HWiNFO showed core temps at 68℃ - 73℃ with L3 cache hit rates bouncing between 92% - 96%. I suspected unstable RAM, so I disabled PBO/Auto-Overclocking in the BIOS, which tightened the frequency variance to ±46MHz. After killing all background monitoring bloat, frame generation latency dropped by 12%, and the cutscene hitches mostly went away, staying within 5% of official benchmarks. Frustratingly, when loading massive machine models, the core voltage still jumps from 1.16V to 1.26V, causing a split-second drop. That's likely a memory management issue within the game itself, not the chip. Last updated onMarch 28, 2026 8:52 PM.
I ran a 30-minute OCCT stress test and found the CPU hitting 81℃ with fans spinning between 1260RPM - 1510RPM. I tried 'Full Speed' mode, which dropped temps to 72℃, but the noise was like a jet engine taking off—totally unbearable. I went into the BIOS $
ightarrow$ Hardware Monitor and set up a stepped fan curve: 60℃ as the trigger point and 80℃ for 100% speed. This reduced FPS variance by 6% while keeping the noise tolerable. I backed up the BIOS config to make sure it stuck. Just remember, since it's air-cooled, the heat pipes lose some efficiency after two hours of heavy gaming, and temps will drift up by 3℃ - 5℃. Last updated onMarch 5, 2026 7:14 PM.
Using 3DMark CPU benchmarks, the single-core clock stayed between 4.9GHz - 5.2GHz, with multi-core scores landing in the 13200 - 14500 range, hitting the power wall at 95W - 105W. I noticed that if a browser was open in the background, the core voltage would jump between 1.28V - 1.38V, causing those combat stutters. After killing all background bloat and disabling power-saving options in the BIOS, my score jumped by 15%. I cross-referenced this with CrystalDiskMark throughput and confirmed the bottleneck was scheduling, not storage. Even then, during heavy particle effects, clocks would dip below 4.0GHz, showing this chip still struggles with extreme multi-core efficiency. Last updated onMarch 8, 2026 3:27 PM.
GPU-Z showed VRAM clocks at 19Gbps - 21Gbps with core temps at 70℃ - 75℃. I started with global sharpening on, but the edges had these ugly white halos that were a total eyesore. I went into the GPU Control Panel and dialed the sharpening intensity down to exactly 35%, then used a local mask to soften the highlights. The result? FPS stayed rock steady within ±2fps and the image finally looked balanced. I verified with ReShade that it added about 4ms of latency, but the visual comfort was worth it. Keep in mind this varies by panel; it looks perfect on my pro monitor, but on a standard gaming screen, the colors might look a bit washed out. Last updated onMarch 29, 2026 4:41 PM.
Tested this on Win11 24H2. While loading Paris districts, HWiNFO showed the controller temp bouncing between 53℃ - 57℃, but the read/write queue depth spiked to 4.1, causing those nasty freezes. I dove into Task Manager $
ightarrow$ Details, right-clicked the game process, and cranked the priority to 'High'. Using Windows Performance Monitor, I saw the queue depth drop back to 2.6, and the stuttering basically vanished. I also flipped the power plan to 'High Performance', keeping response times between 2ms - 5ms across three test loops. That said, in heavy stealth fights with tons of NPCs, I still feel some slight frame drops. It seems like the game's streaming engine is just bottlenecked and no amount of hardware tweaking can fully kill it. Last updated onMarch 3, 2026 10:44 AM.
