Is the Noctua NH-D15S fan ramp too slow for Final Fantasy XVI?
During those massive summon fights, the CPU load jumps from 30% to 100% in a heartbeat, causing core temps to spike 15℃ in a single second. While the Noctua NH-D15S has a huge ceiling, its low-RPM fans have too much inertia to ramp up instantly, leading to brief peaks between 85-92℃ and triggering instant throttling. I tried killing all background processes in Windows, but the stutters didn't budge, which told me I had to deal with the fan response speed. I went into the BIOS and lowered the fan start threshold from 60℃ to 45℃, while nudging the CPU voltage to 1.25V. In RTSS, the frame time variance tightened from 12-35ms to a stable 8-14ms. I did notice the fans fluctuating slightly during idle after the change, so I set a 3-second smoothing timer to stop the revving. Now temps stay between 65-72℃. Three hours of testing confirm no more drops, with frame times locked at 8-14ms.
