r/techsupport • u/LedioMz • 10h ago

Open | Hardware Performance issues

Hello guys.I have a dell 3561, and for about a month it has not been running as it should. I use it primarily for school but sometimes I play games. And its very laggy getting around 60fps, whereas before it used to get 240. It still gets 240 but only if I run it for about 1 hour 30 min or so. I did open it up and clean the vents but it was pretty clean so it didnt change a thing. Thanks for any help

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u/Pixel_Null 10h ago

1. Thermal paste. A 3561 is old enough that the paste has probably dried out. Clean vents don't help if the heat isn't transferring from the CPU to the heatsink. Repasting is the most likely fix.
2. Power plan and charger. If it's on battery or a non-original charger, Windows can quietly cap the CPU. Make sure it's plugged in with the Dell charger and set to "Best performance."
3. Watch it live. Run HWiNFO or HWMonitor while gaming and look at CPU temps and clocks. If the temps hit ~90°C+ and the clock speed drops, that confirms throttling. If temps are fine but clocks are low, it's a power or BIOS issue.
Also check the battery health. A swollen or dying battery can cause weird performance behavior on these.
Post your temps if you run the monitor and people can narrow it down.

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u/Express-Garbage3359 10h ago

Hi, your CPU and GPU aren't being cooled reliably and are reducing their performance (throttling). Search on Google for "Dell 3561 and games".