Your frame rate has decreased noticeably.
Your frame rate has decreased noticeably.
I just completed installing the water cooling loop and everything is working properly. My setup includes a 5800x and an RTX 3080, usually I get over 150 FPS in Warzone, but now it's around 80 or lower, and performance feels sluggish. I run at low graphics settings, and some other games work fine while others stutter and drop frames. Temperatures look normal, staying about 60°C for both CPU and GPU, rising to 70-75°C during gameplay. My PSU is 850W and I've updated the BIOS and drivers. I'm not sure what else to try.
Your parts seem completely inactive at 60°C, particularly with liquid cooling in place. The delta over idle reading is only a slight increase—far below what you expect. This suggests significant thermal throttling; the good-looking temperatures you see during gaming are likely due to forced downclocking. Review CPU and GPU utilization and confirm you're truly maintaining 60°C. If so, investigate potential issues like faulty pumps or improper thermal paste application.
This change in your cooling system is likely the main reason for the overheating. Idle temperatures should only be slightly above the coolant temperature, matching the ambient conditions in a well-set water loop. A jump from 60°C idle to 70°C under load doesn’t make much sense. It’s possible the data you have isn’t correct. Retrieve the hardware info and power down your system for a few hours. After that, restart it and use HWinfo64 to check CPU and GPU usage, temperatures, and speeds. Play a game briefly, then close it and let the PC cool for about five minutes. Capture the charts and share them here.
I'll give it a shot—I thought my temperatures were off but I'm unfamiliar with water cooling. Is my PC safe to use right now? I'm using it for school, not for gaming, and I just need it for the rest of the day.
I don't understand. If it stops unexpectedly, you'll get your response.
Most parts are shielded against overheating. However, I wouldn’t test it unless you have a significant budget to replace it. Providing some details about the pump, radiator, and coldplate connections would be useful. Are you certain you applied high-quality thermal compound? Also, were the plates securely fastened?
I installed the Corsair H305i kit. The XD5 pump, XC7 CPU block, XG7 GPU, Entho Evolv MATX case, XR5 240 radiator, Cooler Master V850 SFX gold PSU, and Gigabyte B550i Aorus pro AX motherboard came together. All thermal paste was applied. I plan to verify everything once more before using it fully, hoping my temperatures will be better.
Using just one 240mm radiator for both a 3080 and any CPU in a case with extremely limited airflow will likely cause problems.