Haswell Gaming Temperatures

[Zachary Roberts]

I have an Intel Core i7 4770 (not the "K" model) Haswell CPU. I do not overclock and I use the stock heatsink/fan (which came pre-applied with thermal paste). When idle the temperatures are around 20-30 which I believe is pretty good for Haswell. But when gaming on max settings it averages around 60-70 degrees C. At various stages throughout the game it's reached 75 and it's peaked at 80 degrees C. It doesn't stay at 70-80 for very long...just during big explosions and fighting scenes, for example. The average operating temperature while gaming is 60-70 degrees. Now, my understanding is that Tj. Max on haswell is 100 degrees C. But TCase Max is 72.72 Degrees C. Based on the above info my CPU temperatures are breaching TCase Max while gaming...sometimes. I know Haswell runs hot but is this normal? I appear to have good case airflow (idle temps are normal and GPU temps on my GTX 760 are between 50-60 degrees C...my GPU can go as hot as 130 degrees C so that's perfectly acceptable). Also, just to clarify, I don't have any issues while gaming. My PC hasn't powered off or given me any BSODs. I did also stress test both my GPU and my CPU using furmark. My GPU passed furmark and the temperatures were around 65-75 degrees C during the test which is way within the Max 130 degrees C. My CPU load during the CPU burner test reached 100% on all cores. The temperatures went as high as 100 degrees C while doing the stress test but were usually in the 90s. Again, had no issues and the CPU survived the stress test. As soon as I ended the stress test it didn't take long for the CPU temps to drop back down to the normal 20-30 degrees C idle temperatures. So it appears that my stock heatsink/fan is working like it should be working in terms of cooling. As I'm not overclocking I don't really need a special fan or special thermal paste so I was wondering whether my temperature are normal or high...even for haswell? I have five case fans in my case, which is a Zalman Z11 Plus.

 

[thdarkshadow]

The stock heatsink sucks so 75c in gaming is about what I'd expect. Your fine just try to not let it over 80c. I doubt it will hurt it even if it goes over 80c just its recommended by most people to keep it under that.

GPU temps are fine as you say but 105c is I believe the nvidia limit. About 90c is the communities average opinion on the limit

 

[Zachary Roberts]

This is what Core Temp read when I took the photo: http://i60.tinypic.com/v62dkl.jpg The current reading for Core0 is 63 Degrees C but it averages anywhere between 60-70. But, as you can see from the picture it has reached 80 Degrees C (it's done so twice so far today). It's swiftly gone back down to the mid 70s and then back into the 60s so there's evidence of cooling going on. Was just wondering if it's normal temps for Haswell gaming with stock heatsink/fan and whether or not it will be bad for my CPU playing games at these temps. I would have thought the stock heatsink/fan would be sufficient for any type of usage except for overclocking. I'm playing AC Brotherhood on max settings by the way.

 

[Zachary Roberts]

How long would you say a CPU would last at these temps? I tend to use my high performance PC for gaming and 3D blu ray playback mostly. I do other stuff on it though like web browsing but the main reason I built such a beast was for gaming and the likes. I never overclock...one of my things...so I didn't see the need to buy any specialist cooler or anything like that. I'd be interested to see what other peoples Haswell temperatures are when gaming with the stock heatsink/fan.

 

[thdarkshadow]

Yeah you're fine it won't hurt it to pop up to 80ish at times. I don't personally own haswell so I can't tell you if that's exactly what it runs at with the stock cooler but it won't damage it. Try to see if someone else who owns one can test and give you the results

 

[Zachary Roberts]

So how does TCase work exactly? I've now moved on to playing AC Black Flag and the temperatures are averaging at 65-70 Degrees C on Core0 but Cores 1,2,3 are still averaging at 50-60. Well Core1 is averaging at 60-65, Core0 is averaging at 65-70, Cores3&4 are averaging at 50-60 I would say. I've been googling around trying to understand TCase and trying to determine whether continual playback at 65-80 degrees C on Core0 would be detrimental to the lifespan of my CPU or whether Cores0,1,2,3 (I.e. ALL cores) would have to be at 72.72+ Degrees C in order to breach TCase Max?

 

[Tail_TL]

I know this is a super old thread but I'd really like to know how is your PC holding up after this time with your temperatures?

I have the same Zalman Z11 Plus Case and my CPU is the same Haswell i7 4770 (non K version)
My temps when playing the Witcher 3
Average - 66c - 70c
Peak - 73c - 75c (Might get higher as time goes)

I got the Stock Cooler and I also disabled Turbo Boost in the Motherboard settings.

I'd be very great-full for an update from you Zachary Roberts!