Question 100C on i7 13700F

[LightXP]

Motherboard: z790m Aorus Elite (rev 1.0) - BIOS is on the F7 version (recently updated)
Memory: 4x16gb DDR5 Vulkan T-FORCE (5600Mhz)
Processor: i7 13700F
Cooler: Cougar Poseidon Elite ARGB 360mm AIO
Case: DeepCool Matrexx 50
Ventilation: AIO as intake on front in pull configuration, 2x120mm exhaust top and 1x120mm exhaust back.
Room Temperature: Around 31C


On idle I get about 45-50C, and around 70-80C around gaming (20~35% usage), but when I run Cinebench R23 my CPU immediately starts pulling 250W, sometimes even up to 270W, and my temps go to 100C in less than 5 seconds. Voltage seems to wander around 1.25V and 1.45V during heavy loads, pulling higher at the start and lower as it starts throlling more and more (frequency at max turbo usually shows around 5.1Ghz but by the end of the benchmark it's at 4.7Ghz or so).

I predict that some people will say my CPU cooler or case ventilation aren't the best, and while that's true I don't think it would make that much of a difference considering the absurd power consumption that I have right now. I have also found on other forums plenty of people with similar issues on the 13700K (mine is the non-K version) with better coolers, so I think the issue is that this CPU is just way too hot right now.

I have tried undervolting but unfortunately I didn't manage to do much about this. I tried many different settings such as setting Vcore Voltage to Adaptive and setting the Offset to something like -0.1V but there is no significant change in the voltage, temps and power draw. I tried changing the LLC and AC to lower specs and no significant change as well. I have also tried disabling the Multicore Enhancement feature in the BIOS and noticed no changes.

One thing that solves temps is obviously setting the PL2 to a lower wattage, such as 220w, but even then it gets quite hot and the cores are clearly capped at lower frequencies, so I lose performance. I'm out of ideas right now. This is not the end of the world for me since I mostly game on this CPU, but I really wish I could use all its capacity on 100% loads without throttling so much. Any ideas?

 

[Eximo]

That is odd for a locked CPU. Max stock Turbo is 220W, so that part makes sense. If you have relaxed those limits, then that is certainly going to result in higher temperatures and thermal throttling.

I agree that seeing thermal throttling on Intel CPUs is not uncommon, but I also wouldn't expect 80C with a gaming load and a 360mm radiator. Mid 60s seems to be more common.

Either that cooler isn't making great contact, or you do have some airflow issue.

 

[Lutfij]

Did you clear the CMOS after verifying that the BIOS was flashed to the latest version?

Motherboard: z790m Aorus Elite (rev 1.0) - BIOS is on the F7 version (recently updated)
The latest BIOS version listed on your motherboard's site;
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z790M-AORUS-ELITE-rev-10/support#support-dl-bios
is F8d, reflash to that version and see if the issue is resolved.

Pertaining to your case, you might want to take the front panel off and see if your temps improve when taxed with CineBench R23 running.

 

[LightXP]

That is odd for a locked CPU. Max stock Turbo is 220W, so that part makes sense. If you have relaxed those limits, then that is certainly going to result in higher temperatures and thermal throttling.

I agree that seeing thermal throttling on Intel CPUs is not uncommon, but I also wouldn't expect 80C with a gaming load and a 360mm radiator. Mid 60s seems to be more common.

Either that cooler isn't making great contact, or you do have some airflow issue.

Thank you for the reply!

If I revert everything in BIOS to default settings (power limits on Auto) it still pulls as much energy as it can. I guess I could set the power limit to 220W but then I don't get max turbo on all clocks.

As for ventilation, I can definitely improve on that area but even with all panels removed, I only get significant improvements on gaming workloads, because my GPU is the one that throws the most air into my system. On R23 I still get 100c with no front and side panels.

I am pretty sure the cooler has good contact but I might try changing that as a last resort (I don't wanna mess things up since I don't have much thermal paste left)

 

[LightXP]

Did you clear the CMOS after verifying that the BIOS was flashed to the latest version?

Motherboard: z790m Aorus Elite (rev 1.0) - BIOS is on the F7 version (recently updated)
The latest BIOS version listed on your motherboard's site;
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z790M-AORUS-ELITE-rev-10/support#support-dl-bios
is F8d, reflash to that version and see if the issue is resolved.

Pertaining to your case, you might want to take the front panel off and see if your temps improve when taxed with CineBench R23 running.

Thank you for replying!!

I did not clear the CMOS after updating to F7, but I did restore defaults. Is there a significant difference there? Also this newer F8d version doesn't seem to list any changes relating to that. Do you think it has a good chance of solving my issue? I just don't want to take unecessary steps, but I will do it if it's for a good reason

 

[Eximo]

Sounds more like the BIOS is configured aggressively by default and is pushing the 13700F well beyond Intel's specifications. I think you are just going to have to sit down and decide how much power you want it to use. MCE is a type of overclocking as well. (On my 10900F it had no impact either, the CPU clocks were hard wired for 5.2 Ghz single core only, and down from there)

 

[LightXP]

Sounds more like the BIOS is configured aggressively by default and is pushing the 13700F well beyond Intel's specifications. I think you are just going to have to sit down and decide how much power you want it to use. MCE is a type of overclocking as well. (On my 10900F it had no impact either, the CPU clocks were hard wired for 5.2 Ghz single core only, and down from there)

Yeah that's what I think as well. I think this motherboard is feeding it way more than it needs, but I can't change that in any way that I tried, other than limiting the power draw (PL2), which results in loss of performance.