How to Increase Processor Speed ​​on a Laptop

You are probably wondering what sense it would make to increase the speed of the processor in a laptop. And surely you have immediately thought about the issue of overclocking, but the truth is that there are other options that have to do with the frequency and use of the CPU, because precisely in laptops

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Precisely this option to increase speed has to do with power management, although if you have a laptop with an unlocked CPU, you can also overclock it eventually.

How does increasing the CPU frequency benefit us?

The processor is the main element of our computer, a chip that is capable of performing millions of operations every second thanks to its multiple cores and its internal elements.

A fundamental measurement in a CPU is frequency, which we generally simply call processor speed. And it makes sense to do it, since frequency measures the number of cycles or operations that a CPU can do in a second, that is, the number of changes that occur in this time. In electricity and electronics this is measured in Hertz (Hz), and its multiples. So a 3 GHz CPU is capable of performing 3 billion operations per second, and this only in one core, because we have several.

Well, you can understand that the more frequency or speed, the more operations per second, and consequently, the greater capacity our PC will have.

More power equals more heat

Currently we have processors that are true beasts, with frequencies that even reach 5 GHz in laptops, also having 8 cores. We must know that the more powerful a CPU, the more heating it will experience, this is evident and proven.

The heating occurs due to the high intensity of energy circulating through such a small chip, necessary to achieve these speeds. This on a desktop PC is well controlled, thanks to large heatsinks, including liquid cooling. But in a laptop it is a much more complicated subject, especially in those of a Max-Q or ultra slim design.

We have a much smaller, tighter heatsink with less capacity to carry heat out. To this is added the fact of having a second high-power chip next to it, yes, the GPU or graphics card. That is why a not too studied design of the heatsink, will be inefficient in very powerful equipment, resulting in brutal drops in heat performance.

Reasons why a low performance CPU on a laptop

All this serves to put into perspective the reason or reasons why a CPU lowers performance in a laptop, and mainly that is to say the heat, by the so-called Thermal Throttling. But there is also another reason and it is due to the energy profile used.

Thermal Throttling

We already know that current CPUs have two types of operating modes, the so-called stock or base where the CPU has a smaller frequency to save energy and heat, and boost mode, where this frequency gradually increases to the maximum if a lot of processing power is required.

Well, there is a mechanism that is automatically activated when a CPU undergoes maximum power to protect it from excessive heating and thus prevent physical damage to the internal structure, this is thermal throttling.

For practical purposes, what it does is obligatorily decrease the CPU frequency to distinguish the temperature, evidently lowering the voltage and intensity of the current that enters it. It is measured in percentage, and the higher the percentage of throttling, the greater the decrease in the frequency of work. That system is the order of the day in new generation gaming laptops, because they have powerful CPUs and GPUs that overflow the heatsinks. Brands go to great lengths, but colossal CPUs like the new i9 almost need a desktop heatsink to get the most out of it.

Energy profile

It sounds silly, but the power profile is the second reason that a laptop's CPU slows down. The explanation is simple, a laptop runs on battery power, and the best way for it to last is by harvesting the power of the CPU and other hardware elements of the computer. So there are saving profiles that configure the CPU to give a lower maximum power. Exactly the same does with the GPU, hard drives and other items.

Ways to Increase the Speed ​​of the Laptop Processor

Without further ado, let's look at ways to increase performance. And the truth is that there are basically two, through overclocking, if it is possible to do it with the CPU installed, and modifying the power profile. Also, there is a method to avoid Thermal Throttling of the CPU that we will also see.

Overclocking

The first method that exists is called overclocking, and basically it is a matter of manually raising the CPU frequency, and can even reach registers that exceed the maximum stipulated frequency.

The sad reality is that in a laptop this method is extremely limited due precisely to the heating that this produces. In addition, in itself, it will be an achievement if it reaches its maximum performance continuously, although at least we can set the parameters in the BIOS so that it is maintained at a certain frequency. There are also multiple applications that allow us to overclock this from the operating system itself.

