CPU Throttling In Windows XP

So my fan on my laptop started making a horrific racket (possibly because my laptop has been on nearly half of its existence) so I found a way to clock the CPU down so the fan wouldn't need to be on. Here are the commands I used.

Performance Script:

powercfg /CHANGE PowerConfigName /processor-throttle-ac ADAPTIVE

powercfg /CHANGE PowerConfigName /processor-throttle-dc ADAPTIVE

CPU Low Throttle Script:

powercfg /CHANGE PowerConfigName /processor-throttle-ac CONSTANT

powercfg /CHANGE PowerConfigName /processor-throttle-dc CONSTANT

Replace PowerConfigName from the name of the active power configuration. To find this, Click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Power Options. The active power setting will be in a drop-down menu. Copy this into the command and include quotes if there are slashes or spaces involved. For example, if your power configuration is Presentation then /CHANGE Presentation, however, if it were Max Battery or Portable/Laptop, you will need to put it in quotes; /CHANGE "Portable/Laptop" or /CHANGE "Max Battery".

This saved my sanity as when my laptop was working on a BOINC job, it would constantly toggle the fan on and off to keep the processor cool. This only works on Windows XP (possibly prior versions as well) and I am trying to figure out how to do this on my Vista machine to save power.

13 Feb03:16

Brilliant

By Victor McManus (not verified)

I've been hunting the net for a throttle program- and didn't even need one! I followed your advice and used the powercfg command-line program and used powercfg /CHANGE profile-name /processor-throttle-ac DEGRADE and now my laptop (which has a dying fan) doesn't heat up like it used to. Thank you for posting this!! You lifted a bunch of stress from my life!!

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