How to lower cpu temp?

[mickcheck]

I have constantly 85C on my cpu while playing BG3 in Act 1. I'm afraid what will happen when I'll get into a big city. I've already lowered some graphic settings, DLSS is off, but it didn't help much. Is there any graphic settings I can lower/turn off to take off some cpu usage? My specs are: Rtx2060 super, i5-9400F, 16GB ram.

[Vizual]

Originally posted by mickcheck:

Originally posted by Fortigan:

Need a bit more information to diagnose.

1. Game settings? Resolution, frame rate cap, etc.
2. Is your CPU overclocked? Some systems (especially pre-built) will come with overclocking already set up.
3. Thermal paste type? Did you put it on yourself?
4. What cooling unit is used for the CPU? Cooling tower or Radiator? How many fans on it?
5. What is your case fan arrangement? How many fans blowing air in and now many blowing air out. Where is each one located (ex, 3 intake on front, 2 exhaust on top and 1 in back)?
6. Have you adjusted advanced power settings in windows?

A quick and dirty solution to reduce temps till you find the source of the problem is:
Control panel>
Power Options>
Change Plan Settings>
Change Advanced Power Settings>
Processor Power Management>
Maximum Processor State 99%

That will prevent your processor from maxing out or overclocking. It's a method more commonly used in gaming laptops as they tend to run very hot and don't have many heat solutions available. But your CPU indicates you are using a desktop and there are a lot of heat solutions for that.

1. Well I can't check now my graphic settings now. I have for sure 60 fps cap, 1080 resolution, DLLs off I don't remember the others, I was setting them by myself and most of them are medium/high.
2.As far as I know my CPU isn't over locked.
3. I have this PC for 4 years and I was changing my thermal paste myself 2 years ago, it was my first time and I followed some guides but I'm not sure if I did it well. I don't remember exactly what was this paste, I only know that it was Grizzly.
4. I have stock cooler so only radiator and one fan, nothing more.
5. I didn't adjust advanced power settings.

I have desktop. Maybe I should clear my cooler and change thermal paste, and I will do it for sure in near future but idk if that's the case, cause I don't have such temps in the other games with heavy graphics like Total War: Warhammer etc. So I thought there is some graphics setting in BG3 that causes such CPU temp.

It's odd to me that you're not spiking in other games that are processor heavy such as Warhammer.

This game, for me actually runs cooler than some other games I play and I have all my graphics settings maxed and no cap on FPS.

That said, it's never a bad idea to clean your PC and toss on some new thermal paste.

Also when you say you have 1 fan.... do you mean 1 fan total or 1 fan just on your CPU? If you have 1 fan total that's crazy, I would at least get an intake and exhaust fan for the case.

[mickcheck]

1 fan in stock cooler on my CPU and 1 exhaust fan

[Fortigan]

Originally posted by mickcheck:

1 fan in stock cooler on my CPU and 1 exhaust fan

It's possible that you might not have total coverage with the current paste and this is resulting in an unusual hotspot on your CPU.

Part of your response did confuse me though, as a "stock cooler" and a "radiator" are not the same thing. "radiator" implies water cooling where a pump cycles water between a thermal plate on your CPU and a radiator with fans on it. So there would be 2 obvious hoses for water connected to your CPU. If you don't have water cooling, I would advise at least getting a cheap cooling tower with 2 fans on it.

Case fans don't matter much for CPU cooling if it's water cooled, but cooler air in the case does matter for keeping the motherboard, ram, and video card cool. I would advise at least 2 intake fans and 2 exhaust fans. The easiest way to know if a fan is intake or exhaust is that the air always blows towards the spokes that connect the center of the fan to its outer wall.
If you are going to have an uneven number of fans blowing air in and out of the case, you want more blowing air in (as that will create a positive pressure in the case and reduce dust accumulation). such as 3 intake and 2 exhaust.

Overall it sounds like you need more fans regardless. Having only one case fan and 1 CPU fan is a recipe for overheat.

[Bosshog]

someone already answered this thread correctly. Limit your FPS. This game will give you all the frames you want, but your CPU will burn hotter than the surface of the sun.

I run at around 50-55 at full load in most other games (using Noctua D15's). Uncapped this game hits 95 in no time. Capping the fps and the temps have stayed around 60.

[mickcheck]

Originally posted by Bosshog:

someone already answered this thread correctly. Limit your FPS. This game will give you all the frames you want, but your CPU will burn hotter than the surface of the sun.

I run at around 50-55 at full load in most other games (using Noctua D15's). Uncapped this game hits 95 in no time. Capping the fps and the temps have stayed around 60.

I have 60 FPS cap.

