Arch Linux

KyleDaCow

Member

Registered: 2025-04-24

Posts: 13

i5‑10300H not hitting turbo frequencies under load on Arch Linux

Hi, I’m running Arch Linux (Linux 6.16.3-zen1-1-zen) on a Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3 (i5‑10300H, GTX 1650 Mobile) and noticed my CPU isn’t hitting boost frequencies under load. I’m trying to see if the CPU can hit full turbo under sustained load.

Governor: performance
Driver: intel_pstate active
Hyper-Threading: on
Turbo Boost: assumed always on (BIOS doesn’t have a toggle)
Temps during stress: 50–95°C depending on load (mousepad blocks airflow)
Current frequencies under stress-ng / OCCT: 2.2–2.5GHz (all cores), expected max 4.2–4.5GHz
Thermal paste: OEM, thin (~0.5mm)
Note: this behavior happens even under load at ~50°C, so it doesn’t seem to be caused solely by thermal throttling.

I want to know:
Is it normal on Arch/Linux for Turbo Boost not to engage fully on all cores under load?
Could the OEM paste / airflow be limiting boost?
How can I safely test max turbo without damaging the laptop?

i7z Output:
  TURBO ENABLED on 4 Cores, Hyper Threading ON
  Max Frequency without considering Turbo 2595.84 MHz (99.84 x [26])
  Max TURBO Multiplier (if Enabled) with 1/2/3/4 Cores is  45x/44x/43x/42x
  Real Current Frequency 2480.05 MHz [99.84 x 24.84] (Max of below)
        Core [core-id]  :Actual Freq (Mult.)      C0%   Halt(C1)%  C3 %   C6 %   C7 %  Temp
        Core 1 [0]:       2404.87 (24.09x)      1.52    6.93       0       0    91.6    46
        Core 2 [1]:       2480.05 (24.84x)      7.92    4.06       0       0    88.1    45
        Core 3 [2]:       2397.92 (24.02x)      2.55    5.75       0       0    91.8    46
        Core 4 [3]:       2418.36 (24.22x)      1.29    5.61       0       0    93.1    46

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,999

Website

Re: i5‑10300H not hitting turbo frequencies under load on Arch Linux

Can you reach the maximum frequency if you disable SMP? Or perhaps try appending maxcpus=1 as a kernel command line parameter.

Most laptops can't sustain maximum frequency across all cores, at least in my experience (I am not an expert though).

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Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

topcat01

Member

Registered: 2019-09-17

Posts: 258

Re: i5‑10300H not hitting turbo frequencies under load on Arch Linux

Can you hit turbo frequency with only one core loaded? Just a single yes > /dev/null should work.