[SOLVED] Passive or Active cooling for Windows power management for CPU? (4790k) (long read)

[danny009]

Should I choose passive or active for my i7 4790k cpu to cool down even further? stock cooler without overclocking as far as I know. Its in the Windows power management window, says passive "slows down cpu before increasing fan speed" and active is "increase fan speed before slowing down processor" which one is more effective to reduce the heat of my CPU? Its Haswell so its known for its temp issues, My room is in fairly acceptable temperature not too hot not too cool either, and I clean my dust inside the case every few months.

My goal is to play games like Witcher 3, upcoming Cyberpunk2077 in pretty low in game graphics settings but in higher frame rate somewhere like in 40-50fps if possible. I will be reducing everything to low or very low except texture quality to Medium, AA is set to FXAA from NVIDIA control panel and turned off in game, within some Detail Setting to mid if there is any.

I'm playing games since years now with CPU reduced from that management panel, created different profile for all games I play and its pain in the neck, I plan to "let it go" a bit but while protecting the cpu lifespan still. For games like The Division 2 I literally played in a potato graphics with 1280x720p 25fps AND IT STILL reached up to 55c'ish. What makes Haswell cpus overheat that bad even on YouTube watching a 720p60 video increases to 47-52c. This may sound normal but abnormal to me and bothers me so much.

Interesting fact is I can render 1080p30 video in Sony Vegas pro 15 in a constant 46c with a 28min video. Rendering takes like 14 minute and NEVER reaches above the 46c, with the power management profile enabled (min %10 - max %35) is this normal? I mean its good for me but I thought rendering content is a heavier task than playing games. so there is that I found it interesting.

should I choose Passive for rendering (1080p30)
should I choose Active for rendering (1080p30)
should I choose Passive for gaming
should I choose Active for gaming

I'm completely unable to upgrade my pc hardware especially nowadays with the virus going on. My specs below:

4790K 4.0Ghz with stock air cooler (HT turned off from BIOS as its increases heat in large levels)
16GB DDR3 RAM dual channel
GTX 1050 Ti 4GB with fan speed increased to %52 to further reduce GPU heat whenever possible, possibly more but I'm kinda worried about fan lifespan
Windows 10

Thank you, any tips and ideas are welcome

 

[danny009]

I noticed there is a "Power Limit" slider in MSI Afterburner, should I lower a bit? its there to reduce heat of the GPU by limiting its power? Its currently at %100 by default, I already increased fan speed however sometimes that is not enough in modern games. Would there somekind warranty error if I change that slider? Only thing I know about warranty service that I shouln't edit BIOS voltage values shopkeeper told me it may break the warranty. Is this true?

 

[danny009]

UPDATE: I have good news, looks like my years old CPU overheating issue is now finally solved, I switched to Power Saving instead of my custom power profiles/high performance, and now Witcher 3 in mid settings in 50fps plays without heavy fps drops and more importantly, temperature of my CPU stays below 50c even in 50fps, before this, I wasn't even able to play in 30fps due to high temp of the CPU which were leads me to the lifespan worries. I have absolutely ZERO idea what this specific power plan does, its power saving but how exactly? It all have the same power options in the plan, just like High performance, I tested it with same both %s, same percents in high performance leads to massive jump in temp however with power saving it stays below 50c, computer must be doing something else in the background to reduce the heat.

In any case, temps are good now in my taste, sometimes actual fixes are a click away just like in real life. I will update this post if anything else go wrong again.

 

[danny009]

UPDATE2: Nope, spoke too soon, upon further testing in Witcher 3 and Battlefield 5, CPU temp reached to 55c-60c again. Man what a mess, I was really hoping for 50fps which it did, for some minutes then it jumped into high temps again. I'm switching back to my custom power profiles until I get a better cooler for my CPU.

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