[SOLVED] CPU hitting 100C quickly while gaming - is there anything to blame other than the AIO cooler? (MSI CoreLiquid 240R)

[monkeybusinessceo]

Hey all, thanks for reading. Long time lurker first time poster. I've been using my 11th gen MSI Aegis RS 11TG-222US for about a year now. Basic specs:

CPU Intel® Core™ i7-11700K Processor 8C/16T 3.6-4.9 GHz 16MB Cache
Chipset Z490
Motherboard MSI ATX Motherboard
CPU Cooler 240mm Liquid Cooler (MSI CoreLiquid 240R I believe)
VGA NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3060 Ti 8G GDDR6
Memory (GB) 16GB DDR4 (2 x 8GB)

In the past month or so I've noticed the CPU quickly getting throttled at 100C whenever I attempt to play a game that's difficult on the hardware. This was not the case a few months ago. (Notably, it quickly gets to 100 playing eg Elden Ring, but does not get so hot so fast as to noticeably interfere with the game once it hits throttle levels. Of course I do not continue playing because of risk of damage.) It idles around 50C. So far I've tried:

• Blowing compressed air into the radiator to get the dust out
• Moving the AIO cooler around to clear air bubbles
• Replacing the thermal paste

Something that may be heating things up somewhat is that the side panel has been removed, but I imagine if this were messing up the airflow to a high degree this would affect the graphics card long before the CPU, as the CPU is being directly cooled by the water cooler. Feel free to contradict me if the last sentence seems wrong though.

However, none of this has helped. Thus I have begun to suspect some defect in the AIO cooler that is not presenting itself on my monitors of pump fan speed. However, I do not want to drop money on a new cooling system without being more sure that this one is what's problematic. Based on the above, does anyone have any other ideas to try before just buying a new cooler?

 

[kanewolf]

Hey all, thanks for reading. Long time lurker first time poster. I've been using my 11th gen MSI Aegis RS 11TG-222US for about a year now. Basic specs:

CPU Intel® Core™ i7-11700K Processor 8C/16T 3.6-4.9 GHz 16MB Cache
Chipset Z490
Motherboard MSI ATX Motherboard
CPU Cooler 240mm Liquid Cooler (MSI AIO Dragon Cooler)
VGA NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3060 Ti 8G GDDR6
Memory (GB) 16GB DDR4 (2 x 8GB)

In the past month or so I've noticed the CPU quickly getting throttled at 100C whenever I attempt to play a game that's difficult on the hardware. This was not the case a few months ago. (Notably, it quickly gets to 100 playing eg Elden Ring, but does not get so hot so fast as to noticeably interfere with the game once it hits throttle levels. Of course I do not continue playing because of risk of damage.) It idles around 50C. So far I've tried:

• Blowing compressed air into the radiator to get the dust out
• Moving the AIO cooler around to clear air bubbles
• Replacing the thermal paste

Something that may be heating things up somewhat is that the side panel has been removed, but I imagine if this were messing up the airflow to a high degree this would affect the graphics card long before the CPU, as the CPU is being directly cooled by the water cooler. Feel free to contradict me if the last sentence seems wrong though.

However, none of this has helped. Thus I have begun to suspect some defect in the AIO cooler that is not presenting itself on my monitors of pump fan speed. However, I do not want to drop money on a new cooling system without being more sure that this one is what's problematic. Based on the above, does anyone have any other ideas to try before just buying a new cooler?

Removing the side panel will typically improve temps. You have unlimited outside air available to the exhaust fans.
Are the hoses to the AIO equally hot? Or one much hotter than the other.

 

[Phaaze88]

The coolers are hot garbage. Look up Msi Coreliquid temperature issues - the info is all there.
You're more than welcome to reach out to Msi to replace it. If you're in the US, you can try reaching out to Greg Salazar; he may be able to help put a little pressure on them if they give you trouble replacing the cooler.

Otherwise, you are looking at a new cooler. If you insist on another AIO/CLC, avoid:
MAG & MPG Coreliquid. MEG is OK - different manufacturer.
Kraken M22.
Fractal Design Lumen.

 

[monkeybusinessceo]

Removing the side panel will typically improve temps. You have unlimited outside air available to the exhaust fans.
Are the hoses to the AIO equally hot? Or one much hotter than the other.

Gotcha, makes sense, thank you. The hoses have a definite difference in temperature.

 

[Joakim Agren]

Your AIO Coreliquid 240R was one of those that had something wrong with them becoming clogged up causing high CPU temps, basically the water flow across the cooling plate is not enough when it gets clogged. Read more about it here: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/m...40r-360r-aio-coolers-due-to-sediment-build-up So you can request a replacement from MSI if you are affected by this!

 

[monkeybusinessceo]

Ah, thanks very much for the information! I will reach out to MSI and see if I can get some sort of swap, or if necessary just replace the cooler. Cheers all