damaged processor?

[Spoofer]

I recently purchased an alienware m15 r3 with a core i9-10980hk. I tested the processor using cinebench R20 and was getting 4300+ score. I noticed that my cpu was constantly hitting 100°C under stress. I read that dell uses some pretty cheap thermal compound and that repasting with a good one would help me improve temps. I repasted with thermal grizzly kryonaut which a lot of people recommended. After repasting I decided to run cinebench again to see what kind of temps I would get now and sure enough my temps would rarely reach 90°C. However I noticed that my score had gone down to 3800 ish. I opened the laptop again thinking I might have somehow damaged the cpu while repasting. I looked at the cpu and there doesn't seem to be any physical damage. I'm including a picture of it anyways. Now, while idling any given core will range from 0.8Ghz to 4.7Ghz which seems normal. However, as soon as I start the cinebench test, every core will drop below 3.5Ghz and eventually they all stay somewhere between 2.5Ghz and 3.3Ghz so long as the process is ongoing. As soon as the test ends the core speeds return to normal. There is no thermal throttling going on because the temps never go above 75°C while the test is running. My latest cinebench score was 2100 which is below an i7-7700K. In the image attached you will see a plot of the core speeds and you will notice exactly when the test starts because the speeds just drop and only go back up once the test ends. The same thing happens while running the stress test from dell support assist. I have gone through the bios and reset all settings to default and it did not do anything. I have no idea what is going on. I'm really hoping I didnt somehow damage the cpu because its soldered to the motherboard and cant really be replaced. Any help is appreciated.

[Esteban_D_Intel · Accepted solution]

Hello Spoofer,

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.  

After checking your post I understand that you are worried about the performance of your laptop after the repasting of the thermal paste.

As you know, when talking about Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) devices such as this laptop there are several things that we need to take in consideration. For example: The design of the device, expected performance and components integrity.

Because of that, I would strongly recommend checking directly with your laptop manufacturer to ensure top performance and check other components that may be causing this behavior.

And most important the processor condition.

To ensure that the processor is working as expected I would recommend using the following utilities:

1)   Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool                  

2)   Intel® Extreme Tuning Utility (Intel® XTU)   

The first utility will determine if the processor is working as expected after the tests performed.

The second tool will help to monitor the system. You can perform an stress test and check results.

Based on the pictures provided, seems that there is no physical damage in the unit. However, you may want to confirm that with DELL* for further recommendations and more information about the initial behavior of your device and if this is expected.

I hope this helps.

Esteban D.

Intel Technical Support Technician  

[Esteban_D_Intel]

Hello Spoofer,

I hope that the information provided was helpful and that you are able to resolve this after checking this situation with your laptop manufacturer.

If you need any additional information, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer being monitored  

Esteban D.  

Intel Technical Support Technician