Ways to lower CPU temp?

[Poke]

So I recently built a new computer to play Cyberpunk on my PC at a playable framerate (I got all four endings at 15-30 FPS on low settings using a Sandevistan build. Somehow.) and, of course, I wanted to see what the new computer can do. It's great! Ray-Tracing at a playable framerate! Except... Well... Read the title.

My CPU temps reach upwards of 90 degrees on RT Ultra, and even after doing as much as I can (Vsync 60 FPS, turning off Ray Tracing, Crowd Density Low, Low Cascaded Shadows, even turning my processor to 90% maximum efficiency) I still border on 80 degrees on this customized version of High, the game regularly crashes any time I try to record footage, and even when I'm not, it still crashes! Is there any way I can lower CPU temps even further that doesn't involve shelling out more money on installing a new CPU cooler?

Here are my specs:
OS: Windows 11 Home
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X
RAM: 32GB DDR5
Storage used: NVME SSD

Settings:
Same as Preset High except with the following:
AMD FidelityFX: Ultra Performance
Cascaded Shadows Distance: Low
Cascaded Shadows Resolution: Low
VSync: 60 FPS
Resolution: 1920x1080

[Zebedee]

Your CPU is intended to run hot all the way up to 95 C. Could try using Ryzen Master's curve optimiser maybe?

Just random source on temps: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/10/amd-ryzen-7-7700x-review-performance-thats-great-but-a-price-that-isnt/4/

[Titan Awaken]

Undervolting is by far the most effective method to reduce temps but you have to know what you're doing or else you'll run into BSODs (among other stability issues).

Other than that you can limit your framerate.

[Gamefever]

Hmm,

I'm not familiar with AMD, but some things stay the same.

My Spec's,
Mobo, EVGA z690 Kingpin
CPU, i9 12900k
CPU Cooler, ASUS ROG Ryjinn II 360 AIO
RAM, 2x16 Gskill Trident DDR5 6400
GPU. MSI RTX 4090 Liquid X Suprim
Storage, Samsung 980 Pro 2TB (NVME gen 3)
PSU, EVGA 1300 Watt Gold
Case, Hyat y60

Alright so my case the y60 is a fishbowl that has potential to be quite hot if not properly set up with fans or AIO radiators, or Liquid cooling.
I went with AIO rads on both my graphics card and my CPU, this has kept my CPU and GPU at great temps....The y60 can do fans but its not even suggested for this case.
So why bring up my Case at all?
Because the case is the first thing to overcome with temperatures, and I brought up my parts to show just how crazy I got with the heat production parts in this case, even the Motherboard itself being an OC board can produce loads of it.
Also I show I came packing for plenty of power, managed to squeeze a large PSU in there!

So I took care of it by doing the following,
First thought of the case, then thought of the CPU and GPU.
The CPU is handled by a 360 radiator AIO expensive one sure but there are $60 versions that do it just as good!
The next major issue I had to overcome was what GPU to pick for this case, I answered that with getting a GPU that has built in AIO!
Although I could have gotten another GPU, sure but at minimum I needed a rad or liquid cooling to keep it cool, sure its possible to do a fan based GPU but these get super hot if the case is closed.

Next thing to consider is long term issues that are expected.
I have to consider that the 12/13th generation CPU from intel gets bent over time due to heat....So on the side I have a Thermal Grizzley CPU bracket just for the purpose of the next time I have some extra time off work, can just swap the CPU bracket out to correct bending and thus provide better CPU cooling for that 12900K.

I intend to order also some high quality CPU thermal paste. I think I will get some "Kingpin" brand paste. So when I swap my bracket its going to get repasted with paste that is used in overclocking competitions because it has a way better thermal transfer than the generic stuff that came on my cooler.

So what temps is the 12900k expected to run at when at its hottest?
About 95-105C

What temps does my CPU run at in Cyberpunk 2077?
About 58C.

Big difference in my actual, because I handled it on the hardware side rather than use just any old thing, spent time on which cooler and everything thought it through.
____________________________________________________

So in your shoes,

Think about the case, and the case fans.
Think about the CPU Cooler you use
Think about the quality of thermal paste on the CPU that makes contact with said cooler.

Your trying to answer this software side first but the reality is that hardware side is going to give way better results.


EDIT,
Super important, especially on pre-build.

Check your Mobo manufacturer website and forum, your looking to make sure your on the best BIOS for the mobo. Can often have direct impact on how hot the CPU runs in any software.

