Question ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E motherboard CPU red light comes on when gaming. (CPU reaches 100 degrees C)

[HeavyFoot]

Hello,

My PC is a little bit over a year old and I just recently noticed that when I play games, the red LED light on my motherboard will light up to indicate that there is something wrong with my CPU. After reading through some posts, I downloaded the CPU temp monitoring software HWiNFO to monitor my CPU temperature. Surprisingly, whenever the red light lights up on my motherboard, my CPU temperature reaches 100 degrees C / 212 F. However, my PC doesn't shut down automatically like others are saying it will to prevent the CPU from being damaged by high temps if I just keep playing the game and ignore the red light and the "high temperature". So it made me wonder if the software is giving me the wrong reading. I opened the side panel of my case to see if it was really that hot, and it didn't feel that hot when I touched both my liquid cooler and my CPU with my hand. They were really warm, but definitely not 100 degrees kind of burning hot. I have also reinstalled my RAMs to solve the issue with the red light. At this point, I don't know what is causing the red light to light up, and it only lights up when I play games, assuming the PC is under some heavy workload with the games. The funny thing is, some of the games that I consider not demanding for my PC specs still trigger the red light on my motherboard. My CPU idles at around 38 C - 45 C / 100 F - 113 F. I am not a hardcore gamer and haven't really played games with my PC for a while and now this happened. Thanks for any help and suggestions in advance!

My PC specs:
Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E
CPU: Intel i7-10700K
GPU: Nvidia 3080
CPU cooling: MSI MAG CORE LIQUID 240R 240MM liquid cooler
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR4-3200
PSU: 850 Watt- Corsair RM850X - 80 Gold fully modular

 

[Koekieezz]

Hello,

My PC is a little bit over a year old and I just recently noticed that when I play games, the red LED light on my motherboard will light up to indicate that there is something wrong with my CPU. After reading through some posts, I downloaded the CPU temp monitoring software HWiNFO to monitor my CPU temperature. Surprisingly, whenever the red light lights up on my motherboard, my CPU temperature reaches 100 degrees C / 212 F. However, my PC doesn't shut down automatically like others are saying it will to prevent the CPU from being damaged by high temps if I just keep playing the game and ignore the red light and the "high temperature". So it made me wonder if the software is giving me the wrong reading. I opened the side panel of my case to see if it was really that hot, and it didn't feel that hot when I touched both my liquid cooler and my CPU with my hand. They were really warm, but definitely not 100 degrees kind of burning hot. I have also reinstalled my RAMs to solve the issue with the red light. At this point, I don't know what is causing the red light to light up, and it only lights up when I play games, assuming the PC is under some heavy workload with the games. The funny thing is, some of the games that I consider not demanding for my PC specs still trigger the red light on my motherboard. My CPU idles at around 38 C - 45 C / 100 F - 113 F. I am not a hardcore gamer and haven't really played games with my PC for a while and now this happened. Thanks for any help and suggestions in advance!

My PC specs:
Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E
CPU: Intel i7-10700K
GPU: Nvidia 3080
CPU cooling: MSI MAG CORE LIQUID 240R 240MM liquid cooler
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR4-3200
PSU: 850 Watt- Corsair RM850X - 80 Gold fully modular

that temperature is real hot even using liquid cooler, you might want to repaste using a good paste like Gelid GC Extreme, Arctic MX4, Kingpin KPX, and Noctua NT H1 or H2, and check the mounting on the cpu is it tight enough.

 

[Phaaze88]

It's not designed to shut off as soon as it hits 100C. It actually has to sit there for a certain period of time to trigger a shut down.
If the cpu throttles down successfully, that critical temperature timer resets.

CPU cooling: MSI MAG CORE LIQUID 240R 240MM liquid cooler

These things are trash.

IF it is possible, mount the radiator in your PC like the following image:

Spoiler

If the above is not possible, or does not resolve the problem, then, if possible, return the cooler and get your money back. Do not even try to replace it with another Coreliquid R.

 

[HeavyFoot]

that temperature is real hot even using liquid cooler, you might want to repaste using a good paste like Gelid GC Extreme, Arctic MX4, Kingpin KPX, and Noctua NT H1 or H2, and check the mounting on the cpu is it tight enough.

