7700k reaching 90°C+ at stock clocks

[Deadly Mak]

I'm pretty much getting 90°C+ on my stock 7700k when i play any Triple A graphic intensive games. On light games like league of legends it only reaches a max of 80-84°C.

Here's a picture of HW monitor after i finished a session of Ghost Recon Wildlands.

I'm using Cooler Master Hyper 212X as the CPU cooler.
Should i be worried?

 

[Pat Flynn]

Technically, no. it won't really harm the CPU as they can run up to 100 C (they throttle back at this point).

However, this is an indication of how poor the thermal interface material is between the silicon of the CPU, and its aluminum heat spreader that contacts your heatsink. I would double check that you applied enough thermal paste, and that you removed the plastic cover tape that went over the heatsink contact on the Hyper 212. The Hyper 212 should be able to keep that under 90 for sure, even while gaming.

Edit: Here's a great guide on how much to use:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermal-paste-heat-sink-heat-spreader,3600-6.html

 

[neieus]

Along with what was previously mentioned assuming your computer case has adequate air flow it's normal for the that CPU to run at a little higher temps.

https://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/2744-intel-i7-7700k-review-and-benchmark/page-4

 

[techgeek]

Did you just assemble this computer? Or has this behaviour just started after working for awhile?

One common mistake that builders (even some experienced builders) make is not removing the plastic film used to protect the heatsink base. Also make sure you've used the right screws/nuts/plates needed for your platform. I'm not familiar with this model of 212, but I know the EVO's have different mounting hardware for different platforms and you need to use the right ones or you could get subpar contact.

 

[zyh1987]

the Mobo temp is quite high, some sensor are reporting over 100c, that’s not good. Are you running any oc on your chip, if not, that’s an indication of poor case air flow. Make sure your case is placed in a well ventilated area and dusts are cleaned on a regular basis. It’s also recommended to have more than 2 case fan in (1 intake and 1 exhaust) in a system with powerful components.

 

[mdd1963]

Did you just assemble this computer? Or has this behaviour just started after working for awhile?

One common mistake that builders (even some experienced builders) make is not removing the plastic film used to protect the heatsink base. Also make sure you've used the right screws/nuts/plates needed for your platform. I'm not familiar with this model of 212, but I know the EVO's have different mounting hardware for different platforms and you need to use the right ones or you could get subpar contact.

My first guess, too....

 

[Deadly Mak]

Technically, no. it won't really harm the CPU as they can run up to 100 C (they throttle back at this point).

However, this is an indication of how poor the thermal interface material is between the silicon of the CPU, and its aluminum heat spreader that contacts your heatsink. I would double check that you applied enough thermal paste, and that you removed the plastic cover tape that went over the heatsink contact on the Hyper 212. The Hyper 212 should be able to keep that under 90 for sure, even while gaming.

Edit: Here's a great guide on how much to use:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermal-paste-heat-sink-heat-spreader,3600-6.html

Did you just assemble this computer? Or has this behaviour just started after working for awhile?

No, I didn't assemble the PC. I bought all the components at a local shop and they assembled it for me. I was there
when they assembled it. I remember when he applied the thermal paste, i felt like he applied too much paste(more than what you linked in the article). Didn't try to school him though because i have never assembled one myself. I also think he tried to manually spread it(not too sure about this one). I got this PC on march last year and it has been going to 90C on several occasions of gaming. I actually have a HW monitor image of my CPU temperature after i played some Witcher 3.

This was taken on last August so this was probably going on all the time.

Along with what was previously mentioned assuming your computer case has adequate air flow it's normal for the that CPU to run at a little higher temps.

https://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/2744-intel-i7-7700k-review-and-benchmark/page-4

I use Cooler Master MasterBox 5 if that makes any difference.

the Mobo temp is quite high, some sensor are reporting over 100c, that’s not good. Are you running any oc on your chip, if not, that’s an indication of poor case air flow. Make sure your case is placed in a well ventilated area and dusts are cleaned on a regular basis. It’s also recommended to have more than 2 case fan in (1 intake and 1 exhaust) in a system with powerful components.

I always thought it was faulty sensors. It was like this on day one and always showed certain parts of Mobo booting at around 110°C while other parts show a comfortable 30°C. I'm not doing any OC on this chip(as you can see in the above picture). Is there anyway to check if it's faulty sensor or a motherboard problem?

