Using efficiency cores 0-3/ 30fps/ 480p, and enabled power save mode on my phone (Galaxy S26+) which reduces its CPU to 70%. Games having been hitting BAT: 5W-8W / TMP 33 Celsius - 37 Celsius. Not sure if it’s actually made a real difference or placebo. Thoughts?
A few weeks ago, I picked up two external cooling fans for my S26+ to help manage heat while running games at higher settings.
They worked, and definitely kept temperatures down and performance high, but:
They’re bulky and inconvenient
Not ideal for portable or casual gaming sessions
Overall just not the cleanest rig
Have to stay plugged in
After some experimenting, I finally found settings that keeps my phone consistently between 29°C–35°C without using any external fans:
Cap DXVK to 30 FPS
Set Box64 preset to “Stability”
Limit processor affinity cores to either:
0,1,2,3
or 4,5,6,7 (depends on the game)
Testing Results:
Played Resident Evil 3 Remake for 30 minutes, stayed under 33°C
Played Crash Bandicoot 4 for 15 minutes, peaked around 35°C
Those two games easily can get my phone to 45°C in a few minutes at mid-high settings without those fans
Trade offs:
Reduced peak performance (lower FPS cap)
Some visual fidelity sacrifices (lowest in-game settings. Low resolution)
Not pushing hardware to its maximum capabilities, you know, what you paid for
But the benefits easily outweigh that (at least for me):
Much better thermal stability
No crashes during extended sessions
Consistent performance without thermal throttling
Less long term wear on internal components
Better battery longevity
No need for bulky external cooling accessories
Personally, I’ll take lower performance if it means I can game longer, more reliably, and keep my phone cool without extra attachments.
I have to remind myself it's a miracle you can even play these games at all on my phone. I remember when emulation PS1 games on a phone felt like witchcraft. The point is having fun, not stress testing your phone whenever you want to game.