CPU HOT. Need help, know little about hardware.

[adrunktick]

Hey Everyone, Ive heard of this site before and looked through it a couple of times when I had small problems. I bought this computer a few years ago(Specs at the bottom of post), let someone else help me pick out the parts, its mostly AMD, the rig itself and the video card have not been good to me, its been a bumpy road. 4 video cards later(same one over and over), I finally have had a good streak with it, about a year or so, until last night. I haven't been seeing anything signaling this was going to happen. I was raiding in World of Warcraft(just started back up a month ago) and out of no where, the screen went black and kicked back on after a few moments. I got a few crash pop ups. I got back into the game, only to get kicked back off immediately. I said WTF and opened up Speccy. It was showing that my CPU was well over 90°C.
My only other computer that I've ever bought also failed due to CPU problem (Water coolant spilled all over inside of machine)....Am I cursed or what?

What should I be doing? Looking to be doing next? Should I be looked for spare parts/fans/stuff to seal a new processing chip? If its easier, should I be looking to build a new machine (my old one was Intel and it still beats this machine in FPS by over 80 frames. For example. This machine gets 90 frames in league of legends. My intel is 330+. I just feel like I got dooped with buying this AMD and I definitely dont feel like Ive spent my money well. All answers would be great. I can add additional information if it could help someone further answer this. If need be, I can pictures inside and out, just figured it was alot of information to take in at once.

Here is a copy of Speccy showing my system moments after booting up. Since copying after start up, cpu is currently idling at 61 °C


Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
CPU
AMD A10-7700K 81 °C
Kaveri 28nm Technology
RAM
8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. G1.Sniper A88X-CF (P0) 29 °C
Graphics
ASUS VE278 (1920x1080@60Hz)
Acer G235H (1920x1080@60Hz)
1024MB ATI AMD Radeon R7 Graphics (ATI) 30 °C
3072MB ATI AMD Radeon R9 200 Series (MSI) 35 °C
CrossFire Disabled
Storage
111GB Samsung SSD 840 EVO 120G SATA Disk Device (SSD) 29 °C
931GB Western Digital WDC WD10 EZEX-00KUWA0 SATA Disk Device (SATA) 24 °C
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH24NSB0 SATA CdRom Device
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio


Thank you to anyone who responds,

Ryan

 

[Thineswar]

1. What CPU cooler are you using?
2. You can try to reapply the thermal compound underneath the CPU cooler, and while you're at it, look to see if the plastic cover on the heat sink was removed.
3. What temperatures do your BIOS report?

 

[Obakasama]

I would add the following:

Use AMD Overdrive to check thermal margins. As long as the thermal margin is above 0 deg C on a full load it's fine.

What crashes are you getting?

 

[adrunktick]

1. What CPU cooler are you using?
2. You can try to reapply the thermal compound underneath the CPU cooler, and while you're at it, look to see if the plastic cover on the heat sink was removed.
3. What temperatures do your BIOS report?

Just a small fan. Printed on it "1A02C3W00 - N 2013 11 13 2D"

i took pictures of everything but imgur wont upload them. Ive never worked on my own computer before. Cant find temps in BIOS? Where do I go

 

[adrunktick]

I would add the following:

Use AMD Overdrive to check thermal margins. As long as the thermal margin is above 0 deg C on a full load it's fine.

What crashes are you getting?

Where do I get Overdrive?

 

[Thineswar]

By "small fan", I'm assuming you mean this:

With that being the case, it is not entirely unreasonable for the chip to overheat during gaming, but it is quite rare to see 60 c during idle.

To access the BIOS, press delete when the Gigabyte logo shows up on the screen. Then you'll be brought to a blue screen with all kinds of information including the CPU's temperature.

 

[Obakasama]

Software monitors for AMD CPUs, certainly the APUs, are inaccurate. As suggested use AMD Overdrive and check thermal margins. http://www.amd.com/en-us/innovations/software-technologies/technologies-gaming/over-drive

For further reference: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/faq/id-2122665/understanding-temperature-amd-cpus-apus.html

From my own experience, other monitors reading 60 deg C at idle isn't something to be concerned with.