The parameters to modify as it happens in the desktop PCs, are the multiplier, which increases the frequency, the voltage, and the LLC (Load Line Calibration) so that the BIOS manages in the best possible way this voltage that is delivered to the CPU.

Interesting applications for overclocking

• AMD OneDrive: This tool works directly with AMD CPUs, being able to automatically overclock when we want on our laptop. It is clear that we should use it with laptops that have a Ryzen CPU for example. In addition, it allows you to change the clock of the RAM memory and also adjust the speed of the fans. MSI Afterburner: surely one of the most used by the community, and that is that it not only works on MSI computers, but on any of them. It is a very complete software, it is also compatible with all types of unlocked CPUs and even Nvidia and AMD GPUs. It has a lot more functions, such as temperature monitoring and even an FPS monitor for games. EVGA Precision X1: This software is rather dedicated to overclocking graphics cards, both on laptops and desktops. An option widely used by us in GPU reviews.

Processors that allow to be overclocked

At this point, we must know that not all processors can be overclocked, that is, there are CPUs with multiplied locked or unlocked.

• Intel “K” range: Intel applies the “K” mark or character on the CPU model to inform us that it has the multiplier unlocked. Be careful, because all those that do not have the K in their model, do not allow this action. The latest models available are the Intel Core i9-9980HK and i9-8950HK, there are not many options available for laptops, yes for desktop. AMD Ryzen: AMD also has unlocked Ryzen processors for laptops, in its Ryzen 3, 5 and 7 range.

Eliminate Thermal Throttling

No Thermal Throttling

It is also possible to prevent this method of CPU control from appearing on laptops thanks to a program that comes from TechPowerUp for the Windows system called Throttlestop. This app also supports various overclocking and modifying profiles of modulation profiles of the clock and chipset.

We already have an article talking in depth about this program, so it would be best if you take a look at it.

Modify the energy profile

And finally we have the possibility of increasing the speed of the processor in a laptop by modifying the energy profile of our equipment.

So that we understand it, Windows, like other operating systems, implements a tool that allows us to efficiently manage the energy consumed in our equipment. It is responsible for managing, not directly the energy, but the capacity and speed of the different components, for example, activity of hard drives, display, RAM, GPU and also the processor.

Of course, it is not the same to have the laptop connected directly to the house current, than working only with the energy of the battery. That is why there are different energy profiles adapted to each situation. You can also easily check that your equipment does not perform as well connected to the current as using only the battery, the difference is abysmal, and this is due to the cut in processing capacity.

What we are going to do to access the profile is directly write in the start menu " Edit energy plan " and a window will appear showing the currently selected energy pan.

Directly from here we will be able to modify the selected plan itself, and if we take a step back and go to " Energy Options " we will be able to select a certain energy plan so that, based on it, we can modify it to our liking.

Well, what interests us are the options and parameters of the plan, so again in " Edit plan settings " we will click on " Change advanced power settings ". Here, we have a bunch of different parameters where we can modify the hardware power preferences. We are interested in the “ Processor Power Management ” section.

We have three parameters to modify, and the most important will be the last one, where we adjust how the maximum CPU performance will be. We must make sure that it is set to 100%, otherwise our CPU will be performance-packed.

In addition, we see that there are two different possibilities, and this is something that has been implemented in this new Windows update, since from a single power plan the power options with and without battery are considered.

Conclusion and recommendations about increasing laptop processor speed

Well these are the ways there are to increase the speed of the processor in a laptop, there are no more. It is a hardware that does not allow too much interaction by the user, although if we combine these options together with the management of the rest of the hardware, we are going to obtain interesting improvements and that we are going to notice.

As always, when it comes to thermal throttling and overclocking, it is better to be careful, since the former serves to protect the CPU from high temperatures, and this in a current laptop is essential for its integrity, and the latter is practically unfeasible in a laptop without good cooling. And this greatly reduces the options.

What we mean is that there are many other ways to extract a little more from our laptop and our operating system is optimized and not so much the hardware. Therefore, we leave you these articles:

So far our article on increasing CPU speed comes, if you have questions or if you know any other method besides those discussed, leave us a comment just below, so we can expand this article with your suggestions.