I recently installed a Thermalright Assassin X 120 Refined SE ARGB tower cooler on my Intel Core i5-9400. While monitoring temperatures, I saw the CPU jump instantly to about 95–100°C when Battlefield 1 reached its initial black loading screen. I closed the game immediately, and the temperature fell back to roughly 39°C. Idle temperatures are usually around 39–45°C. Could this be a brief shader-compilation or game-launch workload, or might the cooler mounting or thermal paste application be faulty? I also have Turbo Boost enabled and wonder whether that could be contributing. Should I be concerned about the CPU?
1 Answer
A short spike during game startup can happen because shader compilation and asset preparation create a sudden burst of CPU power use. Turbo Boost can also raise clock speeds and temperatures temporarily. However, 90–100°C is still unusually high for this processor with a tower cooler, so check whether the temperature is only a momentary sensor peak or remains high while playing. If it stays near that range, reseat the cooler, confirm the fan is spinning and oriented correctly, and verify that the mounting pressure is even. The CPU will normally protect itself by throttling, but sustained temperatures that high should be investigated.
The cooler was installed only a couple of hours ago, using the thermal paste that came pre-applied. I’ll check the mounting and monitor whether the temperature stays high after the game finishes loading.