By default the razer blade stealth 2017 ramps up its cooling fan during something as pedestrian as watching a YouTube video. I hate this and would happily trade some CPU and GPU power for a quieter / silent laptop.

Thankfully Linux has an excellent app called tlp that allows configuring all sorts of power-management settings related to your CPU and GPU (amongst other things). I also used the handy tlpui for a nice GUI frontend to configure the TLP app.

I use the following settings for BATTERY only so, if I do find myself needing the extra horsepower, I can just plug the laptop in and use it unthrottled. I may get tired of listening to fans while charging, but for now I cope.

These settings are specific to the Razer Blade Stealth 2017 and resulted in minimal to zero fan noise during my normal usage including YouTube streaming and Plex video playback. YMMV.

Update: I’ve tweaked my settings as I found TLP doesn’t reset some settings upon switching back to AC unless explicitly set. I’ve updated my latest settings below.

# In the Graphics settings
INTEL_GPU_MAX_FREQ_ON_AC 1000
INTEL_GPU_MAX_FREQ_ON_BAT 900
INTEL_GPU_BOOST_FREQ_ON_AC 1150
INTEL_GPU_BOOST_FREQ_ON_BAT 900

# In the Processor settings
CPU_SCALING_MAX_FREQ_ON_AC 4000000
CPU_SCALING_MAX_FREQ_ON_BAT 1100000

Remember to save your changes and reboot.