How to stop Intel 760P from overheating in Apex?
In a final circle fight, a 0.5-second stutter is basically a death sentence, so this instability was stressing me out. The Intel 760P doesn't come with a heatsink, and under sustained loads, it easily hits 72-85℃, triggering thermal throttling that tanks reads from 3000MB/s to 800MB/s. I tried adding a dedicated case fan blowing directly on the drive, but it only dropped the temp by 5 degrees and I was still lagging after two hours—pretty useless. I eventually bought a pure copper passive heatsink and reorganized my case airflow to a front-intake, rear-exhaust setup. HWMonitor shows peak temps are now capped at 52-61℃, and reads stay above 2800MB/s. I messed up the first install with a thermal pad that was too thick, which actually bent the drive slightly, but switching to a 0.5mm pad solved it. Fans are steady at 1200 RPM. After a 4-hour stress test, there's zero throttling, and temps stay at 52-61℃.
