I recently picked up a motherboard and Ryzen 7 7700X3D deal, and the system has otherwise been running well. I applied the thermal paste in an X pattern and I'm using a Peerless Assassin 120 Digital ARGB cooler in a Phantom 410 case with two intake fans and one exhaust fan. GPU temperatures look normal, but Overwatch sometimes pushes the CPU to 80–82°C even when there doesn't seem to be much happening. At other times, it stays around 63–66°C during busy teamfights. In most other games, the CPU briefly spikes to about 75°C and usually sits near 66°C or lower. At the desktop with a few browser tabs and Steam open, it runs around 53°C. Are these temperatures within a normal range, or should I adjust my cooling or settings?
3 Answers
Those temperatures aren't concerning. X3D processors can run fairly warm under load, and staying around 80°C is well within a reasonable range. Different games can produce very different CPU workloads, so Overwatch may simply be creating short bursts of heat even when overall usage looks low.
Check whether Overwatch's frame rate limit is set manually. An automatic or unexpectedly high FPS target can make the CPU work harder than necessary, especially in a CPU-limited game. Setting a sensible cap may reduce the spikes, though 80–82°C by itself is still fine.
CPU utilization and temperature don't always match directly. A game might heavily load only a few cores while showing relatively low total usage, and those active cores can still produce quick temperature spikes. Your reported temperatures sound normal for this type of processor and cooler.
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