Currently MasterBox 5 comes with 1 exhaust and 1 intake. I actually got an extra fan when i bought the case. However it arrived after it was assembled so never got to use it. If i were to add the third fan, should it go as an exhaust or intake?

 

[techgeek]

I would take any motherboard sensor readings with a grain of salt when using a third party utility. These sensors may not be connected to anything, or haven't been corrected correctly. The only sensors I would trust are the core temps, maybe the temps for your HDD. For sensors located on the motherboard, I would look to the utility that came with the motherboard.

If you haven't done so already, I would remove the HSF and clean the heatspreader and HSF surface. Make sure that the protective film was removed. Use a small blob of TIM and don't spread, let the pressure of the HSF do that for you. While you have the HSF off, make sure the correct hardware for your platform was used during assembly.

What motherboard do you have? Sorry in advance if it was mentioned elsewhere.

 

[mdd1963]

recent versions of HWMonitor certainly have no issues getting temps from 200-series chipsets or from 7700K cpu.....

clean sink and heat spreader, make sure heatsink adequate, reapply quality paste in thin layer, secure heatsink evenly/firmly, make sure fan(s) turning

 

[Deadly Mak]

I would take any motherboard sensor readings with a grain of salt when using a third party utility. These sensors may not be connected to anything, or haven't been corrected correctly. The only sensors I would trust are the core temps, maybe the temps for your HDD. For sensors located on the motherboard, I would look to the utility that came with the motherboard.

If you haven't done so already, I would remove the HSF and clean the heatspreader and HSF surface. Make sure that the protective film was removed. Use a small blob of TIM and don't spread, let the pressure of the HSF do that for you. While you have the HSF off, make sure the correct hardware for your platform was used during assembly.

What motherboard do you have? Sorry in advance if it was mentioned elsewhere.

It's an ASUS PRIME Z270-P.
I need to check if the motherboard comes with some kind of software to monitor. So i guess over applied thermal paste is the reason of overheating. Will probably take it to the same place for maintenance and let them know this. Also since i have a 120mm fan, would it help? If so should i go intake or exhaust for the third fan?

Hopefully they should have removed the plastic, this guy has been doing this for years so it's hard for them to mess up.

Should i show them this picture

as reference? I will probably try do some stress test at the same place to check the temps(any software recommendation for that?)

recent versions of HWMonitor certainly have no issues getting temps from 200-series chipsets or from 7700K cpu.....

clean sink and heat spreader, make sure heatsink adequate, reapply quality paste in thin layer, secure heatsink evenly/firmly, make sure fan(s) turning

I have 1.34.0 version of HW monitor so it shouldn't be that outdated. I also have Msi afterburner and the CPU temps are near identical(1-3°C) difference.

 

[techgeek]

recent versions of HWMonitor certainly have no issues getting temps from 200-series chipsets or from 7700K cpu.....

clean sink and heat spreader, make sure heatsink adequate, reapply quality paste in thin layer, secure heatsink evenly/firmly, make sure fan(s) turning

Except for the core temps on the CPU, there is no standard measuring on motherboards. Typically system voltages and temps are measured by a chip known as a Super IO chip (Nuvoton being one such maker). These chips have multiple analog input channels, and digital input channels for fan RPMs. The circuitry connected to the analog channels is designed to have a K factor (correction factor) and isn't standard. There is a fair bit of math involved in converting a digital number into a scaled floating point number in the correct units (current, voltage, etc). Needless to say, each motherboard will likely have different K factors for each input. The inputs for the most part are general purpose, so on one motherboard A0 could be the 3.3V measure, and on another motherboard using the same Super IO chip, A0 could be the 12V measure.

So the short version is if HWInfo doesn't have the correct template for his motherboard, it may misidentify what the inputs are used for, and very likely not have the correct calibrations for each channel. Furthermore, not all the channels are likely to be used. These channels are usually easy to pick up since they don't fluctuate very much are are ridiculous values.

 

[Deadly Mak]

For sensors located on the motherboard, I would look to the utility that came with the motherboard.

I checked the motherboard box, i was unable to find any CD to install any software. Hopefully like you said the temperature should be because of incorrect template.

 

[Deadly Mak]

So i just downloaded OCCT and ran it for six and half minutes and there are my temperatures.