 

[adrunktick]

By "small fan", I'm assuming you mean this:

With that being the case, it is not entirely unreasonable for the chip to overheat during gaming, but it is quite rare to see 60 c during idle.

To access the BIOS, press delete when the Gigabyte logo shows up on the screen. Then you'll be brought to a blue screen with all kinds of information including the CPU's temperature.

Yes that would be the small fan. Like I said I took Hi-Res photos on my canon, but imgur wasn't cooperating. I'll try again later so you can see the inside of my machine, it's pretty spacious, nothing is cramped.

I know how to get to bios. But temps should be right there. Easily findable?

Sorry haven't had the time to get on my computer. Will get into today and get back to you guys.

I appreciate the help.

 

[sshades]

One additional note to keep in mind about the AMD APUs is that many of the early tests and reviews on them stated that they were extremely efficient and always ran cool. Unfortunately, those reviews came to this conclusion by running standard CPU burn in tests like prime95. The problem is that these only tested the CPU side and not the GPU side, so the chips actually run way hotter during moderate gaming than they do in those CPU stress tests. And I say this from personal experience: I was getting temps about 20 degrees higher during moderate gaming than I was getting out of prime95. If you run a combination of something like prime95 and furmark, those APUs run HOT without a really good cooling solution.

In the end, if you'd like to game on that APU, you may need to either get a significantly better cooler (should be in the ballpark of $20-$30), or you may want to get a cheap discrete graphics card to spread out the heat across two sources.

I'm stating this primarily based on my own experience with a slightly older AMD APU. The reviews that I had read stating that they ran cool even with the stock heat sink were complete nonsense.

 

[adrunktick]

My Bios was reporting 30C temps for CPU

 

[adrunktick]

1. What CPU cooler are you using?
2. You can try to reapply the thermal compound underneath the CPU cooler, and while you're at it, look to see if the plastic cover on the heat sink was removed.
3. What temperatures do your BIOS report?

So you can check out this link to the inside of my rig. I was trying to get a screwdriver to unscrew the fan ontop of the heat sink, and they really werent budging at all, so I put a bit of pressure on the fan and the whole heat sink just detached from the Chip....sooooo....Im pretty sure that wasnt supposed to happen. So now what do I do? Clean the chip? How. What kind of thermal paste do I need, Do I need sauter(how do you spell it). This is as far into computer tech ville Ive ever had to travel and I'm lost. Never done any of this before.

https://imgur.com/gallery/Q6smH

 

[Thineswar]

My Bios was reporting 30C temps for CPU

By that you mean when you just turned on the computer? If that's the case, then there's nothing to worry about as the CPU is only running at a temperature slightly higher than the room temperature.

But, since you're saying that the PC shuts down (possibly from overheating) and that you game on this machine quite regularly, it wouldn't hurt to get yourself a CPU cooler. The Hyper 212 Evo is usually recommended, although it may be a bit overkill for this processor. You could try something else from Cooler Master's Hyper line(T4 or TX3 Evo), or basically any other CPU cooler as the stock heat sink is quite bad at doing its job.

A quick side note, be sure the check the dimensions of the CPU cooler as it may be too tall to fit inside your case or even protrude sideways too much that it interferes with the ram slots.

That stuff that you see spread between the heat sink and CPU is called the thermal compound/paste.

(You can skip this paragraph if you want to)
A heat sink works by conducting all the heat from CPU and dissipating it away, hence keeping the CPU cool. For this to work efficiently, both the surface of the CPU and the heat sink that comes into contact with each other needs to have a perfectly smooth surface. Since we don't live in an ideal world, the surfaces will never be completely smooth. There's always going to be tiny bumps and scratches and crevices along the surface. To overcome this, we apply something called a thermal paste that works by covering up these small crevices and hence providing better contact between the two.

[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0fXsXb5NNk"][/video]

If you're planning on buying a new CPU cooler, it will come with a small tube of paste that you can use. Or, you could go to any computer store and ask for it. For your case, I would suggest going for the cheapest one that you can find from a brand like Cooler Master or Deepcool. (In other words, stay away from generic Chinese brands.)

