Calibrating thermal performance for the PCcooler RT500
During high-intensity gunfights, I was getting these tiny micro-stutters that are absolutely lethal in a fast-paced shooter. The RT500 is a compact cooler with a low ceiling; under full load, it hit 85°C - 89°C, causing the clocks to bounce between 3.0GHz - 4.2GHz. I tried capping the CPU state to 95% in Windows, but while it dropped temps by 6°C, my minimums fell from 60 FPS to 48 FPS—that made me realize I needed a real fix. I reapplied high-end paste and set the fan curve to 100% at 60°C. RTSS showed temps stabilizing at 74°C - 80°C, and frame time variance dropped from 12ms - 30ms to a tight 9ms - 14ms. Like before, the fans were hunting for speed between 55°C - 60°C until I added a hysteresis buffer. Now they stay at 1600 RPM. Cinebench R23 confirms no more clock drops, and RAM stays at 58°C - 63°C.