AMD FX-8120 overheating issue

[marodelic]

My CPU is constantly overheating. I have a cooler that looks kind of like a Hyper 212 EVO Turbo but has no company name or even a model number on it, with a fan on one side of it. The case has good airflow and nice cable management, gets cleaned every month or so and every time it's cleaned the CPU gets new thermal paste, so those definitely aren't an issue. Idle temps are around 45° and 60°, and under load they hit the Tj. Max of 90°, making the system crash (either turn off, hard freeze or rarely restart). It doesn't even take that much to get to a crash: my sister turns on Paladins: COTR and it crashes after 20 seconds in-game, and it's not rare for it to crash because of Chrome!

I really don't know what to do anymore, maybe get water cooling, maybe get a better aftermarket cooler, maybe delid the CPU and put liquid metal in... Since the summer days are coming I most likely won't even be able to turn the damn thing on, so I want to fix this ASAP.

Specs:
AMD FX-8120 (stock)
ATI Radeon HD 4870 Sapphire 1GB (will be upgrading to a 1050Ti if I fix the CPU)
Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 motherboard
8GB DDR3 RAM

 

[CountMike]

A cooler like 212 evo should be able to handle 8120 at stock without problems. You better check mounting and paste but also check CPU (core) voltage, it may be shooting too high.

 

[marodelic]

A cooler like 212 evo should be able to handle 8120 at stock without problems. You better check mounting and paste but also check CPU (core) voltage, it may be shooting too high.

The cooler is seated properly with a healthy serving of paste. I went into the bios of the motherboard and lowered the voltage by 0.150V, anywhere below that and my system crashes. The temperatures still get too high for my liking, idling at 35°-40° and under load they hit 87°. I even got a literal fan pointed at the (open) case, and it can still hit up to 85°! I was considering water cooling, but I only have space for a 120 mil AIO which I don't think is really worth it (I would drill ventilation and screw holes for a 240 mil in my case if i had space for it).

 

[CountMike]

Try this: at high and prolonged load, touch your cooler and it's pipes, if its hot to touch, your connection to CPU is good but cooler is not adequate. Than another fan in push - pull config would help a lot. Also use AMD Overdrive for more accurate readings.

 

[marodelic]

Try this: at high and prolonged load, touch your cooler and it's pipes, if its hot to touch, your connection to CPU is good but cooler is not adequate. Than another fan in push - pull config would help a lot. Also use AMD Overdrive for more accurate readings.

It ain't hot, but it's pretty warm. I'm going to try and get another fan in the case, if the load temps don't drop to at least 70° I'm either getting an AIO cooler or getting a new case (which will be hard since I have 300$ and I still need to upgrade the GPU). Any suggestions on that?

 

[CountMike]

Original Bulldozer 8 core were know for high temps so that should be expected. May not need water cooling, my 8360 was hitting 5GHz under CM 612 evo cooler just fine. If your case has space for a 120mm fan at back you could also use a WC like CM 120 http://www.coolermaster.com/cooling/cpu-liquid-cooler/masterliquid-120/ to mount it's radiator instead. Or any single rad cooler.

 

[Impulsek]

I know this is an old thread but just wanted to chim in as i have saw this happen alot on fx chips with overheating issues. Obviously use as many 120 or 140 mm case fans as possible to keep air flowing good. Yes the front drive bays in some cases if yours has one can and most like will block alot of intake air for front intake case fans...either remove them if possible or remember a dremel tool is your friend Anyways the real issue here that gets overlooked alot is the turbo feature on fx chips..if you notice and especially true of the 8 core chips...their base clock and turbo clock is pretty significant....meaning the higher the clock most times the more power usage/consumption (vcore) being upped or used. For example a fx 8120 chip of mine....which all chips arent created equal and will vary...runs at 1.35 to 1.41 vcore using turbo. If i go into the bios and disable turbo yes i have a lower base clock but my voltage is dropped significantly to 1.1 to 1.5 and that means cooler temps. So if you are struggling as i was just disable turbo and monitor temps and go back into the bios and so a mild OC til you hit that sweet spot with clock/power/temps.