I just launched Crimson Desert and went away from my computer for about 15 minutes. When I returned and checked MSI Afterburner, I saw that my RTX 3080 was running at a shocking 92°C. Before I opened Afterburner, I wasn't using any custom profiles, so it was just on stock settings. The GPU usage was at 99%, and the fan was only around 40%. Once I activated my usual fan curve and undervolt setup, the temperatures dropped quickly. Normally, during full loads with my tuning, I max out at about 73-76°C, so seeing 92°C while I wasn't even using my PC seems excessive. Is this due to the game running without a frame cap, the stock fan curve being too weak, or is there something wrong with my setup? For context, I have a blower-style 3080 (Gigabyte Turbo), no FPS cap or V-Sync, and no Afterburner profile active before going AFK. Has anyone else experienced this with Crimson Desert or similar games?
6 Answers
High temps are somewhat normal for a 3080, but 90+°C is pushing it. The GPU should thermal throttle around 86°C. If it isn’t limiting itself after reaching that temp, you might have a problem.
Hey, what kind of case do you have? Just wondering if your cooling setup is sufficient for this card.
Your GPU doesn't know you're AFK—it keeps rendering like normal unless you tell it to slow down. That's just how it operates.
The 3080 can really heat up on stock settings! I had an MSI Gaming Z Trio, and without undervolting, it could hit 86°C or more on the core and 90+ on memory. Once I set a stable undervolt, I got similar performance but at much cooler temps, around 75-76°C.
It's not necessarily a problem with your game or GPU, but I had a similar thing happen while playing higher-end titles like Battlefield 6 when I had uncapped FPS. My CPU usage was around 60%, but after capping the FPS, that dropped to the 30s.
If Crimson Desert is anything like Black Desert Online, you should definitely consider using a low-quality, FPS capped settings when you're going AFK. Otherwise, as you've noticed, the game will just keep rendering as many frames as it can until it hits power or temperature limits.
What's a case? I mean, it's just a standard PC case, you know, the usual ones people have since 2024. Some call them aquarium cases.