How to stop VRM thermal throttling on ASRock B450M-HDV?
With Path Tracing maxed out in the neon districts, my frame rate would dive from 60 FPS to 20 FPS, and the anxiety was real. The VRMs on the ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0 were hitting a scorching 108℃, triggering a hard throttle that slashed my clock from 4.2 GHz to 2.1 GHz. I tried capping the CPU at 65W via software, but the game became a slideshow, which was a joke. I decided to go brute force: I slapped 3mm pure copper thermal pads on the VRMs and jammed a 120mm exhaust fan at the top of the case. HWiNFO showed VRM temps plummet from 105-110℃ to a manageable 82-88℃, and my minimums climbed back to 52 FPS. I actually messed up the first time and used pads that were too thick, which almost bent my RAM slots. Now the CPU sits at 72-80℃ and RAM at 48-55℃. OCCT stress tests now pass without any clock dips.