[Axis28]

I think you probably need better CPU cooling or case fans. There are plenty of Youtube videos showing how to do this. The Ryzen 7000 series are also known for running pretty hot. There are also good videos on Youtube showing how to undervolt your CPU which can actually boost performance since the CPU isn't as hot. I did this with my Ryzen 5800X and it's great.

[Zebedee]

Thing with newer Ryzen chips is this:

When it comes to cooling, Zen 4 CPUs give the impression that they're difficult to cool by delivering as much performance as possible by taking full advantage of the thermal and power headroom. AMD says with the new AM5 platform and higher TDP, Zen 4 processors will run into a thermal wall before they hit a power wall. This means under heavy load they'll sit at TJMax which is about 95 degrees Celsius for the Ryzen 7000 series, and this will be particularly true for the 12 and 16-core models.

AMD has stressed that this behavior is by design and it's important to note TJMax is the maximum safe operating temperature – not the absolute maximum temperature. AMD went on to say that 95C is not running hot, rather Zen 4 will intentionally go to this temperature under load because the power management system knows that this is the ideal way to squeeze the most performance out of the chip without damaging it. The processors are designed to run at TJMax 24/7 without risk of damage or deterioration they added.

https://www.techspot.com/review/2537-amd-ryzen-7700x/

[Red Star, Blood Moon]

Originally posted by Zebedee:

Your CPU is intended to run hot all the way up to 95 C. Could try using Ryzen Master's curve optimiser maybe?

Just random source on temps: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/10/amd-ryzen-7-7700x-review-performance-thats-great-but-a-price-that-isnt/4/

Ryzen is well known master of the undervoltmostly because AMD overvolts tf out of their chips so the first thing I would indeed do is to set an undervolt in Ryzen master. My 3700x runs toasty and its boost behaivor at 1.4v leads it to actually performing worse because it throttles so much, so I lower vcore and get 5-10C lower temps and better fps. This is the only chip I've ever had that performance is actually decreased by not lowering the voltage. Srsly, undervolting AMD Ryzen is like OCing anything else.

Also what AMD says is "fine" not necessarily is "good." Like my Radeon GPU supposedly is "fine" hitting up to 110c but I do what I can to avoid that, even though it's normal for me hitting 95C to 104C junction temps which is just crazy. How not "fine" is that you may ask? Well I'm convinced that half the instability problems of the 5700XT post-launch was due to it having really bad fan curves with massively overvolted GPUs leading to frequent instability and crashing for some users out of the box. I personally had that the first couple days I had this that would crash blackscreen and restart when benchmarking Ashes of the Singularity, but at the same time I made it all go away when turning freesync off. Despite that, it seemed to help the most setting custom profiles with a hefty undervolt and big fan curves, although to this day if the wattman software crashes and resets to default for some reason my game may crash, it's fairly infrequent, but it does happen when it switches to default settings because it overheats at 1200mv. So even if it's technically "fine" up to 110c at junction doesn't mean it's a good thing, doesn't make it safe for your hardware, and frankly I'm thankful to God I get lucky that it didn't fry itself because I came back from work one day with serious artifacting crazy colours and static rather than display, I check and find out when I went to work and left it mining at some point the software crashed and reset and as a result my GPU overheated itself while mining. Somehow it still works but I was concerned obv, only time that it happened but I stopped leaving it mining while I was gone all day.

It's not just that though it's also the way Ryzen behaves, really high temps cripple performance. It thermal throttles and so that's partly why undervolt works so well, because those high spikes causes it to throttle so if you can keep voltage and temps down enough it will more stably run at better clocks. I have no earthly idea why the update would cause previously fine CPU usage to overheat your chip though.

[CloudSeeker]

The operating CPU temp for the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is 27 c when idle, and Peak is 94 C.
That is how hot it is actually supposed to be. It is not overheating or extremely hot. Fast CPU's and GPU's are just hot because the physical laws we are required to follow demand it.
If you want small and powerful microprocessors you will have heat. It is just normal.

[Cherepashka]

AMD magic

[Psyringe]

Originally posted by Poke:

Is there any way I can lower CPU temps even further that doesn't involve shelling out more money on installing a new CPU cooler?

