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5 ways to take your CPU temperatures from okay to great
So, it's been months or even years since you built your PC. And after spending the first few days worrying about your CPU temperatures and making some tweaks, you were probably satisfied with the results. Well, it turns out that there is always room for improvement. One or more of these tweaks can bring down your CPU temps even more. They might not drastically improve performance, but they can reduce your PC's noise levels and extend the CPU's longevity. Even if your current CPU temps are fine, some of these tweaks can make them great again.
Clean the dust from your tower
A necessary part of PC maintenance
You might not be excited about it, but deep-cleaning your PC can significantly improve its overall cooling capabilities. Dust deposits are inevitable, and, over time, they can impede your case fans and CPU cooler from performing at their best. As the amount of incoming air plummets, the CPU temperature will rise while the fans work overtime, raising the noise levels as well. If you're in a particularly dusty environment, you might need to clean your PC at least once a quarter to ensure dust doesn't play spoilsport. If you're cleaning it after a long gap, the dust deposits might be hard to remove with a simple compressed air run. You'll need to remove the fans and the cooler to clean them properly. While you're at it, it's best to deep-clean your graphics card to lower the GPU temps as well. You might not revisit this process for another 3–6 months.
Re-examine the fan curves
It never hurts to take a second look
I'm hoping you didn't wing it as far as the fan curves are concerned, and spent some time dialing in the right balance between noise and thermals when you first built your PC. While your older fan curves might be just fine, it's worth revisiting them to see if you can make some tweaks to further improve your CPU temperatures. For instance, you might have optimized your CPU fan curve for noise rather than performance, resulting in a silent CPU fan but a warmer CPU. You could make the curve slightly more aggressive, so that the CPU cooler fan and case fans ramp up faster when the CPU temps start to rise. If you do it well, you can reduce your CPU temps without increasing the system noise too much.
Although you can use the BIOS/UEFI or your motherboard's software to tune your fan curves, using Fan Control gives you much more control over each of your fan curves. You can even configure your GPU fans and case fans to respond to the CPU temperature, and optimize the curves to "talk" to each other at various temperature intervals.
Add another case fan
It can do wonders, depending on your case
Sufficient air intake is necessary for the success of any cooling system. However, your case might not have enough intake and exhaust fans, especially if it's an older one. For instance, my Corsair Carbide SPEC-04 back in 2017 had just one pre-installed fan at the front. I had to install a 120mm Cooler Master fan at the rear to have some sort of exhaust. If your CPU temps were fine, you might not have cared about fewer fans when you first built the PC. However, adding just one extra fan, especially as intake, can have a significant impact on your PC's overall cooling.
Although more fans don't equal more cooling beyond a point, you need at least 1 exhaust and 2–3 intake fans in your case. Having positive pressure is usually the best configuration for most systems. It allows more air to be pulled than what's being pushed out, and reduces the degree of dust deposits. Adding a single fan is an inexpensive and simple way to reduce your CPU temps. When you're buying new case fans, try to prioritize larger fans if your case supports them. They can pull in more air at a given RPM, so ensure you're adding a 140mm or 200mm intake fan if your case supports it. A 120mm fan will work fine as exhaust.
Replace the thermal paste
Your CPU might be struggling behind the scenes
The thermal paste you applied to the CPU when you built your PC (or the one that came pre-applied on the cooler) doesn't need to be replaced regularly since it can comfortably last around three years. However, if you're getting to that mark, your thermal paste might be near the point of expiry. A fresh coat of paste doesn't usually result in a huge drop in CPU temps, but it can still make a difference. The entire process won't take you more than 30 minutes, and you might be able to run your CPU a few degrees cooler.
Even the brand of thermal paste can make a difference. You can consider brands like Arctic, Noctua, and Thermal Grizzly, especially if your existing paste was unbranded. Again, the difference will not be huge, but a few degrees here and there can add up. The difference between various thermal paste brands will be minor, but replacing the paste and switching to a high-quality option can create a significant improvement.
Try undervolting the CPU
You might never revert to stock settings
Finally, if you haven't dabbled in it yet, CPU undervolting might be among the best upgrades for your PC. Most CPUs are designed to use more voltage than they really need at any given frequency, just to avoid instability. So, you always have some wiggle room in terms of lowering the CPU voltage without losing out on performance. This undervolting can significantly cut down on your CPU temperatures, and it might even improve the performance due to the additional thermal headroom available to your CPU. Undervolting doesn't even take long. All you need to do is reduce the core voltage in small increments of 5–10mV, and test system stability after each tweak. If your PC starts acting up, you can revert to the last stable voltage.
Many users always undervolt a new CPU due to the multiple benefits it holds for your system. Besides lower CPU temps and potentially better performance, it also increases the lifespan of the silicon. Plus, you can run your fans slightly slower for better noise levels, and reduce the power consumption of your build. Your processor is likely to provide more consistent boost clocks that can improve the 1% and 0.1% lows in gaming. There's really no reason not to undervolt your CPU, as long as the performance stays intact.
Life's good, but it can be better
This applies directly to CPU temperatures, since every PC might have one or more unexplored tweaks that could result in a significant drop. While relooking at your fan curves might not offer a huge improvement in temps, undervolting the CPU very well could. Moreover, PCs with an insufficient number of fans could benefit from an extra intake or exhaust fan. And keeping your PC free from dust will always ensure your fans and CPU temps aren't struggling.
