Maximum processor state?

Hi all,

I'm not a techie so please bear with me.

I just purchased a new laptop. HP with Windows 10 OS. AMD A6-9220 Dual-Core processor and 4 gig of ram. After it's initial setup and removing all the bloatware/crapware, most of the apps and disabling everything in the startup, I noticed that when the computer was not really doing much or much of anything, the fan was running a lot and on high, thus being noisy and annoying, and blowing out very warm air, with the corner area by the vents getting quite warm. At times the processor utilization was at or near 100% and at it's maximum burst (acceleration) speed of 2.9 ghz. Base clock speed is 2.5 ghz.

I checked some forums and on YouTube, and found one video in which the uploader talked about having a problem with his laptop's fan running almost constantly on high after he had updated from Windows 8.1 to 10.

He showed in the video that he seemingly had found a simple/quick solution. Go to Power Options, change Plan settings, change Advanced power settings, Processor power management, Maximum processor state ====>Change Plugged in setting default from 100% to 30%.

He said that immediately worked for him and the fan became barely audible and running normally. He mentioned he was not a gamer and didn't know if the change would affect gaming but for what he used his laptop for the change seemed to work fine.

Cut to the chase: I made the same adjustment and it worked as it did for him. I haven't noticed any real change in performance/speed, duly noting here that the laptop is a budget (entry level) model and isn't exactly zippy to begin with. I was wondering just exactly what minimum and maximum processor state means and what does lowering the maximum state to 30% actually do and is it in anyway harmful/deterimental or not, short-term or long-term?

Thanks in advance for any/all input.

The min/max processor state maps to some set of processor power states - frequency, voltage, C-states, etc. The exact behavior depends on the CPU, BIOS/UEFI configuration, and Windows power policies.

There's no harm in lowering the max to 30% aside from the performance impact. It's effectively underclocking the CPU, which is commonly done for thermal reasons.