I just received and installed a new AMD 7840 motherboard in the Framework 13, but it seems to be running too hot. Many people here and on Reddit have mentioned that theirs runs almost silently, but that’s not the case for me—it’s significantly noisier than my old 11th-gen i7.
This isn’t due to high CPU load; my usage hovers around 15–20% on average. The issue appears to be with the VRMs (or what looks like them) located between the fan and the CPU, as they are much hotter than the CPU package. Additionally, if I blow on the area between the fan and the CPU, the fan speed rapidly decreases.
System details:
Power usage from the wall: 30–60W
Battery charge: 99%
CPU package temperature: ~75°C
OS: Windows 11 Pro 23H2
Drivers: Latest versions installed from the Framework website
I’ve attached thermal camera images (hotspot at 70°C) along with CPU utilization and temperature screenshots.
PS: I’ll also be opening a support ticket and linking it to this post, as it looks like I can’t attach images there.
I don’t think it does. Another thing I just noticed is that the system sometimes lags or freezes for a few seconds. I hadn’t mentioned it before because I initially thought my mouse was running low on battery, but it’s not just the mouse that freezes—the Task Manager CPU history graph also stops updating, so it is the whole system lag.
I have the same chip, and on linux while idling (typing this to you, with a twitch video playing the background), my CPU cores are around 40°. If you’re getting cpu package values of 70 while idle that does not sound right?
Yeah, it kind of is—I’ve had GPUs in the past that ran cooler than this. I’ll wait for a response from support, but replacing the thermal grease seems like a good first step. Maybe the board sat on a shelf for a few years, and the paste simply dried out.
Yeah, it looks like Framework decided to leave the VRMs without a heatsink for some reason.
As for the issue, I’m in contact with support, but for now, they’re gathering basic information from me, like software/hardware configurations and a description of the problem. I’ll post an update here once there’s any progress.
P.S. right now I am dealing with the issue by limiting CPU power by 20% (Power options->Change plan settings->Change advanced power settings->Processor power management->Max state->Plugged in: 80%)
Regarding your posted “power usage from the wall”, i’m guessing you’re running the default balanced power profile/plan under windows?
I’m running Linux and my (7840U,32GB,2TB) laptop idles at ~3.2W, (30fps, hw-accelerated, regardless of codec) video playback at ~5.1W, with package temps at ~40C and ~45C respective (haven’t measured VRMs). This is with AMDs p-state driver and the power-saver profile.
Now, i have noticed that when running the balanced power profile that the package easily consumes ~35W for short bursts (e.g. loading yt front page, etc.) while the system running the power-saver profile merely consumes 7-10W loading the same page, which ofcourse has the corresponding impact on temps.
Except 1-2W at the top end, i can’t even tell the (power) difference between balanced and performance profiles/plans.
Therefore (stress on the VRMs) i’m defaulting to the power-saver profile, except when i really need all the ressources and the fan is providing fair-enough airflow anyway.
