OCCT is a nice free piece of software to analyze issues, which has tests for both CPU and GPU that can be used to help analyze potential heat issues during PC usage.

Download, run, and familiarize yourself with the software and start your burn tests. For CPU: Normally a testing period one to two hours is needed, particularly for the people running AIO or custom water cooling, as such systems will not reach peak temperature until all the water in the system is at its optimum.

Modern CPUs will handle up to 80-90 degrees without taking damage, but it does not mean that they will be able to perform at that temperature. Error rates are exponential with temperature, along with boost clock speeds. If your CPU is above 60 C after one to two hours of testing, then there is clearly a heat issue present. If this happens, make sure that you clean out any and ALL dust from your PC, including fans and radiators, using compressed air cans with dry air. You generally need to clean your PC for dust every one or two months, especially if you have pets like cats and dogs, or you smoke in the room with your PC.

If the temperature issue continues, consider dismounting your cooling solution and cleaning the chip surface and cooler face, applying some fresh cooling paste and then test again. If the heating issue continues, then it seems that your cooling solution is not up to par with the power consumption on the processor. Two solutions are possible: Firstly, under-volt your CPU allowing it to draw less power and therefore produce less heat, as this will ofter allow the CPU to run higher boost frequencies and therefore gain performance. The second solution is to buy a better cooling system. AIOs are a great solution providing the radiator and airflow matches the heat production of the CPU.

This is OCCT running a CPU burn test at 100% load. Notice how the temperature nearly isn’t affected even though the baseload goes from ~30 % to 100%. This is how a very well configured, clean PC with tuned cooling fan profiles can be set up to run. Notice how the GPU temperature drops when the test starts because the case fans start circulating more cool air through the case.

For the GPU, it’s the same thing except they run better at high temperatures because of differences in architecture and the nature of the calculations. It is not uncommon to have GPUs run just fine at the 80 C to low 90 C point. But in general, you still want to see the temperature peak at about 65 to 70 C just to make sure the conditions are optimal. Now, taking apart a GPU to apply fresh cooling paste is not a job for the faint-hearted, as there are a LOT of screws and bits to manage, so I recommend finding a good video guide with someone like Linus Tech Tips, JayzTwoCents or Gamers Nexus, for example.

I really hope this helps, as for the past few years, we haven’t seen issues from our side with rFactor2 which wasn’t related to heating or poor network configuration. We are always on hand and have been able to help and solve issues, and therefore there is a huge chance that you will too, just by following these simple steps. With experience since 2013, we can safely say heating issues always were and still is the number one reason for rFactor2 problems, especially disconnects during long races.

(PS: And your PC will run much faster in general, because of this, it will love you again :)