Before i get the thermal paste changed i would like to know what would be the ideal max temperature for a stock 7700k with Hyper 212X when you use a similar software for stress testing?

 

[techgeek]

Those are very high core temps, you are basically at the temperature where the CPU will throttle and lower it's frequency / voltage to protect itself.

What motherboard maker and model do you have?

 

[mdd1963]

You said you had an Asus Z270-P motherboard?

https://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/PRIME-Z270-P/HelpDesk_Download/

 

[mdd1963]

ANyone else have experience with typical temps on a 7700K using a Cooler Master Hyper 212X ? (I can only speak of Noctua's NH-D15, and temps are low-60's during Battlefield 1, w/MCE enabled, which runs all 4 cores at 4.5 GHz)

YOu might try disabling MCE in the BIOS/advanced chipset features until you get better cooling if it is enabled, as your current solution is overwhelmed with all cores at/near 4.5 GHz....

 

[Deadly Mak]

Those are very high core temps, you are basically at the temperature where the CPU will throttle and lower it's frequency / voltage to protect itself.

What motherboard maker and model do you have?

You said you had an Asus Z270-P motherboard?

https://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/PRIME-Z270-P/HelpDesk_Download/

Yes, i have an Asus Z270-P motherboard.

ANyone else have experience with typical temps on a 7700K using a Cooler Master Hyper 212X ? (I can only speak of Noctua's NH-D15, and temps are low-60's during Battlefield 1, w/MCE enabled, which runs all 4 cores at 4.5 GHz)

YOu might try disabling MCE in the BIOS/advanced chipset features until you get better cooling if it is enabled, as your current solution is overwhelmed with all cores at/near 4.5 GHz....

MCE was a thing for Kaby lake too? I thought it started out with 8th gen CPU. I'm currently out of town for a month (won't be able to access my desktop till May end) so i cannot check in the bios right now but looking at Wikipedia, it seems all core 7700k boost should 4.4 Ghz and HW monitor indeed seems to show 4.5 Ghz on all cores (don't know if at the same time though) so i will try to check in the bios when i return. Looking at the motherboard manual, it indeed seems to be an option.

Also if MCE was enabled, wouldn't it increase the voltage automatically? HWmonitor showed the voltage going to a max of 1.265 while gaming and surprisingly only 1.260 while using OCCT cpu stress test. What is the stock voltage for a 7700k(without MCE)?(I'm thinking it would be 1.230 looking at my above screenshots)

 

[techgeek]

Since this is an ASUS board, you can download Ai Suite to see what the other sensors are reading. The only reading I would trust in HWMonitor are the core temps. We already know these took to be too high in my opinion. In this case I would definitely look at something to do with the heatsink and how it's mated to your CPU.

 

[Deadly Mak]

Since this is an ASUS board, you can download Ai Suite to see what the other sensors are reading. The only reading I would trust in HWMonitor are the core temps. We already know these took to be too high in my opinion. In this case I would definitely look at something to do with the heatsink and how it's mated to your CPU.

Will install that software once i get back and update you. So do you recommend that "blob" method? I was wondering since the principle is once you mount the cooler, the pressure that the cooler applies will spread the thermal paste across the surface, can you actually pull the cooler back out to check if it was spread evenly across and mount it back without any consequence?

Also since i have a third spare 120mm fan, would you recommend it as intake or exhaust? Hopefully that might also help me with the cooling.

 

[mdd1963]

as HWMonitor screenshots only showed one core at 4500 MHz, I'd assume MCE was not enabled...but with those temps, you sure would not want it to be, not with that cooler. (Which many have commented in the past as the Hyper212 being marginal for a 7700K, btw, sorry)

FInd a Noctua model that fits your case....

 

[techgeek]

Since this is an ASUS board, you can download Ai Suite to see what the other sensors are reading. The only reading I would trust in HWMonitor are the core temps. We already know these took to be too high in my opinion. In this case I would definitely look at something to do with the heatsink and how it's mated to your CPU.

Will install that software once i get back and update you. So do you recommend that "blob" method? I was wondering since the principle is once you mount the cooler, the pressure that the cooler applies will spread the thermal paste across the surface, can you actually pull the cooler back out to check if it was spread evenly across and mount it back without any consequence?

