[SOLVED] CPU Overheating, even in BIOS

[CritCat]

I've had this computer for about 8 years now, I think (not certain on that).

CPU: AMD FX-8120 Eight-Core Processor (Black Box)
RAM: 8 GB 1600 MHz
Motherboard: MSI (don't remember which) running BIOS E7693AMS V2.6
Graphics Card: Nvidia GT-750Ti

I've tested the liquid cooling system and all seems to be good there. Hot liquid is making it to the radiator, and cool liquid is making it to the CPU. I recently replaced the thermal paste because of an earlier overheating problem, and it was working just fine after that. I used Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste. It's peaked at 60C before, but usually hovered around 40-50. Now in BIOS, it's reaching 75, and would probably go higher if I wasn't shutting off the PC before then. I've read some other threads, but the solution seemed to be thermal paste, and I'm worried that isn't the case here. Am I doomed to buy a new PC?

 

[imoob]

Is the cooler mounted properly?
Also, if you have another cooler try that to see if it's your watercooler

 

[CritCat]

Is the cooler mounted properly?
Also, if you have another cooler try that to see if it's your watercooler

I don't, but as I recall they aren't that expensive. I can look one up and give it a try.

 

[prince_xaine]

Try cleaning your radiator with an air compressor or canned air. Or you can buy one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Metro-Data...812562&hash=item1a0bd17eee:g:k~MAAOSwo0JWKiZu

Buying one of these can fix irregularities in all of your components, especially fans, radiators and your power supply. I've used these types of dusters for years and have even fixed computers not working properly with it. Just make sure you take your PC outside because more will come out than you think.

 

[CritCat]

Try cleaning your radiator with an air compressor or canned air. Or you can buy one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Metro-Data...812562&hash=item1a0bd17eee:g:k~MAAOSwo0JWKiZu

Buying one of these can fix irregularities in all of your components, especially fans, radiators and your power supply. I've used these types of dusters for years and have even fixed computers not working properly with it. Just make sure you take your PC outside because more will come out than you think.

My ex-husband has one, so if I can't find some canned air I'll definitely borrow his.

 

[CritCat]

Try cleaning your radiator with an air compressor or canned air. Or you can buy one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Metro-Data...812562&hash=item1a0bd17eee:g:k~MAAOSwo0JWKiZu

Buying one of these can fix irregularities in all of your components, especially fans, radiators and your power supply. I've used these types of dusters for years and have even fixed computers not working properly with it. Just make sure you take your PC outside because more will come out than you think.

Alright, I've blown out the radiator with canned air, and it seems to have slowed the rise in temp, but it's still getting up to the 70's at the very least. My dad suggested reseating the heatsink, so once it's cooled down I'm going to do that next, just to see if somehow it got loose. And of course, redo the thermal paste while I'm at it.

 

[CritCat]

Well, I set it to Eco Mode after having blown out the radiator, and now it seems to be staying under 70 (peaked at 69.5), but I haven't pushed it yet so we'll see how it does in an hour, and then after running a few programs. I think I'm going to keep a close eye on it, since prior to this it was staying in the 55-60 range.

 

[DavidM012]

MSI 970-ag45 4+1 power phase no vrm heatsink isn't really suited to an octa core 125w tdp cpu and the vrms are overheating. couple of things you can try 1)Add a 120mm fan to huff directly over the vrm area of the board. However it isn't recommended to run a 125w cpu on a 4+1 power phase board with no vrm heatsink.

2)Switch off 2 or 4 cores in the bios, that will do the most to stabilise the system, without impacting performance on anything except the most multi threaded software.

3)after 8 years you've probably got as much value out of it as you're going to, the fx has been superseded by several generations of cpu, if you count that 3rd generation ryzen is released in 6 weeks or so. Maybe it's starting to breathe it's last or maybe the temp is rising simply because the summer is simply raising ambient temps. by a few degrees, so you start at a higher idle temperature.

 

[CritCat]

MSI 970-ag45 4+1 power phase no vrm heatsink isn't really suited to an octa core 125w tdp cpu and the vrms are overheating. couple of things you can try 1)Add a 120mm fan to huff directly over the vrm area of the board. However it isn't recommended to run a 125w cpu on a 4+1 power phase board with no vrm heatsink.

2)Switch off 2 or 4 cores in the bios, that will do the most to stabilise the system, without impacting performance on anything except the most multi threaded software.

3)after 8 years you've probably got as much value out of it as you're going to, the fx has been superseded by several generations of cpu, if you count that 3rd generation ryzen is released in 6 weeks or so. Maybe it's starting to breathe it's last or maybe the temp is rising simply because the summer is simply raising ambient temps. by a few degrees, so you start at a higher idle temperature.

I wish I could blame it on the summer, but I haven't had this issue with previous summers. My computer does tend to be the reason the office is the warmest room in the house, though, which really says something. My dad did show me other articles and threads that pretty much said after years of use, other people have suddenly started having to redo their thermal paste once a month and such, which I'm seeing as my CPU may be nearing the end of its life.

However, I'll see about getting a fan for the VRM and see if that helps any. Though I didn't see where to switch off the cores in the BIOS.

It's been keeping under 70C, but just barely, since I put it on Eco Mode (lower voltage, I believe) and cleared out the radiator. But still, it's a little higher than I would like.

I'm prepared for the idea that I'll finally have to replace the machine, though. To be honest, elements of the motherboard have been failing (and if the VRM is as well, that would definitely be trouble) due to a blowout of a UPS I had, and lost some RAM due to power surges from said UPS before I realized it was going bad. I'm very fond of this machine, though, so if I can nudge it along a little longer, I'd like to. If cooling the VRM will help, I'd love that. I'll take a look at my BIOS again tomorrow and see if there's something I missed to turn off some of the cores.

 

[DavidM012]

There's no reason that the cpu should croak other than that it's not suited to the board and too much heat exposure has seen the end of a few fx chips, running close to the limit for an extended duration, or that the board should croak other than that it's running an octa core 125w cpu. Surprising it's held up this long.

The board bios does also look quite limited, I didn't see it on cpu core control in it. On my board it's under /advanced/cpu configuration. If it's not present it evinces that it was never designed for an 8 core cpu.

If anything that's also the probable cause of the power problems with your ups.

Sounds like it's had a few dings from power fluctuations, you might get unfortunate and it catches fire. Don't be sentimental about the pc, it won't love you back!

 

[prince_xaine]

www.userbenchmark.com Try this benchmark, it will help us see how everything is performing and it only takes a couple minutes.