Arch Linux

Wilsonnn_

Member

Registered: 2026-05-25

Posts: 1

HP ZBook 8 G1i; power throttling on 65W charger, excessive fan noise

Hello,

I'm on Arch Linux (Omarchy) with kernel 7.0.3-arch1-2 on an HP ZBook 8 G1i (Core Ultra 9 285H, 64GB DDR5). I'm hitting two issues related to power management:

1. 65W USB-C charger causes severe throttling in Performance mode
Switching to the Performance power profile with a 65W charger makes the system nearly unusable, with very low FPS and sluggish response across the board. Balanced/Power Saver modes mostly fix it, but the responsiveness is not optimal and it still feels a bit sluggish . Swapping to a 100W charger resolves the Performance mode lag entirely, suggesting a power delivery ceiling enforced at the BIOS/firmware level.

2. Fans run at full speed constantly on 100W + Performance mode
Even during light workloads the fans never spin down. Maybe this is because Omarchy defaults to setting the performance CPU governor when on AC power, which causes unnecessary boosting.

My setup:
OS: Arch Linux (Omarchy)
Kernel: 7.0.3-arch1-2
BIOS: X70 Ver. 01.02.05
CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 285H (Arrow Lake-H)

I've read about thermald, auto-cpufreq, and tuning EPP via energy_performance_preference. Has anyone had success with similar hardware? Is there a recommended combination of tools for this class of Intel CPU on Arch?
Thanks

jonno2002

Member

Registered: 2016-11-21

Posts: 866

Re: HP ZBook 8 G1i; power throttling on 65W charger, excessive fan noise

the tech specs on hp website say 140w power supply, this is a new laptop, surely you have the correct power supply that came with it ?
that cpu says it requires 115w for max turbo power, sounds like your underpowering it, no wonder its not happy

dimich

Member

From: Kharkiv, Ukraine

Registered: 2009-11-03

Posts: 623

Re: HP ZBook 8 G1i; power throttling on 65W charger, excessive fan noise

1. 65W USB-C charger causes severe throttling in Performance mode

Spec for this CPU says Maximum Turbo Power - 115 W.

2. Fans run at full speed constantly on 100W + Performance mode

What is actual temperature of cores at that moment?