Firstly, this might be a noob question but I haven’t found clear tips on how to solve my issue. It also might not be technically /r/overclocking material since I’m mostly looking into **undervolting**.
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In summary, I’m looking for tips on how to maximizing CPU usage while reducing temps in CPU intensive games (Baldur’s Gate 3 specifically).
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CPU – 12700k
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I usually game on a 1440p 120Hz monitor and noticed that while most of game sessions it sits at 120FPS (Act I and II), at several times the frames drop to 70s, 80s, sometimes 80s or 90s. During the end of Act II and most of Act III the framerate gets worse. I’m not expecting 120FPS at all times but looking at HWiNFO and MSI AB logs the main CPU threads almost never reach 90% usage. Obviously some zones are more demanding than others but even then the CPU doesn’t get that much more usage.
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The GPU (3080 Strix) is mostly at 70% usage with 60ºC so it isn’t GPU bottleneck.
Some of the game zones (small zones, zones without that much detail/reflections/shadows) get constant 120FPS if you look at the logs I linked below. If you decide to look at them and if you also know how the game behaves in different zones, I’ve added below a timestamp with some important information.
These logs were done with only OBS running and streaming – no browser, media player even though I prefer to play with them in a side screen.
I also use DLSS and reduced shadow detail to High since a month ago I had heat problems until I figured my Case fans didn’t have the correct orientation.
My Cooler is noctua NH-D15 but with only 1 Fan, can’t fit two fans. Case is Lian-Li PC-O11D Dynamic XL if that even matters. Has plenty of airflow, bottom intake, side intake, top exhaust. Back side doesn’t have a fan therefore exhaust.
HAGS enabled, ReBAR enabled. Looking at MSI Afterburner, both are a very very minor perfomance increase at most.
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So the first goal is to try and increase CPU% usage which should improve FPS. Reducing temps is a secondary goal. Before the case airflow problems were fixed I was having a lot of CPU Thermal Throttling – since then it hasn’t happened while playing BG3, only during Cinebench. However, I can see CPU Package temperature getting to 90s sometimes.
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What I’ve been noticing in HWiNFO: “CPU IA: Max Turbo Limit” is always YES. “RING:Max VR Voltage, ICCmax, PL4” is always YES.
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What I have in BIOS.
Using Asus Prime Z690-P D4 with 32GB DDR4 3600. XMP 1 is enabled.
Asus MultiCore Enhancement is on.
OC Tuner I is on, it automatically sets Performance Cores to 48-51 and Efficient cores to 39 (image link)
Undervolted DRAM to 1.3500 (from 1.3600) otherwise it crashes Prime95 and cinebench.
Undervolted CPU V/F Sign 1 with a negative offset of 0.01 (image)
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I’m really grasping at straws here, have previously reseted Asus OC tuner at least once before, removed undervolting and underwattage and obviously the PC works well but I really wanted to get better performance in CPU intensive games.
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Any help is appreciated.
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Links:
[https://imgur.com/a/GgmKn68](https://imgur.com/a/GgmKn68) (MB settings)
16/10 MSI Afterburner log ([https://www.mediafire.com/file/6lycv0cfr3atl6e/2023.10.16\_session.hml/file](https://www.mediafire.com/file/6lycv0cfr3atl6e/2023.10.16_session.hml/file))
16/10 log explanation ([https://www.mediafire.com/file/ijmp03vdix0bv7o/2023.10.16\_session\_explained.txt/file](https://www.mediafire.com/file/ijmp03vdix0bv7o/2023.10.16_session_explained.txt/file))
17/10 MSI Afterburner log ([https://www.mediafire.com/file/izvncxwpam0s7x1/2023.10.17\_session.hml/file](https://www.mediafire.com/file/izvncxwpam0s7x1/2023.10.17_session.hml/file))
17/10 log explanation ([https://www.mediafire.com/file/gdqcyhndejihjt3/2023.10.17\_session\_explained.txt/file](https://www.mediafire.com/file/gdqcyhndejihjt3/2023.10.17_session_explained.txt/file))
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