Is the Thermalright PA140 failing to cool my CPU in Nioh?

This cooler looks massive, but in a CPU-heavy game like Nioh, my temps shot straight to 95℃, triggering a thermal throttle that turned my game into a slideshow. It was ridiculous. The default fan curve on the Thermalright PA140 Peerless Assassin 140 is way too conservative—it only hits 1100 RPM before 80℃, which is useless against sudden power spikes. I jokingly tried cutting holes in my case, which just let in a bunch of dust and only dropped temps by 2℃. I finally went into the BIOS, switched the fan mode to PWM, and set a brutal step curve: 1500 RPM at 70℃ and a full 2200 RPM at 85℃. Monitoring via HWMonitor showed the peak core temp drop from 95℃ to a manageable 78℃ - 82℃, and the throttling stopped completely. At first, the fans sounded like a jet engine taking off, but I managed it by setting a 3-second startup delay. Full load temps now hover around 80℃. I exported the fan logs through the motherboard software, and the RPMs are stable between 1400 - 1600 RPM.
Category:Performance Evaluation Last updated:February 20, 2026 10:06 PM