I tried to "upgrade" my thermal setup using PTM7950 and Arctic TP-3 to make it run cooler, but I’ve ended up making it slower. Before I touched it, the laptop held a steady 3.9GHz boost. Now, it bounces around 3.5GHz and hits constant EDP/Current Throttling in XTU. HP does not seem to mention the official pad sizes anywhere.
Setup:
Before: Running hot, but hitting full 3.9GHz (60W) clocks. Stock pads were very squishy and sticky.
Now: Fluctuating clocks, EDP OTHER flags in ThrottleStop.
Attempt 1 & 2 (Putty): Used Jarapad Extreme, see second photo. Hard throttled to <2GHz. (Photo is second attempt with more putty, likely used way too much volume for this second attempt).
Attempt 3 (Arctic TP-3): 1.0mm and 0.5mm. When installing it seemd too thin on some components, throttling was better but still not as before.
Attempt 4 (Stacked TP-3): 1.0mm and 1.5mm (stacked), see first photo. Best result so far (3GHz+), but still won't lock at 3.9GHz.
Question:
What can I try to get it back to factory performance now and is the problem most likely one or more of the thermal padded components or something else?