Temperatures are higher than usual while gaming or benchmarking. Consider ways to reduce heat output.
Temperatures are higher than usual while gaming or benchmarking. Consider ways to reduce heat output.
Hello everyone,
For reference, I assembled this system around January of this year. The specifications listed below:
- Rosewill SPECTRA D100 ATX Mid Tower Gaming Case
- Team T-Force Delta RGB 32GB (2 x 16GB)
- EVGA GEFORCE RTX FTW 3080 10GB GPU
- Intel Core i5-13600KF
- Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB CPU Air Cooler
- MSI PRO B760M-A WIFI DDR4
This was my first PC, and I still have a lot to learn about computers. Please be patient. My friend helped me set it up, and we ran some benchmarks (Heaven benchmark). We saw it getting quite hot, averaging around 95°C. My friend thought it might be drawing too much power, so we checked the BIOS for possible adjustments, but couldn't find much to change.
I decided to test games to see how temperatures behaved during gameplay. At the time, I was mainly playing Apex Legends, and temps stayed between 65-75°C, which seemed fine. There were occasional spikes to 80 or 85°C for a short time, but not for long. Since I didn’t play many other Beties, I assumed it would be okay if it got warmer.
Recently, when I started playing Starfield, the temps rose to about 70-75°C most of the time, occasionally reaching 80-85°C in certain areas. Knowing it’s a more demanding game, I expected higher temperatures, but they were still manageable. I looked into CPU and BIOS settings and found that the CPU load was set too high (12 by default). I lowered it to 7, which slightly improved my Cinebench scores from around 24k to just over 22.5k and reduced heat a bit. Performance stayed stable during games.
Now, the temps are usually between 65-70°C in Starfield, with occasional spikes to 80 when exploring certain regions. Are these levels acceptable for long-term use? Are there other settings I should tweak to keep things cooler? Should I try a more aggressive fan curve? I also read about undervolting, but the Intel XTU voltage options are hidden, and changing the voltage offset didn’t help in my BIOS. There’s some mention of adjusting P and E core rates, but I’m not sure if that’s necessary.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
It looks like your cooler might be struggling due to a poor mount or incorrect thermal paste. If that’s the case, upgrading it could resolve the issue.
Absolutely acceptable. Temperatures around 80°C are manageable. Going above 80°C with heavy overclocking can become uncomfortable, but it shouldn’t be risky. For regular use, stick to the typical range—usually 90-95°C for most mainstream chips and 83-85°C for HEDT. The safe upper limit is often a bit higher than the throttle temperature; this means you won’t damage the chip even if you push it hard. If you need extra cooling, my Ryzen 3700X with a comparable cooler handles mid-60s to 70s efficiently, while my D15 runs slower but still fine. My i9 7980XE can hit 80s after overclocking on a 280mm AIO, which is a lower power chip with less airflow. Many chips have handled similar temperatures without issues. It’s about staying within limits and keeping your system stable.
It looks perfectly fine. This might be your first time tackling a slightly tougher game, but that’s completely okay given your current hardware (powerful GPU/CPU, possibly a less-than-ideal case).
It seems your items are heating up quickly, which might reduce their durability. Could be a personal preference, though I’ve heard similar concerns from many sources.
LMG frequently adjusts the hardware manually... Operating beyond recommended parameters can raise temperatures further, potentially leading to chip wear. Therefore, many opt for safer settings than the device’s maximum capacity allows. When within acceptable ranges, you can push close to the built-in limits and still function well. Classic examples include older Macs using stock Intel processors with basic cooling. I used a 2015 15" MacBook Pro for years, only swapping it recently when performance dropped. It continues to operate smoothly at around 99-100°C under normal workloads, having served as a video editing tool for many hours before becoming my primary multitasker. An older overclock.net discussion covers Xeon temperatures in data centers: https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/wha...pus-run-at. From my perspective with HEDT chips, they generally stay cooler than mainstream options. Intel still anticipates these Xeons running continuously at 90°C or higher reliably. I’ve tested many older Xeons (similar to modern i7s from old servers) that performed just fine after voltage tweaks and extended use for years. Voltage adjustments are common among enthusiasts, but most are keeping temperatures within safe bounds—disabling auto-voltage reduction during idle tasks helps maintain performance. In short, many people fixate on temps because they see overclockers pushing beyond specs, which can accelerate wear. Your grandma’s dusty 2013 i7 Dell PC has stayed solid at around 100°C for its lifespan, and your machine will likely handle a drop of 15°C without problems.
Many B760 motherboards raise the CPU voltage too high by default. The latest BIOS introduces Undervolt Protection to stop lowering it. Some Asus and Gigabyte models let you enable an older microcode version in BIOS settings. MSI may also offer a similar setting within its BIOS. Reducing voltage can cut Cinebench or game temperatures by as much as 20°C. Search online for more details, especially MSI specifics. Warning – using Undervolt Protection can halve your Cinebench scores. Thanks to Intel for this issue.