As far as I can see, you haven't told us which cooler and which case you are using. That would be important information to assess the situation. If you're (for example) using a cheap cooler and a case that isn't optimized for cooling, then your CPU _will_ run that hot under full load - and the only way to change that, would be to either undervolt it (which may ore may not work), or reduce its performance (e.g. by putting it in eco mode).

As others have said, temperatures of up to 94°C are withing the spec for the 7700X. However, if it reaches that temperature under the conditions you have specified, then that indicates that either something is not working correctly, or your PC was not built with a sustainable cooling solution for a full CPU load scenario.

For comparison: I have a 7700X too. Before I bought it, I read up on its specs, and I realized that if I wanted to aircool it (which I did, I don't want liquids in my PC), then I'd have to choose a good cooler and a case with excellent airflow. So I bought a Noctua NH-D15 and a Fractal Torrent case. With a relatively mild fan curve, I see 50°C at mild loads, up to 80°C on gaming-related heavy loads, and up to 91°C if I run a CPU stress test. I could definitely make it even cooler with a more aggressive fan curve if I wanted to, but I'm happy with the temperatures and noise levels I currently have.

[Poke]

Originally posted by Psyringe:

Originally posted by Poke:

Is there any way I can lower CPU temps even further that doesn't involve shelling out more money on installing a new CPU cooler?

As far as I can see, you haven't told us which cooler and which case you are using. That would be important information to assess the situation. If you're (for example) using a cheap cooler and a case that isn't optimized for cooling, then your CPU _will_ run that hot under full load - and the only way to change that, would be to either undervolt it (which may ore may not work), or reduce its performance (e.g. by putting it in eco mode).

As others have said, temperatures of up to 94°C are withing the spec for the 7700X. However, if it reaches that temperature under the conditions you have specified, then that indicates that either something is not working correctly, or your PC was not built with a sustainable cooling solution for a full CPU load scenario.

For comparison: I have a 7700X too. Before I bought it, I read up on its specs, and I realized that if I wanted to aircool it (which I did, I don't want liquids in my PC), then I'd have to choose a good cooler and a case with excellent airflow. So I bought a Noctua NH-D15 and a Fractal Torrent case. With a relatively mild fan curve, I see 50°C at mild loads, up to 80°C on gaming-related heavy loads, and up to 91°C if I run a CPU stress test. I could definitely make it even cooler with a more aggressive fan curve if I wanted to, but I'm happy with the temperatures and noise levels I currently have.

My case is a GAMDIAS Argus M1, and my cooler is a Thermalright Assassin X120 Refined SE. The temperatures reach 80-83 degrees while playing the game, so thankfully if what the comments are saying is to be believed, then I'm actually a bit below thermal throttle.

That being said, however, the game still regularly flatlines and I genuinely have no idea how to fix it if temperatures aren't the problem. As I said, I've done next to everything I could to increase stability and lower the pressure on my CPU, though if I have to lower my FPS to 30... shudders then I guess I'd have to go with that?

[envirovore]

Aside from what's already been said about the 7000 series behavior, going back to how to cool it without swapping to AiO, as state run the Ryzen master Curve optimizer on it (per core) and let it set the values it comes up with, or reduce them by one step.

Reboot windows, load up Ryzen master with nothing else running, let it do it's curve analysis, set it when done, reboot a couple times, check that curve is set.

Should be fine with what it sets, if anything it'll cause issues during light system usage (web surfing, file exploring). If it does bring the values one step closer to zero (it'll have you set negative values).

[Gamefever]

Something that slipped my mind earlier that might help out a lot!

Figure out what your Motherboard is,
So if its ASUS or whatever go over to their website,
You are looking for your model of motherboard and from there you want to find the latest "BIOS" <----Promise you that if you have not done this you may find that the latest Bios will have been optimized and that should mean in some cases better thermal temperatures.

After that should explore undervolting the CPU.


"Thermalright Assassin X120 Refined SE"
That is well a bare bones 20 dollar cooler there.
Really basic, there are quite a few better ones even in that brands line.
Might want to look around for a better cooling tower if you want to stick with air cooler.
Check out Bquiet, CoolerMaster, or Corsair for some real name brands that offer nice stuff.

Might want to really think about a 80 dollar cooler, or

Go for a 120, 240, or 360 RAD AIO,
From the spec of your case,
The clearance is able to support VGA cards lengths up to 380mm and spacious mounting points for a 360/240/120mm radiator on the top or front.

