Improving DeepCool AK500 ARGB thermals for TLOU Part II?
It's honestly ridiculous that a single tower cooler let my CPU hit 95℃, tanking my frames from 70 down to 40—totally unacceptable. The DeepCool AK500 ARGB just can't handle sustained heavy loads; the heat buildup in the fins caused the exchange efficiency to crater after about 90 minutes. I tried cranking the fans to 2000 RPM, but it sounded like a power drill and only dropped the temp by 3℃, which was a complete waste of time. I ended up replacing my front case fans with high-static pressure 120mm models and tuned the top exhaust to create a straight-through wind tunnel. HWInfo showed my core temps drop from 95℃ to 76-82℃, and the stuttering vanished. I actually installed the fans backward the first time, which made the heat soak even worse until I flipped them. Now my CPU power draw is stable between 115-130W. I backed up the new fan curve in my performance log, and the power draw is holding steady at 115-130W.