Has anyone else seen extremely high CPU temperatures in Helldivers 2?
Has anyone else seen extremely high CPU temperatures in Helldivers 2?
I've just begun playing Helldivers 2 and enjoying it a lot. I'm checking my CPU performance since I've noticed some lag when the game is intense. After roughly an hour of play, my CPU reaches extremely high average temperatures (see attached photo). This isn't something I've seen in any other titles—I only get similar spikes during rendering tasks. Are others experiencing these kinds of high CPU temps while gaming? [CPU: i9-13900k, Cooler: Noctua NH-D15] I know air cooling will raise temps, but I haven't reached this level before.
It's definitely surprising how much power that game consumes—usually it stays under 260W. I think the Noctua NH-D15 supports the 13900k, but I haven’t seen it run that high. I’m planning to upgrade soon and might add a contact frame later.
The 54C happened since I accessed HWInfo during gameplay. Idle temps are usually around 40-44°C depending on my room's temperature.
Have you explored undervolting? On our i9s the Intel chip provides significantly more power for the last few percentage points of performance. The same applies to R9 chips—much more energy just to outpace competitors by a few frames per second. Perfectly, I’d like to see a 360mm or bigger AIO on modern i9s, but that’s not available. With some adjustments it can still run on a D15. I had my 12900k set to a “comfortable” level on a D15.
I checked it briefly, but when I tested again while using it, the peak draw was near 185W—probably fitting within the D15s range. From what I think, the issue is likely a few cores heating up above 90°C, which raises the overall temperature of the whole unit. I’m not as familiar with CPU temperatures as I’d like to be.
All CPU components should be fully stock unless there are BIOS modifications from my Mobo (z790 AORUS Elite AX). I’m not certain about that.
I also have the Elite AX. I don't recall any auto settings being applied. I'm leaving here for you as some ideas to consider. The performance looks stronger with more power in the final frames. If you're using an air cooler, you might just apply Derbauer's presets and set your turbo limits to 90. You can experiment and see how it handles thermal throttling—like keeping 100W at 95°C for a few extra frames. I'm not near my PC, but I think it's around 180-200W. It shares RADs with a 4090, which has a 280mm and a 360mm fan.