Re: Pc Fan is Revving While Gaming After Updating to Windows Pro Version 1909

I posted this in hopes that other simmers who have experienced this may have already found an answer to this issue. And this has something to do with The Sims 4 since that is the only thing on my PC that is effected by this update.

Here is more information…

When I purchased this PC about 3 years ago, it had Windows 10 Pro version 1803. When the next version was available, I updated and then tried to play The Sims. That was the first time my PC had ever had problems with the fan revving and getting real hot while playing. I did some research and saw that others TS4 simmers were having the exact same issue after updating Windows 10. So, I reverted to the 1803 version and the fan revving and overheating stopped. All this time I have played just fine. Zero problems. I postponed updating Windows hoping that the situation would eventually resolve.

Anyway, I recently found out that support was ending or had ended for the 1803 version, so I updated to the current version which is 1909. I went into my game and almost immediately the fan started revving and the overheating started. I again scoured the internet to see if others were having the same issue, but this time, to no avail. About a week and a half later, I decided to just go back to the 1803 version, but then found out that Microsoft only gives you 10 days to revert to an earlier version. So, now I’m stuck...a huge expense for a PC, money that I’ve put into The Sims 4, and a game that is now unplayable.

I am very OCD about my PC, so….

Dell Support Assist runs at every start up to check for drivers and downloads, scan my hardware, etc.

Windows checks for and applies updates daily.

I check these websites daily for updates to drivers, etc.:

Intel

Dell

Nvidia

I run these weekly:

CCleaner

SuperAntiSpyware

Malwarebytes

Microsoft Safety Scanner

AVG Internet Security (I have a paid subscription). It is also silenced during gaming.

Defraggler

I check for software updates weekly.

I clean my PC fan, etc. twice a year. So, I have a well maintained PC.

If anyone has had this experience with a Windows 10 update I would love to know what was causing it and what you did to correct it. Thanks in advance.

@thealienqueen 

As already mentioned this is not related to the game. I recommend you try a support forum for your brand of PC or a more generic Windows support forum.

I am in contact with other forums. That was where I went first, and I am in the process of trying their many suggestions. Hopefully, I can find a simmer who has experienced this when they updated, and they have already found an answer. I would like to know why it has effected TS4 and nothing else on my PC. Have a good day!

@thealienqueen  If you want to see whether your PC is actually overheating, or it's just that the fans are working harder than normal, you could do some hardware monitoring.  Among the many available apps, hwinfo (free download) is the one I usually ask people to use because I have a log reader that makes its data easy to track.  But it also reports readings in real time, if you want to see what happens when you launch Sims 4.  Let me know if you'd like me to look over an hwinfo log.

Among all the other steps you've taken to maintain your PC, have you ever updated the BIOS?  While it's often not strictly necessary, it can still help with some issues.

To answer your implicit question, no, I haven't experienced the same thing, on Windows 10 build 1809 or 1903.  But I also run hwinfo while playing, and I'd have noticed if any data was suddenly significantly different.

Microsoft support gave me this link entitled "After 1903 update: CPU spikes and noisy fan" at https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/after-1903-update-cpu-spikes-and-noisy-fan/8afbfc81-becc-4adb-8cc3-efa0cfef2fb2. There are a lot of suggestions to try and I'll be going through them one by one. I have also put hardware monitoring on this list. Thanks for the advice and offer of help.

To answer your question about updating BIOS. Yes, I actually check Dell's website daily to see if there are any updates. After I updated to Windows version 1909 I checked again and updated to the current version for my machine.

By the way, I've seen a lot written about very high fps in the Sims and the bad effect they can have on your computer. I have attached my data according to Razer Cortex for TS4 and TS3. Can someone tell me if this is too high and what I can do about it if so? Also, it seems my fps is dropping to zero at times. What would cause this? Thanks.

@thealienqueen  Wow, yes, that fps is too high for Sims 4 and even more so for Sims 3.  And incidentally, if that's what you mean by an fps drop in Sims 3, even the minimum is higher than it should be, and higher than most people get while playing.  Excessively high framerates could certainly account for high temperatures and loud fans, as well as damage your graphics card in the long run.

In general, your in-game framerates should never go above the refresh rate of your monitor.  To find out what that is, right-click on your desktop, select Display settings, then Advanced display settings.  Clicking "Display Adapter Properties, then "List All Modes," will give you a list of all resolutions and refresh rates supported by your monitor.

If you play in fullscreen mode, the easiest way to limit fps is through the built-in Nvidia Control Panel's profile for each game.  Right-click on the desktop and select Nvidia Control Panel, then Manage 3D settings, then the Program Settings tab.

Choose the relevant game .exe (green box): TS4_x64.exe for Sims 4, and TS3.exe (Origin install) or TS3W.exe (disc or Steam install) for Sims 3.  If you don't see the game listed, click Add to the right.  Scroll down to Vertical sync and set it to On or Adaptive, and turn TriplebBuffering on (red box).

If you have a new enough GPU driver, as in from February 2020 or later, you can instead set a global fps limit in the Control Panel.  This works in windowed mode as well, unlike the vsync setting.

Click Max Frame Rate (red box), set it to On, enter your preferred limit, and click OK to apply the change.

You can see your in-game fps in real time in Sims 3 or Sims 4 by bringing up the cheat console (crtl-shift-C) and entering "fps on" without quotes.  A number will appear in the upper right corner for Sims 3, or the lower left corner for Sims 4.  ("fps off" makes it go away.)  If the Control Panel settings aren't properly limiting the framerates, there are other tools you can use instead.  Let me know if you need one.

Just finished working (4) 12-hour shifts in a row. Today, I am going to start working on the long list of things to do that were given to me by Microsoft. I will check the messages here tomorrow and continue trying to find a solution. Thanks!