CPU Overheating 4790k

[naval1234]

Hi, I recently bought a new customised pc. I have a core i7 4790k. The problem is its running at very high temperatures. I've reinstalled and applied thermal paste 3 times but the temperatures are still rising. Idle temperature is around 32-34 degree celcius but when I start playing a game it goes up to 80-90 keeps increasing and then crashes after an hour or so with a blue screen. What should I do? Get a liquid cooler? If yes which 1?

 

[Akarin]

Ah yes, check you voltage on your BIOS. My gigabyte board came with a voltage defined to a scary 1.4 volts on Vcore, when it should be at 1.08 with my current cpu frequency. Flashing the BIOS (risky!) for a newer version solved that, but adjusting manually the voltage then stess testing to check stability and temperature should do the job.

 

[naval1234]

Ah yes, check you voltage on your BIOS. My gigabyte board came with a voltage defined to a scary 1.4 volts on Vcore, when it should be at 1.08 with my current cpu frequency. Flashing the BIOS (risky!) for a newer version solved that, but adjusting manually the voltage then stess testing to check stability and temperature should do the job.

Thanks for your reply Akarin. I dont have much knowledge on voltages for CPUs. I would like to know what it is at the moment on my pc. I am using CPUID HW monitor to see the temperatures. There are voltages in there too. Is that the same as in Bios? (see link for a screenshot)
Is it possible to see it in the bios (press del while restarting) and can you provide any link with more details on voltages? Thanks !
http://

 

[Akarin]

Well, those are the idle temps and voltage, you should try to take the same screenshot while your cpu is under heavy load, like a game open, but yea, it should show about the same voltage as in bios.

 

[naval1234]

Well, those are the idle temps and voltage, you should try to take the same screenshot while your cpu is under heavy load, like a game open, but yea, it should show about the same voltage as in bios.

Thanks for your reply

I checked on my bios and the core voltages were set to Auto. I changed it to manual and 1.08V, but the PC kept crashing (blue screen) even before windows could load up and I had to restore it back to auto to make it run. Also see the screenshot below for in game voltages. They keep varying and don't go above the voltage shown in the screenshot.

http://

 

[Akarin]

Yea, so you should increase the voltage, put like 1.1 V. Each processor is different, so the stable voltage for my processor may not be the same as yours, and that crash means that the processor needs more than that 1.08 voltage to work at that frequency. Also, yes, they keep varying, because the power saving features are active, so if the processor doesn't need to be at 100% and max. voltage, it will reduce the voltage/frequency to save power and generate less heat, that's normal. Auto voltages can be a pain, mine is working Ok because I have the newest BIOS, optimized for my processor, but I can only recommend you to do that, go easy, increase a bit of voltage (let's say, 0.025 V or maybe a bit more this first time like 0.05V as you're crashing), but should be around 1.08 and 1.1, maybe more but that's rare, to have your system stable. Do that, increase slowly and keep testing, whenever you have a few hours into demanding games, with a good stability and not very high temps, you're good to go. (again, careful, don't go crazy or distracted and put like 1.3V or more, high voltages can kill your processor).

 

[naval1234]

So somehow the cpu core voltage is stable at 1.051V (changed it in Bios, although seems a bit low?) Also max temperature recorded while playing games is 71 degrees and not increasing. Also i ran the game on window mode to see how the temperatures fluctuate, and they were running stable around 52-58 degrees while occasionally going up to 65 and 71 (max).

Thanks for the help and advice. It worked !

 

[Akarin]

Good! Remember that, if it happens again in the future, some tweak on voltage (increase/decrease, depending on overheat or crashes) can fix it again, also that's a bad situation that becomes a good one, to understand your processor's limits and to aquire overclocking knowledge.