For application, you'd want to use as little as possible, about the size of a grain of rice.

[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHl62uptWaw"][/video]

This is just a little extra information just in case you might be interested:
[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2MEAnZ3swQ"][/video]

 

[adrunktick]

How do I know which socket type my heatsink/CPU Fan is?

Should I be looking to get a new processor? Is this bad? I have the money to do a few upgrades soon. I want this thing to actually beast mode stuff. Its definitely not running like it used to.

Ok, this is where I get lost and really need the help. I dont know the different socket types that are all throughout the computer, how do I know what parts fit with my rig????

 

[Thineswar]

1. That's an FM2+ socket CPU.
2. Yes, an upgrade might be in order as that APU is not particularly powerful. If you could afford it, the Ryzen 5 series seem to be a good choice for gaming. If that's a bit too expensive, then the Pentium G4560 would be a good option. (Review) (Further Reading) If I may ask, what exactly is the GPU that you are using?

This video might be useful:

[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiVWQthb-20"][/video]

 

[adrunktick]

1. That's an FM2+ socket CPU.
2. Yes, an upgrade might be in order as that APU is not particularly powerful. If you could afford it, the Ryzen 5 series seem to be a good choice for gaming. If that's a bit too expensive, then the Pentium G4560 would be a good option. (Review) (Further Reading) If I may ask, what exactly is the GPU that you are using?

This video might be useful:

[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiVWQthb-20"][/video]

So I finally got some alcohol and cleaned the processor. But like you said, I should probably get a new one anyway.
https://imgur.com/gallery/s6lQv
https://imgur.com/gallery/Elaxo

That is the processor and the video card. Which is an Radeon R9 280X
(https://us.msi.com/Graphics-card/R9-280X-GAMING-3G.html#hero-overview)

Are the fans that were linked before good for my rig or do I need a different one?

 

[adrunktick]

Okay so I have another question. Can I Frankenstein an Intel and AMD computer setup and fuse them into one monster machine or would it have a bunch of compatibility issues?

This is the computer I'm using right now to respond/game while the other one is down.

Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Core i7 960 @ 3.20GHz 41 °C
Bloomfield 45nm Technology
RAM
12.0GB Triple-Channel DDR3 @ 534MHz (8-8-8-20)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK Computer INC. SABERTOOTH X58 (LGA1366) 43 °C
Graphics
HP 2010 (1600x900@60Hz)
1023MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Unknown) 54 °C
Storage
931GB Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 ATA Device (SATA) 32 °C
Optical Drives
ATAPI iHES112 3 ATA Device
Audio
High Definition Audio Device


If I get a better CPU cooling system, can I put this i7 on my AMD motherboard? or is this too out dated and different socket type?

 

[Obakasama]

Different socket types won't allow you to do it.

CPU, motherboard and RAM go together as a package as it were.

 

[adrunktick]

Different socket types won't allow you to do it.

CPU, motherboard and RAM go together as a package as it were.

Right. So, these are two completely different beasts and nothing can be substituted. So I should upgrade/repair each separately?

 

[adrunktick]

In the end, if you'd like to game on that APU, you may need to either get a significantly better cooler (should be in the ballpark of $20-$30), or you may want to get a cheap discrete graphics card to spread out the heat across two sources.

Okay well there is an integrated R7 video card In the machine. Is that different from a discrete card. What is the purpose of a discreet card aside from spreading heat? Can this R7 act as a discreet card? I believe i turned the R7 graphics off because it kept taking priority over the other card and it was not running right and less efficiently. I believe I sought an AMD representative to help with that.

 

[Thineswar]

@Obakasama, the same stick of RAM can be used in either an Intel or AMD build provided that the motherboard supports it.

Integrated graphics in some sense points to how the graphics processing chip is integrated into the CPU, meaning that it is physically inside the CPU. Discrete graphics (obviously) is then physically located outside the CPU. In case you didn't already know, if you opened up the cooler for your R9 280X, it should look something like this:

(Note that this is a 290, not a 280 X, but it should look the same and please ignore that square red box on the bottom right corner)

The square looking thing is your GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and that is where most of what you see (on the screen) is being processed. (Further reading)

To answer your question, no, you cannot use integrated graphics as a discrete graphics card or the way around. It's like asking if you could use a motorcycle as a bus, they are two different things.

