Normal CPU Temperature While Gaming: Know When It’s Too Hot
There are so many upsides to PC gaming in comparison to gaming on consoles. However, there are also a lot of factors you’ll need to control if you want to achieve optimal gaming performance.
This is true whether you’re gaming on a laptop, a prebuilt desktop, or building your own desktop. You need to keep up with graphic card drivers, choose the right amount of RAM, and perhaps most importantly, make sure everything stays at the right temperature.
Overheating is a problem we often keep in the back of our minds — but when it becomes a problem, it’s a real problem. Not only can it affect performance by causing lag and other issues, but it also risks damage to your device and a lowered lifespan.
It’s specifically important to maintain the proper temperature for your CPU and GPU.
The best way to combat overheating is to establish a great foundation. Today’s WTFast guide is all about how to set yourself up for success and continually maintain an appropriate temperature for your PC so that you can game at your best.
We’re also covering how to troubleshoot and solve performance issues, whether your issue is overheating or something else entirely.
Let’s get started!
What’s Causing High Temperatures for My PC?
The first thing you may be wondering is why your PC is getting hot at all. In the most basic terms, your computer’s components are just like a human body. When they start working, they generate heat.
Unfortunately, your computer can’t naturally cool itself off by sweating like your body can. That means we have to add accessories to cool the components doing the heavy lifting.
With this in mind, we can conclude that the harder your computer works, the hotter it’s going to get. This means programs that take more processing power create more heat.
Gaming
Based on that principle, we know that gaming is harder on your system’s temperature than most other programs people run on a day-to-day basis.
That’s because gaming is one of the most demanding types of activities you can run on your computer. You’ll need more RAM and CPU power for gaming than for browsing photos or typing text documents.
The bigger your game in terms of graphics and content, the more this is true. Ultimately, an exceptional cooling device is a must-have for high-performance gaming.
Other Factors
It may almost seem too obvious to be true, but ambient room temperature can affect your PC’s temperature. Something as simple as running air conditioning or pointing a desk fan towards your tower might be all you need.
Along that same vein, be aware of where you place your PC. If you’ve got obstructions blocking your case’s airflow, any fans you have in place will not be able to perform how they need to in order to cool your PC.
Even if you’re gaming on a laptop instead of a tower, be sure that there’s not a blanket or similar obstruction blocking the fan, which is usually located along the hinge between your screen and keyboard.
Other factors that can inhibit airflow include dust buildup inside and around your case and even poor cable management inside the case.
What Temperature Should My CPU Be?
So, we know what’s causing our PC temperature to rise — but how do we know when it’s a problem and not normal heat accumulation?
When we talk about the ideal temperature for your CPU or any component of your PC, the first thing to note is that every model is different. Whether you’re using Intel, AMD, or some other brand, each component has its own needs and requirements.
However, there are some universally common principles that apply. One of those universal principles is the benchmark you should aim for regarding your PC’s temperature while gaming.
That benchmark is around 80 degrees Celsius or 176 Fahrenheit. Ideally, you want to keep your PC’s temperature even lower, but anything exceeding 80 degrees merits a closer look.
With that said, some components are capable of performing at higher temperatures. Still, those are edge cases, and you’ll know where those exceptions lie. Your CPU and GPU are not those edge cases. That’s why it’s best to be wary of anything that could overheat your PC for too long.
How Can I Monitor My CPU’s Temperature?
Thankfully, you don’t need to try a touch test or take a physical thermometer and hold it to your PC components. In fact, we wouldn’t recommend that.
Instead, we’ll let software do the work for us.
Some components come with software made specifically to monitor their performance, but most of the time you can simply utilize one of the many CPU and GPU temperature monitor softwares available freely around the internet.
How Do I Keep My PC From Overheating?
When it comes to keeping your PC cool, the obvious solutions also happen to be the best ones. Your physical cooling apparatus is the most important thing to improve for better temperature.
In other words: Get some fans! While there are alternative cooling solutions like liquid cooling, fans are the most common way to cool a PC and are effective in almost all cases, provided they are set up properly.
There are a few areas of your PC where you’ll want to implement cooling. Let’s start with the case, since a case with insufficient cooling capability will ruin everything else.
Most cases come with at least one fan built-in, sometimes more. Fans on one end of the case draw in cool air from outside and expel hot air from inside on the other end.
You can usually find a case with a built-in cooling system without having to shell out the big bucks. If your case of choice doesn’t have cooling systems built-in, you can acquire additional fans and install them yourself — provided you check all the dimensions and everything fits.
Next up are internal cooling systems. Your GPU and CPU need to stay cool to perform properly. Most GPUs come with built-in cooling systems, too. While you can upgrade this, it’s typically unnecessary.
However, CPUs are another story. Some models come with a stock cooler, but you’ll often be better served buying your own (and buying a good one, at that).
You might also consider an all-in-one liquid cooling setup, which can cool both your GPU and CPU simultaneously.
In any case, it’s essential to keep both the GPU and CPU cool. If one begins to overheat, it can cause the other to get hotter and build up to greater problems.
Consequences of Overheating
Speaking of problems, why does overheating really matter?
On the more extreme end of things, overheating can damage your computer’s components. This can be as minor as subtle warping — which can reduce your PC’s lifespan — or as significant as irreparable damage.
In most cases, you’re more likely to experience consequences that affect your PC’s performance. That is to say, overheating causes lag.
If your computer is running slowly, stuttering, or lagging in general, check your CPU and GPU temperatures and compare them to the 80-degree celsius benchmark.
Especially if you’re lagging while gaming, it’s possible that your game is putting more stress on your system than your cooling setup can handle.
Conclusion
While overheating is definitely one cause of lag, it’s far from the only one. Other factors related to different parts of your hardware or your network are common causes of lag in gaming, and sometimes the most frustrating thing is not knowing where your lag comes from.
Always check your hardware first. If overheating isn’t the problem, double-check that you're meeting the system requirements for whatever game you’re playing and that your graphics drivers are up to date.
For online gaming, the problem is more than likely network-related. Using a wired connection and minimizing outside activity (such as downloads and streaming) can help, but the easiest overall solution is simply switching to our WTFast GPN.
A GPN is a new kind of network solution that’s built from the ground up by experts with a total focus on optimizing the speed and stability of your online gaming connection.
Using advanced AI, it finds the fastest traceroute for your data and gets it to the server at the fastest speed possible. Our GPN also minimizes the potential for lag spikes or connection drops, so you’ll have as few worries as possible.
With our WTFast GPN, the new secret weapon for online gaming is at your fingertips. Simply install the client, select your game, and start playing – it’s as easy as that!
For all your PC gaming questions and solutions, you’re at the right place: WTFast.
Sources:
6 Ways to Cool Down Your Computer When It Overheats | Business Insider
