[SOLVED] CPU reaching 100 when gaming but only 45-55 when idling / Google.

Apr 6, 2021
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Hello! My i7-10700KF gets to around 90-100 degrees when playing UNTURNED and RUST but when I play WarThunder and League it only gets to mid 80s at most. It idles around the 50 degree area. I have an MSI 240R watercooler for my CPU. I have 3 SP120 bringing air in at the front of my case and one bringing air out at the back. My 240R fans are also angled so it gets rid of the hot air by sending it out. I reapplied thermal paste as this was a brand new build (All parts out of the box) minus my old 980 ti Classified. Any idea why this is happening?
 
Solution
I'd go with a different cooler. Everything else checks out but that.
The Vcore was fine.
I take your word that you checked for sticker residue, reapplied paste, and mounted the cooler/cooler backplate correctly.
Hwinfo reported the pump was spinning... doesn't mean liquid was actually moving though.
Apr 6, 2021
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Too much overclock;
Improperly installed AIO cooler;
If old AIO cooler, then probably clogged cpu block, failing pump.
I tried reinstalling the AIO cooler, it's installed properly. It's brand new too, I freshly built it a few days ago and everything but my GPU was new. I also have not overclocked it yet so that can't be it either unless it came overclocked for some reason.
 

Phaaze88

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Msi motherboard? Msi Dragon Center will apply a 'performance tweak' without asking you. If you need Mystic Light control uninstall DC and install Mystic Light separately.

Some of the motherboards are not following the Intel defined specs out of the box and thus some users have a bad experience with thermals.
With the 10700KF, you should see:
Up to 5.1ghz on the favored cores(there are 2) and 5.0ghz on all the others, during light loads.
Up to 4.7ghz during all core loads.

Msi Coreliquid 240R:
I see that the packaging has a sticker on the cold plate. Any chance you didn't peel it all off before you mounted it?
I also see that this unit adopts the pump in radiator design. Being that these units aren't topped of with fluid, I'd have to wonder if the top mount you have isn't exposing the pump to air.

Corsair 220T: Airflow edition, or the no so good airflow edition?
 
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Apr 6, 2021
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Msi motherboard? Msi Dragon Center will apply a 'performance tweak' without asking you. If you need Mystic Light control uninstall DC and install Mystic Light separately.

Some of the motherboards are not following the Intel defined specs out of the box and thus some users have a bad experience with thermals.
With the 10700KF, you should see:
Up to 5.1ghz on the favored cores(there are 2) and 5.0ghz on all the others, during light loads.
Up to 4.7ghz during all core loads.

Msi Coreliquid 240R:
I see that the packaging has a sticker on the cold plate. Any chance you didn't peel it all off before you mounted it?
I also see that this unit adopts the pump in radiator design. Being that these units aren't topped of with fluid, I'd have to wonder if the top mount you have isn't exposing the pump to air.

Corsair 220T: Airflow edition, or the no so good airflow edition?
Yes, it is a Z490-A pro (MSI). I do not have Mystic Light downloaded as the only thing that uses it is my cooler but I just have that running on the default Rainbowstyle lighting as that correlates with my Icue stuff pretty well. I have the airflow edition as I favored practicality over looks in that sense. Honestly, I'm fairly new to Higher End PCs and this was my first ever build so I have no idea how to check anything with my cores. NZXT Cam says my CPU is running around 4698- 4702 MHz average during gameplay though.
 

Phaaze88

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Ok.
-No Dragon Center
-Airflow friendly chassis
-4.7ghz core speeds(Warzone?)

I think that leaves:
-Stray pieces of sticker on the cold plate? I didn't know that was a thing until recently.
-Air in the pump. Feel both tubes while the cpu is under load. They should feel more or less the same.
Try moving the radiator to front intake IF you find that the tubes are significantly different.

I have no idea how to check anything with my cores.
Hwinfo.
 
Apr 6, 2021
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Ok.
-No Dragon Center
-Airflow friendly chassis
-4.7ghz core speeds(Warzone?)

I think that leaves:
-Stray pieces of sticker on the cold plate? I didn't know that was a thing until recently.
-Air in the pump. Feel both tubes while the cpu is under load. They should feel more or less the same.
Try moving the radiator to front intake IF you find that the tubes are significantly different.


Hwinfo.
4.7ghz is playing easy to run games such as Unturned etc. Only thing where it seems to be lower on that is in League and just browsing Google / YouTube. I'm downloading HWInfo now. When I checked earlier today there were no stray pieces of sticker. I'm attaching a link to what HWInfo showed after the download was completed. Photo of HWInfo
 

Phaaze88

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Yes, those work.
-Cpu Vcore isn't crazy high, so that's normal.
-I see Package Power just under 80w, but the cpu is hitting 100C.
-The pump appears to be spinning, going by the 4000rpm pump fan reading...

