Question Core i5-2400 reaching 85°C under 100% load while playing a demanding game

wrathofliom63

Honorable
Aug 5, 2018
62
1
10,545
Hello everyone!
I have an Intel Core i5-2400. Whenever I play a demanding game for it like Assassins Creed Unity, it uses nearly 100% of the cpu, aka full load, and the temperature reaches about 85°C.

Note that I haven't changed the thermal paste in 5-6 years (could be a bit more) because I never felt the need to.

Is it finally time for me to change the thermal paste or are these temperatures fine? Or could this be another problem?

Thanks.
 

wrathofliom63

Honorable
Aug 5, 2018
62
1
10,545
You didn't say whether those temps are a new development.

Don't know if your fans are spinning at all.

My thermal paste is 2 months short of 7 years old, with no problems.

That's my bad. I never cared enough about temperatures, I just noticed them while I was monitoring my GPU temps, because again, there was no need for me to check the temps, everything worked perfectly, but I've also read that this cpu throttles at 80C+, and in other places I've read the exact opposite.

I'm fairly certain that fan spins. I've occasionally opened up my pc case while it's on and I remember seeing it spin.

Will changing my thermal paste even make a difference? opinion?
 

KyaraM

Admirable
Thermal paste can degrade over time, so it might be that. This CPU is quite the hot head to begin with iirc. However, 85 under full load isn't critical yet. A little high maybe, but not really an issue. My 12700K easily gets to 80°C and it has a much better cooler. Personally, I would replace the CPU by now, though. You can get a 12100 with a good B660 board and 16GB RAM for under 300€ bucks nowadays, and you don't even need a cooler with that CPU if you go boxed; the Intel cooler is more than enough for it. That's quite a good price for a system that will run circles around yours and will be enough for your GPU to not get limited.
 
I'm fairly certain that fan spins. I've occasionally opened up my pc case while it's on and I remember seeing it spin.

Will changing my thermal paste even make a difference? opinion?

I think that is a Sandy Bridge processor and will throttle itself rather than self destruct and I'd expect the throttle temp is above 85, but I don't know where exactly.

You say "fairly certain that fan spins". Your entire PC has exactly 1 fan?? Not good if true.

No telling if a change of paste would help, but it's worth a try. Remounting a stock Intel cooler that you likely have is an exercise in frustration.

While you are inside the case, make sure all fans do in fact spin and are free of junk/dust.
 

wrathofliom63

Honorable
Aug 5, 2018
62
1
10,545
Thermal paste can degrade over time, so it might be that. This CPU is quite the hot head to begin with iirc. However, 85 under full load isn't critical yet. A little high maybe, but not really an issue. My 12700K easily gets to 80°C and it has a much better cooler. Personally, I would replace the CPU by now, though. You can get a 12100 with a good B660 board and 16GB RAM for under 300€ bucks nowadays, and you don't even need a cooler with that CPU if you go boxed; the Intel cooler is more than enough for it. That's quite a good price for a system that will run circles around yours and will be enough for your GPU to not get limited.

I do plan on upgrading, but due to some reasons I have to work with what I have for a bit of time, so I'm trying to be careful that it survives till then. (a year or two max.)

That's why though I don't have any problem with temperature reaching 85°C, I'm worried that it'll shorten its lifespan by a major margin.

Where I live, its not even summer yet. In summer, the room temp can go very high, currently it's not that hot inside (we don't use heaters), and the cpu still reaches that high. (in Asia)

That's why I wanna have the optimal experience with what I got, without worrying about shortening the lifespan.
 

Tac 25

Estimable
Jul 25, 2021
1,391
421
3,890
clean your fan including the heatsink, remove dust. If it was not changed for years, also change the thermal paste.

have a Sandy Bridge pc as well, and temps never reach that high. Highest is around 60-70 for cpu cores during heavy gaming.
also using just the stock cooler, but I make sure it's cleaned every once in awhile, so there's no dust buildup in the heatsink.
 

wrathofliom63

Honorable
Aug 5, 2018
62
1
10,545
I think that is a Sandy Bridge processor and will throttle itself rather than self destruct and I'd expect the throttle temp is above 85, but I don't know where exactly.

You say "fairly certain that fan spins". Your entire PC has exactly 1 fan?? Not good if true.

No telling if a change of paste would help, but it's worth a try. Remounting a stock Intel cooler that you likely have is an exercise in frustration.

While you are inside the case, make sure all fans do in fact spin and are free of junk/dust.
I meant "that" fan, I was referring to the cpu fan with "that." My pc has a case fan, cpu fan, and the gpu fan. so 3 fans.

