[SOLVED] How Hot Should my i7 3770k Get?

[Raging_Vampire]

Hi! I just had an unexplained crash (no events in the log to explain it) while I was gaming so I thought it could be a thermal problem, more likely with the CPU since I think it's 6 years old now (new graphics card has given it a new lease of life)! It's a stock cooled i7 3770k processor, and I've just run Prime95 on it for three minutes (didn't have the stones to leave it on), and it topped out at a sustained 95 degrees on two of its four cores (and no errors or warnings from Prime95). I know these CPUs tend to start to throttle themselves around 105 but I'm curious if this temperature is normal for a CPU under stress or if this is a symptom of its age. I know I'm going to need to upgrade sooner or later and I'm trying to eek out a little more life on this setup. Anyone got any ideas?

 

[Barty1884]

105'C is the TJMax for the chip, yes.

Ideally, you'd want to keep it <80'C for sustained use - but that's Prime95. What does a typical temperature load look like for you? Are you monitoring temps during regular use?

DWhat cooler are you using? What case are you in? How is airflow in your case?

 

[CompuTronix]

He's using the stock cooler, which should be Intel's specified universal 95 watt TDP cooler.

What was your ambient (room) temperature during Prime95? (The "standard" for normal is 22°C or 72°F.)

Which P95 version?

Which torture test?

When was the thermal compound last reapplied?

Is your 3770K overclocked?

CT 😎

 

[Barty1884]

He's using the stock cooler, which should be Intel's specified universal 95 watt TDP cooler.

Good catch, I thought I read that initially - but then I re-read and somehow missed it

 

[Raging_Vampire]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies! In answer, it's a stock cooler, installed in a Cooler Master HAF952 case, so lots of airflow. I don't think the thermal paste has ever been re-applied since I first installed CPU. It's running stock speeds and voltages. Can't really get any headroom, temperature-wise with the stock cooler.

The test was on Prime95 (latest version) using the default torture test on all four cores.

 

[CompuTronix]

Once again, what was your ambient (room) temperature during Prime95? (The "standard" for normal is 22°C or 72°F.)

The 3770K is a 77 Watt TDP processor for which Intel specifies it's 95 Watt TDP cooler. From the top it looks identical to the 65 Watt version, but when dismounted and viewed from the bottom, the 95 Watt version has a large round solid copper "insert" pressed into the center of the aluminum, while the 65 Watt version is solid aluminum.

The default test is "Blend", which also by default has AVX enabled. Also, it's a fluctuating workload which is good for testing memory stability, but AVX can cause instabilities and unrealistically high Core temperatures.

For testing CPU thermal performance, Small FFT's (all AVX selections disabled) is the correct test because it's a steady-state 100% workload with steady Core temperatures that conforms to Intel's Datasheets.

Try it again with AVX disabled.

CT 😎

 

[SkyNetRising]

Can't really get any headroom, temperature-wise with the stock cooler.

Replace the cooler.
Intel stock cooler in known to be inadequate for cooling higher tdp cpus.