The cooler either isn't mounted correctly, there's no thermal paste present, or the cooler is clogged. There's really no other reason for thermals being that high when the cpu is sitting there doing much of nothing...
Well, except a sensor failure, but it doesn't look like one.
 
Apr 6, 2021
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Yes, those work.
-Cpu Vcore isn't crazy high, so that's normal.
-I see Package Power just under 80w, but the cpu is hitting 100C.
-The pump appears to be spinning, going by the 4000rpm pump fan reading...

The cooler either isn't mounted correctly, there's no thermal paste present, or the cooler is clogged. There's really no other reason for thermals being that high when the cpu is sitting there doing much of nothing...
Well, except a sensor failure, but it doesn't look like one.
I doublechecked the CPU and everything today. So would the best bet be to request a refund and go with another type of cooler? Everything as I said is basically brand new. Less than a month old on everything.
 

Phaaze88

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I'd go with a different cooler. Everything else checks out but that.
The Vcore was fine.
I take your word that you checked for sticker residue, reapplied paste, and mounted the cooler/cooler backplate correctly.
Hwinfo reported the pump was spinning... doesn't mean liquid was actually moving though.
 
Solution
Apr 6, 2021
12
1
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I'd go with a different cooler. Everything else checks out but that.
The Vcore was fine.
I take your word that you checked for sticker residue, reapplied paste, and mounted the cooler/cooler backplate correctly.
Hwinfo reported the pump was spinning... doesn't mean liquid was actually moving though.
Alright! Thank you for your help!
 
Apr 6, 2021
12
1
15
I'd go with a different cooler. Everything else checks out but that.
The Vcore was fine.
I take your word that you checked for sticker residue, reapplied paste, and mounted the cooler/cooler backplate correctly.
Hwinfo reported the pump was spinning... doesn't mean liquid was actually moving though.
Oh, one more question! Would you say this looks good

https://www.newegg.com/deepcool-liquid-cooling-system/p/N82E16835856133

compared to the one I had before? Or would you suggest getting the same one?
 

Phaaze88

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Oh, one more question! Would you say this looks good

https://www.newegg.com/deepcool-liquid-cooling-system/p/N82E16835856133

compared to the one I had before? Or would you suggest getting the same one?
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/deepcool-captain-240-pro/9.html
It's not the V2 in the review, but I can't imagine it's all that different from how V1 fares.

Do you have a good backup air cooler? If not, I'd suggest putting off getting another hybrid cooler.
One of the biggest downsides with these coolers is that one needs a backup in case of failures. It'd also be useful to have one for comparison, failure or not.
 
Apr 6, 2021
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https://www.techpowerup.com/review/deepcool-captain-240-pro/9.html
It's not the V2 in the review, but I can't imagine it's all that different from how V1 fares.

Do you have a good backup air cooler? If not, I'd suggest putting off getting another hybrid cooler.
One of the biggest downsides with these coolers is that one needs a backup in case of failures. It'd also be useful to have one for comparison, failure or not.
I kind of jumped the gun and am thinking of getting this after watching videos and reading a few reviews I am looking at the Artic Liquid Freezer II 240. Decent price too. I have a backup 120MM AIO that worked well on my old PC when the Enermax 240AIO died that came with it. I also have a few stock intel aircoolers that could replace and hold it off temporarily while I get a new one if need be.
https://www.aquatuning.us/water-coo..._euJbYAb5dWuGEYXxW_Oo1NvM6d6D3iBoCgFUQAvD_BwE

This website is slightly sketchy but looking around it appears to be legit? It's just so much cheaper.
 
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Phaaze88

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Aquatuning is a legit retailer.

The Arctic Freezer is 'cheap' because there's none of that RGB LED stuff anywhere on it. What you get is a good performance hybrid cooler with no aesthetic flair... well, depending on one's POV.
Black goes well with almost anything, and the tubing is gray, which is more of a neutral color. There's some chrome and white accents here and there... so it's not entirely without flair.
 
Apr 6, 2021
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Aquatuning is a legit retailer.

The Arctic Freezer is 'cheap' because there's none of that RGB LED stuff anywhere on it. What you get is a good performance hybrid cooler with no aesthetic flair... well, depending on one's POV.
Black goes well with almost anything, and the tubing is gray, which is more of a neutral color. There's some chrome and white accents here and there... so it's not entirely without flair.
I love black so I'm okay with that. And by cheap I mean, on newegg and amazon it's around 125 - 130 on both. So it's nearly 40 bucks cheaper (Before shipping + tax) but shipping wasn't that bad which is why I was a little skeptical about it. I went with a Black case and design other than black/white as black appears "cleaner" between my monthly cleaning I noticed. My Roccat mouse / keyboard are also black and my white keyboard would start to show grime sooner than black before I cleaned it. Decent internal lighting is nice and all I need, but that's a secondary as I'm not staring at my electronics all day.
 
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