Remounting the cooler.. yeah. about that. Note that I have NEVER changed thermal paste before, should I see a tutorial and do it myself or get someone experienced to do it? (like going in a repair shop or something of that sort)

Ive recently cleaned my pc, but I never cleaned the heatsink though, which I'll be sure to do so when my ordered thermal paste arrives.
 

wrathofliom63

Honorable
Aug 5, 2018
62
1
10,545
clean your fan including the heatsink, remove dust. If it was not changed for years, also change the thermal paste.

have a Sandy Bridge pc as well, and temps never reach that high. Highest is around 60-70 for cpu cores during heavy gaming.
also using just the stock cooler, but I make sure it's cleaned every once in awhile, so there's no dust buildup in the heatsink.
Thanks! I'll do it all in one-go when the thermal paste I ordered arrives.
 

Tac 25

Estimable
Jul 25, 2021
1,391
421
3,890
@wrathofliom63

you're welcome.

make it a priority to remove all the dust from the heatsink. Over time, the built up dust can become conductive and cause some bad things there.

I had one pc die from overheat in years ago, because the heatsink and other parts were entirely clogged with dust. Which is why I'm very careful of dust now. LOL
 

wrathofliom63

Honorable
Aug 5, 2018
62
1
10,545
@wrathofliom63

you're welcome.

make it a priority to remove all the dust from the heatsink. Over time, the built up dust can become conductive and cause some bad things there.

I had one pc die from overheat in years ago, because the heatsink and other parts were entirely clogged with dust. Which is why I'm very careful of dust now. LOL
Oh God-

You gave me a new fear too for the future now lmao
 
I meant "that" fan, I was referring to the cpu fan with "that." My pc has a case fan, cpu fan, and the gpu fan. so 3 fans.

Remounting the cooler.. yeah. about that. Note that I have NEVER changed thermal paste before, should I see a tutorial and do it myself or get someone experienced to do it? (like going in a repair shop or something of that sort)

Ive recently cleaned my pc, but I never cleaned the heatsink though, which I'll be sure to do so when my ordered thermal paste arrives.

I guess you've already ordered the paste.

There are video tutorials out there. Intel used to have one that lasted about 8 minutes. You might find something on youtube. The stock Intel cooler has 4 push pins, one on each corner of the cooler. It's easy to get only 3 of the 4 locked down and think that you've got all 4 locked down. It's deceptive. If only 3 are locked down, your new paste is pointless. It takes quite a bit of pressure to lock them.

You might even have to remove the motherboard to confirm you did it right.

Repair shop? Maybe, but how many oats are you going to buy for a very old horse.....when it might not help at all?

If you take the cooler off and can't get it back on correctly by yourself, you are forced to a repair shop I guess. Fifty bucks minimum?

Maybe don't change anything and hope it lasts till you can rebuild?

No telling how much it will help as no one knows what temps were years ago. You may have other issues.
 
Last edited:

Tac 25

Estimable
Jul 25, 2021
1,391
421
3,890
Oh God-

You gave me a new fear too for the future now lmao

that time I was very new to pc's, and that pc died simply because I did not know pc's had to be cleaned. The exhaust was literally blocked with dust, making the pc unable to expel hot air, so the overheat happened.

for sure, your pc is still far from reaching that point. :)
but I do repeat, make sure you clean the heatsink properly.

Sandy bridge is really old now, but I still take good care of mine, i7-2600K still plays many playstation 4 games at medium settings just fine.
have fun gaming.
 

wrathofliom63

Honorable
Aug 5, 2018
62
1
10,545
I guess you've already ordered the paste.

There are video tutorials out there. Intel used to have one that lasted about 8 minutes. You might find something on youtube. The stock Intel cooler has 4 push pins, one on each corner of the cooler. It's easy to get only 3 of the 4 locked down and think that you've got all 4 locked down. It's deceptive. If only 3 are locked down, your new paste is pointless. It takes quite a bit of pressure to lock them.

You might even have to remove the motherboard to confirm you did it right.

Repair shop? Maybe, but how many oats are you going to buy for a very old horse.....when it might not help at all?

If you take the cooler off and can't get it back on correctly by yourself, you are forced to a repair shop I guess. Fifty bucks minimum?

Maybe don't change anything and hope it lasts till you can rebuild?

