High CPU Temp i7 4790k Stock cooler

[Yuuji Kazami]

First off thanks for helping.

Well I finished building my pc yesterday. Here are a list of my parts:
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However while we were playing an fps game at high my friend walked around the pc and noticed the air around it was very warm.

I have the S340 case with only the 2 included exhaust fans and while playing dirty bomb at high settings with only a chrome amazon tab open I get 70-82c (according to hwmonitor) I have the i7 4790k with stock cooler but due to the CPU temps I think the pc shut off to prevent overheating.
Two times in fact, one while playing a Bot match in Dota 2 all high settings, and twice while playing Trove on low settings(I didn't want the CPU overheat so I lowered the settings) but it still turned off.


Is it because I need to put in two 140mm intake fans into the front of the case? I though that this case was ready to go. I never thought about case fans but I hope that's the only problem with this build.
Also, I'm thinking about getting 2 Corsair AF140 quiet edition White LED case fans if intake fans are what I need.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this.

 

[ahnilated]

i7 4790k's run hot to begin with and using the stock cooler in a case that could have limited air flow is just bad all around. Your temps aren't horribly high but I wouldn't want to run it at 80C 2/47. I would try to get a bit more air flow and see if you can get an aftermarket cooler that will fit your case.

 

[ZENprime]

Did you install the stock fan well ? it comes pre-applied with thermal paste so you do not need to apply some on the processor

also 82c is truly bad ; your CPU max is 74c , that is why it shuts down to protect itself

 

[alpacino2368]

Before trying anything else I would reapply the heatsink to the cpu again. Something a misaligned heatsink can be the cause and is often hard to trouble shoot.

However the 4790k runs extremely hot so more airflow is not a bad idea however I would recommend getting a hyper 212. They are much better at cooling than the stock heatsink and cost only about $30.

 

[utgotye]

Definitely airflow and/or faulty heat sink installation. My 4790k is running (stock unfortunately but not too much longer) on the stock cooler and it idles around 50c, which is WAY too hot for my tastes especially considering my water cooler usually had it under/about 30C.

 

[geofelt]

The point where a 4790K will shut down to protect itself is about 100c.

Check your pushpin mount first.
At idle, your temperatures should be about 15c. over ambient if the cooler is mounted properly.

The stock Intel cooler can be tricky to install.
A poor installation will result in higher cpu temperatures.

To mount the Intel stock cooler properly, place the motherboard on top of the foam or cardboard backing that was packed with the motherboard.
The stock cooler will come with paste pre applied, it looks like three grey strips.
The 4 push pins should come in the proper position for installation, that is with the pins rotated in the direction of the arrow,(counter clockwise) as far as they can go.
If you want, play with the pushpin mechanism until you know how they work.
Place the cooler so that all 4 pins are oriented over the holes in the motherboard.

Push down on the entire cooler so that all 4 pins are through the motherboard.
When you push down on the top black pins, it expands the white plastic pins to fix the cooler in place.

The trick to getting it on is to push down on a DIAGONAL pair of pins at the same time. Then the other pair.
If you do them one at a time, you will not get the cooler on straight.
Lastly, look at the back of the motherboard to verify that all 4 pins are equally through the motherboard, and that the cooler is on firmly.
This last step must be done, which is why the motherboard must be out of the case to do the job.
It is possible to mount the cooler with the motherboard mounted in the case, but you can then never be certain that the push pins are inserted properly.

If you should need to remove the cooler, turn the pins clockwise to unlock them.
You will need to clean off the old paste and reapply new.

Exacerbating your problem is your graphics card. It is power hungry and runs hot.
The cooler design dumps hot vga air into the case where the cpu cooler is.

The first thing I would do is try to add two front 140mm intake fans.

I would expect the stock cooler to spin up and get noisy under load, but it should do the job if you are not overclocking.
Mostly, the 4.0/4.4 stock speeds should be very good for anything.

As others have suggested at least a simple tower type cooler with a 120mm fan will run cooler and quieter.

 

[Yuuji Kazami]

Ok I got a lot of good answers. Now I see the possible problems. First I'll get two AF 140mm Intake fans for the front of the case. I thought the R9 390 would have somewhat the same temps as the 970 but I guess not. While I order those I'll try to see if the stock cooler is installed properly. If not would it be OK to buy some aftermarket thermal paste, remove the stock thermal paste, and reapply the stock cooler?
Thanks a lot to everyone who gave me answers. This is my very first computer build and I don't want it to have a shorter lifespan when it can be fairly easily addressed.

Also since I am a novice in actual installation can someone tell me if I can just upgrade the stock cooler to a 212 EVO without removing the motherboard? I have the S340 and it has a cutout in the back where i can see the back of the motherboard.

 

[utgotye]

Given how much more power the 390 uses than the 970, it's bound to run hotter with roughly equivalent coolers in the same system.

You can absolutely remount the stock cooler with aftermarket paste. I had to do it when my water cooler failed.

I'd be surprised if you could mount the back plate for the Evo without removing the motherboard. However, the cutout in that case is fairly large so it may indeed be possible. When my Evo arrives (not damn soon enough, probably next Wednesday, otherwise known as next year), I'll take the opportunity to clean me computer out and tidy up my cable management.

Make sure to report back and let us know if it all made any difference. It's hard to below it would have no positive effect. I'm hoping for a minimum 15C drop from my Evo.

