Thermal throttling persists on CPU – assistance needed
Thermal throttling persists on CPU – assistance needed
CPU model: i9 12900k. Components: NH-D15 black cooler, Aorus Ultra, RTX 3080, RMX1000 power supply, 16GB DDR5 5600 MT/s RAM, 4000D airflow. This build was assembled about a week ago and I’m still experiencing random crashes during gaming. Despite having more than sufficient hardware, the system would freeze unexpectedly. Benchmarks showed stable GPU performance and no issues with Mem84. My initial assumption was the CPU might be the problem, but after removing the cooler and checking thermal paste, everything seemed fine. After some adjustments—re-seating the cooler, fixing fan alignment, and ensuring the cable wasn’t obstructing the blades—I noticed improvement. The fans were running correctly in BIOS, and reinstalling the fan resolved the noise issue. However, I’m still unsure if a single fan in the middle was causing the overheating. Could another fan be restricting airflow? I’m considering using tape to secure the cable and preventing interference. Any advice on securing cables without affecting performance would be appreciated.
12900k is a very hot chip with difficulty cooling. Have you thought about introducing a negative voltage offset? You might find one in the BIOS. Start with -0.1, then adjust to -0.8750, -0.75, etc., if needed.
I’ll attempt this once I’m back home from work. All the previous studies suggest the NH-D15 can manage it. I’ve heard many others achieve success by cooling their 12900Ks with D15s. We’ll find out, though—I don’t see a problem needing to lower the CPU voltage if required; it’s already significantly more capable than what I require.