[SOLVED] CPU Overheating when playing Division 2

Feb 18, 2020
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I've ran into some issues when trying to play the division 2 with some friends, it seems no matter what graphics settings I apply the frame rate starts to chug and stutter severely after around 10+ minutes of playing, I checked the system requirements for the game and my specs (posted below) comfortably meet the minimum requirement for the game. I've ran more graphically impressive or cluttered games than this especially on lower settings so I was confused as to why my frames were dropping severely. I downloaded MSI Afterburner and checked my CPU Temp when I play the game and even when running the benchmark tool in game on medium settings with a steady frame rate of 45 which I had limited it to, my CPU was registering temperatures of 90+ degrees Celsius. Not wanting to damage my CPU I quit the game immediately. Is there any reason why this is happening with this specific game.

My Specs Below:
HP Pavilion 15.6 Inch FHD Gaming Laptop
Intel i7-8750H
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (3 GB Dedicated) Graphics
8 GB RAM

I understand laptop CPUs can run hot but I have not had this issue on other games, if anyone could assist it would be greatly appreciated. Or if it is a simple case of I just have to write off playing Div 2 on my laptop then that is fine too.
 
Solution
Undervolting is definitely worth a look, and I'd suggest that before reducing the frame limit - especially given The Division 2 is a shooter.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Extreme-Tuning-Utility-XTU-Undervolting-Guide.272120.0.html
The 8750H can often taken surprisingly (to me) large undervolts - I've seen undervolts of -.250v fairly often. YMMV of course, but absolutely worth investigating an undervolt.

As well as suggestions of a clean, repaste, and a laptop stand with active cooling/airflow (fans). I've seen my Notepal A200 make 5 degrees+ of difference (less when turning the fans down, so the fans do seem to have a role).

As for the MSI Afterburner overlay issue, quite a few people have issues with it and Division...
Feb 18, 2020
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Ah I thought that might have been the case but I just didn't want to hear it, I always play on a clean desk so I might try elevating it to improve the airflow around the bottom fans but I feel like it won't make much of a difference. Thanks for your help though.
 
You could look at undervolting your laptop cpu. I’ve not done it but read a little about it and it seems to help some laptops quite a bit.

CPU load is more related to FPS than most game settings so with a 45fps cap changing most game settings won’t impact cpu usage or temperatures, at least not significantly. Trying to improve airflow around the laptop may help or try dropping the FPS cap to 30. It’s a trade off between FPS smoothness and cpu temperatures.
 
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Feb 18, 2020
12
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You could look at undervolting your laptop cpu. I’ve not done it but read a little about it and it seems to help some laptops quite a bit.

CPU load is more related to FPS than most game settings so with a 45fps cap changing most game settings won’t impact cpu usage or temperatures, at least not significantly. Trying to improve airflow around the laptop may help or try dropping the FPS cap to 30. It’s a trade off between FPS smoothness and cpu temperatures.

I'll drop the cap to 30fps when I'm back from work and give my fans a little clean and try elevating the laptop slightly to free up the bottom fans, if it's still running too hot and throttling my CPU I might just have to accept defeat, also slightly unrelated question but when I downloaded afterburner and RTTS despite setting the hotkey up to display the info I had set on screen it would never show, I checked RTTS and when I hit the hotkey it would toggle the display info on and off but would never show it over the screen of the game, the only way I could check the temp was by tabbing out the game or running it in windowed and pulling the whole MSI afterburner app up on the screen to look at it. Any idea why this is the case.
 

Oussebon

Upstanding
Feb 17, 2020
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Undervolting is definitely worth a look, and I'd suggest that before reducing the frame limit - especially given The Division 2 is a shooter.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Extreme-Tuning-Utility-XTU-Undervolting-Guide.272120.0.html
The 8750H can often taken surprisingly (to me) large undervolts - I've seen undervolts of -.250v fairly often. YMMV of course, but absolutely worth investigating an undervolt.

As well as suggestions of a clean, repaste, and a laptop stand with active cooling/airflow (fans). I've seen my Notepal A200 make 5 degrees+ of difference (less when turning the fans down, so the fans do seem to have a role).

As for the MSI Afterburner overlay issue, quite a few people have issues with it and Division 2. I solved mine by downloading a newer version of RTSS, separate from MSI Afterburner - though this was a while ago and the included RTSS version may have been updated since then. Some people say to turn stealth mode off. It could be down to the game's anti-cheat. There are quite a few topics discussing it online.
 
Solution
This specific game is CPU demanding and will work your CPU harder than other games. Your CPU is throttling and reducing performance.
I'm playing it on a g4560 2c/4t and it plays at above 45FPS.
If it uses a lot more cores/threads just because they are there it's just ridiculously bad coding...

I understand laptop CPUs can run hot but I have not had this issue on other games, if anyone could assist it would be greatly appreciated. Or if it is a simple case of I just have to write off playing Div 2 on my laptop then that is fine too.
If you use an external FPS limiter it will not always restrict the game from using a lot of CPU,it depends on the game engine some slow down and only use enough CPU to reach the FPS others will continue to run as fast as possible.