Anyway, the major difference in having an integrated graphics versus a discrete GPU is in performance. If all you're planning on doing is watching videos and browsing the internet, then integrated is more than enough, and usually end up costing less; but since you're playing a lot of games on this thing, a graphics card would make a huge difference.

Both your Intel i7 and AMD A10 are quite old and hence their performance is expected to be not that great. However, if you can't afford a CPU upgrade at the moment, getting a CPU cooler would a good option in squeezing more performance out of your system.

 

[adrunktick]

@Obakasama, the same stick of RAM can be used in either an Intel or AMD build provided that the motherboard supports it.

Integrated graphics in some sense points to how the graphics processing chip is integrated into the CPU, meaning that it is physically inside the CPU. Discrete graphics (obviously) is then physically located outside the CPU. In case you didn't already know, if you opened up the cooler for your R9 280X, it should look something like this:

(Note that this is a 290, not a 280 X, but it should look the same and please ignore that square red box on the bottom right corner)

The square looking thing is your GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and that is where most of what you see (on the screen) is being processed. (Further reading)

To answer your question, no, you cannot use integrated graphics as a discrete graphics card or the way around. It's like asking if you could use a motorcycle as a bus, they are two different things.

Anyway, the major difference in having an integrated graphics versus a discrete GPU is in performance. If all you're planning on doing is watching videos and browsing the internet, then integrated is more than enough, and usually end up costing less; but since you're playing a lot of games on this thing, a graphics card would make a huge difference.

Both your Intel i7 and AMD A10 are quite old and hence their performance is expected to be not that great. However, if you can't afford a CPU upgrade at the moment, getting a CPU cooler would a good option in squeezing more performance out of your system.

Yeah they certainly dont perform like they used to! Oh well, im looking at a temporary upgrade at the CPU i believe. And a new super duty fan could never hurt,. right? Can I get a decent CPU for 100 bucks?

 

[Thineswar]

I just felt that I needed to point out that when you buy a CPU cooler, at least 1 fan comes with it.
Anyway, where are you from?

 

[adrunktick]

I just felt that I needed to point out that when you buy a CPU cooler, at least 1 fan comes with it.
Anyway, where are you from?

I am from NY ? Why? haha. What do you mean 1 fan comes with it? Do you mean a thermal paste comes with it?

 

[Thineswar]

Both, when you buy a CPU cooler, you get the heat sink (the block of metal), a fan, and a small tube of thermal paste.
Here, in the second picture, you could see what comes in the box with a Hyper 212 Evo.

By NY, I think you mean New York. I'm not sure of any local shops, but you could always try Amazon and Newegg.
As I said before, you could try looking at the Pentium G4560. It's around $ 87 on Amazon and you could also get a Hyper 212 Evo to go along with it.

 

[adrunktick]

Both, when you buy a CPU cooler, you get the heat sink (the block of metal), a fan, and a small tube of thermal paste.
Here, in the second picture, you could see what comes in the box with a Hyper 212 Evo.

By NY, I think you mean New York. I'm not sure of any local shops, but you could always try Amazon and Newegg.
As I said before, you could try looking at the Pentium G4560. It's around $ 87 on Amazon and you could also get a Hyper 212 Evo to go along with it.

So Ive been looking at new parts/new PC options. I had a friend of a friend look at my PC and we initially just thermal pasted new thermal on the chip and put the old heat sink/cooler back on. As soon as I got it home and for a few days after, it was reporting 38C in the BIOS. Last night it was reporting 51C in the BIOS. I was like, oh shit...not good. I did go ahead and buy the Hyper Master 212 EVO for the new cooler. However, I don't know if the Pentium will fit on my motherboard socket. Right now it only supports FM2/2+. The Pentium is LGA1151 which my motherboard cant do.

So I was thinking, maybe a new mother board/start working on a new computer, buy a part whenever I can and hope that when I have all the pieces it isn't so outdated.