The issue: In CPU intensive games windows straight-up refuses to use more than 35W for the CPU even tho within seperate applications and stress test scenarios it doesn't mind even using 75W for CPU. This result is not on my unit alone and based some searching even the Notebookcheck review model had the same issue but they didn't notice it cause their testing uses witcher 3 with high settings which makes it mostly GPU bound. However you can clearly see at the bottom of the review page in the CPU power use under witcher 3 stress test results that their unit was also limited to 35W only.
Why it matters: It results in horrible frametime issues if I want to play a game with higher FPS rather than higher quality.
Methods I've tested: All Tests were done with almost default settings of the Turbo power plan in Armory Crate. mux switch was forcibly turned off and the display was directly connected to the dGPU.
1- Using G-helper to force higher TDP didn't do anything in games but it was being applied according to tests with kombuster CPU burner.
2- Tried installing Ryzen master which didn't even work cause the CPU is unsupported.
3- Did a clean install of Windows. I was using Windows 10 pro's latest build 1 month ago but thought maybe doing a clean install and switching to Windows 11 would fix it. It did not however fix it.
4- Tried to give higher priority to applications through Task manager. also didn't work.
5- Looked at other threads with similar issues and their solutions didn't work for my case.
5.1 turn windows priority over to background apps instead of programs. Didn't work.
5.2 uninstalling a colaborative work application was recommended in LTT forum however I didn't even have it installed.
5.3 Tested many variations of Nvidia Control Panel settings and they had no effect.
5.4 Turned Hyper-V, Core Isolation, Secure boot, and Fast boot off.
5.5 Tried windows Game mode on vs off. and it also didn't work.
6- I also noticed in some games turning G-sync On resulted in the games getting frame capped to 143. The cap would stop when I tabbed out of the game but as soon as the game window was focused it would go back to 143. and simply turning it off had no effect in getting rid of the 143 fps cap and a reboot was required and afterwards it went back to "Normal".
7- Initially I thought it was a dynamic boost issue where the GPU was drawing way more power and not leaving enough for the CPU to use but that I realized that wasn't the case after using Kombustor's stress tests at the same time for both CPU and GPU.
Link to Notebookcheck review model only difference is my model has the RTX 4060: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-TUF-Gaming-A15-laptop-review-A-budget-gamer-with-an-RTX-4050-and-...
Screenshots were taken from CS2 with lowest setting at 1080p admitedly running at borderless however no performance difference was noticed probably due to optimized flip models from DX11 being forcibly turned on by windows.
Cinebench R15 result: 2330.
Windows 11pro 23H2. build: 22631.3296 Bios version 312.
Laptop: Asus Tuf A15 2013 model FA507NV.
Specs: Ryzen 7735hs, RTX 4060 8GB, 16GB DDR5 dual channel 4800mhz memory, 1TB nvme SSD.
Rest of the driver versions are provided in the screenshots but everything is the latest provided in Asus's website.
Driver versions: https://preview.redd.it/games-refusing-to-use-cpu-properly-v0-77vfiuqtf7rc1.png?width=1604&format=pn...
CS2: https://preview.redd.it/games-refusing-to-use-cpu-properly-v0-st4rvtqtf7rc1.png?width=1920&format=pn...
ROR2: https://preview.redd.it/games-refusing-to-use-cpu-properly-v0-w37b4srtf7rc1.png?width=1920&format=pn...
WF: https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fgames-refusing-to-use-cpu-properly-...
CPU + GPU stress : https://preview.redd.it/games-refusing-to-use-cpu-properly-v0-lxsdttqtf7rc1.png?width=622&format=png...
