Question FX 8350 Unstable/Overheating ?

[MogoblepUls]

I recently had to 'downgrade' my PC build to a spare one that's been sitting in my closet for several years (previous build was old and finally deciding to just not cooperate to the point I didsn't want to deal with it) and from the very onset was having overheating issues with the CPU and the CPU alone i.e; shutting down after reaching a certain temperature. Now that I've had time to get acquainted with the CPU itself, the only thing I really know for certain is that this overheating problem is inconsistent and practically changes with the weather.

To elaborate, I've put it through its paces with games ranging from modern-ish games like FFXIV to old games played on emulators, and even things that aren't games have caused me trouble before:

- For like 2 - 3 days every few weeks, if I do anything the CPU considers "intensive" whether playing a modern game or installing one I'll have to watch the temperatures with HWINFO like a hawk and pray I don't click or do something in a game or a process that makes it go over the limit (I think its over 85c, but I can't tell for certain) and forces a shutdown. It just seems to sit well over the throttling margin of 61c and never go down unless I were to close literally everything. Mind you, I'll be starting these games up after having the idle temperature be sitting below 40c not a minute prior and have it skyrocketing to over 60c.

- Usually immediately after these bouts of crazy heating will be a day or two where I can't even get it to go over 40c, which makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever, and leaves me feeling conflicted about what to do.

- After this is when the CPU will seemingly be throttling itself for no reason. It will stay at a decent enough temperature (35 - 58c) but I'll frequently have slow loading times to the point its embarrassing. This usually goes on for weeks at a time until the process starts all over again.

Now I have my theories, but I was hoping for someone here to be able to help confirm or refute them so I can at least figure out where to go from here, because it's gotten very tiresome. I will try to present the facts as best I can.

- My CPU cooler is an H100i v2, and it's probably not doing so well on account of having been sitting in a closet for 6 - 7 years. I can tell at the very least that it has air bubbles in it based off of what I was told by a more tech-savvy acquaintance about the meaning of hearing liquid sloshing around when shaking the radiator et al. Furthermore, based off of what I read here, one of the tubes is noticably warm compared to the other when under duress, and this is (apparently) a sign of a failing unit. I've had switching to an air-cooled unit recommended to me, but I'm unsure of what to get, although I was considering one of these.


- My Motherboard is an M5A99FX, and I have tried every conceivable means known to me of using the UEFI BIOS to get the temperature under control, including but not limited to undervolting, HPC mode and even repeatedly resetting to defaults in addition to messing with the power presets in the BIOS (I've had it on "power saving" for months and it's made no difference. The CPU just seemingly chooses when to be a PITA).


- I have run stress tests such as prime95, and the CPU begins overheating and noticably throttling itself inside of a minute. Whether or not this is a good indicator of a heating problem or something else, such as a "bad die", as has been suggested to me, is anyone's guess but mine. I've considered replacing the CPU or at the bare minimum testing with one of the dubiously functioning ones scattered throughout the house, but I'd rather not throw the baby out with the bathwater unless absolutely necessary.

If anyone can offer any advice, it'd be greatly appreciated.

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

When a cpu heats up immediatley it is an indication that there is little to no cooling on it. I would imagine after sitting in your home unused for 6-7 years your AIO is probably shot or at the least ineffective. Hyper 212 EVO would be a good choice for your cpu and it is made to fit.

 

[MogoblepUls]

When a cpu heats up immediatley it is an indication that there is little to no cooling on it. I would imagine after sitting in your home unused for 6-7 years your AIO is probably shot or at the least ineffective. Hyper 212 EVO would be a good choice for your cpu and it is made to fit.

Would there be any appreciable difference between a Hyper 212 EVO and a Hyper 212 BE? I'm having a difficult time finding a 212 EVO and I'm not sure if a BE would be a good substitute or not. Thanks for the reply!

 

[USAFRet]

Would there be any appreciable difference between a Hyper 212 EVO and a Hyper 212 BE?

No.
Whichever one you can get.

NOTE: The Hyper 212 line is only popular because it was cheap, and a little bit better than the original stock offerings. They are not especially good coolers.
But they would be better than the broken thing you have currently.

 

[MogoblepUls]

No.
Whichever one you can get.

NOTE: The Hyper 212 line is only popular because it was cheap, and a little bit better than the original stock offerings. They are not especially good coolers.
But they would be better than the broken thing you have currently.

in that case, would the be quiet! brand cooler I linked in the OP be more than adequate? I'm worried about the Hyper 212 not meeting my needs, unless thats an unwarranted worry.

 

[SorryBella]

in that case, would the be quiet! brand cooler I linked in the OP be more than adequate? I'm worried about the Hyper 212 not meeting my needs, unless thats an unwarranted worry.

Ideally you'll want to have far more cooling capacity than what's needed because FX has a lower TJUNCTION where it trigger thermal throttle, for 8350 its 61 degrees celsius. But yeah, the 212 would be better than nothing, itll get you to boot.

 

[MogoblepUls]

Ideally you'll want to have far more cooling capacity than what's needed because FX has a lower TJUNCTION where it trigger thermal throttle, for 8350 its 61 degrees celsius. But yeah, the 212 would be better than nothing, itll get you to boot.

Thank you for the reply! My PC boots just fine, it just seems to overheat under stress. I'd really prefer not to spend money on the 212 if it's just gonna end up overheating from anything I do anyway.

I ended up figuring out the cooler I linked in the OP isn't compatible with my CPU's socket (AM3+), but I did find this one which goes as far as pointing out its 150w wattage to my CPU's TDP of 125. Would that be a good enough measure of having better cooling capacity? I just want a cooler that'll be able to handle the games I play.