Question 100C Motherboard/CPU

[Zavage]

Hi!

My PC is almost 5 years old and I have never had any problems with it until recently.

Under load, my motherboard runs at 95C+ and hitting 100C at times. My CPU is around 85-95C+ under load. The temps were never this high before! It used to be around 70-75C MAX. I don't know when it happened or for how long it's been like this... I only checked the temps recently because my PC has frozen 2 times now. My GPU runs at perfectly fine temps, around 65C under load and around 30-35C idle.

Here are some images showing my temps:
Under load:

https://imgur.com/a/KeltKd3

View: https://imgur.com/a/KeltKd3


Here's showing it hits 100C:

https://imgur.com/a/VW0XU30

View: https://imgur.com/a/VW0XU30


So I am looking here for advice as I don't wanna get a new PC because my current one runs the games I play perfectly fine, the temps are the only problem...

I have never changed the thermal paste in the 5 years I have owned it, do you think that might be the reason? I have tried cleaning out the dust by blowing compressed air into the PC but it but didn't make a difference. I have also noticed a buzzing sound coming from the PC since a couple of months ago, I think it is the power supply. Can that have anything to do with it? Should I try to apply a new thermal paste or hand it in to service for them to look at? I am a complete "noob" when it comes to building PC and hardware as I have never done those things before.

Specs:
CPU: Intel i7 6700k
Motherboard: Asus Z170-P - DDR4
GPU: GTX 980TI
PSU: Corsair 650W

Please help me! Thank you!

tl;dr: Motherboard and CPU hitting really high temps (90-100C+), 5-year-old PC and never changed thermal paste, any idea?

 

[geofelt]

What is your cpu cooler?
If it is the stock intel cooler, then likely the cooler has beed dislodged a bit and needs to be remounted.
The minimum temperature should be in the 10-15c, range over ambient for most coolers.
For 23c. ambient, you are a bit high at 55c.

----------------how to mount the stock Intel cooler--------------

The stock Intel cooler can be tricky to install.
A poor installation will result in higher cpu temperatures.
If properly mounted, you should expect temperatures at idle to be 10-15c. over ambient.

To mount the Intel stock cooler properly, place the motherboard on top of the foam or cardboard backing that was packed with the motherboard.
The stock cooler will come with paste pre applied, it looks like three grey strips.
The 4 push pins should come in the proper position for installation, that is with the pins rotated in the opposite direction of the arrow,(clockwise)
and pulled up as far as they can go.
Take the time to play with the pushpin mechanism until you know how they work.

Orient the 4 pins so that they are exactly over the motherboard holes.
If one is out of place, you will damage the pins which are delicate.
Push down on a DIAGONAL pair of pins at the same time. Then the other pair.

When you push down on the top black pins, it expands the white plastic pins to fix the cooler in place.

If you do them one at a time, you will not get the cooler on straight.
Lastly, look at the back of the motherboard to verify that all 4 pins are equally through the motherboard, and that the cooler is on firmly.
This last step must be done, which is why the motherboard should be out of the case to do the job. Or you need a case with a opening that lets you see the pins.
It is possible to mount the cooler with the motherboard mounted in the case, but you can then never be certain that the push pins are inserted properly
unless you can verify that the pins are through the motherboard and locked.

If you should need to remove the cooler, turn the pins counter clockwise to unlock them.
You will need to clean off the old paste and reapply new if you ever take the cooler off.
Clean off old paste with alcohol and a lint free paper like a coffee filter.
Apply new paste sparingly. A small rice sized drop in the center will spread our under heat and pressure.
Too much paste is bad, it will act as an insulator.
It is hard to use too little.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Phaaze88]

5-year-old PC and never changed thermal paste, any idea?

Thermal paste dries up after some time, after which it's role as a bridge between the cpu IHS and the cpu cooler breaks.
Just remove the old paste and reapply new. Done.

As for the motherboard temp: Speccy is weird with that. There's no telling which sensor on the board that is referring to, or if it's even accurate for that matter.
Use hwinfo instead.

 

[Zavage]

What is your cpu cooler?
If it is the stock intel cooler, then likely the cooler has beed dislodged a bit and needs to be remounted.
The minimum temperature should be in the 10-15c, range over ambient for most coolers.
For 23c. ambient, you are a bit high at 55c.

----------------how to mount the stock Intel cooler--------------

The stock Intel cooler can be tricky to install.
A poor installation will result in higher cpu temperatures.
If properly mounted, you should expect temperatures at idle to be 10-15c. over ambient.

