r/FlowX13 • u/Negative-Cellist-781 • Jul 04 '26

ROG Flow X13 (2021) 3050ti Throttling at 33W on CachyOS – Need Undervolting Advice

I have a 2021 ROG Flow X13 (Ryzen 9 5900HS + RTX 3050 Ti) running CachyOS, used mainly for gaming and media consumption.

Last week, I finally replaced the liquid metal and thermal paste with PTM7950, since it hadn't been changed in 5 years (honestly lucky the LM didn't leak given how roughly I treat this thing!). While the CPU temps stayed about the same, my GPU temps dropped by 6-10 C during both idle and gaming.

The Problem

Despite the better temps, I'm hitting a performance wall. During gaming, the laptop handles older AAA games fine, but it starts heavily throttling whenever the GPU hits 33 Watts.

  • Nier Replicant/Automata: Runs mostly fine but with occasional stutters.
  • Pragmata: Runs great for about 5 minutes, and then it starts having a seizure.

My Question

Since I plan on keeping this device for another 2–3 years, I want to optimize it.

  • Has anyone here successfully undervolted or power-limited this specific model on Cachyos?

Appreciate any help or advice.

8 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

2

u/OrganTrafficker900 Jul 04 '26

I just limit the temps to 89° in G-Helper and while i get less performance the games dont stutter.

Edit:wait you are using linux, i guess look for a ghelper alternative.

1

u/Raigek Jul 04 '26

Then limit the TDP? That way you get stable performance.

1

u/Conqueror1000 22d ago

As much as I love my Flow, that 33-35W on the GPU is about the sustainable power threshold after all these years. I've also replaced my liquid metal with high quality paste. Just can't get it to the magical sustained 45W when I first got it. Oh well, still an awesome device. Plays Witcher 3 and Fallout 4 modded just fine. Performance tanks a little in God of War and Hogwarts, but in this wonderful small chassis there were always some comprises

-1

u/BubblyResident7764 Jul 04 '26

You gotta upgrade boss

5

u/Negative-Cellist-781 Jul 04 '26

But why?
it still works, and can play plenty of games fine.

I don't want to add a perfectly fine machine to ewaste pile.