CPU still overheating after re-applying thermal paste

flyavix

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Jan 26, 2018
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Hello everyone.

Exactly one week ago I tried playing PUBG on my computer (which I have done for a long time without problems) but I experienced a lot of lag and the sound was all weird (this game worked fine just one or two days earlier). I tried some other games but I had the same problems in all of them. It took me some time to figure out that my CPU temperatures were constantly maxed out at 100˚C.

I opened up my computer to check if my CPU liquid cooler was working by feeling the two tubes going to and from my CPU. One of them was warm while the other was cold, leading me to the conclusion that it was working fine. A few days later I cleaned both the CPU and the heatsink before re-applying thermal paste.

I turned on my computer and surprisingly got some errors about my graphics driver which I think I fixed by reinstalling it. The temperatures got better, but not good enough. Idle temperatures are about 45˚C, while watching YouTube and such (on Chrome) they are about 60˚C and while playing games (PUBG for this reference) they slowly increase to 95˚-100˚C ish in about 2-3 minutes. After these 2-3 minutes the entire computer freezes for another 2 minutes, before giving med the blue screen error with the code "dpc_watchdog_violation". After this, the computer reboots.

I'm not sure if this is at all related to the issue, but I have a triple monitor setup where two of them are connected directly to the GPU and the third is connected directly to the motherboard. The third monitor is not my main, but it is the only monitor showing the blue screen error.

Summed up:
My cpu was overheating, I re-applied thermal paste, it is still overheating, just not as quickly, and it is now giving me a BSOD error with the code "dpc_watchdog_violation".

These are my specs:
OS: Windows 8.1
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790 CPU @ 3.60GHz
CPU Cooler: Corsair H55
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 2 GB
Motherboard: MSI Z97 Gaming 5
RAM: HyperX Fury DDR3 1600MHz 8GB
SSD: Kingston 240GB
 
Solution
A drawback with AIO`s is water permeation that will happen over time. Starting to wonder if this can be the case with your.

You dont have an aircooler laying around or anything do you??
Then there is your answer. Your CPU is shutting things down, crashing etc cause of the thermal limit. Stop pushing it to the thermal limit or you might damage it.

1. CPU waterblock/pumphouse (same unit) is not mounted correct on the CPU. Double or even tripple check the screws that they are tight etc.
2. What the pumps RPM? If you very carefully touch the pumphouse can you feel a small vibration?
3. Are the fan on the radiator running? if yes at what RPM?
 

flyavix

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Jan 26, 2018
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1. The screws all seem to be properly tight, checked more than once as you suggested.
2. The pump is between 1100 RPM and 1150 RPM and yes, I can feel a slight vibration when touching the pumphouse.
3. The fan on the radiator is also running, between 1600 RPM and 1650 RPM.

Sorry for the late reply, I've had a busy week...
 

testtube5

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Aug 1, 2013
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He's right that it's shutting down because of your thermal limit but...although I'm no CPU or cooling expert he's also right that if you keep letting that happen you're going to damage your CPU. So, until you find an answer, stop letting it hit that 90C+ range (if you are constantly restarting to figure out a fix).

45C at idle isn't scary, neither is 60C with a browser up. High yes, scary no. But, every time you think of a potential fix, or test another one, have Hardware Monitor Pro open or something that will give you real-time temperatures, and as soon as you see it hit that 85-90+ range, just shut it down (your problem isn't fixed).

If your CPU isn't already damaged, you're certainly going to damage it by letting it repeat the freeze.

I'm curious and for the sake of other readers: What's your CPU load at when it's hitting those temperatures? What is voltage at? (vcore), Perhaps you changed a setting in BIOS?
 

flyavix

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Jan 26, 2018
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67C at 18% load
90C at 45% load
I'm not sure if this is the voltage you were looking for?
https://gyazo.com/9afc82a1e8443301c8c6afd59f3406e6
I haven't changed a setting in the BIOS for quite some time, but when I did (2 months ago or something) I enabled Intel HD Graphics to be able to see anything on a monitor not connected directly to the GPU.

I do not hear any gurgling sounds coming from the AIO.

While in the BIOS today I was able to set the liquid cooler to max speed, increasing the RPM to 1500. This actually reduced my temperatures by about 10C, making it possible to play games again. The temperatures are still really high, averaging 88C through the session of 30 minutes or so. The temperatures mentioned in the beginning of the post were measured before I made this change.
 
load HWINFO and look at the fan speeds, specifically cpu_fan1 which will indicate the speed of the pump, and cpu_fan2 should have your radiator fan connected to. what are the speeds reported at idle ?

eb1QVqH.png
 

flyavix

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Jan 26, 2018
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So I couldn't get HWINFO to show me fanspeed, but I have them throught Corsair Link:
Corsair h55: 1500 RPM
Radiator fan: 1625 RPM

Not sure if it's worth mentioning that the liquid cooler is connected to SYSFAN1, while the radiator fan is connected to CPUFAN1.
 

flyavix

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Jan 26, 2018
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Okay this makes no sense to me.
I did as you said and connected the pump to CPUFAN1, and the radiator fan to CPUFAN2.

At the first boot I only got an input on my third monitor, while the other two remained black. All my desktop icons where moved to that monitor. Since I thought this was really weird, I rebooted only to get no input at all. I tried to reboot again without success. Then I switched the connections back to the way they originally were, and now everything is back to normal.

But you have my fan speeds, don't you? Or is there any other information you can get out of HWINFO perhaps?
 

flyavix

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Jan 26, 2018
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Thank you for your suggestions, I do actually have an unused Intel stock CPU cooler with pre-applied thermal paste. I'll try it once I have time, which will probably be in the weekend. :)
 

flyavix

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Jan 26, 2018
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As it turned out, the liquid cooler was the issue. It surprised me as I knew it was working by feeling the tubes, one hot and one cold. Oh well, I'm happy to have had my issue resolved. Thanks for all your help! :D