Low frame rate (15pfs) - RTX 4050 GPU Locked at Low Frequency on HP Spectre x360

[kremazaroke]

I am experiencing a critical performance issue on my HP Spectre x360 (BIOS F.13, 20/03/2025) (Win11) with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU. All games and GPU-intensive applications are running at extremely low frame rates (~10–15 FPS), and the GPU clock is stuck at approximately 210 MHz while usage is at 100% and temperature is only ~45 °C.  (game settings are set on lowest options)

I have attempted extensive troubleshooting, including:

• Uninstalling the NVIDIA App and all auto-tuning profiles

• Disabling and re-enabling the Intel GPU (diagnostic)

• Resetting Windows power plans to defaults

• Switching Windows power mode to “Best Performance”

• Performing multiple EC / hard resets (holding the power button 40+ seconds)

• Updating Windows and HP drivers

• Use HP PC Hardware Diagnostics to run the tests

Despite these steps, the GPU remains capped, and the laptop is unplayable for any graphics-intensive tasks.

Please help!

[Jerry_57]

Hi @kremazaroke,

Welcome to the HP Support Community.
 

Thank you for posting your query. I will be glad to help you.

I'm here to help with issues related to HP products and their performance. Based on your situation with the HP Spectre x360 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050, experiencing low frame rates, here are some troubleshooting steps you can consider:

 

Troubleshooting Steps:

Update Drivers: Ensure that all of your drivers are up to date. This includes the GPU driver from NVIDIA and any system drivers available from HP Support Assistant or Windows Update. Having the latest drivers can alleviate many performance issues.

Power Settings: Check your laptop's power settings to make sure it's optimized for performance. Navigate to Windows Settings -> System -> Power & sleep -> Additional power settings, and select the High Performance plan if available.

Performance Profile: Use the OMEN Gaming Hub if available on your device to set the performance mode to prioritise performance over other metrics like energy saving.

Thermal Management: Ensure that your laptop’s ventilation is unobstructed and clean. Thermal throttling can occur even at lower temperatures if airflow is blocked.

Background Applications: Close any unnecessary background processes or applications that might be consuming CPU/GPU resources.

Check for Throttling: Investigate whether any system protection features are causing the GPU to throttle unexpectedly at lower temperatures. If there is thermal management software provided by HP (e.g., CoolSense or OMEN Gaming Hub), check the settings there.

Reinstall Graphics Drivers: Uninstall the current NVIDIA driver and perform a clean installation of the latest driver available for your GPU model.

Windows Updates: Ensure that your Windows OS is updated to the latest version, as sometimes OS updates include performance patches.

Run Diagnostics: Use HP PC Hardware Diagnostics to run a comprehensive test on your GPU and check for any hardware issues.
 

Battery Status: Make sure your battery is charged above 90%, as certain power modes utilise battery power to boost performance.


I hope this helps.

Take care and have an amazing day!
 

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Jerry_57

HP Support

[kremazaroke]

Hello Jerry, and thank you for your reply. I tried all of your suggestions, and the problem persists.

[Jerry_57]

Hi @kremazaroke,

Thank you for sharing the details.

May I know if you are getting any error messages?

Regards
Jerry_57
HP Support