Alienware M16 R1 massive performance drop and core clock speed drops while gaming

Hello,

I am writing to report an ongoing and extremely frustrating performance issue with my Alienware m16 R1 AMD laptop. Despite being marketed as a high-performance gaming system, the laptop consistently fails to deliver acceptable gaming performance. Based on my observations, the issue appears to be caused by the STAPM limit being aggressively enforced.

Below are the key symptoms I am experiencing:

1. Severe CPU Power Throttling
During gaming or other demanding workloads, CPU power consumption frequently drops to approximately 35W, resulting in a significant and immediate performance loss.

2. Drastic Clock Speed Reduction
After roughly 10 minutes of gameplay, once the STAPM limit reaches 100%, CPU clock speeds collapse to around 800 MHz and do not recover. This occurs even when CPU temperatures remain within reasonable limits (approximately 80°C).

3. Poor Gaming Performance
Games that should run smoothly on this hardware suffer from noticeable frame drops, stuttering, and overall degraded performance, even when graphical settings are lowered.

4. BIOS Version Concerns
The system is currently running BIOS version 1.21. I have noticed that Dell has removed BIOS versions 1.13, 1.14, and 1.15 from the support website without any explanation. This is concerning, as I installed version 1.15 shortly after its release and am now unsure whether it contains a critical flaw.

5. No Effective Resolution Available
I have attempted all standard troubleshooting steps, including updating the BIOS, drivers, and firmware, but the issue persists. This strongly suggests the problem is related to the system’s design or power configuration, specifically the enabled STAPM limit.

Given the severity of the performance impact, I am requesting clarification on whether this behavior is intended, and if not, whether a BIOS update or configuration change is planned to address it. As it stands, the laptop does not perform at the level expected of a premium gaming system.