FPS drop when plugged in and charging

[UserinDistress]

Hello,

I have received the new HP Pavilion 15 ck-038TX a few days ago. Since then, while gaming, the FPS drops to 20+ (from ~100 in CSGO and ~60 in Diablo 3) whenever I am charging this laptop. Problem still persists when battery is removed and laptop is only being powered by AC adapter. When unplugged and powered by battery, FPS in games stays constant at around 100 and 60 respectively.

This also happens when I run a GPU benchmark. The power supplied to the CPU suddenly drops from ~15W to ~3W for a few seconds then returns to 15W. CPU clock speed dropped to 399Mhz minimum.

When running a CPU benchmark, this does not happen at all. CPU utilization stays at 100% all the time.

I have tested CPU and GPU temps, and none of them are hitting above 75 degrees so i doubt it could be caused by thermal throttling or overheating. 

All drivers and BIOS are updated. I have checked the power options, and it still happens when both power settings for on battery and charging are the same.

I have a 19.5V, 3.33A, 65W power adapter 

CPU: i7-8550U

GPU: MX150

Could it be possible that the AC adapter is providing insufficient power for both CPU and GPU to run at the same time? (I have checked the power required at the back of the laptop, it is similar to that of the adapter at 65W)

I have already received a replacement 65W adapter from HP, but this issue still occurs.

After contacting tech support, a lady on the phone told me that laptops' performance decrease when charging, and recommends me to use the laptop on battery for better performance? What??

After doing some searching on Google, there seems to be a few similar individual cases being brought up on various forums. Some of them were solved via a BIOS update, a few commented that it could be a problem with the AC adapter.

I have no idea how the BIOS work, but seeing that this model has a relatively new CPU and GPU, and probably a new motherboard too, could it be possible that there are some problems with this BIOS version and HP has yet to update it?

Thank you very much!

[berbelurb]

I have no solution, but I'd like to add my experiences with the problem.

I have an Pavilion 15-ck005no, which is also based on the mx150 and i7-8550U. I have the exact same problem as you describe. And I have tried all the same things as you have (except removing battery, mine is internal). During the last few days I have tried all tricks I could find on Google with no success.

It is really sad because I feel like I haven't got what I paid for. Yes, the computer works perfectly when it is unplugged, but it drains fast during heavy workloads.

I guess our biggest chance to get a solution is if HP decides to update the BIOS.

[A4Apollo]

Hey there! @berbelurb, Thank you for visiting the HP Forums! A great place where you can find solutions for your issues with help from the community!

I understand when you play games on your laptop running on battery the FPS on your laptop is low.

Don't worry I'll try to help you out.

Did you make any software or hardware changes on your PC?

Please provide the product number of your laptop to assist you better.

As you mentioned when you run the games on adapter it will be 200FPS but when you run your laptop on battery the games will run at 30 FPS.

Try updating the BIOS and graphics drivers on your PC and check if it helps.

You can update the drivers using HP support assistant.

Refer this article to know more information about using HP support assistant.

Refer this article to know more information about Improving Video Game Performance or FPS on your PC.

Also, try the steps recommended below.

Try going into NVIDIA Control panel > Manage 3D Settings > Global Settings > Power Management > Prefer Max Performance. Then Apply, and then try running your game on battery.
 
Battery Performance: Set on High Performance.

* Advanced Battery Performance: Edited to use a minimal of 60% of the CPU.

If the solution provided worked for you, please mark accepted solution for this post.

Let me know how it goes!

Have a great day! 🙂

Please click "Accept as Solution" if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
    
Click the "Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say "Thanks" for helping!

[berbelurb]

@MrRobot is this a standardised answer or are you a bot? Because it seems you haven't read what we have said.

Firstly, the problem is the other way around. We get good performance running on battery only, but bad performance while the charger is connected.

Secondly, you suggest solutions which we have already tried, non successfully. And we have provided product numbers.

Also, no hardware changes and no major software changes has been made.

Best regards

[A4Apollo]

@berbelurb, Thanks for your quick response and time.

I appriciate your efforts for writing back to us.

As you mentioned the FPS drops when you connect the charger to your laptop.

To solve the issue you might have to use a bigger adapter than the original adapter shipped with your PC.

Please contact HP support and get a replacement adapter.

Link to contact HP.

Have a great day ahead!

Take Care! 🙂

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

[UserinDistress]

Hi @berbelurb and @MrRobot,

I have already contacted HP support and raised my concerns. I'm glad to hear that the senior team is looking into this case already.

I will leave this post hanging here for a while and see how it goes. 

Let's just cross our fingers and hope for the best.

[A4Apollo]

@UserinDistress, Thanks for your quick response and time.

I appriciate your efforts for writing back to us.

As you mentioned you have contacted support and they are looking into the issue.

If you have any concerns with any HP products you can always write back to us. We will try our best to help you out.

Have a great day ahead!

Take Care! 🙂

[Paulo4]

Hello,

Have you found aby solutions?

[UserinDistress]

No, not at all.

[UserinDistress]

I assume you are encountering the same problem? HP ought to look into this..