To mount the Intel stock cooler properly, place the motherboard on top of the foam or cardboard backing that was packed with the motherboard.
The stock cooler will come with paste pre applied, it looks like three grey strips.
The 4 push pins should come in the proper position for installation, that is with the pins rotated in the opposite direction of the arrow,(clockwise)
and pulled up as far as they can go.
Take the time to play with the pushpin mechanism until you know how they work.

Orient the 4 pins so that they are exactly over the motherboard holes.
If one is out of place, you will damage the pins which are delicate.
Push down on a DIAGONAL pair of pins at the same time. Then the other pair.

When you push down on the top black pins, it expands the white plastic pins to fix the cooler in place.

If you do them one at a time, you will not get the cooler on straight.
Lastly, look at the back of the motherboard to verify that all 4 pins are equally through the motherboard, and that the cooler is on firmly.
This last step must be done, which is why the motherboard should be out of the case to do the job. Or you need a case with a opening that lets you see the pins.
It is possible to mount the cooler with the motherboard mounted in the case, but you can then never be certain that the push pins are inserted properly
unless you can verify that the pins are through the motherboard and locked.

If you should need to remove the cooler, turn the pins counter clockwise to unlock them.
You will need to clean off the old paste and reapply new if you ever take the cooler off.
Clean off old paste with alcohol and a lint free paper like a coffee filter.
Apply new paste sparingly. A small rice sized drop in the center will spread our under heat and pressure.
Too much paste is bad, it will act as an insulator.
It is hard to use too little.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am pretty sure I do not have the intel stock cooler and I have an Antec CPU cooler. Do u still think it is the CPU cooler that has been dislodged? Also does the CPU cooler has anything to do with the motherboard temp or why is the motherboard so hot?

Thermal paste dries up after some time, after which it's role as a bridge between the cpu IHS and the cpu cooler breaks.
Just remove the old paste and reapply new. Done.

As for the motherboard temp: Speccy is weird with that. There's no telling which sensor on the board that is referring to, or if it's even accurate for that matter.
Use hwinfo instead.

hwinfo shows the same temp as speccy on my motherboard (90C+). I thought thermal paste only was for the CPU temp. Does it lower the temp on motherboard too or how do I get down that temp? 90-100C sounds very high for motherboard and I never use to have those high temps.

Do you think if I apply new thermal paste motherboard and cpu will have much better temps again?

 

[Phaaze88]

hwinfo shows the same temp as speccy on my motherboard (90C+). I thought thermal paste only was for the CPU temp. Does it lower the temp on motherboard too or how do I get down that temp? 90-100C sounds very high for motherboard and I never use to have those high temps.

Do you think if I apply new thermal paste motherboard and cpu will have much better temps again?

1)There are multiple sensors on the board. We couldn't tell you what it's correlating to - chipset, VRM, etc.
It could also be a malfunctioning sensor - it happens. If you haven't observed anything else unusual occurring, then there's probably nothing wrong.

2)At the very least, the cpu will be fine again.

3)How's the fan setup? Got a uniform front to back, bottom to top flow going on?

4)Remove the front, top, and side panels... does the mobo still display that number?

 

[Zavage]

The problem is now solved!

So I just wanna give an update in case someone has a similar problem.

I went to a gaming shop where I bought the PC and they first applied thermal paste which didn't fix the problem. Then they changed my old CPU cooler which was a water cooler to an Intel stock air cooler. That fixed the problem. So it was the CPU cooler that was the problem.

My temps are now great. CPU and Motherboard idle: 30-35C and around 50C on load. So it halved my temps and I'm really happy about it. The guys that did the job also didn't want any money they did it for free, really nice guys. (Yeah I know I probably could've changed the CPU fan myself but I didn't know for sure that was the problem and I'm really bad when it comes to hardware).

Also thanks for trying to help me!

 

[Phaaze88]

Then they changed my old CPU cooler which was a water cooler to an Intel stock air cooler.

You hadn't specified it was a liquid cooler...
The pumps on those things do wear down over time until it's inevitable failure.
Also, one of the cons to most liquid coolers is that they do not provide direct airflow over the motherboard's socket or VRMs like air coolers do.

 

[Zavage]

You hadn't specified it was a liquid cooler...
The pumps on those things do wear down over time until it's inevitable failure.
Also, one of the cons to most liquid coolers is that they do not provide direct airflow over the motherboard's socket or VRMs like air coolers do.

I should've said that, my bad. But thanks for all the info, I will keep all that in mind for the future!