ThinkPad x220 CPU Extremely Hot and Throttling After Connecting Two 1080p Monitors?

wslh

Estimable
May 15, 2015
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In the past I was using a x220 with a dockstation at work connected to two montors at 1280x1024 but when I moved to two 1080p monitors the notebook started to automatically scale down the CPU frequency. In the 720p configuration the docked notebook was also hot but not at the point of scaling down the CPU.

Do you know any reasons and solution for this situation? I was thinking on cleaning the notebook but I don't know if this can solve this specific issue.

This is the configuration of the notebook:
CPU: i7-2640M
GPU: Integrated Graphics Controller Intel 3000
Memory: 16gb

Thanks,
 
Solution
Unsure about the throttling, but I'm pretty sure the added heat is just a result of the extra resources being used to push out that resolution. My work laptop is similarly attached to a dock station, using two 1280x1024 screens and the laptop screen itself; this already gets rather warm depending on what I'm doing and it has a better CPU/GPU than your listed specs. Makes sense that if you throw larger resolution screens in there, it will use up more resources and put out more heat.
Unsure about the throttling, but I'm pretty sure the added heat is just a result of the extra resources being used to push out that resolution. My work laptop is similarly attached to a dock station, using two 1280x1024 screens and the laptop screen itself; this already gets rather warm depending on what I'm doing and it has a better CPU/GPU than your listed specs. Makes sense that if you throw larger resolution screens in there, it will use up more resources and put out more heat.
 
Solution