1. Run task manager and make sure that there isn't something else running that uses a lot of CPU sometimes the launcher can act up and use way too much CPU.
2.Use affinity from task manager on the division exe and restrict it to use less cores,go one or two less at a time until you hit your 45FPS limit.
 
Feb 18, 2020
12
0
10
Undervolting is definitely worth a look, and I'd suggest that before reducing the frame limit - especially given The Division 2 is a shooter.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Extreme-Tuning-Utility-XTU-Undervolting-Guide.272120.0.html
The 8750H can often taken surprisingly (to me) large undervolts - I've seen undervolts of -.250v fairly often. YMMV of course, but absolutely worth investigating an undervolt.

As well as suggestions of a clean, repaste, and a laptop stand with active cooling/airflow (fans). I've seen my Notepal A200 make 5 degrees+ of difference (less when turning the fans down, so the fans do seem to have a role).

As for the MSI Afterburner overlay issue, quite a few people have issues with it and Division 2. I solved mine by downloading a newer version of RTSS, separate from MSI Afterburner - though this was a while ago and the included RTSS version may have been updated since then. Some people say to turn stealth mode off. It could be down to the game's anti-cheat. There are quite a few topics discussing it online.

I did suspect something to do with the anti cheat but didn't want to make myself look foolish by mentioning it in case it was unrelated, I'll look into uninstalling and reinstalling RTSS to get the latest version and turning the stealth mode off to see if I can get the info visible when actually playing the game as opposed to having to tab out.
I am completely unfamiliar with undervolting in that the first time I had even heard the term was in the thread above. After taking a look at the guide I guess I should try -0.050v then decrease in 0.010 increments to see if there is a notable difference in cpu temp. I think if I can keep it below 90 Celsius the frame rate would be steady enough to play comfortably without the huge frame drops that come about with my CPU overheating. Bonus if after the clean and undervolting it sticks below 90 as I can then use a laptop stand with fans to keep it even cooler.
 
Feb 18, 2020
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I'm playing it on a g4560 2c/4t and it plays at above 45FPS.
If it uses a lot more cores/threads just because they are there it's just ridiculously bad coding...


If you use an external FPS limiter it will not always restrict the game from using a lot of CPU,it depends on the game engine some slow down and only use enough CPU to reach the FPS others will continue to run as fast as possible.

1. Run task manager and make sure that there isn't something else running that uses a lot of CPU sometimes the launcher can act up and use way too much CPU.
2.Use affinity from task manager on the division exe and restrict it to use less cores,go one or two less at a time until you hit your 45FPS limit.

The FPS limiter I am using is one built into the game, I believe when playing I had closed down uplay and everything other than the game in terms of applications, although I didn't delve into shutting down processes which I probably could do. Would restricting cores cause the CPU to run cooler, I guess if the game runs at a stable FPS with some disabled that would help my overheating issue.
 
Feb 18, 2020
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Of course if it uses less cores it will produce less heat.
Ok thanks I have a myriad of different things to try to get this game running smoothly, I think I'll start with cleaning the fans and reducing the cores first as they're the most simple options, if the issue persists I can then look to undervolt my CPU and get a raised laptop stand with fans.
 

Oussebon

Upstanding
Feb 17, 2020
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After taking a look at the guide I guess I should try -0.050v then decrease in 0.010 increments to see if there is a notable difference in cpu temp.
Pretty much.

You could try 100mv (0.1v) first and proceed in 20mv intervals, testing for stability each time, since it's likely it will take a decent undervolt. And only test for temp differences once you've found what's stable, not with each increment.

You shouldn't need to mess around with core affinities for gaming.
 
Feb 18, 2020
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Pretty much.

You could try 100mv (0.1v) first and proceed in 20mv intervals, testing for stability each time, since it's likely it will take a decent undervolt. And only test for temp differences once you've found what's stable, not with each increment.

You shouldn't need to mess around with core affinities for gaming.
Ok thanks for the advice, I'll use that as my starting point and adjust accordingly, I think really a drop of about 7-10 degrees is needed to run the game consistently so it might be a big ask but this will hopefully help
 
Feb 18, 2020
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Pretty much.

You could try 100mv (0.1v) first and proceed in 20mv intervals, testing for stability each time, since it's likely it will take a decent undervolt. And only test for temp differences once you've found what's stable, not with each increment.

You shouldn't need to mess around with core affinities for gaming.
Hi

I'm back from work and have been messing with the undervolt settings, first of all dropping it to -100mv dropped the CPU temps by about 7 degrees celsiuis which was nice as I can get it even lower as I proceed with the intervals, I think it spiked once above 90 but only the once and didn't thermal throttle once. But I did notice when doing the stress test there was power limit throttling, I assume this is the amount of power I allow my CPU to draw. How would I fix this, when plugged in charging surely the power limit should not be an issue for me?
 