Thanks for replying. HWiNFO gave me readings of 100 degrees and the indicator red light for the CPU on my motherboard comes on. But when I try to feel the temperature with my hand, both the radiator and my CPU don't feel that hot at all, definitely not 100 degrees. Do you think is it really the CPU temp that's triggering the indicator to light up or it's something else? What's weird is when I am in-game, the CPU temp jumps straight to 100 degrees and as soon as I pause the game or close the game, the temp drops right away to 70-60 and then back to the idle temp of 45 degrees. I don't know what is causing this.

 

[HeavyFoot]

It's not designed to shut off as soon as it hits 100C. It actually has to sit there for a certain period of time to trigger a shut down.
If the cpu throttles down successfully, that critical temperature timer resets.


These things are trash.

IF it is possible, mount the radiator in your PC like the following image:

Spoiler

If the above is not possible, or does not resolve the problem, then, if possible, return the cooler and get your money back. Do not even try to replace it with another Coreliquid R.

Okay, I'll try to mount it this way. If it doesn't work, what other CPU cooler do you recommend?

 

[Phaaze88]

That's a bit hard to answer without specifics about the chassis, but:
-avoid Coreliquid R, RH, C, and P. Fractal Design also has their Lumen lineup with the same design.
-avoid Kraken M22.
-Arctic's Liquid Freezer IIs are good, but the thicker radiators from the usual(38mm Vs 27-30mm) can cause clearance issues. Check chassis specs!
That's about the worst you'd have to watch out or check for.

 

[HeavyFoot]

That's a bit hard to answer without specifics about the chassis, but:
-avoid Coreliquid R, RH, C, and P. Fractal Design also has their Lumen lineup with the same design.
-avoid Kraken M22.
-Arctic's Liquid Freezer IIs are good, but the thicker radiators from the usual(38mm Vs 27-30mm) can cause clearance issues. Check chassis specs!
That's about the worst you'd have to watch out or check for.

I see. Thanks a lot for the help!

 

[Nighthawk117]

Hello,

My PC is a little bit over a year old and I just recently noticed that when I play games, the red LED light on my motherboard will light up to indicate that there is something wrong with my CPU. After reading through some posts, I downloaded the CPU temp monitoring software HWiNFO to monitor my CPU temperature. Surprisingly, whenever the red light lights up on my motherboard, my CPU temperature reaches 100 degrees C / 212 F. However, my PC doesn't shut down automatically like others are saying it will to prevent the CPU from being damaged by high temps if I just keep playing the game and ignore the red light and the "high temperature". So it made me wonder if the software is giving me the wrong reading. I opened the side panel of my case to see if it was really that hot, and it didn't feel that hot when I touched both my liquid cooler and my CPU with my hand. They were really warm, but definitely not 100 degrees kind of burning hot. I have also reinstalled my RAMs to solve the issue with the red light. At this point, I don't know what is causing the red light to light up, and it only lights up when I play games, assuming the PC is under some heavy workload with the games. The funny thing is, some of the games that I consider not demanding for my PC specs still trigger the red light on my motherboard. My CPU idles at around 38 C - 45 C / 100 F - 113 F. I am not a hardcore gamer and haven't really played games with my PC for a while and now this happened. Thanks for any help and suggestions in advance!

My PC specs:
Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E
CPU: Intel i7-10700K
GPU: Nvidia 3080
CPU cooling: MSI MAG CORE LIQUID 240R 240MM liquid cooler
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR4-3200
PSU: 850 Watt- Corsair RM850X - 80 Gold fully modular

That bloody cooler The amount of posts that mention the MSI Mag Core Liquid AIO. If you've got the latest version of HWiNFO then I doubt it's giving you inaccurate readings. Red lights on your motherboard are also a bad sign. I've never experimented with it but I think the thermal cut out was disabled on my board by default so I wouldn't put all my faith in it.

Can I ask how you've mounted the cooler in your case? Unfortunately it sounds like a problem with the pump to me. Did you check the pipes on the AIO when you took the side off, was one of them hotter than the other?