CPU temp reaches 80c while gaming. Should I change it immediately?

[Daniel John]

Noticed at first that my cpu is reaching 90c while gaming. I reapplied the thermal paste. It goes below 85 now. still hot. I have a 4670k cpu with a stock cooler. Mid 30c at idle (50c before reapplying thermal paste) but reaches 60 - 82c while gaming. Tried using prime95 and it reaches 90c! I don't have the money to buy an aftermarket cooler right now, but I'll buy 4-6 days from now after I got my salary. I often play games after work, about 3-4hrs. Question is, can I still continue to play games at that temperature for the next 4-6 days without breaking my cpu?

 

[secolliyn]

the temps are fine for gaming but i would still invest in a new cooler also Prime 95 is a worst case scenario meaning that yes it's meant to stress test a cpu and make sure overclocks are stable the temps you will see when you run it are the hottest you should ever see under the worst case

 

[boosted1g]

Stock cooler on the haswell chips is insufficient for overclock. Get a better cooler.

 

[postal_game]

IMHO it's normal... You still can play your games even for 1 month in the future... Because like i said, actually it's normal.. specially if you already using that stock cooler more than 1 or 2 years... But yes you're right, you better change your CPU Cooler to the better one...

And if i were you and in your condition (don't have the money to change the cooler), i'll try to clean the stock cooler first... Actually it's really easy to clean an Intel stock cooler...

 

[lakimens]

Intel's bad with their stock coolers and the thermal paste under the IHS.
If you didn't clear the dust off of your PC when you reapplied thermal paste, do that now, get a can of pressurized air, take it outside and blow it.
You can also open the side of your case for more airflow, some cases have bad airflow, especially the non-brand ones.

 

[Daniel John]

Stock cooler on the haswell chips is insufficient for overclock. Get a better cooler.

This one is on stock speed though but I am planning to overclock once I get a better cooler. Will probably get a hyper 212x or similar.

 

[lakimens]

I would recommend the Cryorig H5 instead of the Hyper 212.

 

[Daniel John]

Intel's bad with their stock coolers and the thermal paste under the IHS.
If you didn't clear the dust off of your PC when you reapplied thermal paste, do that now, get a can of pressurized air, take it outside and blow it.
You can also open the side of your case for more airflow, some cases have bad airflow, especially the non-brand ones.

I already did just that. When I removed the stock cooler, I cleaned it before putting it back. I already left my side panel open. It did little to lower the temp. Forgot to mention, this cpu is running at stock frequency. I have 2 intake and 1 low-rpm exhaust fan (came from my old case). My ambient room temperature is about 25c.

 

[Daniel John]

I would recommend the Cryorig H5 instead of the Hyper 212.

I'll look into that, thanks. I was thinking that if I need to replace my cooler immediately I'd get a 212x or similar, but if I could go for a month more I'd get a Noctua NH-D15.

 

[lakimens]

Yeah, that'd be better. If the CPU doesn't go over 85C you can wait a month.