No telling how much it will help as no one knows what temps were years ago. You may have other issues.
fifty bucks? might be like that in usa or something but for that money I can legit get something like an i7 3770 (which would be a perfect match for my gtx 1050ti)

if I'm forced to a repair shop, max it'll be is 2 to 3USD.

about the push pins, is there no way to tell if you haven't got one pin fully down? like, if I've only got 3 out of 4 pins down, is there no way of knowing that I'm missing one?
 
if I've only got 3 out of 4 pins down, is there no way of knowing that I'm missing one?

Yes, there is a way.

Remove the motherboard and look at the back side to confirm that all 4 of the pins have been pushed all the way through and are properly locked on the back side of the board.

They also supposedly make a clicking noise when pushed far enough to lock. Maybe you will be confident you heard the click. Maybe not.
 

wrathofliom63

Honorable
Aug 5, 2018
62
1
10,545
Yes, there is a way.

Remove the motherboard and look at the back side to confirm that all 4 of the pins have been pushed all the way through and are properly locked on the back side of the board.

They also supposedly make a clicking noise when pushed far enough to lock. Maybe you will be confident you heard the click. Maybe not.
OH, thanks.

knowing me ill be in a super quiet environment and rely on hearing a click.

I've never done this before and I don't wanna mess something else up by removing the motherboard
 

KyaraM

Admirable
I do plan on upgrading, but due to some reasons I have to work with what I have for a bit of time, so I'm trying to be careful that it survives till then. (a year or two max.)

That's why though I don't have any problem with temperature reaching 85°C, I'm worried that it'll shorten its lifespan by a major margin.

Where I live, its not even summer yet. In summer, the room temp can go very high, currently it's not that hot inside (we don't use heaters), and the cpu still reaches that high. (in Asia)

That's why I wanna have the optimal experience with what I got, without worrying about shortening the lifespan.
Ah, I get not being able to upgrade yet, haha. I was in that same boat until recently, though at least replacement happened within 5-6 years, not 10. About the temperatures in summer, I got experience with room temperatures close to or above 30°C myself. It can be scary. The question here is, is that average temperature, or maximum peak? Should have asked that before, on second thought... short peaks aren't that bad. If it is the average, though, that's when summer temperatures will become an issue. Btw, CPUs can generally run up to 100°C with little issue. For Intel chips, that's when most start throttling. If temperatures start to exceed that threshold, the computer shuts down to prevent damage. I don't think that a couple months in bad conditions would kill off your CPU immediately if you are careful. If you don't mind the performance loss, you could try lowering clock speeds in BIOS a little by setting the multiplier to a lower number. Undervolting a little, eg by an offset of -0.05, will likely help a lot as well is the mainboard allows it. In all honesty, though, I have little experience with such old CPUs, so someone else would be a better advisor here.
 

wrathofliom63

Honorable
Aug 5, 2018
62
1
10,545
Ah, I get not being able to upgrade yet, haha. I was in that same boat until recently, though at least replacement happened within 5-6 years, not 10. About the temperatures in summer, I got experience with room temperatures close to or above 30°C myself. It can be scary. The question here is, is that average temperature, or maximum peak? Should have asked that before, on second thought... short peaks aren't that bad. If it is the average, though, that's when summer temperatures will become an issue. Btw, CPUs can generally run up to 100°C with little issue. For Intel chips, that's when most start throttling. If temperatures start to exceed that threshold, the computer shuts down to prevent damage. I don't think that a couple months in bad conditions would kill off your CPU immediately if you are careful. If you don't mind the performance loss, you could try lowering clock speeds in BIOS a little by setting the multiplier to a lower number. Undervolting a little, eg by an offset of -0.05, will likely help a lot as well is the mainboard allows it. In all honesty, though, I have little experience with such old CPUs, so someone else would be a better advisor here.
OH, thanks for your advice!

I see. I'm only worried because it's an old cpu and I think it shouldn't be touching those temps actually.
 

Tac 25

Estimable
Jul 25, 2021
1,391
421
3,890
I do believe something is not right with your temps. We both have a Sandy Bridge cpu, I've used an i5-2500K, which was later upgraded to an i7-2600K, both never touched above 80 degrees on core temps.

if you're hesitating to do the cleaning yourself. Take it to a technician. Watch closely how they remove the heatsink and clean it, so you can do it yourself later. Restoring temps to 70 and below while gaming should help prolong the life of your pc.

see max core temp here.

https://technical.city/en/cpu/Core-i7-2600K-vs-Core-i5-2400
___

on the bright side, if it is not cleaned and your pc dies from the heat, it would be time for an "upgrade" to a newer one (I'm just joking on this last part, lol).