CPU running at 90-95c despite new liquid cooler

[nox77]

Hey all,

I was really hoping I would have been able to figure out this issue on my own, but I've tried nearly everything to no avail.

Long story short: A week and a half ago I turned on my machine only to find it chugging trying to perform the most basic tasks (using the web browser, etc.) I quickly found out that the CPU was consistently using 80-100% usage in the task manager.

I did a clean boot, and only loaded up the essentials, and despite that the issue remained. I ran virus scan after virus scan, (Malware bytes, AVG, Hitman pro) and nothing relevant showed up. I reinstalled windows and thought for sure that would solve the issue, however the problem persisted.

I then purchased a new liquid cooler, as it made the most sense based on my research that it was the cause of the problem. And while the temperatures dropped initially, HWMonitor is showing that the temps are still rising within a few minutes up to 90c which is obviously alarming.

I'm wondering if it could be hardware related, is there anything outside of the cooler which could contribute to these cpu temps? I tried booting with one stick of ram to test, but that didn't make a difference.

I thought maybe I installed the new cooler incorrectly, as it was my first time doing so, however HWmonitor is showing readings for the fans, and I've felt motion in the tubing, so in my mind I assume it's in good working order.

If any one has any ideas please let me know.

Thanks!

p.s. CPU usage still spikes randomly as well, it's generally not at 100% but still much higher than normal considering next to no programs are running.

 

[ragnar-gd]

You have Windows 10? Use TaskManager to check if any software seems to be using your CPU.
Bad cooling could do that, but malware as well.
Also, read this:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3357712/check-cpu-throttling.html

 

[n0ns3ns3]

you know, model of the CPU and MB would be helpful as well as the cooler model.
a few pictures of the case with everything inside would be great.

P.S.
The presence of the word "liquid" in the name of cooler does not make the cooler great. In fact, most of the AiOs are overpriced shinny (or not so shinny) toys outperformed by much cheaper air coolers in both temperature and noise.

 

[nox77]

You have Windows 10? Use TaskManager to check if any software seems to be using your CPU.
Bad cooling could do that, but malware as well.
Also, read this:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3357712/check-cpu-throttling.html

I'm actually running windows 7, I checked the tasks running just now, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Just read that, thanks.

 

[nox77]

you know, model of the CPU and MB would be helpful as well as the cooler model.
a few pictures of the case with everything inside would be great.

P.S.
The presence of the word "liquid" in the name of cooler does not make the cooler great. In fact, most of the AiOs are overpriced shinny (or not so shinny) toys outperformed by much cheaper air coolers in both temperature and noise.

CPU: Intel i7-2600k 3.40 ghz
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3
Cooler: Coolermaster ML240L

Thanks, ya I'm not as informed on cpu cooling, and when I purchased the latest one I just assumed I should stick with what the computer was purchased with. I'll certainly consider an air cooler next time.

 

[n0ns3ns3]

1. Are there any fans attached to the radiator ? seems like not and despite the "liquid" fans are must.
2. have you removed the protective film on cold plate (if there was one)
3. have you applied the thermal paste when remounting the cooler ?
4. what are the CPU voltage and frequency ?

 

[kiemoneiro]

you know, model of the CPU and MB would be helpful as well as the cooler model.
a few pictures of the case with everything inside would be great.

P.S.
The presence of the word "liquid" in the name of cooler does not make the cooler great. In fact, most of the AiOs are overpriced shinny (or not so shinny) toys outperformed by much cheaper air coolers in both temperature and noise.

CPU: Intel i7-2600k 3.40 ghz
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3
Cooler: Coolermaster ML240L

Thanks, ya I'm not as informed on cpu cooling, and when I purchased the latest one I just assumed I should stick with what the computer was purchased with. I'll certainly consider an air cooler next time.

Maybe your cooler isnt screwed hard enough and it dont make good contact
and you should put fans on radiator cause it dont drain heat as its supposed to

 

[nox77]

1. Are there any fans attached to the radiator ? seems like not and despite the "liquid" fans are must.
2. have you removed the protective film on cold plate (if there was one)
3. have you applied the thermal paste when remounting the cooler ?
4. what are the CPU voltage and frequency ?

1. Yes fans are installed, however due to space constraints aren't attached to the radiator itself. This was the way the previous cooler was installed, and seemed to work up until recently.
2. Yes.
3. Yes, I used rice grain sized amount, and then pressed the unit on top of it.
4. I'll have to check that.

 

[nox77]

[/quotemsg]
Maybe your cooler isnt screwed hard enough and it dont make good contact
and you should put fans on radiator cause it dont drain heat as its supposed to[/quotemsg]

That's entirely possible that it isn't screwed in tight enough, so I'll try this. I would put the fans on the rad, however there doesn't seem to be enough room as it interferes with the ram placement.

 

[n0ns3ns3]

the cooler will work very poorly (if at all) without fans attached directly.
Like in some ideal use case that all the air that going through the case is passing through radiator, it will work.
but i see that you have the rear fan mounted as exhaust, and there are probably some fans in the front pulling air in. so i guess, there is very little airflow through the radiator.
from the picture, it seems enough space to attach the fans. if you can't, there are slim fans. Noctua NF-A12x15 would be great, though they are kinda expensive.

 

[kiemoneiro]

You could even try to put fans on top of the case, so they suck hot air out of the radiator and then check temps

 

[nox77]

the cooler will work very poorly (if at all) without fans attached directly.
Like in some ideal use case that all the air that going through the case is passing through radiator, it will work.
but i see that you have the rear fan mounted as exhaust, and there are probably some fans in the front pulling air in. so i guess, there is very little airflow through the radiator.
from the picture, it seems enough space to attach the fans. if you can't, there are slim fans. Noctua NF-A12x15 would be great, though they are kinda expensive.

