CPU temperature - what's too hot?

[belpita]

I just got a new gaming specific PC, an Acer Predator Orion 3000 with an Intel Core i7. 

While playing Sims 4 the CPU seems to heat up quite a lot, compared to other games. I've even clocked a whopping 99C, but usually it spans 80-96C. 

I have almost all packs for the game, but no CC. 

Is this normal? Or is there some setting I can try to change in the game to bring the temperature down? 

[puzzlezaddict]

@belpita  80º is normal for a gaming laptop, and nothing to worry about.  95º is not great though—while not immediately damaging to the CPU, it's bad for its long-term health, and the processor will also be downclocking and throttling performance to avoid overheating further.

One thing you can try is putting Origin in offline mode.  For no apparent reason, Origin has been using excessive CPU resources for some people lately, and offline mode often seems to help.  You can also make sure you don't have anything else running in the background that might be using more processor power than it should, for example a browser window that's playing or waiting to play a video or some script.  Check the Task Manager for CPU-heavy apps and shut down anything that doesn't absolutely need to be running.

Other than that, manually limiting your in-game framerates can help to some degree, although that's more of a benefit for the GPU.  Still, there's no reason to have higher fps than the refresh rate of your screen, and you might set it to 60 if you can't tell the difference between that and higher.  Sims 4 has an fps limiter built in (in graphics settings), but if you play in borderless or windowed mode, you'll need to use another tool.

The Nvidia Control Panel has a Max Frame Rate these days.  Right-click on your desktop, select the CP, then Manage 3D Settings, and under Global Settings, turn on Max Frame Rate and set it to whatever you want.  You can see your in-game framerates by bringing up the cheats console and entering "fps on" without quotes.  A number will appear in the lower left corner of your screen.

Other than that, make sure the laptop can cool itself while you play.  Set it on a hard flat surface, and if that doesn't help, use a cooling pad or fan.

[belpita]

I'll try those suggestions, but I just need to clarify that I never mentioned anything about a laptop.

This is a stationary upright gaming PC with two fans (front and back), which can also be regulated manually.

[puzzlezaddict]

@belpita  Sorry, I saw the words "Acer Predator" and immediately thought "laptop."  Since this is a desktop, you really should have much better cooling than you're getting.  Laptops run hot, but desktops should not, at least not when new with what is presumably a fully working cooling apparatus.

In your position, I'd check all the fans to make sure they're spinning properly and that nothing is in their way, either internally or externally.  If that didn't help, I'd unmount the CPU fan or radiator block, remove the thermal paste (rubbing alcohol works great), apply my own thermal paste (Arctic M4 is $10 or less and works well), reassemble everything, and test again.  There are plenty of YouTube videos demonstrating how to apply thermal paste, and probably one showing how to take apart and reassemble whatever CPU cooler you have.

[belpita]

I put Origin in offline mode and that actually seems to have done the trick. *mumbles something about how useless Origin is*

CPU temp was fluctuating between 53-75C when I played for about 30 minutes a little while ago. 

I literally got the computer two days ago, and I'm sort of getting to know it a bit. But the fans can be set to "automatic" and "gaming", so I'm experimenting a little bit with that for Sims4 in particular. Playing Minecraft works fine, though, as well as some other random Steam games. I'm also going to look into any other possible programme running in the background that can be turned off. 

[puzzlezaddict]

@belpita  75º C and lower sounds much better, although it still might be a bit hot, depending on the workload of your processor.  It's certainly not concerning though.  Origin itself has been maxing out some players' CPUs lately, for no discernible reason, and often while there's no game running.  Maybe there will be a fix, or maybe the EA Desktop App will show up and be less of a nuisance.  Either way, at least you have a workaround for now.

[belpita]

Oh, well, three weeks later and we're back to temperatures around 80-90C again.

I have Origin in offline mode, ticked off all possible online features within the game AND even went into Task Manager to force close Origin after opening Sims 4. 

I really don't know what to do now. :-/ 

[puzzlezaddict]

@belpita  Are you noticing high temperatures in any other settings?  How much of your CPU is Origin using when this happens?  It's possible the issue is (now) Sims 4, not Origin.  Regardless, I still think the cooling overall should be better.  Let me know if you're interested in doing any benchmarks to test it.

Additionally, what framerates are you getting in-game?  Limiting fps can lower the CPU load too.  To see your in-game fps, bring up the cheats console (crtl-shift-C) and enter "fps on" without quotes.  A number will appear in the lower left corner of the screen, over the UI.

[belpita]

Fps is usually between 120-160, but occasionally it has dropped to 20, which is probably the CPU overheating. I have then restarted the game and also cleaned the Tray folder for good measure, lol. 

Most settings are set to high, except edge smoothing, which is low. I have full screen on with 1920x1080 resolution. 

Since Origin gets turned off as soon as I start the game, there's really nothing else but to say it has to be Sims 4 itself now. It could be the latest patch, I suppose. 

But to be honest, I'm beginning to wonder if increasing the speed is the issue, which is just going to make the game unplayable. 

[puzzlezaddict]

@belpita  I still don't think Sims 4 should be coming close to overheating your processor.  It might be that the CPU cooler isn't working as efficiently as it should.  Do you have air or liquid cooling?  How many case fans do you have, intake and outtake?

It would also be good to see a dxdiag on this computer.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

If you want to leave the cooling alone for the moment, try limiting your in-game framerates.  If you have a 60 or 75 Hz monitor and play in fullscreen, the vertical sync setting in the game's graphics options should be enough.  Otherwise, you'd need to use another tool, for example the Nvidia Control Panel mentioned earlier.  Fewer frames means less work for the CPU as well as the GPU, and that might bring temperatures back down enough to not be an issue.