Are you a gamer who has a CPU that is running hot? And you are concerned about whether it can lower frame rates or not?
If this is the case, you’ve come to the right place.
I am a professional gamer who has spent the last ten years or more playing games. I understand how important a higher FPS is in competitive gaming. In this post, I will be explaining how CPU temperature can affect frame rates.
Read the full article to know whether a hot CPU will lower frame rates or not. 
Can High CPU Temperature Cause Low FPS?
Yes, high CPU temperature can significantly lower frame rates. Heat, cold, dust even humidity can lower your CPU performance. Among them, overheating is the main one. When a CPU gets hot, it automatically reduces it’s frequency. This means the CPU starts to underperform and results in low frame rates in games.
Low frame rates can result in lag and stuttering. As a result, your game will feel unplayable. Therefore, a good frame rate is required. 144fps or higher is the only way to go for competitive players.
There are some signs which will tell you whether your CPU is running hot or not.
Here are some signs listed below:
- Fan Sounds: When the temperature of your processor rises higher than usual, the fans start to spin very fast. Which eventually creates fan noises. It is the most basic indication that your CPU is running hot.
- Crashing or Error: When your CPU overheats, the programs you are using may start crashing and show you error reports. In the worst case, blue screen might appear on the monitor.
- Repeated Shutdowns or Restarts: You might experience sudden and repetitive shutdowns and restarts which indicates a high CPU temperature.
- Feel Slowness: When you see a slow, laggy environment, it is another obvious sign of high CPU temperature.
Why is the CPU Running Hot?
There are several reasons for the CPU running hot. Those reasons can lower frame rates and even entirely damage your system.
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Here are some common reasons for overheating:
- Bad Cooling System: If your system has a lousy cooling system, such as broken or defective fans, there is a high chance of raising CPU temperature. In other words, if your cooling system fails to cool down your CPU, you will see an excessively heated processor.
- Blocked Air Vents: Airflow is very important for any system. If your laptop’s or desktops’ air vents get blocked, your CPU will become very hot.
- Heavy Workloads: If you perform heavy tasks, it will obviously raise the CPU temperature. For heavy tasks, the CPU has to run at maximum frequency for an extended period. That’s why the CPU gets very hot.
- Overclocked CPU: Overclocked CPU permanently runs at a higher frequency. For that reason, your CPU temperature will increase. Without a decent cooling solution, overclocking can even burn your CPU.
- Viruses or Malware: Virus or malware can impact CPU temperature. It corrupts system information that, results in creating an abnormal behavior of the processor. That produces unnecessary heat in the CPU.
- Outdated Software: Outdated softwares sometimes create issues in the system. When the processor tries to fix that, it creates excessive heat.
How to Keep CPU Temperature Low to Get Better FPS
As you know, heat is the biggest enemy of a processor. You need to keep your system as cool as possible.
Here is how you can keep your CPU temperature low:
- Clean Your PC: Cleaning your computer might help you cool it down. Cleaning a PC of dust, grime, and other particles may increase speed, performance, and airflow all at the same time. It can help boost the frame rates of your game.
- Improve Airflow: The air vents on your computer assist the system in avoiding overheating by circulating cooled air through them. Your computer should cool down if you use a table or a lap desk. To keep things cool, desktop computers require adequate ventilation. Place your PC on a hard, sturdy surface with lots of room.
- Change Thermal Paste often: Thermal paste can conduct heat generated by the CPU. On regular heavy usage, it may dry out soon. Try reapplying thermal paste once every 3-4 months. It can easily keep your CPU temperature down.
- Terminate Programs That Cause Overheating: Close the programs that produce heat. And let the CPU cool down for a while. Open the programs again and check whether the processor is getting hot again or not.
- Use External Cooling Solutions: This is for laptop users. If your laptop CPU temperature remains high even after using them on a flat, hard surface, use a cooling pad to give extra airflow to the system. This is the easiest solution for laptop users.
- Update Your System: Update your system when it is available. Sometimes your system components don’t work as they intended to do. By updating the system, the drivers of those components get updated as well. This method will lessen the stress over the CPU, and it remains cool.
Following these tips will help you cool down your CPU and get some extra frame rates in the game.
Which Factors Can Reduce FPS?
Apart from the heating issue, several factors can significantly reduce the frame rates. You need to be very cautious about these factors.
Here are the factors that can reduce fps:
- Old hardware can never push high frame rates in newer games.
- Old GPU drivers can reduce the frame rates of games.
- Slower rams can significantly affect frame rates.
- In-game settings can affect frame rates. High settings will always give low fps.
- A Single-channel ram holds your CPU to perform as it should, which results in lower frame rates in games.
- In games, enabling motion blur and depth of the field can reduce frame rates.
How to Improve FPS in Games
For a better gaming experience, getting a higher fps is a must. If you want to improve fps n games, I have some tips for you. To let you know more, here’s our in-depth guide on how to optimize your CPU for better gaming performance.
Also, here some tips to improve frame rates in games:
- Upgrade your old hardware to newer ones to maximize performance and frame rates gain.
- Use higher frequency rams and make sure to use them in dual-channel.
- Use game modes in windows to get optimized performance which will boost frame rates.
- Update the latest windows and drivers to avoid unnecessarily overheating, which prevents the system from pushing higher fps.
- Lower the in-game settings to achieve better frame rates in games.
- Perform a disk cleanup process to remove unnecessary junk files from your computer.
FAQs
Can an overheated CPU cause lag?
Yes, an overheated CPU can cause lag. When the CPU gets hot, it reduces the frequency to prevent internal damage. So a low-frequency processor will underperform. Thus, you will experience lag.
Can a bad CPU cause fps drop?
Yes, a bad CPU often causes an fps drop. A bad processor can never perform well, and it often produces unnecessary lags and stutterings. Which hugely affects the frame rates in games.
Why does sudden fps drop happen on laptops?
If you use your laptop on a mushier surface, then that laptop’s airflow hampers. Without proper airflow and cooling, the CPU starts to run hot. As a result, you see lags and frame drops in games.
Conclusion
At the end of this article, the fact that stands, a hot CPU causes lower frame rates in games. So make sure to keep the CPU cool. A well-cooled CPU can help your system perform well and achieve better fps in games.
Finally, I have answered all the questions you needed to know. This article may help you reduce CPU temperature and get a higher frame rate.
Thanks for reading this article. For any further queries, feel free to contact me. I’ll try my best to solve your problems.
