Pushing the Valkyrie V360 MERLIN to its thermal limit
The optimization in this game is a complete joke; it just hammers the CPU. My V360 felt like it was trying to cool a space heater. Core temps were dancing around 98°C, and the system would trigger a protection mechanism that froze the screen for two seconds—a total nightmare. I tried limiting the processor state to 99% in Windows Power Options, which dropped temps by 5°C but turned the game into a slideshow. Absolute garbage solution. I switched the pump from 'Smart' to 'Full Speed' and locked the radiator fans to the motherboard's maximum voltage mode. HWiNFO showed temps plummet from 99°C to 78°C - 84°C, and the freezes finally stopped. I had a weird issue with air bubbles making a gurgling noise at first, which I only fixed by moving the radiator to the top of the case. The fans now scream at 2000 RPM, sounding like a helicopter taking off. I exported the logs to confirm the fan speeds are now stable at 1400 - 1600 RPM.
