Fx6300 temperature and cooling questions

[DrTouchwell]

System specs
Msi mb 970a-g46
Amd cpu fx6300 (not over clocked) with stock cpu cooler.
Asus nividia GeForce gpu 660 ti
I have 1 rear 120mm exhaust fan, 2 top 120mm exhaust fan and 1 front 120mm intake fan, all functioning.
Case has mesh front panel and half mesh panel on one side.

Cpu fan is set to auto adjust, running at 3150-3200 rpm. This is at idle, in the bios with temps of 45c. When adjusting the fan to 100% or 50% the fan does not adjust and stays around the same rpm. Could not find specs on stock fan to see what the max rpm is.

Problem?
System is a little over 3 years old and is only used for light gaming. A few weeks ago my hdd started to click and was running slow so I installed a new 500gb Ssd and a fresh install of windows. During installation and setting up the Ssd I saw the cpu temp in the bios was idling at 54c and main board temp was 28c. Computer runs good and no issues except this looked like a high temp to me. I cleaned out pc free of dust and cleaned up cpu heat sink and re applied new thermal compound(pea method). Now the cpu idles at 45c and main board at 28c. I downloaded amd overdrive and played about 1 hour of squad with amd overdrive running and logging system info. (Initial thermal margin was around 38 with no load). After one hour logs show that the minimum thermal margin reached 15c and average was 18c, main board stayed around 28c. I was told max temp for my cpu is 62. I was also told that this is a problem with my mother board heat sinks causing cpu to get hot.

*notes: I do not know how long pc has ran hot, only noticed it because I was installing new Ssd
Also if it matters, I monitored my gpu as well and temps stayed around 26c

Sorry if these are dumb questions, I am kinda new to this.

Questions
1- if the max temp for my cpu is 62c then how is it at idle 45c(per bios) and amd over drive gives me a fluctuating thermal margin around 38? Math don't seam to add up. Unless 62c is not my cpu temp rating?

2- is a thermal margin of 15c ok to run my PC at, is this normal? I only tested this while playing squad which I imagine is not a very intensive game, especially in its early access alpha state right now. So in the future if I run a more intensive game I am afraid this will decrease even more causing overheat issues.

3- after re applying thermal paste(AS5) temps did go down. After a few days when the paste cures will temps drop more?

4- will replacing the stock cooler fix the heat issue or is this in fact a mobo issue or cpu going bad.(evo 212 will not fit in my case)

5- If my main board sits at 28c even when cpu is under load and cpu temps rise then how is it my main board causing the high heat? (If this is even true)

6- is my cpu fan broken and that is why it will not adjust?

Thanks in advance,
Dr. Touchwell

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Part of the issue is that the 'problem' lies other than where the sensors are.

Your motherboard VRMs (power controllers) are known to overheat when heavily stressed or when your CPU is overclocked, or if a FX83xx is run on the motherboard. This overheating limits the power delivered to the CPU and you get throttling. It is also bad for the longevity of the motherboard and VRMs in particular. This heating is often not detected because the sensors are elsewhere. Your motherboard is a big thing and the sensor for it is not everywhere.

1. AMD FX chips use algorithms rather than thermistors or thermocouples to measure temperature. The information from AMD overdrive is mostly reliable, and everything else is less reliable. I'd believe Overdrive first.

2. Yes 15C blue thermal margin is OK. I'd like it to be bigger.

3. Most modern paste is what it is. It stays the same for a long time.

4. Replacing the stock cooler will reduce CPU temperature and, if you use a downdraft cooler, like the RAIJINTEK Pallas (and there are many other similar ones at nearly every budget) it will help cool your CPU and your motherboard VRMs.

5. See what I said at the start. The source of the energy is other than your CPU.

5. Can't tell, but probably not.

 

[DrTouchwell]

Thanks, I will look into the coolers suggested and liven it's high temps after that until I upgrade. Very helpful to make my decision thanks

 

[DonkeyOatie]

A decent cooler can last through many builds. I'd keep that in mind when you make your decision.