Also since i have a third spare 120mm fan, would you recommend it as intake or exhaust? Hopefully that might also help me with the cooling.

I'm a firm believer in the pea method (or blob if you prefer), the pressure will spread it. You can also mash the heatsink down by hand and give it a twist or two which will move air pockets out to the edge. The first few heat cycles will help it spread too. As the TIM heats up the viscosity drops and the pressure of the heatsink will help spread the TIM.

I tend to not remove it once I've seated the heatsink. The issue with doing this is you could create air pockets in the TIM by removing it and then reseating it.

As for the fan I am assuming you intend to use it on your case. I have always been a proponent of positive air pressure or at the very least balanced air pressure. Meaning I like more intake fans than exhaust fans. I'm not sure it makes much of a difference though. The location of the fan will probably have more of an impact. ATX is designed to have the intake fans towards the bottom of the case at the front, exhaust fans at the back towards the top. That said as long as you don't have fans that are fighting against one another, then you should be fine.

 

[Deadly Mak]

I'm a firm believer in the pea method (or blob if you prefer), the pressure will spread it. You can also mash the heatsink down by hand and give it a twist or two which will move air pockets out to the edge. The first few heat cycles will help it spread too. As the TIM heats up the viscosity drops and the pressure of the heatsink will help spread the TIM.

I tend to not remove it once I've seated the heatsink. The issue with doing this is you could create air pockets in the TIM by removing it and then reseating it.

Well in that case, the only way i can test if it's applied correctly is through stress testing but i would then need to know how much improvement in temperature it will make when it's properly seated. I tried searching around online to see if anyone else has a stock 7700k with 212X but i couldn't find anything. I thinking a properly placed 212x should give me 80°C max when stress testing through OCCT. Do you think that's a fair assumption?(Ambient room temperature should be around 30°C).

As for the fan I am assuming you intend to use it on your case. I have always been a proponent of positive air pressure or at the very least balanced air pressure. Meaning I like more intake fans than exhaust fans. I'm not sure it makes much of a difference though. The location of the fan will probably have more of an impact. ATX is designed to have the intake fans towards the bottom of the case at the front, exhaust fans at the back towards the top. That said as long as you don't have fans that are fighting against one another, then you should be fine.

Currently my MasterBox 5 comes with an exhaust fan on top-rear end and an intake on bottom front. I think i would be able to put another 120mm on top of the existing intake. I don't think it would make a difference either but i guess it's certainly better than that fan doing nothing seated on a cupboard. I guess the other option i have is to put the fan on side or on top?

 

[mdd1963]

Those are very high core temps, you are basically at the temperature where the CPU will throttle and lower it's frequency / voltage to protect itself.

What motherboard maker and model do you have?

You said you had an Asus Z270-P motherboard?

https://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/PRIME-Z270-P/HelpDesk_Download/

Yes, i have an Asus Z270-P motherboard.

ANyone else have experience with typical temps on a 7700K using a Cooler Master Hyper 212X ? (I can only speak of Noctua's NH-D15, and temps are low-60's during Battlefield 1, w/MCE enabled, which runs all 4 cores at 4.5 GHz)

YOu might try disabling MCE in the BIOS/advanced chipset features until you get better cooling if it is enabled, as your current solution is overwhelmed with all cores at/near 4.5 GHz....

MCE was a thing for Kaby lake too? I thought it started out with 8th gen CPU. I'm currently out of town for a month (won't be able to access my desktop till May end) so i cannot check in the bios right now but looking at Wikipedia, it seems all core 7700k boost should 4.4 Ghz and HW monitor indeed seems to show 4.5 Ghz on all cores (don't know if at the same time though) so i will try to check in the bios when i return. Looking at the motherboard manual, it indeed seems to be an option.

Also if MCE was enabled, wouldn't it increase the voltage automatically? HWmonitor showed the voltage going to a max of 1.265 while gaming and surprisingly only 1.260 while using OCCT cpu stress test. What is the stock voltage for a 7700k(without MCE)?(I'm thinking it would be 1.230 looking at my above screenshots)

I've seen as high as 1.27 supplied on mine as well...(with MCE on, Asus Z270A-Prime)

 

[Deadly Mak]

I've seen as high as 1.27 supplied on mine as well...(with MCE on, Asus Z270A-Prime)

If you don't mind, can you check how much max voltage you get when it's off?