High CPU Temps

[the_overmind_86]

I want to post this info here specifically. I posted this on another person's post but not in the bug reporting.

CPU: Ryzen 9 7900X3D (using Peerless Assassin Heatsink)
RAM: 64GB (2x32GB in dual channel)
GPU: Nvidia RTX 3080Ti (12GB)
Dual Monitor setup, primary is running at 1440p and secondary is at 1080p.

I just started playing this again due to the 1.0 release and noticed the high CPU temps. I thought it was strange that the temps were that high but didn't pay much attention initially since simulations can be CPU intensive anyway. I loaded up Core Temp to see what it was hovering at and yeah, much like others were saying it was sitting around 75ish degrees with a peak of 80. I thought it was still warm, especially with a new town and its starting compliment of villagers but eh, video games.

Then I alt-tabbed out and watched the CPU drop to 52-53 degrees. At first I was thinking that made sense as when a game is not in focus it will typically prioritize resources to other areas of my computer until I alt-tab back. BUT, this is where it starts to make no sense. When I keep the game running (no pausing) and alt-tab out and then use the mouse to still navigate around the map (no clicking on anything just using edge scrolling to watch the villagers go about their business) and watch as I maintain a solid 60FPS with the game running in the background and keep a 54 degree temp, that's when I knew something was up. I even reversed this and paused the game while it was in focus and it would still run the 70+ degree temp even with nothing being simulated (no villagers moving) and as soon as alt-tab out, it would drop to 52-53 degrees again. Something is going on with the CPU cycles while the game is in focus. Hopefully this gains some traction so they can review this but whatever is happening it feels like a bug to me.

Can anyone else use this methodology and come up with the same behavior?

Thank you for reading!

[J. Lee]

Im having the exact same problem. Did you find a solution?

[the_overmind_86]

Unfortunately I have not, but I don't see much of a way of changing it myself. I feel like this is something that needs to be addressed by the devs. I'm holding off on playing this game because running my CPU at such high temps doesn't appeal to me, especially since most heavy games don't push past 60C. I know they are updating the game like crazy so here's hoping one of those patches fix this issue.

[Prophecy]

So I decided to test this on my 10700k with a fairly large city size. My cpu stays under 70C, fluctuating between 45-70C depending on what's happening and is at around 10-15% usage. This is at 3x game speed as well.

Granted I use a custom loop, so that could be why.

Have you tried undervolting? Either that or your cooling solution isn't enough. What is cpu usage at?

[the_overmind_86]

Thank you for the replies! I'm drawing about 50 watts of power for the CPU, Core 2 is at about 32% utilization, the entire CPU is at about 9% utilization and gave me about 75C on temps at the time of this testing. The trick here is that when the game is out of focus (alt tabbed but still rendering and simulating the game, my CPU drops to levels I would expect (~50-60C). This was also at 3x speed but a new colony.

[Prophecy]

I don't think it's a bug that the game uses less resources when alt tabbed.

Do you have any other simulation type games to test on? I still lean towards a cooling solution problem.

[the_overmind_86]

It may not be the game but it just seems too hot for what's being displayed. I loaded up a medium sized City Skylines map (44k citizens) on the fastest time scale, It was using 63 watts, 2 cores were using almost 60% and overall CPU utilization was at 22%. That peaked at 72C and mostly ran at 69C. Given the size of the city and time I put into making it as big as it is, I would expect this temp but not starting out. Here's my CPU cooler.

https://www.newegg.com/p/13C-000Y-000J3?Item=9SIBVHXK8D7532&_gl=1*17kx583*_gcl_au*MjU5MTc3NjI1LjE3Mzc1Njk2NjY.*_ga*MTgyODU2ODEwNy4xNTgzOTI4ODA5*_ga_TR46GG8HLR*MTczOTIxMjEwMy40NS4xLjE3MzkyMTIxMTEuMC4wLjE0MTU0Nzk2Nzk.

It could be just two games working very differently from one another, I just don't see how a new Foundation city with 15 people path-finding can reach near exceed the temp that City Skylines mid-game with hundreds of vehicles path-finding does. Thank you for the replies!