Small update; I liked your idea and decided to give it a shot. I mounted the fans to the rad, and while it is a very tight fit for other components, it works.

I was initially excited at first when I booted up as I saw the temps were in the 50s, unfortunately they escalated back into the 90s within a few moments so I had to shut it off.

I double checked the thermal paste, and it only seemed to cover in the center of the CPU. I tried to re-apply the paste, except this time I spread it over the CPU manually, however that didn't help the temperatures at all once I rebooted. I won't discount the possibility that I'm just doing this horribly, but I wouldn't think it would cause temperature flare-ups this high, right?

Is it possible that the cooler is not making proper contact with the CPU and thus not cooling it properly?

 

[COLGeek]

Are the CPU core temps hitting +90C or is it some other component? Could you post a screen capture of HWMonitor?

 

[n0ns3ns3]

It is possible that you got a defect cooler, thought very improbable that the issue with it is mounting.
It is entirely within our reality that you doing something wrong.
What it is much more probable, is that there is something wrong with the computer (high load, high temps).
I'd suggest:
1. check if cooler is working in other computer. when the cooler is working, you should feel vibration when touching that CPU block and see the pump speed on some HW monitoring software as an RPM from the header that the pump connects to. Seems like the header is labeled CPU_FAN in your case.
2. reset the BIOS. flash the latest version (even if it is already installed).
3. when you mount the cooler, it would be better to rotate it 90 (tubes toward the RAM or toward the back of the case). nothing dramatic, it's just because of internal structure of the CPU and cold plate microfins.

 

[nox77]

Okay maybe it is defective, and frankly that seems like it would make the most sense at this point.

Yes I have felt the vibration of the tubing/CPU block.

Here is an example of the results HWMonitor has been giving me:

 

[n0ns3ns3]

you can try the cooler in another computer to verify faulty cooler theory.

 

[sloke123]

HI nox77,
I had the same configuration and sadly, faced the same problem. Reinstalling OS wont help also.
So what I did is check the CPU with another motherboard(Asrock z77 extreme4) and it worked fine. In my case the main culprit was the motherboard.
I upgrade the BIOS, but It helped a little bit. Kept the temp under 85~88c.
So I suggest you to reflash the BIOS and see.

 

[nox77]

you can try the cooler in another computer to verify faulty cooler theory.

I can't at the moment, but will keep this in mind.

@Sloke123

Interesting, I haven't played with the BIOS too much in fear of causing more harm than good, but will look into this.

UPDATE: Okay, so up until this point I've been re-applying the thermal paste with arctic silver which came highly recommended. I've re-applied about four or five times within the past two weeks, with little to no success of lowering the temp. Tonight I decided to try again but with the paste that came with my new cooler, and surprisingly I'm getting much, much lower idle temperatures ranging from mid 40's to 60c.

I was very happy to see this and wondered why the seemingly inferior paste did so much better than what I had heard and read so much about. Anyways, my issue now is that once I tested the system by loading up a game, the temperatures once again skyrocketed up into the 90s, maxing out at 98c.

Now I purchased the system with 10% overclocking, and as far as I understand that will push the unit harder, and thus will raise the termperature, however is it safe to say that this is still far too high for it to be at while a game is running? Despite hitting the mid to high 90s, I noticed no problems in performance whatsoever, but I'm guessing this could be temporary and could cause long term damage to the cpu?

 

[n0ns3ns3]

better results with "inferior" TIM might be due to the difference in viscosity.
If the cooler does not make proper contact with the CPU, the more "fluid" TIM will do worse since it is not designed to fill huge gaps.
After examining the picture again, I have a question. Does the cooler touches those 3 chokes (or one of them) marked R80 to the left of the cooler ?
As I already said earlier, rotate the cooler counter clockwise 90 degrees. you should end up with the tubes toward the RAM.

 

[nox77]

better results with "inferior" TIM might be due to the difference in viscosity.
If the cooler does not make proper contact with the CPU, the more "fluid" TIM will do worse since it is not designed to fill huge gaps.
After examining the picture again, I have a question. Does the cooler touches those 3 chokes (or one of them) marked R80 to the left of the cooler ?
As I already said earlier, rotate the cooler counter clockwise 90 degrees. you should end up with the tubes toward the RAM.

Okay n0ns3ns3, I rotated it as you suggested, and re-applied paste. *Current idle AND game temps are now in the mid-high 30s celsius* Wow!!

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but this may have been the solution I've been looking for. I will continue testing and update the thread.

 

[sloke123]

better results with "inferior" TIM might be due to the difference in viscosity.
If the cooler does not make proper contact with the CPU, the more "fluid" TIM will do worse since it is not designed to fill huge gaps.
After examining the picture again, I have a question. Does the cooler touches those 3 chokes (or one of them) marked R80 to the left of the cooler ?
As I already said earlier, rotate the cooler counter clockwise 90 degrees. you should end up with the tubes toward the RAM.

Okay n0ns3ns3, I rotated it as you suggested, and re-applied paste. *Current idle AND game temps are now in the mid-high 30s celsius* Wow!!

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but this may have been the solution I've been looking for. I will continue testing and update the thread.

 

[n0ns3ns3]

Okay n0ns3ns3, I rotated it as you suggested, and re-applied paste. *Current idle AND game temps are now in the mid-high 30s celsius* Wow!!

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but this may have been the solution I've been looking for. I will continue testing and update the thread.

It is the solution. the mounting for intel socket was hitting the inductors and by this preventing proper contact between the cold plate and CPU. so you had to either move the mounting brackets or to rotate the cooler. Pure mechanical issue.

Next time just pay attention to details when installing things. there is supposed to be no contact between different components.