CPU temperature - what's too hot?
I just got a new gaming specific PC, an Acer Predator Orion 3000 with an Intel Core i7. While playing Sims 4 the CPU seems to heat up quite a lot, compared to other games. I've even clocked a whopp...
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Fps is usually between 120-160, but occasionally it has dropped to 20, which is probably the CPU overheating. I have then restarted the game and also cleaned the Tray folder for good measure, lol.
Most settings are set to high, except edge smoothing, which is low. I have full screen on with 1920x1080 resolution.
Since Origin gets turned off as soon as I start the game, there's really nothing else but to say it has to be Sims 4 itself now. It could be the latest patch, I suppose.
But to be honest, I'm beginning to wonder if increasing the speed is the issue, which is just going to make the game unplayable.
@belpita I still don't think Sims 4 should be coming close to overheating your processor. It might be that the CPU cooler isn't working as efficiently as it should. Do you have air or liquid cooling? How many case fans do you have, intake and outtake?
It would also be good to see a dxdiag on this computer.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/
If you want to leave the cooling alone for the moment, try limiting your in-game framerates. If you have a 60 or 75 Hz monitor and play in fullscreen, the vertical sync setting in the game's graphics options should be enough. Otherwise, you'd need to use another tool, for example the Nvidia Control Panel mentioned earlier. Fewer frames means less work for the CPU as well as the GPU, and that might bring temperatures back down enough to not be an issue.
I have a 144Hz capable monitor which is running on 60Hz refresh rate, so I don't think the frame rate should be a problem.
Cooling is by air and there are two fans, back and front.
Here is a Dxdiag while having Sims 4 open attached.
@belpita Your hardware is more than capable of handling Sims 4 on ultra settings at 144 fps, I'm not saying that the workload is stressful. But more frames per second means more work for the CPU and GPU, and manually limiting framerates will result in a lower total workload, which means less heat produced. Since your monitor is running at 60 Hz anyway, why not try manually capping fps at 60 and see whether it makes a difference?
Among the ways to do this are through the Nvidia Control Panel. I already mentioned the Max Frame Rate setting, but here's a screenshot:
Having said that, the cooling on this computer is clearly not sufficient. An i7-10700 should be able to handle much higher workloads than what Sims 4 is providing, and any computer that has one should accommodate that. Just in case it's that simple, please double-check that the fans aren't blocked and run properly when you're playing. But I think that two fans and an air cooler aren't really a good solution for such a powerful CPU.
The high-end Intel 10-series processors run hot for sure. One of the reasons I wanted to see a dxdiag was that I was hoping Acer would have a BIOS update waiting for you; some motherboard manufacturers have released updates that help the CPU run cooler. But Acer hasn't done so, as far as I can find, and you might be waiting a while.
If your case has room for more fans, that might be a useful investment. If not, you may want to reapply the thermal paste between the CPU and cooler. It's possible it wasn't applied correctly in the first place or that the fan is mounted a bit loose. Quality thermal paste costs $10 or less, and the isopropyl alcohol to remove the existing coat is even cheaper.
The bottom line is, you shouldn't be seeing these temperatures while playing.
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