Got some NXT's, ASUS, there are also some real cheap AIO's that people swear by up an down just cant remember all the names of the brands, but ya you can pick up one for about 60+ bucks and these should last 5+ years easy.

IF you go that route, consider getting some KPX paste by Kingpin with a cleaning kit about ~25 bucks for some really well some of the best thermal paste before you get into really stupid territory like uh liquid metals.
IF you want another good paste there is Thermal Grizzley paste.

[DIO | TM™]

I had a quick look at the GAMDIAS Argus M1, cool case but that front tempered glass panel is eating your temp dude, you have little or nothing airflow. Usually with a case like that liquid cooling is the way to go.

I know nothing about the Thermalright Assassin X120 Refined SE, check thermal compound/heatsink contact, re-paste and do some test.
I dont know your airflow setup, but you can even swap two top fans as intake - one back fan as exausth and re-do some test.
If you see no improvement at all, you can get one of the best bang for buck aircooler right now, the DeepCool AK620.

Your configuration should play CP above 60 fps at 1440p Ultra - FSR Ultraquality - noRT, it's a shame you are cracking down your graphics settings. Fix your temp, it's the best thing you can do over time.

[Poke]

Originally posted by Gamefever:

Something that slipped my mind earlier that might help out a lot!

Figure out what your Motherboard is,
So if its ASUS or whatever go over to their website,
You are looking for your model of motherboard and from there you want to find the latest "BIOS" <----Promise you that if you have not done this you may find that the latest Bios will have been optimized and that should mean in some cases better thermal temperatures.

After that should explore undervolting the CPU.


"Thermalright Assassin X120 Refined SE"
That is well a bare bones 20 dollar cooler there.
Really basic, there are quite a few better ones even in that brands line.
Might want to look around for a better cooling tower if you want to stick with air cooler.
Check out Bquiet, CoolerMaster, or Corsair for some real name brands that offer nice stuff.

Might want to really think about a 80 dollar cooler, or

Go for a 120, 240, or 360 RAD AIO,

Got some NXT's, ASUS,
There are also some real good off brands

IF you go that route, consider getting some KPX paste by Kingpin with a cleaning kit about ~25 bucks for some really well some of the best thermal paste before you get into really stupid territory like uh liquid metals.
IF you want another good paste there is Thermal Grizzley paste.

Originally posted by DIO | TM™:

I had a quick look at the GAMDIAS Argus M1, cool case but that front tempered glass panel is eating your temp dude, you have little or nothing airflow. Usually with a case like that liquid cooling is the way to go.
I know nothing about the Thermalright Assassin X120 Refined SE, check thermal compound/heatsink contact, re-paste and do some test. If you see no improvement at all, you can swap with one of the best bang for buck aircooler right now, the DeepCool AK620.
Your configuration should play CP above 60 fps at 1440p Ultra - FSR Ultraquality - noRT.

If I could put both of your posts as answers, I would, so I'm leaving it at this. Thanks for the help, I'll bite the bullet and look into water cooling. Hopefully that'll solve my thermal woes and also keep Cyberpunk stable enough so I can play it for extended periods of time!

[בתאניה]

Originally posted by Poke:

So I recently built a new computer to play Cyberpunk on my PC at a playable framerate (I got all four endings at 15-30 FPS on low settings using a Sandevistan build. Somehow.) and, of course, I wanted to see what the new computer can do. It's great! Ray-Tracing at a playable framerate! Except... Well... Read the title.

My CPU temps reach upwards of 90 degrees on RT Ultra, and even after doing as much as I can (Vsync 60 FPS, turning off Ray Tracing, Crowd Density Low, Low Cascaded Shadows, even turning my processor to 90% maximum efficiency) I still border on 80 degrees on this customized version of High, the game regularly crashes any time I try to record footage, and even when I'm not, it still crashes! Is there any way I can lower CPU temps even further that doesn't involve shelling out more money on installing a new CPU cooler?

Here are my specs:
OS: Windows 11 Home
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X
RAM: 32GB DDR5
Storage used: NVME SSD

Settings:
Same as Preset High except with the following:
AMD FidelityFX: Ultra Performance
Cascaded Shadows Distance: Low
Cascaded Shadows Resolution: Low
VSync: 60 FPS
Resolution: 1920x1080

It's a 7700X, those run hot anyway and supposed to hit 95C, but if your worried about it, go into your bios and put a wattage cap on it. That should drop the temps.