[Bosshog]

Originally posted by mickcheck:

Originally posted by Bosshog:

someone already answered this thread correctly. Limit your FPS. This game will give you all the frames you want, but your CPU will burn hotter than the surface of the sun.

I run at around 50-55 at full load in most other games (using Noctua D15's). Uncapped this game hits 95 in no time. Capping the fps and the temps have stayed around 60.

I have 60 FPS cap.

Apologies, I assumed you had adequate case cooling, re-reading the thread I see you do not.

[mickcheck]

Originally posted by Fortigan:

Originally posted by mickcheck:

1 fan in stock cooler on my CPU and 1 exhaust fan

It's possible that you might not have total coverage with the current paste and this is resulting in an unusual hotspot on your CPU.

Part of your response did confuse me though, as a "stock cooler" and a "radiator" are not the same thing. "radiator" implies water cooling where a pump cycles water between a thermal plate on your CPU and a radiator with fans on it. So there would be 2 obvious hoses for water connected to your CPU. If you don't have water cooling, I would advise at least getting a cheap cooling tower with 2 fans on it.

Case fans don't matter much for CPU cooling if it's water cooled, but cooler air in the case does matter for keeping the motherboard, ram, and video card cool. I would advise at least 2 intake fans and 2 exhaust fans. The easiest way to know if a fan is intake or exhaust is that the air always blows towards the spokes that connect the center of the fan to its outer wall.
If you are going to have an uneven number of fans blowing air in and out of the case, you want more blowing air in (as that will create a positive pressure in the case and reduce dust accumulation). such as 3 intake and 2 exhaust.

Overall it sounds like you need more fans regardless. Having only one case fan and 1 CPU fan is a recipe for overheat.

Okay thank you so much. I see I need to upgrade my cooling

[phlegmo]

Originally posted by Bosshog:

someone already answered this thread correctly. Limit your FPS. This game will give you all the frames you want, but your CPU will burn hotter than the surface of the sun.

I run at around 50-55 at full load in most other games (using Noctua D15's). Uncapped this game hits 95 in no time. Capping the fps and the temps have stayed around 60.

That D15 is not mounted properly if you're hitting 95, it's one of the best air coolers around.

5800x (notorious for running hot) and Noctua (custom fans profile to be quiet) here and it stays in low 70s. Fps locked to 120 (I get the same temps with unlocked fps but gsync seems bugged on vulkan)

[Bosshog]

Originally posted by phlegmo:

Originally posted by Bosshog:

someone already answered this thread correctly. Limit your FPS. This game will give you all the frames you want, but your CPU will burn hotter than the surface of the sun.

I run at around 50-55 at full load in most other games (using Noctua D15's). Uncapped this game hits 95 in no time. Capping the fps and the temps have stayed around 60.

That D15 is not mounted properly if you're hitting 95, it's one of the best air coolers around.

5800x (notorious for running hot) and Noctua (custom fans profile to be quiet) here and it stays in low 70s. Fps locked to 120 (I get the same temps with unlocked fps but gsync seems bugged on vulkan)

I have 10 fans in my case, as well as the 2 D15's. its not a fan issue. I use the machine for video editing, and at full load it never goes above 60. This is the only game that instantly racks up to 95 a minute after loading it up. Capping it fixed it.

[Lashane The Simp of Mimi]

Limit FPS to 60 at max helps with most cooling unstable temps.

Something about those temps are unusually high. is your rig clean?

[Revener]

Throw away that garbage stock cooler and buy a new one.

[Keesasha]

Yeah, limiting the FPS is the way, it really helps.

[spidergoat]

Without knowing more about your PC.... here are a few thoughts: What are your temps when you are not running the game? What else is running on your CPU? You'd be surprised how little is actually needed to run Windows. There might be a million or so articles on the Google describing how to reduce CPU load. If that doesn't work then perhaps it's time to rethink the cooling setup in your rig. Is it a laptop?

[pinky]

You need to fix you cooler. There is no way your cpu is running on 85C*. I have built 8 PCs in my life with giga overclocking on everything and even with air cooler and power limits removed the max I got was 70C*. Remove your cooler, replace it's thermal paste and make sure to put the cooler back in a proper way. Do not be afraid to screw the cooler with a lot of force. Screws will tell you when you can't go any further. Also your CPU should have low temps because it's i5 intel. i5s are cold as my dead grandma. So it must be the cooler.

Do not overcomplicate things. Limiting cpu's power limits are not the proper way. You don't want to limit your 6 gear car to 4 gears only because your car is running hot. Change your radiator coolant ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

[mickcheck]

Thanks for help guys. I bought better air cooler for my pc, and two additional case fans, and put new thermal paste and now my temps doesnt go higher than 65C