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XPS 9550 and 9560: Throttling CPU under sustained 100% CPU and GPU loads

Summary: This article explains why the XPS 9550 and 9560 Mobile Workstations will throttle the CPU's output when the CPU and GPU usage sits at 100% as per it's design.

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Article Content


Symptoms


The following article explains why the XPS 9550 and 9560 notebooks will throttle the CPU's output when the CPU (Central Processing Unit) and GPU (Graphical Processing Unit) usage sits at 100%.


Table of Contents:

  1. CPU throttling under 100% CPU and GPU load
  2. Why is this happening?

 

CPU throttling under 100% CPU and GPU load

 

You may have seen that the XPS 9550 and 9560 Notebooks throttle the CPU, when both the CPU and onboard GPU sit at 100% load for a sustained period.

This is NOT an issue with the systems hardware or software. This is the system working as designed.

SLN307122_en_US__1icon Note: Please be aware this article also applies to the Precision 5510 and 5520 Mobile Workstations. These systems share design features and components with the XPS 9550 and 9560 Mobile systems and behave in the same manner.
 


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Why is this happening?

 

The XPS 9550 and 9560 are the latest, thinnest and lightest notebooks Dell currently supports with the latest technology available.

Due to how thin and powerful these systems are, the design combines the CPU and onboard GPU cooler into one unit. If both the CPU and the GPU hit 100% load and sit there for sustained periods of time, while still capable of handling heavy CPU and GPU computations the system will throttle the CPU in order to ensure the system does not overheat.

If you require something that can sit with sustained heavy CPU and GPU loads, then you may want to look at a more specialised workstation from our Precision range.


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Article Properties


Affected Product

Precision 5520, Precision 5510, XPS 15 9550, XPS 15 9560

Last Published Date

21 Feb 2021

Version

3

Article Type

Solution