Oussebon

Upstanding
Feb 17, 2020
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ut I did notice when doing the stress test there was power limit throttling, I assume this is the amount of power I allow my CPU to draw. How would I fix this,
You probably don't 'fix' it, as the CPU has a 45W TDP (or whatever your laptop maker configured it to, if different) and so is limited by that.

What the power throttling likely means is that the CPU is not running at its max boost clocks indefinitely because doing so would exceed the set power limits. Which is normal, and is what will happen if the CPU is both under heavy load and not busy throttling due to thermals instead. :)
 
Feb 18, 2020
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You probably don't 'fix' it, as the CPU has a 45W TDP (or whatever your laptop maker configured it to, if different) and so is limited by that.

What the power throttling likely means is that the CPU is not running at its max boost clocks indefinitely because doing so would exceed the set power limits. Which is normal, and is what will happen if the CPU is both under heavy load and not busy throttling due to thermals instead. :)

Ah got it, thanks so much for your help on this, I'll continue seeing how high I can get the undervolt on the stress tests then boot up the game and see if it has fixed my issues and report back.
 
Feb 18, 2020
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You probably don't 'fix' it, as the CPU has a 45W TDP (or whatever your laptop maker configured it to, if different) and so is limited by that.

What the power throttling likely means is that the CPU is not running at its max boost clocks indefinitely because doing so would exceed the set power limits. Which is normal, and is what will happen if the CPU is both under heavy load and not busy throttling due to thermals instead. :)
Well despite all the stress tests getting my CPU temp lower and lower I still cannot run the division 2, at least I now know my CPU overheating wasn't the reason the game ran like ass, it was just something else. On the plus side the game was only £2.50 so not a great deal of money wasted.
 

Oussebon

Upstanding
Feb 17, 2020
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What do you mean you can't run The Division 2? The issue before was that you could run it, but it would get stuttery after 10 mins or so.

What's it doing now, the same thing still?

I'd use MSI Afterburner to monitor CPU and GPU frequencies, and see whether those drop off at the points you start getting stutter.

There's no reason why your laptop shouldn't be able to run the game decently, certainly at medium settings.
 
Feb 18, 2020
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Sorry
What do you mean you can't run The Division 2? The issue before was that you could run it, but it would get stuttery after 10 mins or so.

What's it doing now, the same thing still?

I'd use MSI Afterburner to monitor CPU and GPU frequencies, and see whether those drop off at the points you start getting stutter.

There's no reason why your laptop shouldn't be able to run the game decently, certainly at medium settings.
Sorry I meant I was still having the same issues by I can't run it, weirdly enough if I lower the graphical settings in game from say medium to low it actually runs worse, as in unplayable from the off as opposed to running smooth then falling off. I checked the temperature and cpu usage and the temp was fairly reasonable not going about 70 degrees on the low setting as opposed to when it would hit 90+ on medium, but the cpu usage was really low, like 20-30%. Just a quick look at task manager though showed me the game was using the entire 7.99Gb of RAM which I am unsure if that was unusual or not. Running on medium even with a cooler temperature to reduce thermal throttling still had the same issues in that the game would drop frames severely after playing for a length of time and I'd also start getting audio bugs like pops.

I'd kind of gotten sick of trying to make it run and given up and resigned that I couldn't play the game but if you have any ideas I'm game
 

Oussebon

Upstanding
Feb 17, 2020
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I'd suggest specifically checking the frequencies of the CPU and GPU to see whether those drop in sync with performance dropping.

And check disk usage using task manage - does usage of the disk were the game is installed increase where performance drops? Is another process using it?

Also, the usual first port of call for a laptop playing a game poorly would be:
Windows power plan to high performance
Set Nvidia GPU to preferred graphics processor in Nvidia control panel
Set the Nvidia GPU to Prefer Maxinum Performance in the control panel.

Also is the game running in DX11 or DX12 mode? If DX12, try DX11.
 
Feb 18, 2020
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I'd suggest specifically checking the frequencies of the CPU and GPU to see whether those drop in sync with performance dropping.

And check disk usage using task manage - does usage of the disk were the game is installed increase where performance drops? Is another process using it?

Also, the usual first port of call for a laptop playing a game poorly would be:
Windows power plan to high performance
Set Nvidia GPU to preferred graphics processor in Nvidia control panel
Set the Nvidia GPU to Prefer Maxinum Performance in the control panel.

Also is the game running in DX11 or DX12 mode? If DX12, try DX11.
I'll give all of these a try later and report back, I'll try take screenshots of the figures such as temps and frequencies to give more detail, I'm reasonably sure my power plan is set to high performance and same with the Nvidia GPU settings too but I will double check.

It is just specifically this game my laptop has issues with not really any other games, assassin's creed odyssey is I imagine a similarly demanding game which I've never encountered an issue with which is why I was so sure it was the temperature of the CPU with it being CPU intensive but that doesn't seem to be the case.