 

[geofelt]

Yes, you can use any thermal paste on the stock cooler to replace it.
Virtually all will do the job. AS5, MX1 are two well known brands.

If you use a aftermarket cooler like the hyper212, it will come with a tube of paste.
The cutouts are designed to allow installation of a cooler without the need to remove the motherboard.

On the CM 212 evo, I have no experience installing one, but reports are that it is not the simplest mounting system.
Look for some reviews which should show you what you are up against.
My go to cooler is Noctua. They have a very simple mounting system with good instructions.
Their quality is outstanding, and their higher prices reflect that.
I might suggest this NH-U12S @$65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608040

 

[Yuuji Kazami]

Given how much more power the 390 uses than the 970, it's bound to run hotter with roughly equivalent coolers in the same system.

You can absolutely remount the stock cooler with aftermarket paste. I had to do it when my water cooler failed.

I'd be surprised if you could mount the back plate for the Evo without removing the motherboard. However, the cutout in that case is fairly large so it may indeed be possible. When my Evo arrives (not damn soon enough, probably next Wednesday, otherwise known as next year), I'll take the opportunity to clean me computer out and tidy up my cable management.

Make sure to report back and let us know if it all made any difference. It's hard to below it would have no positive effect. I'm hoping for a minimum 15C drop from my Evo.

Alright I think the stock cooler was not installed completely securely as one of the pins pushed down just a bit while the others couldn't lower any further. I'll make 3 updates or so. One In a little to test if the temperature has decreased due to possible miss-installation of the stock CPU cooler. 2 after i install two AF140mm intake fans in the front. And 3 when I upgrade to a 212 EVO. I will only upgrade to EVO if the problem stays.

I'm hoping I don't have to put in a new CPU cooler because I'll get nervous if I have to remove the motherboard but I'll need to or else the constant high temperature will damage my CPU.

 

[geofelt]

Do not worry too much about heat damaging your cpu.
It is built to tolerate heat and will slow down or even shut off by itself if it detects dangerous temperatures.

 

[utgotye]

If you can provide enough airflow, the stock cooler is adequate at stock speeds/voltages. Stock means stock after all.

The anxiety goes away with experience. The more you do it, the more you build and handle different parts, the more comfortable you become. Honestly I'd be pretty damn happy if I could sit around for 12 hours a day and get paid for building systems, at least for a while.

Considering I had my 4790k overclocked on a Seidon 120V and it would only hit 60C on Ultra Skyrim with mods and the like, I was fairly happy with it.

 

[Yuuji Kazami]

Thanks for the comfort @geofelt. I was feeling really nervous that my first computer was heating too much but I'm trying hard to fix it without damaging anything

UPDATE: After securing the stock cooler it looks like my temperatures are still very high. In Dirty Bomb High settings it got up to a temperature of 73-86 with max temps listed at 100C (as listed by Open Hardware Monitor.

IMPORTANT: Looking at the Open Hardware Monitor i saw that under the Clocks section it listed the speeds.
>Clocks
Bus Speed--------Value 100MHz----Max 100 MHz
CPU Core #1-----Value 4200MHz--Max 4400MHz
CPU Core #2-----Value 4300MHz--Max 4400MHz
CPU Core #3-----Value 4400MHz--Max 4400MHz
CPU Core #4-----Value 4300MHz--Max 4400MHz

Does that mean that the CPU is overclocked? I thought the stock speed on i7 4790k was 4.0 Ghz? Help please and thank you.

 

[utgotye]

Turbo is 4.4Ghz.

 

[geofelt]

No, the stock 4790K has a turbo mode that goes up to 4.4 if the conditions are right.
Temperatures under load up to 85c would not bother me.

You might try testing with OCCT which will shut down the test at 85c.
With what you have budgeted for your pc, I would install a decent air cooler. If for no other reason than to keep the noise down.

 

[Yuuji Kazami]

IUpdate 2:
I installed two Corsair AF140mm fans into the front of the case for intake. Temperatures while browsing were cool and fans were working.
But, after playing The Dirty Bomb tutorial the temps shot up to 70-90 with Max reading of 100°C (according to HW monitor).
At that point I was constantly hovering my hand over the exhaust fans to feel the air and oh man the air got very warm. And when I felt the air outside the rear exhaust it was very very hot.
I'm going to go to a computer shop and reinstall my stock cooler with Artic Silver 5 thermal paste and update you guys.

 

[Naji Alarabi]

Hello , i have a suggestion for you.
I have the same cpu with coolermaster 212 evo + (Asus z97 pro gamer) + gtx 970 g1.
You can try setting your cpu's turbo mode to off via your bios , the i7 4790k is set to 4.4 Ghz and by turning off the tubo mode you will get 4.0 Ghz.

 

[geofelt]

Hot air coming out of the exhaust is actually very good.
It means that heat is being driven from your case.
Part of the problem is that R9 cards take lots of power and run hot.
The fans on your card do a good job of cooling the graphics card parts, but they dump the hot air into the case.
That is what the cpu cooler gets to do it's job.
That is one reason I like the slightly less efficient blower coolers.
The stock cooler is just not very efficient at cooling, and even less so if it has only hot graphics air to work with.

Likely a better air cooler with a 120 or 140mm fan will do the job for you.