux kernel.

Hi ,

Did you checked that the Power-Managment Profile is on Performance?

Windows uses Intel’s proprietary Power Gadget / DPTF driver that unlocks the full OEM-configured PL1/PL2 (often 45–90 W PL2, 25–55 W PL1 sustained).

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Seems so.

thanks i didnt know where i can see this info on the output :wink:

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Hi, seems like it was the lenovo bios falling back to a very safe value when windows isnt the booted OS, resolved by setting the PL manually.

Ref https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=2274399#p2274399

# PL1 optimal
echo 55000000 | sudo tee /sys/devices/virtual/powercap/intel-rapl-mmio/intel-rapl-mmio:0/constraint_0_power_limit_uw

# PL2 optimal
echo 95000000 | sudo tee /sys/devices/virtual/powercap/intel-rapl-mmio/intel-rapl-mmio:0/constraint_1_power_limit_uw
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